25% Fewer Christmas Pilgrims : Crowds in Bethlehem Smaller Than in Past

A smaller than usual crowd of pilgrims greeted Christmas here in the city of Jesus’ birth today as Israeli and Palestinian officials alike expressed their hope that 1986 will bring true peace to the Holy Land.

Visitors crowded into the Church of the Nativity, built over the cave believed to be the birthplace of Christ, and the adjacent Church of St. Catherine for a midnight Mass.

But the spillover into Bethlehem’s Manger Square--where tourists could view the Mass on a large outdoor television screen beneath clear but cold skies--was smaller than last year.

Checked for Weapons

Israeli tourism officials said about 15,000 pilgrims arrived in the country for the Christmas season, about 25% fewer than last year. They blamed the drop on the highly publicized hijackings earlier this year of TWA and EgyptAir airliners and the Achille Lauro cruise ship.

“I was surprised to see it this bad,” one Bethlehem merchant said Tuesday afternoon. “I think it’s the worst I’ve ever seen.”

Only about 30 people dined in the St. George restaurant, and, outside on Manger Square, there was room enough Tuesday afternoon for local children to play soccer. Bethlehem police and Israeli soldiers in full battle gear appeared to outnumber the tourists whom they were protecting against any possible terrorist incident.

Visitors had to pass through police barricades and airport-style metal detectors before being admitted onto the gaily lit central square. Soldiers patrolled the main street leading into town, and others stood guard on rooftops.

“Security doesn’t go with Christmas,” commented Bethlehem Mayor Elias Freij. “I would like to see no security arrangements whatsoever on Christmas. But we live in an abnormal, crazy situation. The situation dictates that you have security arrangements.”

Later Tuesday, Freij hosted his city’s annual Christmas Eve cocktail party, which was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, three other government ministers and U.S. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering.

“Let us all pray that in 1986 there will be peace in the Holy Land, where the Arabs and the Israelis can live in peace, in security, as good neighbors, as free neighbors and equal neighbors, as neighbors who will work hand in hand to improve the quality of life for all the people in the Holy Land,” Freij said in welcoming remarks.

‘An Air of Peace’

In response, Peres said, “There is an air of peace blowing in our region; let us learn to breathe it properly.”

Peres said that since last Christmas, when he became the first Israeli head of government to visit Bethlehem for the holiday celebration, there has been important progress toward peace.

“Since we met here a year ago, there is one war less--the troubling war in Lebanon,” the prime minister said. “And there is one chance more--the completion of an agreement with Egypt. And there is a suggested bridge across the Jordan River--to open negotiations to solve the conflict both with the Jordanian kingdom and the Palestinian people.”

Later, Peres told reporters that “we are closer” to peace at the end of 1985 than at the beginning of the year, then cautioned, “I don’t say we are close enough.” However, he added, “my hopes are very high” for peace in 1986.

Bethlehem’s official Christmas celebrations began early Tuesday afternoon, in a procession led by Boy and Girl Scouts playing drums and bagpipes, a tradition that dates from British rule in Palestine. They were followed by the highest-ranking Roman Catholic official in Israel, Msgr. Giacomo Giuseppe Beltritti, who arrived at the end of a ceremonial five-mile walk from his seat in Jerusalem.

Beltritti was welcomed by Freij in a colorful ceremony near a 40-foot Christmas tree decorated with gold tinsel and red, white and blue stars.

Throughout the day, Christmas carols were broadcast through speakers surrounding Manger Square, and the city imposed a 24-hour ban on liquor sales. Fourteen choirs from 11 countries, including the Stanford University Choir from California, were scheduled to sing on the square Tuesday night.

Typically, those tourists who were present seemed surprised at the extensive security and put off by some of the commercialism of Christmas in Bethlehem, but they said they were thrilled to be here anyway.

“To actually be here where it all happened is like a dream come true,” said Carey Peck, an Australian.

Wanda Meixl from Milford, N.J., told an Associated Press reporter that she and her husband came against the advice of friends. “Many people told us it might be dangerous here, but I said we’re in God’s hands,” she said. “I saw the spot where Jesus was born. For me, it was very emotional.”

An Arab youth dressed in a red and white plastic Santa Claus costume rang a bell and beckoned visitors into Lawrence Hananiya’s new restaurant 100 yards from Manger Square. Hananiya, wearing a cowboy hat, said his restaurant was previously a souvenir shop specializing in olive wood and mother-of-pearl handicrafts.

“But the people don’t pay for these arts today,” he said. “They just pay for eating.”