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CNS Story:
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BETHLEHEM-TOURISM Nov-17-2004 (330 words) xxxi
Hotel owners hope Bethlehem initiative drums up Christmas business
By Judith Sudilovsky
Catholic News Service
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Palestinian hotel owners said they hope a new Christmas initiative will return pilgrims to Bethlehem, West Bank, for the holiday.
Nine Bethlehem hotels will offer a special deal for Christmas and the two days preceding it, offering double rooms and breakfast for $99 per person, with a $49 single supplement.
The cost also includes Christmas Eve dinner.
"Bethlehem has been almost completely closed for the past two years, but now the borders are a bit easier for tourists to cross," said Yusef Daher, executive director of the Arab Hotel Association, adding that Bethlehem has always been safe for pilgrims. "(The hotels) generally have had low occupancy, with only 2 percent the whole year, and during Christmas last year there was almost no movement at all."
Although some of the public celebrations normally held at Nativity Square may be canceled or more subdued this year due to the Nov. 11 death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Daher said it would be a good opportunity for the serious pilgrim to have a prayerful, spiritual Christmas experience in Bethlehem.
"This Christmas will be meant for pilgrims coming to pray in the city," he said.
The Vatican's representative to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, and the custodian of the Holy Land, Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, were among Christian leaders who signed a proclamation Nov. 15 pledging to commit themselves to promote pilgrimages to the Holy Land.
"Pilgrimage to the Holy Land is as safe as to other parts of the world. ... (It) constitutes bridges of peace among nations," they said in the proclamation.
At the signing, Israeli Tourism Minister Gideon Ezra said he plans to meet the Palestinian and Egyptian ministers of tourism in the coming weeks to promote travel to the area. Ezra has already met with his Jordanian counterpart in London, according to a Tourism Ministry press statement.
More information is available by e-mailing the Arab Hotel Association at: info@palestinehotels.com.
END
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