PHOTO ESSAY: Workshops empty, Bethlehem carvers fret over second Easter with no tourists

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This article was published 11/04/2025 (274 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bethlehem workshops where carvers toil over small pieces of olive wood sit empty these days.

On most Easters the shops lining the streets of the town known as Jesus’s birthplace would be bustling with tourists. But since the war between Israel and Hamas began, Attalah Zacharia has earned the bulk of his profits from sales to Europe and the United States now threatened by newly imposed American tariffs.

Easter and Christmas celebrations are usually boons for Bethlehem, where tourism accounts for 70% of its annual income.

“Bethlehem as a tourist destination has faced a very difficult period during the last two years,” said Anton Salman, the city’s mayor.

The city has been devoid of visitors and the town’s corps of Palestinian carvers sits in shops surrounded by their wares.

“There is no tourism,” Zacharia said, “so there is no work.”

He’s had to reduce hours to two days a week and go from 25 to 10 workers. His shop, established in the West Bank in 1960, has lost 75% of its business since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that kickstarted the war.

Piles of olive wood brought from other regions of the West Bank sit outside. It’s the traditional material for the carvings, soft enough to be sculpted intricately by handheld tools.

Mini figurines of Jesus on the cross splay across the carving table. Each is slightly different because of the wood’s natural markings.

“Before, of course, the situation was completely normal, the entire crew was working,” says Zacharia, who learned the trade from his father and hopes to pass it onto his son. “I don’t know what the future holds.”

Israel’s war against Hamas has resumed after the latest ceasefire broke down, and there is no end in sight. Tourism to Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank has plummeted and after Israel barred entry to most of the 150,000 Palestinians in the West Bank who had jobs in Israel, the Palestinian economy contracted by 25% in the past year.

Bassem Giacaman, another carver who owns a store looking out directly over Bethlehem’s Manger Square, perks up when a customer enters his factory.

U.S. President Donald Trump put the import taxes imperiling Giacaman’s business on hold for 90 days this week, after they set off a four-day rout in global financial markets, paralyzed businesses and raised fears the U.S. and world economies would tumble into recession.

If the taxes take hold, Giacaman says his business will be seriously harmed. He’s already had two clients put shipments on hold since the tariffs were announced. Most Palestinian exports are subject to the Israeli market, making artisans vulnerable to the potential 17% tax on their goods.

“I’ll have to increase my prices,” he says. “It will be damaging to every business in the West Bank.”

One of Giacaman’s wooden crosses has ended up in Trump’s hands, he says, pointing to a photo on his phone of Trump carrying the miniature crucifix.

While any picture of a world leader holding his wares makes him happy, he says neither he — nor many other Palestinians — support Trump.

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This story has been amended to fix the transliteration of Zacharia.