The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem warmly welcomed UNESCO’s decision on 29 June 2012 to add the Church of the Nativity, located in Bethlehem, to its list of World Heritage Sites. The site also includes the pilgrimage route to Bethlehem.
Prior to this recognition, the city of Bethlehem itself was already listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to the fact that 2 billion Christians venerate the birthplace of Jesus and 1 billion Muslims acknowledge him as a prophet. In short, we are talking about half the world’s population.
This latest decision of UNESCO is also a sign of the Palestinians’ interest in Christian sites and their desire to encourage religious pilgrimages and tourism to these places. Bethlehem, the primary tourist spot of the West Bank, welcomed 2 million visitors in 2011.