Just south of Jerusalem, the more-than-3,400-year-old city of Bet Lahem (in Arabic, and Bayt Lahm in Hebrew), with a population around 29,000, gets around 65 percent of its revenue from tourism, and its season peaks during Yuletide as Christians flock to its 6th-century Romanesque Church of the Nativity and other sites, drawn by Bethlemen’s mystique as the purported birthplace of Jesus Christ. And during this time, Mīdān l-mhd (Manger Square) outside the Church of the Nativity is a popular Christmas-Eve gathering place.

Footballkickit