Until October 7 last year - when Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza, sparking a bloody war - Bethlehem was also a tourist hotspot: the jewel in the crown of the US$1 billion Palestinian tourism industry.

Its economy is heavily dependent on tourism but few foreign visitors ... an Israeli-built wall partially encircles Bethlehem, ...

Siege of Leningrad Bethlehem is a city situated in the West Bank (of the River Jordan), eight kilometers south of Jerusalem. This is a center of Christian pilgrimage and tourism. Bethlehem was ...