A giant Christmas tree takes pride of place in Bethlehem's Manger Square, between the Church of the Nativity and a mosque adorned with lights cascading down its walls.

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But there is more to the Palestinian city than its biblical significance, say organizers of the Bethlehem Cultural Festival, which promotes other aspects of the place revered as the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

The annual festival features dance, music, art and culinary events in a city whose main source of income – overseas tourists – has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic.

"Around Christmas, the world prays to Bethlehem, but actually most people don't know that Bethlehem is in Palestine," said festival participant and chef Fadi Kattan as he selected fresh mint from a vegetable market.

"I cook, Umm Nabil sells herbs, there are dance troops, there are artists," he says.

Bethlehem lies five miles south of Jerusalem in Area A, which means it falls under the administrative control of the Palestinian Authority.

For festival co-founder, Abdelfattah Abusrour, its aim is to show the world that Bethlehem exists as a living city outside the pages of history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"It's not just a religious place," Abusrour said. "It's full of life, culture, art, beauty, hospitality and generosity of people – despite living under occupation."

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Tourists hoping to visit Jerusalem or Tel Aviv after Israel's announcement last week that it would open to some vaccinated foreign travelers should read the fine print before booking, local hoteliers say.

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The new rules, due to go into effect on Nov. 1 ahead of the Christmas season, permit individual tourists who have received COVID-19 vaccine boosters to enter but not if more than six months have passed since their last dose, with some exceptions.

That has tempered excitement among hoteliers hoping for some improvement around 20 months after Israel banned most foreigners to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

"How many tourists out in the world have actually gotten boosters or are sitting in that six-month period following their second dose?" Israel Hotel Association CEO Yael Danieli said.

"Even if both parents in a family are vaccinated, their children under 12 are not, so they mostly can't come to Israel."

Israel has offered third doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab to all residents over 12. Other countries, including the United States, have begun administering vaccine boosters but in many cases only to the elderly or people with underlying medical conditions.

That means many would-be travelers whose last dose was before May 1 cannot enter Israel.

Hotel owners in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Nazareth say they have yet to see a large increase in bookings.

The entry rules also apply to visitors looking to visit Bethlehem in the West Bank.

"It is a great step to start, but I am not expecting big numbers until next year," said Joey Canavati, manager of Bethlehem's Alexander Hotel. "At the moment we just want to stop the bleeding, stop digging into our savings."

Tourism dropped over 80% in 2020 after hitting a record high of 4.55 million visitors in 2019 that contributed $7.2 billion to Israel's economy and boosted tourism-dependent Bethlehem.

The new rules, which await ratification, include some exemptions.

Entry will be granted to travelers, including children, who recovered from COVID-19 in the six months before their visit. Anyone who recovered earlier will also be admitted if they received at least one vaccine dose approved by the World Health Organization.

In recent months, Israel has allowed in small groups of vaccinated tourists. The new rules exempt such groups from the six-month requirement, so long as members take PCR or antigen tests every 72 hours for the first two weeks of their stay.

Danieli is urging the government to apply similar rules to individual tourists.

"We just want to make it easier for tourists, so they come back. We can't say how many will be able to come with these rules," he said.

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Bethlehem on Thursday ushered in Christmas Eve with a stream of joyous marching bands and the triumphant arrival of the top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land, but few people were there to greet them as the coronavirus pandemic and a strict lockdown dampened celebrations in the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

Similar subdued scenes were repeated across the world as the festive family gatherings and packed prayers that typically mark the holiday were scaled back or canceled altogether.

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In Australia, worshippers had to book tickets online to attend socially distanced church services. The Philippines prohibited mass gatherings and barred extended families from holding traditional Christmas Eve dinners. Traditional door-to-door children's carols were canceled in Greece.

On Christmas Eve in Italy, church bells rang earlier than usual. The Italian government's 10 p.m. curfew prompted pastors to move up services, with "Midnight" Mass starting Thursday evening in some churches as early as a couple hours after dark. Pope Francis, who has said people "must obey" civil authorities' measures to fight the spread of COVID-19, fell in line. This year, the Christmas vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica was moved up from 9:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Normally, seats at the vigil Mass are quickly snapped up, by Romans and by tourists, but the pandemic has reduced tourists in Italy to a trickle. In keeping with social distancing measures, barely 200 faithful – instead of several thousand – spaced out in the basilica's pews and wearing masks, attended Francis' celebration of the Mass. A row of fiery red poinsettia plants warmly contrasted with the sumptuous cold marble of the basilica.

Francis in his homily offered reflections on Christmas' significance. "We often hear it said that the greatest joy in life is the birth of a child. It is something extraordinary and it changes everything," he said. A child "makes us feel loved but can also teach us how to love."

"God was born a child in order to encourage us to care for others," said Francis, who has made attention to the poor and unjustly treated a key theme of his papacy.

Celebrations elsewhere in Europe were canceled or greatly scaled back as virus infections surge across the continent and a new variant that may be more contagious has been detected.

In Athens, Christmas Eve was eerily silent. In normal times, voices of children singing carols while tinkling metal triangles can be heard all day. The decades-old custom, in which children go house to house and receive small gifts, was banned this year. Groups of children managed to honor the tradition by singing to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis by video link – including students from a school for children with hearing difficulty who performed in sign language.

Throughout the pandemic, one of the hardest-hit churches in New York City has been Saint Peter's Lutheran Church in Manhattan. Church leaders say more than 60 members of the congregation – which numbered about 800 before the pandemic – have died of COVID-19, almost all of them part of the community of some 400 who attended services in Spanish.

Despite their own heartbreaks, congregation members – many of them immigrants – donated coats, scarves and other winter clothes for more than 100 migrant minors at a detention center in Manhattan.

While many other New York City churches have resumed in-person services, Saint Peter's continues to offer its Masses only online. The schedule for Christmas Eve and Christmas day included Masses in English and Spanish, and a bilingual jazz vespers service.

In Bethlehem, officials tried to make the most out of a bad situation.

"Christmas is a holiday that renews hope in the souls," said Mayor Anton Salman. "Despite all the obstacles and challenges due to corona and due to the lack of tourism, the city of Bethlehem is still looking forward to the future with optimism."

Raw, rainy weather added to the gloomy atmosphere, as several dozen people gathered in the central Manger Square to greet Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Youth marching bands playing Christmas carols on bagpipes, accompanied by pounding drummers, led a joyous procession ahead of the patriarch's arrival early in the afternoon.

"Despite the restrictions and limitations we want to celebrate as much as possible, with family, community and joy," said Pizzaballa, who was to lead a small Midnight Mass gathering later in the evening. "We want to offer hope."

Thousands of foreign pilgrims usually flock to Bethlehem for the celebrations. But the closure of Israel's international airport to foreign tourists, along with Palestinian restrictions banning intercity travel in the areas they administer in the West Bank, kept visitors away.

The restrictions limited attendance to residents and a small entourage of religious officials. Evening celebrations, when pilgrims normally congregate around the Christmas tree, were canceled, and Midnight Mass was limited to clergy.

The coronavirus has dealt a heavy blow to Bethlehem's tourism sector, the lifeblood of the local economy. Restaurants, hotels and gift shops have been shuttered.

Australians had until recently been looking forward to a relatively COVID-19-free Christmas after travel restrictions across state borders relaxed in recent weeks in the absence of any evidence of community transmission. But after new cases were detected over the past week, states again closed their borders.

South Koreans woke up Christmas morning to learn that their coronavirus crisis has taken another turn for the worse as officials shut down ski resorts and national parks, restricted hotel occupancy and set fines for restaurants accepting large groups to arrest a viral surge that has spiked occupancy and deaths.

"The last week of the year that begins with Christmas is normally a time where people gather and share their affection with one another, but it's hard to see that this year in any parts of the world," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, the government's No. 2 behind President Moon Jae-in, said during a virus meeting.

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Song Ju-hyeon, a resident in Paju, near Seoul, who is expecting a child in February, said home is the only place she feels safe as the virus continues to slam the capital area.

"It doesn't feel like Christmas anyway, there's no carols being played on the streets," she said. "There's so much transmission going on, and you just can't tell who's carrying the virus or not as it also spreads without symptoms. Christmas doesn't mean much anyway when it's this scary to go out."

While many places around the globe were keeping or increasing restrictions for Christmas, Lebanon was an exception. With its economy in tatters and parts of its capital destroyed by a massive Aug. 4 port explosion, Lebanon has lifted most virus measures ahead of the holidays, hoping to encourage spending. Tens of thousands of Lebanese expatriates have arrived home for the holidays, leading to fears of an inevitable surge in cases during the festive season.

Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East – about a third of its 5 million people – and traditionally celebrates Christmas with much fanfare.

"People around us were tired, depressed and depleted, so we said let's just plant a drop of joy and love," said Sevine Ariss, one of the organizers of a Christmas fair along the seaside road where the explosion caused the most damage.

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Thousands of pilgrims descend upon Bethlehem during the holiday season, but this year the coronavirus has cast a pall over the Christmas celebrations.

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Restaurants, hotels and souvenir shops are closed. The renowned Christmas tree lighting service will be limited to a small group of authorized people, as will church services on Christmas Eve.

Bethlehem's mayor, Anton Salman, said the famed Christmas tree lighting, scheduled on Thursday, will be limited to just 15 guests, including local mayors, the district governor and the Latin Patriarch and other clergy.

Midnight Mass, a solemn event led by the Latin Patriarch that is usually attended by religious leaders, local VIPs and hundreds of pilgrims from around the world, has also been scaled back, Salman said.

"No one can hold the responsibility of inviting large numbers of people to Christmas events," he said. "Nothing will be the same during the pandemic."

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The announcement by the PA tourism ministry threatened to devastate the vital tourism industry in the town where Jesus is believed to have been born. The spread of the virus across the Middle East has already disrupted worship at other major holy sites.

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Israeli officials said they were working closely with their Palestinian counterparts to contain the virus. COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian matters, said it had delivered 250 test kits to the Palestinians and was coordinating joint training sessions for Israeli and Palestinian medical workers.

For the time being, other major places of worship in the Holy Land remained open. Israeli officials said there were no special precautions at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, though hand sanitizing stations were placed at the site.

"In this time of distress, there is nothing more appropriate than coming to pray at the Western Wall," said Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi who oversees the site.

The nearby Al Aqsa mosque compound was expected to welcome 50,000 worshipers for Friday prayers. The Islamic Waqf, which administers the site, said the buildings have been disinfected and the sermon would be brief.

Israel, which has 17 confirmed virus cases, has taken strict measures in a bid to stave off an outbreak, including banning the entry of visitors from around 10 countries.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government will set up an "emergency cash flow assistance fund" for businesses deemed essential to the economy.

The Church of the Nativity was closed after suspicions that four Palestinians had caught the virus, prompting a flurry of measures that included banning all tourists from PA-controlled areas in Judea and Samaria for an unspecified amount of time and shutting down other places of worship in Bethlehem for two weeks.

The PA health ministry later said a total of seven Palestinians from Bethlehem have tested positive for the virus, the first cases reported in the Palestinian territories.

It said the seven worked at a hotel where a group of Greek tourists stayed during a tour of Israel and the PA in late February. The tourists tested positive for the virus after returning to Greece.

Built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born in a manger, the Church of the Nativity is one of several tourist and holy sites to shut their doors over concerns about the virus, which has infected tens of thousands of people and killed more than 3,000 globally.

Just before 4 p.m. on Thursday, a bearded clergyman walked outside and locked the church's wooden door with a large key. A team of workers dressed in white overalls arrived with jugs of cleaning materials and walked through a side entrance to disinfect the building. Tariq al-Ali, one of the workers, said it was the second time his team disinfected the church.

"We have disinfected many institutions in the past week. We are under pressure," he said.

Saif Saboh, a Palestinian tour guide, said a number of groups had canceled visits in recent days. He said he has stopped shaking hands or getting too close to tourists. "I'm terrified," he said. "Any tourist could be infected."

The virus has disrupted Muslim worship across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia banned pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca, while Iran has canceled Friday's Islamic prayers in major cities. Iraq canceled Friday prayers in Karbala, where a weekly sermon is delivered on behalf of the country's top Shiite cleric.

The Church of the Nativity receives some 10,000 tourists a day, according to Palestinian officials, and is expected to welcome tens of thousands of visitors during the Easter season.

Elias al-Arja, the head of the Bethlehem hotel owners union, angrily accused authorities of caving in to panic. "This will cause huge damage to the economy. We have 3,000 workers in the tourist sector and they will all go home. Who is going to feed their families?" he said.

Anton Suleiman, the mayor of Bethlehem, acknowledged the economic impact, but said "public safety is the most important thing to us."

More than 3,740 cases have been confirmed across the Middle East. Iran and Italy have the world's highest death tolls outside of China.

Iran, the epicenter of the virus in the region, announced that it would set up checkpoints to limit travel between major cities and urged citizens to reduce their use of paper money to help slow the outbreak, which has killed at least 107 people in the country.

Iranian state TV also reported that Hossein Sheikholeslam, a 68-year-old diplomat who was an adviser to Iran's foreign minister, became the latest senior official to die of the coronavirus.

In Iran, Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced his country's latest restrictions, saying schools and universities will remain closed through Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on March 20. "We will strictly control comings and goings," he said.

United States Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said Thursday the US offered humanitarian assistance to Iran to help them deal with the outbreak, but "the regime rejected the offer."

Hook, speaking at a news conference in Paris, also said the US has asked Iran to release American detainees "on medical furlough" over fears the coronavirus may be infesting the country's prisons.

Earlier on Thursday, the United Arab Emirates warned citizens and foreign residents not to travel abroad. The country is home to two major long-haul airlines, Emirates and Etihad, which have encouraged staff to take time off as foreign travel has dropped due to the virus.

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A game shown last Friday asked contestants to identify the location of famous churches. One clue was "Built in 300s AD, the Church of the Nativity."

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Contestant Katie Needle answered, "What is Palestine?" and host Alex Trebek said she was incorrect. Her opponent, Jack McGuire, answered "what is Israel?" and was awarded $200.

The show was immediately attacked on social media. The church, in Bethlehem, is located in Judea and Samaria.

"Jeopardy!" producers, in a statement on the show's website Monday, said they realized the question was problematic and replaced it with another. The outcome of the game was not affected.

However, due to what "Jeopardy!" called human error, the uncorrected version of the pre-taped show was sent to television stations by mistake.

"We regret the error and we will make sure this never happens again," the show said in a statement.

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The artwork, named "Scar of Bethlehem," depicts the birth of Jesus under Israel's West Bank security barrier with a bullet hole shaped like a star. The piece is displayed at The Walled Off Hotel, a Palestinian guesthouse in Bethlehem that was designed by Banksy and is filled with his artwork.

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Wisam Salsa, the hotel manager, said the British artist recently sent the new piece to the hotel.

"We see there is a scar," he said. "A hole on the wall marks the wall and the life in Bethlehem."

The hotel, which overlooks the separation barrier, sarcastically boasts "the worst view in the world." Since its opening in 2017, it has become a popular tourist draw.

"Banksy is trying to remind the world that people of Bethlehem, where Christmas was started, are not celebrating Christmas like the rest of the world," he said.

Israel built its security barrier in the early 2000s to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers in the West Bank from reaching Israel. It has saved countless Israeli lives. The Palestinians consider the barrier illegal and call it an Israeli land grab, noting that it has engulfed large chunks of the West Bank onto the Israeli "side."

Bethlehem has been affected especially hard by the barrier, which surrounds large parts of the city.

Tourists flocked to the hotel Sunday to see the Nativity scene and other works by Banksy as part of their visit to the city during the peak Christmas season.

Rafael Edelmuller, a 37-year-old tourist from London, said he was looking forward to seeing the art after seeing most of Banksy's work in Amsterdam and London.

"So we saw the Church of Nativity and then the second thing that we wanted to see was the wall with the Banksy hotel and the artwork," Edelmuller said.

The British street artist, who carefully protects his anonymity, is believed to have made several past appearances in the Palestinian territories.

In one work, a mural of a girl pulled upward by balloons was painted on the security barrier facing the hotel. Banksy also is believed to have sneaked into the Gaza Strip to draw four murals there. One was painted on a remaining piece of a building destroyed during the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas terrorist group and featured the Greek goddess Niobe cowering against the rubble of a destroyed house.

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Until its notice just two days before the holiday, it was unclear whether Israel would grant permits to members of Gaza's tiny Christian community to leave the Hamas-ruled coastal territory.

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COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said the permits would be issued "in accordance with security assessments and without regard to age."

COGAT had earlier said that Israel had not yet decided whether to issue the permits en masse and was considering individual permit requests. COGAT said it also was allowing 100 Christians from Gaza to travel abroad.

In previous years, Israel has granted travel permits to large numbers of Gaza Christians to visit religious sites and spend time with family in Israel and the West Bank.

About 1,000 Christians live in Gaza, a tiny fraction of the territory's 2 million people. Most are Greek Orthodox, with Catholics making up about a quarter of the small community.

While the ruling Islamic terrorist organization Hamas considers the Christians a protected minority, they have been targeted over the years by Islamists. The Christian community has greatly dwindled since Hamas took power in 2007, with large numbers emigrating to flee conflict and difficult living conditions.

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Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa said he wanted to bring some holiday cheer to Gaza's Christians because it remains unclear whether they will be able to travel to Bethlehem in Judea and Samaria for the holiday. Israel has not said whether it will allow Gaza's Christians to exit the Hamas-ruled territory.

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"Every year we have the same problem, the permits to go from Gaza to Bethlehem and vice versa. We know that Gaza is closed and we can't accept the situation," Pizzaballa said. "We will do everything possible to change it, but meanwhile despite the situation – we want to celebrate."

In previous years, Israel has granted travel permits to large numbers of Gaza Christians to visit religious sites and spend time with family in Israel and the West Bank.

But this year, COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said it has not yet decided whether to issue the permits en masse. COGAT said, however, it is considering individual permit requests. It also is allowing 100 Christians to travel abroad.

About 1,000 Christians live in Gaza, a tiny fraction of the territory's 2 million people. Most are Greek Orthodox, with Catholics making up about a quarter of the small community.

While the ruling terrorist organization Hamas considers the Christians a protected minority, Christians have been targeted over the years by Islamists. The Christian community has greatly dwindled since Hamas took power in 2007, with large numbers emigrating.

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But in recent years a new form of tourism has taken root, focused on the town's Palestinian residents, their culture and history and their struggles.

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As pilgrims descend on Bethlehem this Christmas, they have the option of staying in restored centuries-old guesthouses, taking food tours of local markets, and perusing the dystopian art in and around a hotel designed by the British graffiti artist Banksy.

The centerpiece of tourism, and the focus of Christmas celebrations in the coming weeks, is the 6th-century Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Jesus is believed to have been born in a manger. Extensive renovations in recent years have saved the roof from collapse and revealed colorful wall mosaics depicting angels and saints.

Earlier this month, the Vatican returned a small part of what Christians believe to be the original manger, which was sent to Rome as a gift to the pope in the 7th century. The thumb-sized relic, displayed in an ornate silver case, can be seen in a chapel adjoining the church.

In Manger Square, just outside the church, a massive Christmas tree has been set up and festivities are planned in the coming weeks as various denominations hold staggered Christmas celebrations. On Jan. 7, Bethlehem will host an international Santa convention.

The Palestinian Tourism Ministry expects 3.5 million visitors to Bethlehem in 2019, up from 3 million the previous year, and many think there is still room for growth.

"The general situation in Palestine and the Holy Land is that there is very good security, better than most countries in the world, and so the people are visiting," said Elias Al Arja, chairman of the local hotel association.

He noted that while the Holy Land includes the most important sites in Christianity, including the places where tradition says Christ was born, where he grew up, was crucified and resurrected, it attracts far fewer visitors than the Vatican.

"We have the opportunity to draw more people," he said.

Religious tourism is a boon for the local economy, but many Palestinians feel the city's modern residents are largely ignored.

Visitors traveling to Bethlehem pass through an IDF checkpoint and then drive along Israel's security barrier, which was erected during the Second Intifada of the early 2000s. Bethlehem itself is almost completely surrounded by the barrier and a string of Israeli settlements.

The town's predicament is on vivid display in and around The Walled-Off Hotel, which was designed by Banksy and opened in 2017. The hotel looks out on the security barrier, which itself is covered with artwork, graffiti, and panels. Inside, a number of Banksy pieces are depicted in a haunting lobby, which this time of year is dimly lit with Christmas lights.

The hotel offers weekly performances by local musicians and daily tours of a nearby Palestinian refugee camp. Tours of Banksy's public artwork elsewhere in the town can be organized on request.

A different form of alternative tourism, conceived by Palestinians themselves, can be found in the city center, just a few hundred meters (yards) from the church. There the municipality, with Italian aid, has restored an 18th-century guesthouse and rented it out to Fadi Kattan, a French Palestinian chef.

The Hosh Al-Syrian Guesthouse includes 12 tastefully furnished rooms ranging from $80-$150 a night. At its Fawda [Arabic for "chaos"] Restaurant, Kattan uses local ingredients to cook up traditional Palestinian cuisine with a modern twist.

"My vision was to say religious tourism will promote itself by itself, it doesn't need the private sector to promote it," he said.

"Let's promote everything else. Let's promote our food, let's promote our culture, let's promote our history."

Kattan is especially keen to promote Palestinian cuisine, which he says has been appropriated by Israeli chefs and food writers. However, as with nearly everything else having to do with the Middle East conflict, there are two sides: Israeli cuisine owes much to Jewish immigrants from ancient communities across the Middle East and North Africa.

The guesthouse partners with a local group known as Farayek to offer food tours in which visitors wander through the local market, meeting farmers, butchers and bakers before having lunch at the guesthouse. Another program includes cooking classes taught by a Palestinian grandmother.

"What I was hoping to achieve is to have people stay three nights in Bethlehem, to have people go to the fruit and vegetable market, to have people meet the people of Bethlehem, not just the very short tour into the city," he said.

When the guesthouse opened in 2014, the average stay was one night, but now it has risen to three-and-a-half nights, with steady occupancy throughout the low season, Kattan said.

A handful of other restored guesthouses have also opened in recent years, including Dar al-Majus, Arabic for House of the Maji, named for the three kings said to have visited the manger after Christ was born.

The guesthouse is part of a wider initiative by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and a local association to support the Christian community, which like others across the Middle East has dramatically dwindled in recent decades.

A local family living next to the guesthouse cooks breakfast and traditional meals for guests, and the guesthouse employs members of another two families. The guesthouse mostly supplies itself from the local market, and there are plans to expand to another restored house in the old quarter next year.

Bethlehem's mayor, Anton Salman, expects the recent growth in tourism to continue.

"Each season is more active and more organized and more attractive for the local community in Palestine and for the tourists," he said.

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