Here's a story I'm working on about a souvenir shop in Bethlehem. I profiled this shop just outside the Church of the Nativity to show how the second Intifada affected the West Bank's economy by crushing the tourism industry and how it's just now starting to recover. If you've got the time, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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Efram Shahin sits on tiny stool in the backroom of his souvenir shop. With limestone walls and a vaulted ceiling the room looks like the storeroom of a European castle. “This used to be a café,” says Efram. “I made a sign for it and everything. I called it ‘The Cave.’”

Remnants of the Cave line the stonewalls: stacks of plastic chairs, wooden stools with wicker-woven seats, tabletops, a stuffed eagle and other assorted decorations. He had shut down the cafe when the second Intifada made most tourists too uncomfortable to visit Bethlehem.

Efram’s souvenir shop is still functional, but over the last five years it fell into disorder. Rugs and t-shirts are carelessly stuffed into a display case, broken items left on display and dust coats the olive carvings and other knick knacks in Efram’s store. “If tourists bought dust I’d be a rich man,” jokes Efram.

Tourism has always been critical to Bethlehem's economy. Before the Intifada hotels, souvenir shops, restaurants, religious crafts production, and travel and tour guide agencies employed 18% of Bethlehem’s workers. In 2000 an average of 91,726 tourists visited Bethlehem per month compared to 7,249 a month in 2004. The drastic decline has decimated Bethlehem’s economy.

Like most souvenir vendors in Bethlehem, for the last five years Efram has struggled to cope. According to him and other merchants, guides told the few tourists who ventured to Bethlehem that the old market was unsafe and discouraged shopping there.

“He used to be skinny,” says Efram’s nephew Mike. Catching tourists outside the Church of the Nativity and luring them to his shop kept Efram, a short man no more than 5’7”, at a lean 145 pounds. Now he has a potbelly and won’t admit his weight. He blames his paunch on years spent playing dominos and drinking tea because there weren’t any tourists to pursue.

When Isrealis were allowed to travel to the West Bank, Efram, like many other Bethlehem shopkeepers made several Jewish friends. During the Siege of Bethlehem one of Efram’s Israeli friends drove all the way from Tel Aviv to give Efram money and food.

“Not all of your fingers are the same,” says Efram offering a Palestinian proverb. Having had several close relationships with Israeli Jews, he feels that most Israelis are good people. More than anything he just wants a peaceful situation that will bring tourists back to Bethlehem and the West Bank. “Make peace, goddamn it!” Efram often exclaims.

But things might once again be looking up for Efram and other Palestinians who rely on tourism. Vendors say that everyday increasingly more tour buses arrive and in November 33,358 tourists visited Bethlehem. Although numbers are still far from what they once were, vendors are preparing for a turn around.

“I’ve seen a difference in just the last two weeks,” says Efram. For three days Efram and his nephew Mike have been cleaning and reorganizing the souvenir shop. They cleared out broken and unsalable merchandise, dusted shelves, reorganized religious trinkets, and created elaborate displays. Then Efram restocked his store with a variety of goods he purchased on credit.

While Mike enjoys helping his uncle, he often feels frustrated and bored. A legal technicality prevented Mike from accepting a four-year scholarship to study at North Park University in Chicago. Born in Jerusalem, Mike is required to have a Jerusalem ID. To get an ID, Mike would need to establish residency in Jerusalem by renting an apartment there for two years. At the present time he’s uncertain whether he’d be able to incur the expense. His uncle also worries that living away from his family in big city like Jerusalem Mike might start using drugs. “In Jerusalem, they do drugs like we drink coffee,” says Efram.

The Palestinian Authority legally cannot provide Mike with an ID either. So, without an ID, Mike is unable to leave Bethlehem and study in Chicago. Unable to find work, he spends his days helping his uncle.

On occasion Mike’s friend ‘Ala helps. ‘Ala graduated from Bethlehem University last spring with a degree in sociology and media studies. Though he began looking for work early last year, he has been unable to find a job. Sometimes he can make money painting Jewish homes in the nearby Israeli settlement.

“I got a college degree so I could paint houses,” says ‘Ala. He helps Efram and Mike clean the shop to fight off the boredom of unemployment.

While Mike and ‘Ala create a new t-shirt display, Efram brings in a group of about eight American tourists. They buy four dollars worth of olive wood crosses and return to the church. That will be Efram’s only sale of the day.

As the sun begins to set everyone sits outside the shop on old wooden stools from the Cave. Efram is pleased with his newly organized and re-stocked store. In the last week he’s made enough money to buy a jar of Nescafe. He prepares a cup for Mike, ‘Ala, and himself. The three of men sit in front of the shop and wait for the next tour group to arrive.