In most Easter holidays, the cobbled streets of Bethlehem – the city of the occupied Cisjordan venerated as the birthplace of Jesus – would be animated by tourists.
Pilgrims and tourists once wrapped souvenir shops, offering a vital rescue buoy for local craftsmen. But since the War of Israel against Gaza broke out in October 2023, the usual flow of visitors dried up.
Attalah Zacharia, a veteran of olive wood sculpture, is now strongly based on exports to Europe and the United States. But even this flow of income is now in danger, because the American prices recently announced threaten to suffocate the remaining few sales.
Easter and Christmas are traditionally large -scale seasons for Bethlehem, where tourism represents 70% of the city’s annual income.
“Bethlehem as a tourist destination had to face a very difficult period in the past two years,” said Anton Salman, mayor of the city.
Without visitors, the craft workshops of the city fell strangely silent.
In the Zacharia store, the rows of Crucifix and Nativity Sculpted complexes and the Nativity figurines bring together dust. Palestinian sculptors are sitting inactive, surrounded by goods that they once sold to global clientele.
“There is no tourism,” said Zacharia, “so there is no work”.
His workshop, a family business created in the West Bank in 1960, was forced to flow for 25 to 10 employees. Zacharia only opens two days a week.
He estimated that his business has dropped 75% since the war.
Soft and richly grain piles of olive wood traditionally used for Bethlehem sculptures are stacked in front of his shop. On a long established, the miniature figures of Jesus on the cross are aligned, each unique due to the natural marks of the wood.
“Before, of course, the situation was completely normal, the whole crew worked,” said Zacharia. “I don’t know what the future has in store for us.”
Israel resumed its bombing of Gaza last month, breaking a cease-fire that started in January.
Endless with a view to the conflict, tourism in Israel and the occupied West Bank has dropped.
Composing the crisis, Israel prohibited the entry to most of the 150,000 Palestinians in the West Bank who used to work in Israel, bringing a blow to the Palestinian economy – which contracted 25% in the past year.
Bassem Giacaman, another experienced carpenter whose shop overlooks the manger square, is temporarily straightening up when a rare customer enters his factory.
President Donald Trump delayed this week the implementation of new import rates for 90 days after having triggered a four -day market rout and raises fears of an imminent global recession. But for business owners like Giacaman, the stay only offers temporary relief.
If the prices are applied, he says, the consequences will be disastrous. Already, two customers have suspended their orders. With most Palestinian exports transported to Israeli markets, the craftsmen face the risk of a 17% tax on their goods.
“I will have to increase my prices,” he said. “It will be harmful to each company in the West Bank.”
Giacaman says that one of his wood -made wooden crucifixes even made his way in Trump’s hands. He proudly shows on his phone a photo of the former American president holding the miniature cross.
Although the image offers a moment of pride, it does not reflect a broader political feeling.
He adds that neither he nor many other Palestinians support Trump.
