Palestinian tempers flared, fighting occurred, and rages were inflamed even more on both sides when a small Palestinian boy was killed mercilessly and two Israeli soldiers were slaughtered for turning down the wrong road. At the 12-week point, it had risen to 326 people. Emotionally, no doubt there is fear and sadness. Every day we wake up not even knowing whether we will finish the school day or whether the fighting will start again. And as for business side of it, well, it's an uphill struggle, to say the least.
Tourists are a no-show due to the conflict.
By the end of September, some 3 million tourists had paraded across the Holy Land. As tourism makes up 10 percent of Israel's GNP, many business and hotel owners shut down temporarily. The most disturbing fact, besides the killings, obviously, is that Bethlehem will not celebrate the Christmas season in its traditional forms and ways. This year, though, there will be no lights in Nativity Square, where it's believed baby Jesus was born. And according to the Israel News Digest, Arab leaders have asked Christians to refrain from putting up lights or other decorations in and on their homes.