The deputy mayor speaks about the impact of the Church of the Nativity becoming a World Heritage Site

George Sa'adeh

Christmas celebrations will be special for Bethlehem this year. In June the UN's Cultural Agency, UNESCO, voted to add the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and its pilgrimage route to the list of World Heritage Sites. Paul Calvert spoke with George Sa'adeh, the deputy mayor of Bethlehem, about the impact this will have on the city.

Paul: This year Bethlehem received some good news from the United Nations. The UN Cultural Agency has listed the Nativity Church as an endangered world heritage site. How important is this for the Nativity Church and for Bethlehem?

George: First of all this is great success for the Palestinian and Bethlehem to be listed on the heritage of UNESCO and this will help the Church and help the old city of Bethlehem; first of all to make a protection for the Church and the old city of Bethlehem and also to increase the flow of the tourists, because it will be on the list for more than 900 locations in the world. Then we can also get the help of the UNESCO and the countries that are willing to help maintaining and fixing our old buildings and heritage. We will also succeed to bring the people to the city of Bethlehem which will increase the income of the city of Bethlehem, to take care of these precious locations; the Church of Nativity and Bethlehem, which we consider the capital city of the Christian world.

Paul: Is the Church in danger at the moment?

George: Yes, because it needs some fixing of the roof; it also needs protected and maintained and taken care of.

Paul: Do you think this will bring in more funding from the United Nations?

George: We hope it will bring more funding and to attract more tourists and also to take care of the route of the pilgrimages that Joseph and Mary walked to reach this location of the Church of Nativity. This is a very important location for the whole world and this should have been done many years ago; but as you know, until we got from UNESCO, for Palestine to be part of UNESCO; last December 2011 we want to be recognised by UNESCO and then on the 28th January 2012 we submitted this file and we succeeded finally to get recognised.

Paul: The UN declared it as a Palestinian site. Do you think this is a step closer to a Palestinian State having the UN make such a statement?

George: Of course this is a big step for us, because it is a Palestinian location. It's Bethlehem and its Palestine and I hope this will help to implement justice. I hope this will help in getting our legitimate recognition by the world and by the United Nations and the whole world who believes in justice. I hope it will help in making peace and to end the occupation and to live side by side with our neighbours with mutual respect. This is what we need; we need peace; we need justice and I hope this will open doors for other locations in Palestine to be submitted and to be on the list. I think this is a good step for the Palestinians and for our leaders and I think it will open a big window for us to achieve justice and peace in this area.

Paul: How many tourists do you get coming here every year?

George: We reach around one million visitors every year and we hope this will increase, because Bethlehem as you know is an important city for the Christian world. We hope also for many historical and heritage places here and we hope this will increase more. We hope that many countries will co-operate with us in supporting us; especially a big thank you for UNESCO for their effort and their standing with us and especially the countries that voted for us. I think this is the beginning and we need to work more on this thing.

Paul: How does the average Bethlehemite feel about this decision from UNESCO?

George: This was a very happy moment for them. Who is more important than Bethlehem? To be listed on the heritage is very important for billions of Christians in the whole world and they are very happy for this decision on all levels.

Paul: How long have you been deputy mayor in Bethlehem?