BETHLEHEM, West Bank, March 5 (Reuters) – The Church of the Nativity was ordered closed on Thursday and foreign tourists were banned from West Bank hotels after four suspected coronavirus cases were found in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem.

The measures announced by the Palestinian Authority’s tourism ministry came as a particular blow to the Biblical town, whose businesses are largely dependent on Christian visitors to the church, built on the traditional site of Jesus’s birth.

Just three months ago Bethlehem was hailing its best Christmas for two decades, the mayor and hoteliers said, even better than the 1.5 million visitors it received in 2018.

The Latin Patriarchate of the Holy Land said the Church of the Nativity, which was first founded in 339 and rebuilt and extended over the centuries, would be closed for two weeks, along with other churches and mosques in the Bethlehem area.

The ban on foreign guests at West Bank hotels will also last two weeks, the tourism ministry said.

“This affects us dramatically,” said Joey Canavati, manager of the 58-room Alexander Hotel in Bethlehem. “Our workers are essentially laid off for the next 14 days. We will be closed down completely. It destroyed our business from every perspective.”

Canavati said groups of tourists from the United States, Poland and Cameroon had already cancelled their bookings.

Palestinian health officials said they were examining whether four workers at another hotel in Bethlehem had contracted coronavirus from tourists who had stayed there recently.

Police surrounded the hotel, as authorities awaited the results of laboratory tests. There have been no confirmed cases of the disease in the West Bank. Fifteen people have been diagnosed with the virus in neighbouring Israel.

The Palestinian governor of the West Bank town of Nablus on Thursday ordered its Muslim and Christian holy sites shut as a public health precaution.

The Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank under interim peace accords.

On Wednesday, Israel ordered travellers arriving from Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Switzerland to go into home quarantine over coronavirus concerns and cancelled a military exercise with troops from the U.S. European Command.

The measure effectively cut off foreign tourism from those countries, whose citizens, the Health Ministry said, would not be allowed into Israel unless they could show they had made quarantine arrangements ahead of time.

Israel has already imposed the edict with regard to flights from Italy, China and Singapore. (Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta, Stephen Farrell and Rami Ayyub; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Alex Richardson)

Source: Reuters

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jonathan Evans, son of pastor Tony Evans and the late Lois Evans, shared how his mother’s faithfulness and perseverance in the face of incurable cancer taught him the importance of staying focused on God’s purposes despite setbacks.

Evans, managing director at The Urban Alternative, spoke at the opening session of the NRB 2020 Christian Media Convention on Feb. 25, just months after his mother died from an incurable form of cancer.

Evans shared how Lois Evans received her cancer diagnosis just a year ago, around the same time Tony Evans was given the NRB Hall of Fame Award. While the Evans family was devastated, Lois encouraged them to refrain from despair and instead stay focused on furthering the Gospel.

“I have every expectation that you will love me and care for me and pray for me and be there with me,” Jonathan Evans recalled his mother saying. “I have every expectation that you will do that as my family, but God has an expectation that you always remember, through thick and thin, that you are here to serve the purposes of God.”

“[She said], ‘Everything from pain and anguish … opposition that comes against you is all a distraction from the reason why you are here,’” he shared. “So will you stand up and hold your head up and you will continue the work of the ministry.”

Every Christian, Evans stressed, would do well to learn from his mother’s faithfulness in the face of suffering.

“Everybody here is facing something where you need to hear a word that says that you are here no matter what you’re going through, no matter what you face. You’re here to serve the purposes of God,” he said. “Do not turn to the left or to the right, we are too close. The Promise Land is right here.”

Evans, who played in the NFL for five years, said that every football player plays on Sunday “thinking about Monday.”

“Why? Every time a player is playing the game they’re thinking about the next day because the next day is where you have to watch the film and be accountable for your previous performance,” he explained.

“You better stay focused, because one day your coach will pull down the screen and turn on the overhead projector and pick up the red pointer and all he would wonder is, ‘Are you out there bearing image of the uniform that I gave you, based on the playbook that I wrote for you? Or were you out there doing your own thing, serving your own purpose?’”

Source: Christian Post

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MOSCOW (AP) – The Turkish and Russian presidents on Thursday sat down for talks in Moscow aimed at ending hostilities in northwestern Syria involving their forces along with proxies that threaten to pit Turkey against Russia in a direct military conflict.
  
Before the latest crisis, President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had managed to coordinate their interests in Syria even though Moscow backed Syrian President Bashar Assad while Ankara supported its foes throughout Syria’s nine-year war. Both Russia and Turkey appear eager to avoid a showdown, but the sharply conflicting interests in Idlib province make it difficult to negotiate a mutually acceptable compromise. 
  
Both leaders underlined the need to reach agreement at the start of the Kremlin talks. Putin said they need to work out steps to end fighting and prevent damage to bilateral relations. Erdogan also voiced hope for finding a settlement and pointed at blossoming Russia-Turkey trade.
  
A Russia-backed Syrian offensive to regain control over Idlib – the last opposition-controlled region in the country – has pushed nearly a million Syrians toward Turkey. Erdogan responded by opening Turkey’s gateway to Europe in an apparent bid to coerce the West to offer more support to Ankara.
  
Turkey has sent thousands of troops into Idlib to repel the Syrian army, and clashes on the ground and in the air that have left dozens dead on both sides. Russia, which has helped Assad reclaim most of the country’s territory, has signaled it wouldn’t sit idle to see Turkey rout his troops.
  
Putin offered his condolences to Erdogan over Turkish losses in a Syrian airstrike, but noted that Syrian troops also suffered heavy losses. 
  
“We need to discuss the situation to prevent any such incidents and also not to damage Russia-Turkey relations that we cherish,” the Russian leader said.
  
“The world’s eye are on us,” Erdogan said. “The steps we will take, the right decisions we will take here today will help ease (concerns in) the region and our countries.”
  
Just before sitting down with Erdogan, Putin discussed the situation in Idlib with European Council head Charles Michel who met the Turkish president in Ankara on Wednesday. The Kremlin said Michel informed Putin about the EU’s efforts to block the flow of migrants.
  
After Turkey had downed several Syrian jets, Moscow warned Ankara that its aircraft would be unsafe if they enter Syrian airspace – a veiled threat to engage Russian military assets in Syria.
  
Russian warplanes based in Syria have provided air cover for Assad’s offensive in Idlib. 
  
Opposition activists in Idlib blamed Russian aircraft for Thursday’s strike on a rebel-held village which they said killed at least 15 people, including children, and wounded several others. The Russian military had no immediate comment on the claim, but it has staunchly denied similar previous claims insisting it hasn’t targeted residential areas.
  
The fighting in Idlib comes as the most severe test to Russia-Turkey ties since the crisis triggered by Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November 2015. Russia responded with an array of sweeping economic sanctions, cutting the flow of its tourists to Turkey and banning most Turkish exports – a punishment that eventually forced Turkey to back off and offer apologies.
  
Turkey can’t afford a replay of that costly crisis, far less a military conflict with a nuclear power, but it has a strong position to bargain with. Moscow needs Ankara as a partner in a Syrian settlement and Russia’s supply routes for its forces in Syria lie through the Turkish Straits. 
  
Moscow also hopes to use Ankara in its standoff with the West. Last year, Turkey became the first NATO country to take delivery of sophisticated Russian air defense missile systems, angering the United States. Turkey has put its deployment on hold amid the crisis in Idlib.
  
The talks in Moscow will mark the 10th encounter in just over a year between Putin and Erdogan, who call each other “dear friend” and have polished a fine art of bargaining.
  
Last October, they reached an agreement to deploy their forces across Syria’s northeastern border to fill the void left by President Donald Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces. Prior to that they had negotiated a series of accords that saw opposition fighters from various areas in Syria move into Idlib and in 2018 carved out a de-escalation zone in Idlib.
  
They blamed one another for the collapse of the Idlib deal, with Moscow holding Ankara responsible for letting al-Qaida linked militants launch attacks from the area and Turkey accusing Moscow of failing to rein in Assad.
  
A possible compromise on Idlib could see Assad retain control over the key M5 highway, which his forces claimed in the latest offensive. The road that spans Syria linking Damascus with Aleppo, the country’s commercial capital, is essential for Assad to consolidate his rule.
  
In a sign that the Kremlin firmly intends to secure control of the M5, earlier this week Russian military police have deployed to a strategic town of Saraqeb sitting on the highway to ward off any Turkish attempt to retake it. 
  
In return, Putin could accept the presence of Turkey-backed militants in the areas alongside the border and put brakes for now on Assad’s attempts to claim full control over Idlib.
  
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Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.

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