Roman Catholic nuns pass by Israeli soldiers on route to Christmas celebrations in the West Bank city of Bethlehem December 24, 2004. REUTERS/ Gil Cohen Magen

Bethlehem, West Bank—There are two Christmas wishes on everyone’s lips in Bethlehem this year - the traditional call for peace and the hope that tourists will once again come to celebrate Christmas in the town where Jesus was born.

“I have no work because there are no tourists in Bethlehem,” complained tour guide Haitham abu Qarboush, one of thousands of Bethlehem residents who earn their income directly from the tourist trade as guides, hotel owners and souvenir makers and sellers.

Four years of violence with Israel have kept tourists away from the once bustling town which became a virtual war zone. Now that the situation is calmer, the residents hope the tourists will no longer be afraid to visit and the local economy will pick up.

“The tourists are coming back but not as before. Even when they visit Bethlehem, they don’t stay there,” said the Rev. Shawki Baterian, a spokesman for the Latin Patriarchate of the Catholic Church. “They go in the morning and return to Jerusalem in the evening. They don’t stay in the hotels, eat in the restaurants or buy in the shops.”

The dearth of tourists over the past few years has meant that some residents of Bethlehem have earned so little money that they have not been able to afford Christmas presents for their children.

The few tourists who did visit before Christmas said they were pleasantly surprised at the tranquillity in the town where life continues as normal despite a military checkpoint separating it from Jerusalem and occasional army sweeps for militants responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks.

“Before my trip I’d always thought that there was violence in Bethlehem. But I don’t see it at all,” said Dennis Small, a visitor from the United States. “It is a peaceful and spiritual city and it’s wonderful to be here for Christmas.”

He was among a handful of hardy tourists who visited Bethlehem ahead of Christmas. A tourism official who was counting the pilgrims in Manger Square said that on average about 150 tourists visited the town daily. The number was expected to rise as Christmas approaches.

Before the Palestinian uprising began in 2000, about 150 bus loads of tourists would have visited the town in the weeks before Christmas. An enormous bus station built near Manger Square before the uprising to garage the plethora of tourist buses stands virtually empty, testament to the toll the uprising has wreaked on the tourism industry.

But officials said the numbers of tourists visiting Bethlehem this year was higher than they had been for four years.

Souvenir shop owners, who boarded up their stores for much of the past four years, have reopened and bought new stock to replace the yellowing postcards and dusty souvenirs in the hope tourists will return now that quiet prevails in the town.

“This year I have invested in a lot of stock such as olive-wood nativity sets and icons,” said souvenir salesman Nasser Alawi, “because we hope there will be many tourists joining us in Bethlehem this Christmas.”