Jesus' birthplace closed to visitors as virus continues to spread

JERUSALEM - The Palestinian government confirmed the first coronavirus cases in the occupied West Bank Thursday and declared a two-week ban on tourists visiting cities and sites including Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

The health ministry said seven cases had been confirmed in the Bethlehem area south of Jerusalem.

"They are now being treated in quarantine," a statement from minister Mai al-Kaila said.

Government officials announced a series of measures in the occupied West Bank, also including the cancellation of major sporting events and other large gatherings.

"We have decided to prevent the entry of tourists for a period of 14 days and to prevent hotels in all cities from receiving foreigners," tourism minister Rula Maayah said.

The Palestinian health ministry said the cases had first been detected at a hotel in the Bethlehem area. The head of the local health directorate, Imad Shahadeh, said that a group of Greek tourists had visited the hotel in late February, with two later diagnosed with the virus.

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

Economic damage

Built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born in a manger, the Church of the Nativity is one of several prominent 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., a bearded clergyman walked outside and locked the church's wooden door with a large key. Just a few foreign tourists milled about outside.

Artur Joba, a Polish tourist visiting with his girlfriend, said he had decided to cut his stay in Bethlehem short and would head to nearby Jerusalem on Friday.

“We decided to leave," he said. “I’m going back to my hotel now to look for a hotel elsewhere.”

Asbed Balian, senior cleric of the Armenian church at the Church of the Nativity, said infected visitors had entered the site.

"People affected by corona visited the church," he said. "It will be closed for 14 days and they are going to spray antiseptics."

Later, 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 and bathes each evening. “I'm terrified," he said. “It is serious and any tourist could be infected.”

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 difficult situation. “Even if this causes huge damage to the economy, public safety is the most important thing to us,” he said.

Schools, universities and mosques in Bethlehem were also closed Thursday, and the Palestine Marathon, scheduled for March 27, has been postponed.

Israel controls all its entry points to the West Bank, but the Palestinian government has limited autonomy in the territory's cities. Israeli officials said they were working closely with their Palestinian counterparts to contain the virus.

COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for coordinating Israel's occupation of Palestinian land, said it had delivered 250 test kits to the Palestinians and was coordinating joint training sessions for Israeli and Palestinian medical workers.

Viral impact

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.

Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz even encouraged more visits. “In this time of distress, there is nothing more appropriate than coming to pray at the Western Wall," he said.

The nearby Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Palestinians as the Haram al-Sharif, was expected to welcome 50,000 worshipers for Friday prayers. The Islamic Waqf, which administers the site, encouraged the faithful to ensure good personal hygiene.

Israel, which so far has 16 confirmed cases of the disease, has imposed stringent measures on many European nations in a bid to contain the disease.

Israel and the United States also scrapped the remainder of a joint military exercise in Germany Thursday. The Israeli army announced that from noon Friday all forces would be prevented from leaving Israel, whether "on personal trips or on duty".

On Thursday, German airline Lufthansa said it and its Austrian and Swiss subsidiaries were canceling flights to and from Israel for three weeks starting Sunday because of Israeli restrictions on incoming tourists. With many tourists to the West Bank flying in through Israel's international airport, Palestinian tourism will also be affected.

The virus has started to shake Israel's tourism industry as well. Israeli airline El Al, which has canceled dozens of flights to countries with outbreaks, announced Wednesday that it was laying off 1,000 employees.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chaired a meeting on the economic impact of the virus. He said the government will set up an “emergency cash flow assistance fund” for businesses deemed essential for the functioning of the economy. He said similar measures may be taken for other businesses as the situation develops.

More than 95,000 people have been infected and over 3,200 have died worldwide from the virus, which by Thursday had reached some 80 countries and territories.

Iran, the epicenter of the virus in the Middle East, meanwhile said 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.

The US official focused on 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. He said Washington was working through Switzerland and could not provide details. The US and Iran have no diplomatic relations.