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More Visitors, Fewer Christians in Bethlehem

NPR | By Linda Gradstein
Published December 24, 2007 at 4:00 PM EST

With the revival, albeit tentative, of the Mideast peace process, Christmas in Bethlehem this year is a little more festive than in previous years. Streets are decorated, and tourism is expected to double from last year.

At the same time, Christians continue to emigrate from the West Bank in substantial numbers. The owner of a Christian radio station predicts that in 15 years, there won't be one Christian left in Bethlehem.

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Linda Gradstein
Linda Gradstein has been the Israel correspondent for NPR since 1990. She is a member of the team that received the Overseas Press Club award for her coverage of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the team that received Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism for her coverage of the Gulf War. Linda spent 1998-9 as a Knight Journalist Fellow at Stanford University.
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