More than 2,000 years since Mary and Joseph made the arduous journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Christians believe Jesus was born, checkpoints and political divisions greet pilgrims retracing their steps through Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The nativity route begins in the centre of Nazareth, where the towering Church of the Annunciation watches over the alleys of the Old City market. The site stands where Christians believe an angel appeared to Mary, telling her she would give birth to the son of God.
Beyond the church walls sits a bustling city which is now home to nearly 78,000 people, the majority Arab-Israelis, many of whom identify themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel.
While no one can know for certain which path Mary and Joseph took, they are likely to have followed a route which wove south through Nablus and Jerusalem.
What is now a nondescript highway leads to the border between Israel and the West Bank, with cars slowing to a crawl as they approach Al Jalama military checkpoint. Farmers take advantage north of the frontier to set up stalls selling vegetables, while to the south travellers can pick up toys and ochre pots.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Since then Israel has implemented a permit regime in the West Bank, which determines which Palestinians have the right to leave the territory.
Under the current rules, Mary would have the right to visit her friends in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, but there would be no guarantee they would gain a permit to see her in Nazareth.
While the road from Al Jalama leads directly to the city of Jenin, the surrounding landscape is dotted with villages and farms.
At one spot a rollercoaster rises by the roadside, part of a resort hotel, while elsewhere a Palestinian family partakes in the late olive harvest.
Travellers taking the shortest route south from Nazareth two millennia ago would have passed through Tirzah, a city named in the Bible. A Palestinian village which climbs up a hillside, Far’ah, is widely believed to stand in the same location.
Anyone taking the route today would be meandering through areas A, B and C, categories given to different parts of the West Bank which determine whether Israelis or Palestinians are in charge.
Cities such as Nablus – the next stop on the journey – are nominally under full Palestinian control.
Famed among tourists for its delectable dessert knafeh, Nablus is known to pilgrims for its important religious sites.
They include the tomb of biblical patriarch Joseph, sacred to Christians, Jews, Muslims and Samaritans, which in recent years has seen clashes between Palestinians and Israelis.
Beside the nearby entrance to Balata, the largest refugee camp in the West Bank, an Orthodox church is secluded behind tall walls, marking the site of Jacob’s Well.
Around Nablus and across the wider West Bank, settlements are home to around 500,000 Israelis. Their construction is deemed illegal under international law, a charge Israel denies.
If Mary and Joseph were travelling today down Route 60, which bends through the West Bank, they would see Hebrew-language billboards advertising brand new homes for Israelis.
The couple would have to cross further checkpoints to pass through Jerusalem, before reaching the wall on the edge of Bethlehem. The West Bank barrier was built by Israel in the early 2000s, in the wake of the second Palestinian uprising, or Intifada.
To reach Bethlehem on foot, travellers must pass through a tunnel with full height turnstiles. On the other side, taxi drivers wait while vendors sell fruit and vegetables.
The final stage of the journey passes political graffiti along the wall, including a donkey having its ID checked by an Israeli soldier.
Arriving in the historic heart of Bethlehem, innkeepers line up to welcome pilgrims. Shops display religious olive wood carvings, while a Christmas tree glows beside the Church of the Nativity.
Mary and Joseph’s journey came to an end just metres away, through a small opening in the church wall, down in the grotto where worshippers believe Jesus was born.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
MO
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
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