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The Project
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The Project
Bethlehem heralded an eternal message to the world: peace on earth and goodwill toward humankind. Let the year 2000 be a transition for the realisation of the dream of all people- peace, love and fraternity everywhere on earth.
Yasser Arafat
President Yasser Arafat launched the Bethlehem 2000 Project at the end of 1996 as a comprehensive development project that builds upon the celebrations that mark the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem and the beginning of the new Millennium. The main goal was to develop Bethlehem and its district and highlight its universal religious and cultural heritage, thus enabling it to attain the place it deserves on the map of world tourism, and restore its status as a universal center for dialogue over issues of concern to the peoples of the world, in conformity with the message that emanated from Bethlehem 2000 years ago.
The Bethlehem 2000 Project welcomed the third millennium by implementing plans that aimed at developing the Palestinian tourism industry that had suffered from three decades of negligence under occupation, as a means to jump-start the Palestinian economy as a whole. Infrastructure projects were implemented; architectural and cultural heritage sites were renovated, and speical effort was made to promote private sector investment in the region. Moreover, a series of cultural, economic and religious events and meetings have been designed to complement each other, with the aim of attracting the largest possible number of tourists.
The Bethlehem 2000 Project was privileged by the significant support of several international institutions, especially the World Bank, UNDP, UNESCO and the European Commission, in addition to many donor countries namely Austria, Belgium, Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the USA.
The projects programme of events has been severely damaged by the Israeli aggression that has broken out in September 2000, and consequent deteriorating security conditions, as most of its elements have either been postponed or cancelled. Most of the components of the Christmas Festival, the main festive event, were cancelled. The exception was the religious ceremonies that would always be recognised, no matter how grave the security conditions might be, in addition to few activities oriented to children. The Project was determined to carry out these activities in order to contribute to efforts aiming at alleviating the tension that Palestinian children are living under. Furthermore, it was intended to stress the fact that the Palestinian people are perseverant and life loving, and therefore will always have enough room in their lives to celebrate their feasts despite their pain. More than a press release has been issued to provide more details.
The Project has not given up hope in the future. It is ambitious that despite the major disruption to this years events programme, the legacy it would leave behind, would be caught up by some interested local party, so that every year, visitors coming to Bethlehem would enjoy a grand programme of festivities during the Christmas season.
Furthermore, other programmes of the Project, that may not be as visible to web visitors as events, have not been stopped despite the grave conditions. The Project is still pursuing its infrastructure, as well as the cultural heritage renovation programmes.
Moreover, the Project has started, together with several local partners and in cooperation with the World Bank, implementing a job creation programme in Bethlehem and its district. The aim of this programme, which is followed up by the Projects infrastructure unit, is to contribute to efforts made at the national Palestinian level to alleviate the soaring unemployment rate among the Palestinian people, resulting from closures imposed by the Israelis over Palestinian territories. This situation, which the Palestinian people are suffering from since September 2000, has had a grave economic impact.
The Project is pleased to announce that it has published a Bethlehem 2000 calendar for the year 2001. The calendar features twelve images of the city of Bethlehem and of some of the most remarkable moments of the millennium celebrations. If you are interested in receiving a copy of our calendar, please contact the following e-mail address: Info@bethlehem2000.org You may be required, though, to cover the postage cost. |
