They miss out on much of the town – its market, museums and many restaurants – and rarely go anywhere else in Palestine. Room at Bethlehem Historical MuseumPalestine’s key museums are in Ramallah, an hour’s journey by bus from Bethlehem. The Palestinian Museum is also nearby, as is the highly recommended Mahmoud Darwish museum, dedicated to the poet who became a voice of the Palestinian resistance. To get from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, tourists must show a passport and visa at a checkpoint, but they don’t face the same travel restrictions as Palestinians living in the West Bank. For Kattan, and many others in Bethlehem, tourism is a way to protect and promote Palestine’s heritage – its food and historic buildings.

Source: The Guardian December 18, 2019 06:22 UTC