When we went to Israel with the ACU in June we went to Bethlehem. Our Israeli guide Marcello told the group to spend as much money with the Palestinian Christians as possible. The Christians were starving since the 2000 intifada was declared and tourism dropped off. Christians were once 90% of the the population. Now they number between 5-10% of the populace. We found the area to be safe. We ate in one huge facility that could have sat 500 folks easily. When I asked the owner how business was he said it was just begining to come back. He said in 2000 one had to wait over an hour to eat. Now were the only folks in the restaraunt. The below article from George Weigel explains more about the fate of the Christian Palestinians. Read More »