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We are almost the oldest restaurant in Bethlehem. We have been here since ‘48. So since our parents’ days, of course. Altogether it’s seventy years. When we were first established, we came as immigrants, from ‘the ‘48’ [the Nakba displacement]. My father was born in Jaffa; I was born here. [When] we started, we were [only] falafel. Then we developed; we opened a restaurant. It wasn’t here, the store here. First, we were in the [Manger] Square. After they demolished the square – there were old constructions – they gave us stores here. [During the 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity,] everything was closed. 42 days we were closed. Of course it affected me. And not only me, everyone. [But] we’ve kept this store and we’ve expanded. We had a small store and we’ve expanded it. God has blessed it.

Here, everything is going well. We say that if they visit Bethlehem without visiting Afteem, they didn’t visit Bethlehem. They intend it: they intend to go to the church, and go to Afteem. Our specialty is falafel. It’s special. So we still stick to the same pattern. Nothing has changed; we didn’t change. Then it’s them, the Jewish-Israelis, who claim that they make it. That’s it’s their own popular dish. We are contrariwise: it’s a Palestinian dish and everyone knows it. We make it with chickpeas. You know chickpeas? You put them in water for six, seven hours. Then after this, we rinse [and] put them in the [blender]. We add parsley, onions, garlic. There are some spices; we always put spices. And then salt. I mean, our style is easy – but food is a question of taste. – Afteem