Thanks to its renown as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem has long since ceased to be the "little town" described in the popular carol. It is instead a city whose 35,000 residents have traditionally been joined by so many pilgrims and tourists that there is often no room in the inns. But the boom and bustle came to a rather sudden halt in December 1987, when the intifadeh arose among the Arabs in Israel's occupied territories. Last Christmas only 5,000 visitors -- half the normal turnout -- attended Bethlehem's elaborate holiday observance. In the year since then, an estimated 300...
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