Bethlehem

Bethlehem ( Arabic بيت لحم Bayt Laḥm "house of meat"; בית לחם "house of bread", Standard Hebrew Bet léḥem / Bet láḥem , Tiberian Hebrew Bêṯ léḥem / Bêṯ lāḥem ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank of Palestine. Under the Oslo accords , Israel handed over Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority in 1995. Bethlehem is about 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem , standing at an elevation of about 765 meters above the sea, thus 30 meters higher than Jerusalem. The Bethlehem agglomeration also covers the small towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour , the latter also having biblical significance. Bethlehem is home to a university [1] . Section of the West Bank wall in Beit Sahour (Bethlehem) Bethlehem has great significance to the Christian religion as it is the place where Jesus of Nazareth was born. The city's populated area and its attached suburbs are immediately adjacent the traditional site of Rachel's tomb which is important in Judaism . Bethlehem is also home to one of largest communities of Palestinian Christians remaining in the Middle East. There is a Christian church still existing among the many in Bethlehem, built by Constantine the Great (A.D. 330), called the Church of the Nativity , over a grotto or cave called the Holy Crypt, and is the stable in which Jesus was born. This is perhaps the oldest existing Christian church in the world. Close to it is another grotto, where Jerome the Latin father is said to have spent thirty years of his life in translating the Scriptures into Latin.

"House of Bread"; ) is a Palestinian city located in the central West Bank , about 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem . Its population is approximately 25,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate . The economy is primarily tourist-driven . It is thought the original name was Beit Lachama, from the Canaanite god Lachama. The earliest mention of the city is in the Amarna correspondence c.1350-1330 BCE as "Bit-Lahmi". The Hebrew Bible identifies it as the city David was from and where he was crowned as the king of Israel . The New Testament identifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus . The city is inhabited by one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, although the size of the community has shrunk due to emigration. Bethlehem was destroyed by the Emperor Hadrian during the second-century Bar Kokhba revolt ; its rebuilding was promoted by the Empress Helena , mother of Constantine the Great , who commissioned the building of its great Church of the Nativity in 327 CE. The Church was badly damaged by the Samaritans , who sacked it during the Samaritan Revolt in 529, but was rebuilt a century later by the emperor Justinian I , in very much its present form. Bethlehem was seized by the Arab Caliphate of 'Umar ibn al-Khattāb during the Arab conquest in 637, seized again by Egypt and then the Seljuks, and, in 1099, by Crusaders, who replaced its Greek Orthodox clergy with a Latin one. In the mid-13th century, invading Mamluks demolished the city's walls, which were subsequently rebuilt in the early 16th century, after Bethlehem became part of the Ottoman Empire . Control of Bethlehem passed from the Ottoman Empire to the British Empire at the end of World War I . Pursuant to the proposed United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine of November 1947, Bethlehem was to be included in an international zone , controlled by Britain. The Arab League states rejected the Partition Plan, and launched the 1948 Arab-Israeli War to prevent the creation of a Jewish state. During the war Jordan forcibly seized Bethlehem and occupied it - Jordan claimed to annex the west bank territories in 1950, though this was only ever formally recognized by Britain. Bethlehem was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War , and since 1995 - per the Oslo Accords - Bethlehem has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority . Bethlehem has a Muslim majority, but is also home to one of the largest Palestinian Christian communities. Originally, Bethlehem was a lodging point for Jewish pilgrims to Jerusalem during the three holiest days of the Jewish year. Bethlehem's chief economic sector is tourism which peaks during the Christmas season when Christians make pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity , as they have done for almost two millennia. Bethlehem has over thirty hotels and three hundred handicraft workshops. Rachel's Tomb , an important Jewish holy site, is located at the northern entrance of Bethlehem.

Municipality type A in Palestine Bethlehem and surroundings from the air in 1931 Bethlehem ( / ˈ b ɛ θ l ɪ h ɛ m / ; Bayt Laḥm , "House of Meat"; Bet Leḥem , , "House of Bread"; ; ; initially named after Canaanite fertility god Lehem ) is a city located in the central West Bank , Palestine , about 10 km (6.2 miles) south of Jerusalem . Its population is approximately 25,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate . The economy is primarily tourist-driven , peaking during the Christmas season, when Christians make pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity . Rachel's Tomb , an important Jewish holy site, is located at the northern entrance of Bethlehem. The earliest known mention of Bethlehem was in the Amarna correspondence of 1350–1330 BCE when the town was inhabited by the Canaanites . The Hebrew Bible , which says that the city of Bethlehem was built up as a fortified city by Rehoboam , identifies it as the city David was from and where he was crowned as the king of Israel . The Gospels of Matthew and Luke identify Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus . Bethlehem was destroyed by the Emperor Hadrian during the second-century Bar Kokhba revolt ; its rebuilding was promoted by Empress Helena , mother of Constantine the Great , who commissioned the building of its great Church of the Nativity in 327 CE. The church was badly damaged by the Samaritans , who sacked it during a revolt in 529, but was rebuilt a century later by Emperor Justinian I . Bethlehem became part of Jund Filastin following the Muslim conquest in 637. Muslim rule continued in Bethlehem until its conquest in 1099 by a crusading army , who replaced the town's Greek Orthodox clergy with a Latin one. In the mid-13th century, the Mamluks demolished the city's walls, which were subsequently rebuilt under the Ottomans in the early 16th century. Control of Bethlehem passed from the Ottomans to the British at the end of World War I . Bethlehem came under Jordanian rule during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and was later captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War . Since the 1995 Oslo Accords , Bethlehem has been administered by the Palestinian Authority . Following an influx of refugees as a result of Israeli advances in the 1967 war, Bethlehem has a Muslim majority, but is still home to a significant Palestinian Christian community. It is now encircled and encroached upon by dozens of Israeli settlements and the Israeli West Bank barrier , which separates both Muslim and Christian communities from their land and livelihoods, and sees a steady exodus of those from both communities being driven out. The New York Times . Verse 5 is cited by at least one prominent Hebrew lexicon in illustration of this fact. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (electronic edition; Leiden: E.J. Def. 3 reads as follows: "—3. with לְ to develop buildings: עָרִים לְמָצוֹר cities into fortresses 2C[hronicles] 11:5".) "History and Mithology of Bethlehem" .

City in the West Bank, Palestine This article is about the city in the West Bank. Municipality type A in State of Palestine Bethlehem and surroundings from the air in 1931 Bethlehem ( / ˈ b ɛ θ l ɪ h ɛ m / ; Bayt Laḥm ; Bēṯ Leḥem ) is a city in the West Bank , Palestine , located about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Jerusalem . It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate , and has a population of approximately 25,000 people. The city's economy is largely tourist-driven ; international tourism peaks around and during Christmas , when Christians embark on a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity , revered as the location of the Nativity of Jesus . At the northern entrance of the city is Rachel's Tomb , the burial place of biblical matriarch Rachel . Movement around the city is limited due to the Israeli West Bank barrier . The earliest-known mention of Bethlehem is in the Amarna correspondence of ancient Egypt , dated to 1350–1330 BCE, when the town was inhabited by the Canaanites . In the Hebrew Bible , the period of the Israelites is described; it identifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of David as well as the city where he was anointed as the third monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel , and also states that it was built up as a fortified city by Rehoboam , the first monarch of the Kingdom of Judah . In the New Testament , the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke identify the city as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth . Under the Roman Empire , the city of Bethlehem was destroyed by Hadrian , who was in the process of defeating Jews involved in the Bar Kokhba revolt . However, Bethlehem's rebuilding was later promoted by Helena , the mother of Constantine the Great ; Constantine expanded on his mother's project by commissioning the Church of the Nativity in 327 CE. In 529, the Church of the Nativity was heavily damaged by Samaritans involved in the Samaritan revolts ; following the victory of the Byzantine Empire , it was rebuilt a century later by Justinian I . Amidst the Muslim conquest of the Levant , Bethlehem became part of Jund Filastin in 637. Muslims continued to rule the city until 1099, when it was conquered by the Crusaders , who replaced the local Christian clergy—composed of representatives from the Greek Orthodox Church —with representatives from the Catholic Church . In the mid-13th century, Bethlehem's walls were demolished by the Mamluk Sultanate . However, they were rebuilt by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, following the Ottoman–Mamluk War . At the end of World War I , the defeated Ottomans lost control of Bethlehem to the British Empire . It was governed under the British Mandate for Palestine until 1948, when it was captured by Jordan during the First Arab–Israeli War (see Jordanian annexation of the West Bank ). In 1967, the city was captured by Israel during the Third Arab–Israeli War . Since the Oslo Accords , which comprise a series of agreements between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority , Bethlehem has been designated as part of Area A of the West Bank , nominally rendering it as being under full Palestinian control . While it was historically a city of Arab Christians , Bethlehem now has a majority of Arab Muslims ; it is still home to a significant community of Palestinian Christians , however. Presently, Bethlehem has become encircled by dozens of Israeli settlements , which effectively separate Palestinians in the city from being able to openly access their land and livelihoods, and has likewise triggered their steady exodus. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). The New York Times . Verse 5 is cited by at least one prominent Hebrew lexicon in illustration of this fact. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (electronic edition; Leiden: E.J. Def. 3 reads as follows: "—3. with לְ to develop buildings: עָרִים לְמָצוֹר cities into fortresses 2C[hronicles] 11:5".) "History and Mithology of Bethlehem" .

City in the West Bank, Palestine This article is about the city in the West Bank. Palestinian city in Palestine Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank , Palestine , located about ten kilometres (six miles) south of Jerusalem , and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate . It had a population of 28,591 people, as of 2017. The city's economy is strongly linked to tourism , especially during the Christmas period, when Christians embark on a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity , which is revered as the location of the birth of Jesus . A possible first mention of Bethlehem is in the Amarna correspondence of ancient Egypt , dated to 1350–1330 BCE, although that reading is uncertain. In the Hebrew Bible , the period of the Israelites is described; it identifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of David . In the New Testament , the city is identified as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth . Under the Roman Empire , the city of Bethlehem was destroyed by Hadrian , but later rebuilt by Constantine the Great , who commissioned the Church of the Nativity in 327 CE. In 529, the Church of the Nativity was heavily damaged by Samaritans involved in the Samaritan revolts ; following the victory of the Byzantine Empire , it was rebuilt by Justinian I . Later, during the rule of several Caliphates , Bethlehem became part of Jund Filastin in 637. Muslims continued to rule the city until 1099, when it was conquered by the Crusaders , who replaced the local Christian Greek Orthodox clergy with Catholic ones. In the mid-13th century, Bethlehem's walls were demolished by the Mamluk Sultanate . However, they were rebuilt by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century when it came to control the region. After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I , Bethlehem was part of Mandatory Palestine until 1948, and later of the West Bank that was annexed by Jordan following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . During the 1967 Six Day War , Bethlehem was occupied by Israel along with the rest of the West Bank. Since the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority , Bethlehem has been designated as part of Area A of the West Bank , nominally rendering it as being under Palestinian control , but it remains under Israeli occupation . Movement around the city is limited due to the Israeli West Bank barrier . Historically, it was a city of Arab Christians , who made up about 86% of the population in 1950, but this community has dwindled significantly to 10% as of 2022, and now has a majority of Arab Muslims . Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics . The New York Times . Verse 5 is cited by at least one prominent Hebrew lexicon in illustration of this fact. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (electronic edition; Leiden: E.J. Def. 3 reads as follows: "—3. with לְ to develop buildings: עָרִים לְמָצוֹר cities into fortresses 2C[hronicles] 11:5".) "History and Mithology of Bethlehem" . There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).