Muted Christmas in Bethlehem as foreign tourists forced to stay away

Sombre Christmas celebrations were to start in the Biblical birthplace of Jesus on Thursday, with not only inns, but also Manger Square, void of pilgrims due to a coronavirus travel ban on foreign nationals. "There has been no incoming tourism to Israel [and the occupied West Bank] since the decision to close Israel's skies to foreign nationals in March," Tourism Ministry spokeswoman Lydia Weitzman told dpa - a stark contrast to the tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims and tourists who visited during the Christmas period in previous years. Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa was schedul...