Dark Days in Bethlehem

摘要

David mansour's ties to the Holy Land have all but unraveled. A Greek Orthodox Christian whose family has lived in Bethlehem for generations, Mansour runs the Christmas Tree Souvenir Shop on Milk Grotto Street, just around the corner from the Church of the Nativity. For years he earned a comfortable living selling olive-wood nativity scenes to religious pilgrims who flocked to Jesus' purported birthplace at a rate of 130,000 a month. But since the start of the Aqsa intifada, tourism has vanished, and so has Mansour's livelihood. "My last customer? I think he came into the shop three weeks ago," he says, blowing dust off a stack of yellowing postcards. Mansour now feeds his family using ration cards distributed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and he cleans the basilica to avoid being evicted by his landlord, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. With his business bankrupt and his hopes for a breatkthrough in the peace process dashed, he's preparing for what was once unthinkable. Next week, Mansour, 36, will immigrate to Italy in search of work. "I'll send for my wife and five kids as soon as I find something," he says.