RAMALLAH, Feb 14 (JMCC) - Traces of red dotted the West Bank streets of Nablus and Ramallah on Valentines Day, where stores were full of red roses, red dolls and red sponge models.

Despite the conservative culture and hard economic times, store owners said business tends to pick up on Valentines Day, indicating that Palestinians - like much of the world - celebrate the holiday of love.

Mersal Hattab, who owns a flower store in Nablus city's downtown in northern West Bank, was busy on Valentine arranging bouquets of flowers and decorating his store to attract the lovers and customers. He brings red and white flowers with little green branches and turn them into nice bouquets.

Although Nablus is considered as one of the most conservative cities in the West Bank, this year it has been full of stores that sells flowers, and customers also increased this year, according to Hattab.

The city has been witnessing attempts of developments and opening after the success of a plan made by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to bring back calm following years of a tight Israeli blockade imposed on the city and an internal security chaos.

Read the full story at Xinhua...