Highlights of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority

Trips to a number of West Bank destinations are fairly easy to arrange through a variety of travel channels while touring Israel. Given the number of holy Christian sites in the region, there is daily a steady stream of visitors that sustain a significant percentage of West Bank’s GDP. My trip itinerary included half a day in Bethlehem, with the main justification of visiting a World Heritage site therein but also with a desire to take a peek at the Palestinian Territories in general.

An American of Jewish ancestry is bound to feel quite a bit of unease at setting foot on Palestinian-controlled land. I dealt with that by hiring a local Palestinian guide who escorted me everywhere and drove me around from one place to another. The corollary to that arrangement was that I had to cross the border at Checkpoint 300 to the south of Jerusalem on my own, which may have been my most uncomfortable moment of the entire two-weeks trip. Early in the morning, nobody crosses from the Israeli side; there are actually no controls whatsoever going towards the Palestinian side. I went through the full-height metallic turnstile and found myself in a long corridor with flickering lights of the kind you may see in a suspense movie; there is always an unforetold grave danger that awaits the sole passerby at the end of such passage. The corridor must be no longer than fifty meters but it felt like good couple of hundred. My heart rate was definitely getting to the levels of agitation that I very rarely experience. And then I reached a door and emerged onto a bustling square, to be immediately surrounded by taxi drivers offering their services. Who knew that being surrounded by potential hostiles may be a relative comfort! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).