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Christmas celebrations return to Bethlehem for the first time in two years, bringing fragile hope to a Palestinian city devastated by war and economic collapse.

The tourism shutdown forced unemployment to spike from 14% to 65%, devastating businesses that depend on holiday visitors and pilgrims.

Despite returning tourists and holiday decorations, Israeli military tensions and settler violence continue to shadow celebrations in the occupied West Bank territory.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — For the last two Christmases, John Juka’s family restaurant looked about the same as any business in Bethlehem: closed and eerily empty.

But on Saturday evening, it bustled with families and was ill

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