WEST BANK: Middle east envoy Tony Blair sleeps in Bethlehem to show Holy Land is safe

Record ID: 562444

  • Title: WEST BANK: Middle east envoy Tony Blair sleeps in Bethlehem to show Holy Land is safe
  • Date: 13th December 2007
  • Summary: (MER1)BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (DECEMBER 11, 2007) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENE) EXTERIOR OF PALESTINIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DECORATED FOR CHRISTMAS TOURISM POSTER VARIOUS OF MIDDLE EAST ENVOY TONY BLAIR MEETING PALESTINIAN TOURISM MINISTER VARIOUS OF BLAIR BEING BRIEFED ON ARTS AND CRAFTS MADE IN BETHLEHEM VARIOUS OF BLAIR LOOKING AT TRADITIONAL ART CRAFTS BLAIR ATTENDING PRESS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIDDLE EAST PEACE ENVOY TONY BLAIR SAYING: "My message to people is very simple and I try to illustrate that message by coming back here to Bethlehem, having visited before. I have come back to Bethlehem, I'll spend the the night here in Bethlehem. It is a safe and good place to come and to visit. Israel and Palestine are safe destinations for tourists to come." BLAIR ADDRESSING PRESS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 28th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAC0BKEVX3M3K20XGRR3HPT90VP
  • Story Text: Middle East Envoy Tony Blair promotes tourism to the Holy Land during a visit to the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem.
    Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair sleept overnight in a Bethlehem hotel on Tuesday (December 11) to show the world the Holy Land is safe and ready to receive tourists.
    Blair has been charged with boosting the Palestinian economy as part of a drive to end the conflict with Israel and is working to improve tourist access and facilities at the West Bank Palestinian city of Bethlehem, revered as the birth place of Jesus.
    The former British prime minister said he wanted to send a message that Bethlehem and other biblical sites in the Holy Land -- many of which have long been deemed too dangerous for tourists -- are safe.

    "I'm trying to illustrate that message by coming ... to spend the night here in Bethlehem," Blair told a news conference at one of the city's smartest hotels. "It's a safe and good place to come and visit."
    Bethlehem for years relied on tourists for its economic lifeblood -- especially at Christmas -- but the steady stream of pilgrims dried up when the second Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000.
    Tourism has picked up this year after violence abated and thanks in part to efforts by church leaders to convince pilgrims to visit. Bethlehem's mayor said tourist numbers so far this year were at their highest level since 2000.
    But few visitors spend the night. Most arrive in tour buses and stay long enough to tour the Church of the Nativity and visit a souvenir shop selling olive wood crucifixes, before being ferried back across the Israeli checkpoint.
    Residents of Bethlehem say Israel's towering West Bank security barrier blocking the main road from Jerusalem deters tourists and stifles the economy.
    Israel says the barrier is needed to keep suicide bombers away from its cities.
    Israel and the Palestinians are due on Wednesday to hold their first formal talks since relaunching a long-stalled peace push at a U.S.-hosted conference last month.
    Blair represents the Quartet of powers engaged in Middle peacemaking -- the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia.
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