For Palestinian Christian Jack Giacaman and his family-owned souvenir shop in Bethlehem, times are hard. Tourists and their purchases that normally bolstered Giacaman's business and Bethlehem's local economy have disappeared since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7. Giacaman said, "We used to get at least 200 visitors a day before the war. Now we get zero." To supplement this lost income, Giacaman said he's prioritizing online sales, but his shop, My Christmas House, is still struggling. "We're trying to keep workers as much as we can, but it's not easy," he said. Between Israel's wartime ban on Palestinian workers, partial salary payments from the Palestinian Authority and a dried-up tourism industry, Giacaman said life in the occupied West Bank is not easy. "For Palestinians living in the West Bank it is a disaster," he said.
