Outside the Jacir Palace – Bethlehem’s most luxurious hotel – the pavement stinks of skunk water, the foul-smelling substance used by Israel’s security forces to quell disturbances. Elsewhere, spent teargas canisters and foam-tipped bullets are swept into a sooty drift in the gutter.
Close to the looming Israeli separation wall and a watchtower, the street outside the Jacir sees regular clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops. They are so regular that when the teargas billows, guests must enter through a side door.
Inside the Jacir, the lobby is empty. The hotel should be full at this time of year but even in the middle of Bethlehem’s high season it has barely 50% occupancy.
Johnny Kattan, one of the managers, leads the way down to the ballroom, usually at the centre of the Jacir’s festivities. In a normal year this room, complete with Christmas tree, would host a gala dinner for 350 people. But this year isn’t normal. The dinner has been cancelled and the hotel’s famous bar has been closed.
Kattan blames a perfect storm of circumstances for the town’s woes. “After the Paris attacks, Europe stood up as one and decided it wasn’t coming [to the Middle East],” he says. “We also used to get a lot of people from eastern Europe who come via Turkey and visit here, but not after the Russian plane [downed over the Sinai desert in Egypt in October]. Then there is the situation here …”
Kattan is referring to what Palestinians are calling now a haba shaabiya – or popular uprising – which in the past three months has seen 126 Palestinians and 19 Israelis killed. Five of the Palestinians were from the Bethlehem area. “We even cut our rates by 20%,” adds Kattan. “We’ll review where we are in February.” During the second intifada, he adds, the hotel – then newly opened – shut its doors for four years.
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