Fatah congress boosts biblical city's economy

by Saud Abu Ramadan and Emad Drimly

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- It has never come to George Handal's mind, who owns a humble souvenir shop in Bethlehem, that the general congress of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's party held here since Tuesday would revive the city's dull economy.

Handal, a 45-year-old Palestinian Christian, said since the sixth Fatah general congress started, he has been opening his shop round the clock, "The conference stimulated the commercial activities which had been static for several years."

As the congress kicked off in the biblical city in southern part of West Bank, around 2,200 members from home and abroad, in addition to 80 delegations coming from Arab and other foreign countries, came to stay at the city's hotels. Many of them toured the city for shopping or sight-seeing.

"Even the commercial movement at last Christmas was not as huge as it is now," said Handal. The economic and commercial situation as well as tourism were badly affected after the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, erupted against Israel in late September 2000.

Handal's store is located at the end of al-Kurkuffa Street, a bit far from where Fatah general congress is held. The congress is still held at the Tarasanta College in the city's downtown, close to the Church of Nativity where Jesus Christ was born, amid heavy security presence.

Although, Handal's shop is far from where the conference is held, this did not stop customers and tourists from visiting the store. Most of Bethlehem streets are full of traffic, and all the shopping centers, souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants are full of people.

It is the first time in 20 years that the long-awaited congress of the mainstream Fatah movement is held in the Palestinian territories. The conference is expected to close on Tuesday after electing a new central committee and a revolutionary council, according to the organizers.

The city of Bethlehem has its own political and religious importance for the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). It has been so until the second Intifada erupted against Israel when dozens of Israeli army roadblocks suffocated the city, which had a negative impact on its economy.

The city is 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem, and it is surrounded by 35 little villages and has a population of 29,927 people, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.