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BETHLEHEM, Dec. 7-- The tourism-driven economy of the Palestinian West Bank city of Bethlehem thrives during the Christmas season, but Palestinians say they can hardly ignore the Israeli settlement expansion around the city during this year's preparations. The overall area of the Palestinian district of Bethlehem, to the south of the West Bank, is 660 square km, out of which, Palestinians can only use 13 percent, because the rest is in area C, which is under full Israeli control. Around 92 percent of the 210,000 population of the Bethlehem district is confined in the 13-percent area, according to the Bethlehem-based Palestinian NGO, the Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem, which warned of a total devastation of the city in light of the continuation of settlement expansion and land confiscation. Settlement experts at the Institute say that the settlement expansion in the area is more problematic since it is accompanied by checkpoints and the separation wall that restrict access into the city. "There are 23 settlements and 14 outposts that grab the land of Bethlehem, of course. This also takes to a second phase of devastation, which is the checkpoints, the terminals and the bypass roads, which are built to accommodate the settlers' ability to move freely. But, on the other hand, they work towards imprisoning and restricting the residents of Bethlehem," said SuhailKhalilieh, head of settlements monitoring department at the institute. | 
