Our job is to maintain the fragile balance between security and the needs of the local population. Depending on the security situation, he notes, Israel may allow the several thousand Palestinian Christians living in the rest of the West Bank and Gaza, and possibly Christians living in Israel, to enter Bethlehem. Meanwhile, tourists and pilgrims wishing to enter the city may do so freely, he says. Yusef the taxi driver, who refused to have his full name published, makes his way towards the offices of the Bethlehem 2000 Project. In the streets, locals hurry about, but no tourists are seen and very few cars are on the road.
Business is very bad.
Usually in October and November the city is full of tourists, the streets are crowded with tour buses and minibuses and rental cars. But no one is coming. Performers from overseas have canceled their performances. We don't believe anymore in the leaders, not Clinton, not Bush, not Barak or Netanyahu. The Bethlehem 2000 Project was launched in 1996 to prepare for the millennium celebrations in the city and to institutionalize the annual Christmas festivities.