Bethlehem

Bethlehem
Israeli West Bank barrier Chapel of the Milk Grotto Church of St. Catherine Mosque of Omar in Manger Square
Palestinian city		28,591
• Density	2,700/km2 (7,000/sq mi)
• Metro	97,559
Demonym	Bethlehemi
Etymology	House of Meat (Arabic); House of Bread (Hebrew, Aramaic)
Website	www.bethlehem-city.org

Bethlehem

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.^[8] 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

While it was historically a city of Arab Christians, Bethlehem now has a majority of Arab Muslims; while it is still home to a significant population of Palestinian Christians, this community has dwindled significantly, from about 86 per cent in 1950 to about 10 per cent in 2022.^[10] Presently, Bethlehem has become encircled by dozens of Israeli settlements, which significantly hinder the ability of Palestinians in the city to openly access their land and livelihoods, which has contributed to the exodus of Palestinians.^[11]

The current name for Bethlehem in local languages is Bayt Laḥm

Another suggestion is an association with the root l-h-m "to fight", leading to the meaning of "house of war" or "house of fighting", but this is thought unlikely.[12]^[why?]

The earliest reference to Bethlehem appears in the Amarna correspondence (c. 1400 BCE). In one of his six letters to Pharaoh, Abdi-Heba, the Egyptian-appointed governor of Jerusalem, appeals for aid in retaking Bit-Laḫmi in the wake of disturbances by Apiru mercenaries:^[22] "Now even a town near Jerusalem, Bit-Lahmi by name, a village which once belonged to the king, has fallen to the enemy... Let the king hear the words of your servant Abdi-Heba, and send archers to restore the imperial lands of the king!"

It is thought that the similarity of this name to its modern forms indicates that it was originally a settlement of Canaanites who shared a Semitic cultural and linguistic heritage with the later arrivals.^[23] Laḫmu was the Akkadian god of fertility,^[24] worshipped by the Canaanites as Leḥem.^{[citation needed]} Some time in the third millennium BCE, Canaanites erected a temple on the hill now known as the Hill of the Nativity, probably dedicated to Laḫmu. The temple, and subsequently the town that formed around it, was then known as Beit Lahama, "House (Temple) of Lahmu".^{[citation needed]} By 1200 BC, the area of Bethlehem, as well as much of the region, was conquered by the Philistines, which led the region to be known to the Greeks as "Philistia", later corrupted to "Palestine".^[25]

A burial ground discovered in spring 2013, and surveyed in 2015 by a joint Italian–Palestinian team found that the necropolis covered 3 hectares (more than 7 acres) and originally contained more than 100 tombs in use between roughly 2200 BCE and 650 BCE. The archaeologists were able to identify at least 30 tombs.^[26]

Archaeological confirmation of Bethlehem as a city in the

Biblical scholars believe Bethlehem, located in the "hill country" of Judea, may be the same as the Biblical Ephrath,^[28] which means "fertile", as there is a reference to it in the Book of Micah as Bethlehem Ephrathah or Bethlehem Ephratah.^[29] The Hebrew Bible also calls it Beth-Lehem Judah,^[30] and the New Testament describes it as the "City of David".^[31] It is first mentioned in the Bible as the place where the matriarch Rachel died and was buried "by the wayside" (Genesis 48:7). Rachel's Tomb, the traditional grave site, stands at the entrance to Bethlehem. According to the Book of Ruth, the valley to the east is where Ruth of Moab gleaned the fields and returned to town with Naomi. In the Books of Samuel, Bethlehem is mentioned as the home of Jesse,^[32] father of King David of Israel, and the site of David's anointment by the prophet Samuel.^[33] It was from the well of Bethlehem that three of his warriors brought him water when he was hiding in the cave of Adullam.^[34]

Writing in the 4th century, the Pilgrim of Bordeaux reported that the sepulchers of David, Ezekiel, Asaph, Job, Jesse, and Solomon were located near Bethlehem.^[35]

The Gospel of Matthew^[39] and the Gospel of Luke^[40] represent Jesus as having been born in Bethlehem,^[36][37][38] known in Aramaic by the Hebrew name בית לחם (Beit Lekhem). However, modern scholars regard the two accounts as contradictory;^[37][38] the Gospel of Mark, the earliest gospel, mentions nothing about Jesus having been born in Bethlehem, saying only that he came from Nazareth.^[38] Current scholars are divided on the actual birthplace of Jesus: some believe he was actually born in Nazareth,^[41][42][43] while others still hold that he was born in Bethlehem.^[44]

Nonetheless, the tradition that Jesus was born in Bethlehem was prominent in the early church.^[36] Around 155, the apologist Justin Martyr recommended that those who doubted Jesus was really born in Bethlehem could go there and visit the very cave where he was supposed to have been born.^[36] The same cave is also referenced by the apocryphal Gospel of James and the fourth-century church historian Eusebius.^[36] After the Bar Kokhba revolt (c. 132–136 CE) was crushed, the Roman emperor Hadrian converted the Christian site above the Grotto into a shrine dedicated to the Greek god Adonis, to honour his favourite, the Greek youth Antinous.^[45][46]

Around 395 CE, Jerome wrote in a letter: "Bethlehem... belonging now to us... was overshadowed by a grove of Tammuz, that is to say, Adonis, and in the cave where once the infant Christ cried, the lover of Venus was lamented."^[47] Many scholars have taken this letter as evidence that the cave of the nativity over which the Church of the Nativity was later built had at one point been a shrine to the ancient Near Eastern fertility god Tammuz.^[47][48] Eusebius, however, mentions nothing about the cave having been associated with Tammuz^[47] and there are no other Patristic sources that suggest Tammuz had a shrine in Bethlehem.^[47] Peter Welten has argued that the cave was never dedicated to Tammuz^[47] and that Jerome misinterpreted Christian mourning over the Massacre of the Innocents as a pagan ritual over Tammuz's death.^[47] Joan E. Taylor has countered this contention by arguing that Jerome, as an educated man, could not have been so naïve as to mistake Christian mourning over the Massacre of the Innocents as a pagan ritual for Tammuz.^[47]

In 326–328, the empress

In 637, shortly after

In 1099, Bethlehem was captured by the Crusaders, who fortified it and built a new monastery and cloister on the north side of the Church of the Nativity. The Greek Orthodox clergy were removed from their sees and replaced with Latin clerics. Up until that point the official Christian presence in the region was Greek Orthodox. On Christmas Day 1100, Baldwin I, first king of the Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem, was crowned in Bethlehem, and that year a Latin episcopate was also established in the town.^[9]

In 1187, Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria who led the Muslim Ayyubids, captured Bethlehem from the Crusaders. The Latin clerics were forced to leave, allowing the Greek Orthodox clergy to return. Saladin agreed to the return of two Latin priests and two deacons in 1192. However, Bethlehem suffered from the loss of the pilgrim trade, as there was a sharp decrease of European pilgrims.^[9] William IV, Count of Nevers had promised the Christian bishops of Bethlehem that if Bethlehem should fall under Muslim control, he would welcome them in the small town of Clamecy in present-day Burgundy, France. As a result, the Bishop of Bethlehem duly took up residence in the hospital of Panthenor, Clamecy, in 1223. Clamecy remained the continuous 'in partibus infidelium' seat of the Bishopric of Bethlehem for almost 600 years, until the French Revolution in 1789.^[54]

Bethlehem, along with Jerusalem,

From 1517, during the years of Ottoman control, custody of the Basilica was bitterly disputed between the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches.^[9] By the end of the 16th century, Bethlehem had become one of the largest villages in the District of Jerusalem, and was subdivided into seven quarters.^[56] The Basbus family served as the heads of Bethlehem among other leaders during this period.^[57] The Ottoman tax record and census from 1596 indicates that Bethlehem had a population of 1,435, making it the 13th largest village in Palestine at the time. Its total revenue amounted to 30,000 akce.^[58]

Bethlehem paid taxes on wheat, barley and grapes. The Muslims and Christians were organized into separate communities, each having its own leader. Five leaders represented the village in the mid-16th century, three of whom were Muslims. Ottoman tax records suggest that the Christian population was slightly more prosperous or grew more grain than grapes (the former being a more valuable commodity).^[59]

From 1831 to 1841, Palestine was under the rule of the

Socin found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 that Bethlehem had a population of 179 Muslims in 59 houses, 979 "Latins" in 256 houses, 824 "Greeks" in 213 houses, and 41 Armenians in 11 houses, a total of 539 houses. The population count only included men.^[62] Hartmann found that Bethlehem had 520 houses.^[63]

Bethlehem was part of Mandatory Palestine from 1920 to 1948.^[64] In the United Nations General Assembly's 1947 resolution to partition Palestine, Bethlehem was included in the international enclave of Jerusalem to be administered by the United Nations.^[65] Jordan captured the city during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.^[66] Many refugees from areas captured by Israeli forces in 1947–48 fled to the Bethlehem area, primarily settling in what became the official refugee camps of 'Azza (Beit Jibrin) and 'Aida in the north and Dheisheh in the south.^[67] The influx of refugees significantly transformed Bethlehem's Christian majority into a Muslim one.^[68]

Jordan retained control of the city until the Six-Day War in 1967, when Bethlehem was captured by Israel, along with the rest of the West Bank. Following the Six-Day War, Israel took control of the city.

During the early months of

Israeli West Bank barrier, which cuts Bethlehem off from its sister city Jerusalem.^[76]

Christian families that have lived in Bethlehem for hundreds of years are being forced to leave as land in Bethlehem is seized, and homes bulldozed, for construction of thousands of new Israeli homes.^[11] Land seizures for Israeli settlements have also prevented construction of a new hospital for the inhabitants of Bethlehem, as well as the barrier separating dozens of Palestinian families from their farmland and Christian communities from their places of worship.^[11] Christians have reportedly suffered persecution under the Palestinian Authority, leading to emigration.^[77][78]

Bethlehem has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa), with hot and dry summers and mild, wetter winters. Winter temperatures (mid-December to mid-March) can be cool and rainy. January is the coldest month, with temperatures ranging from 1 to 13 degree Celsius (33–55 °F). From May through September, the weather is warm and sunny. August is the hottest month, with a high of 30 degrees Celsius (86 °F). Bethlehem receives an average of 700 millimeters (28 in) of rainfall annually, 70% between November and January.^[86]

Bethlehem's average annual relative humidity is 60% and reaches its highest rates between January and February. Humidity levels are at their lowest in May. Night dew may occur in up to 180 days per year. The city is influenced by the Mediterranean Sea breeze that occurs around mid-day. However, Bethlehem is affected also by annual waves of hot, dry, sandy and dust Khamaseen winds from the Arabian Desert, during April, May and mid-June.^[86]

According to

The census of 1922 lists Bethlehem as having 6,658 residents (5,838 Christians, 818 Muslims, and two Jews),^[97] increasing in 1931 to 6,804 (5,588 Christians, 1,219 Muslims, five with no religion, and two Jews) with 506 in nearby suburbs (251 Muslims, 216 Christians, and 39 Jews).^[98]

The 1938 village statistics list the population as 7,520 with 499 in nearby suburbs (including 42 Jews).^[99] The 1945 village statistics list Bethlehem's population as 8,820 (6,430 Christians, 2,370 Muslims, and 20 "other").^[100]

In 1948, the religious makeup of the city was 85% Christian, mostly of the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic denominations, and 13% Muslim.

In the PCBS's 1997 census, the city had a population of 21,670, including a total of 6,570 refugees, accounting for 30.3% of the city's population.^[93][103] In 1997, the age distribution of Bethlehem's inhabitants was 27.4% under the age of 10, 20% from 10 to 19, 17.3% from 20 to 29, 17.7% from 30 to 44, 12.1% from 45 to 64 and 5.3% above the age of 65. There were 11,079 males and 10,594 females.^[93] In the 2007 PCBS census, Bethlehem had a population of 25,266, of which 12,753 were males and 12,513 were females. There were 6,709 housing units, of which 5,211 were households. The average household consisted of 4.8 family members.^[104] By 2017, the population was 28,591.^[94]

After the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s, the local Christians were Arabized even though large numbers were ethnically Arabs of the Ghassanid clans.^[105] Bethlehem's two largest Arab Christian clans trace their ancestry to the Ghassanids, including al-Farahiyyah and an-Najajreh.^[105] The former have descended from the Ghassanids who migrated from Yemen and from the Wadi Musa area in present-day Jordan and an-Najajreh descend from Najran.^[105] Another Bethlehem clan, al-Anatreh, also trace their ancestry to the Ghassanids.^[105]

The percentage of Christians in the town has been in a steady decline since the mid-twentieth century.

In 2006, a Zogby poll that interviewed more than 1,000 Palestinian Christians from Bethlehem found that 79% of the respondents cited the Israeli occupation as source of difficulties leading the emigration of their community.^[112] In the same year, the Palestinian Centre for Research and Cultural Dialogue conducted a poll among the city's Christians according to which 90% said they had had Muslim friends, 73.3% agreed that the PNA treated Christian heritage in the city with respect and 78% attributed the exodus of Christians to the Israeli blockade.^[113] The only mosque in the Old City is the Mosque of Omar, located in the Manger Square.^[51] By 2016, the Christian population of Bethlehem had declined to only 16%.^[107] The Christian population's proportion of Bethlehem fell from 87% in the 1950s to 12% in 2016.^[114]

A study by

Shopping is a major attraction, especially during the Christmas season. The city's main streets and old markets are lined with shops selling Palestinian handicrafts, Middle Eastern spices, jewelry and oriental sweets such as baklawa.^[119] Olive wood carvings ^[120] are the item most purchased by tourists visiting Bethlehem.^[121] Religious handicrafts include ornaments handmade from mother-of-pearl, as well as olive wood statues, boxes, and crosses.^[120] Other industries include stone and marble-cutting, textiles, furniture and furnishings.^[122] Bethlehem factories also produce paints, plastics, synthetic rubber, pharmaceuticals, construction materials and food products, mainly pasta and confectionery.^[122] Cremisan Wine, founded in 1885, is a winery run by monks in the Monastery of Cremisan. The grapes are grown mainly in the al-Khader district. In 2007, the monastery's wine production was around 700,000 liters per year.^[123]

In 2008, Bethlehem hosted the largest

In the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke says that Jesus' parents traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.^[31] The Gospel of Matthew mentions Bethlehem as the place of birth,^[130] and adds that King Herod was told that a 'King of the Jews' had been born in the town, prompting Herod to order the killing of all the boys who were two years old or under in the town and surrounding area. Joseph, warned of Herod's impending action by an angel of the Lord, decided to flee to Egypt with his family and then later settled in Nazareth after Herod's death.

Early Christian traditions describe

Christmas rites are held in Bethlehem on three different dates: December 25 is the traditional date by the Roman Catholic and

Bethlehem celebrates festivals related to saints and prophets associated with Palestinian folklore. One such festival is the annual Feast of Saint George (al-Khadr) on May 5–6. During the celebrations, Greek Orthodox Christians from the city march in procession to the nearby town of al-Khader to baptize newborns in the waters around the Monastery of St. George and sacrifice a sheep in ritual.^[142] The Feast of St. Elijah is commemorated by a procession to Mar Elias, a Greek Orthodox monastery north of Bethlehem.

The women embroiderers of Bethlehem were known for their bridalwear.^[143] Bethlehem embroidery was renowned for its "strong overall effect of colors and metallic brilliance."^[144] Less formal dresses were made of indigo fabric with a sleeveless coat (bisht) from locally woven wool worn over top. Dresses for special occasions were made of striped silk with winged sleeves with a short taqsireh jacket known as the Bethlehem jacket. The taqsireh was made of velvet or broadcloth, usually with heavy embroidery.^[143]

Bethlehem work was unique in its use of couched gold or silver cord, or silk cord onto the silk, wool, felt or velvet used for the garment, to create stylized floral patterns with free or rounded lines. This technique was used for "royal" wedding dresses (thob malak), taqsirehs and the shatwehs worn by married women. It has been traced by some to Byzantium, and by others to the formal costumes of the Ottoman Empire's elite. As a Christian village, local women were also exposed to the detailing on church vestments with their heavy embroidery and silver brocade.^[143]

• 
  Bethlehem traditional dress
• 
  Chest panel from Bethlehem dress
• 
  Embroidery detail
• 
  Taqsireh jacket embroidered with Palestinian patterns
• 
  Shatweh, a headdresses worn by married women

The art of mother-of-pearl carving is said to have been a Bethlehem tradition since the 15th century when it was introduced by

Bethlehem is home to the Palestinian Heritage Center, established in 1991. The center aims to preserve and promote Palestinian embroidery, art and folklore.^[148] The International Center of Bethlehem is another cultural center that concentrates primarily on the culture of Bethlehem. It provides language and guide training, woman's studies and arts and crafts displays, and training.^[7]

The Bethlehem branch of

Bethlehem is the muhfaza (seat) or district capital of the Bethlehem Governorate.

Bethlehem held its first municipal elections in 1876, after the mukhtars ("heads") of the quarters of Bethlehem's Old City (excluding the Syriac Quarter) made the decision to elect a local council of seven members to represent each clan in the town. A Basic Law was established so that if the victor for mayor was a Catholic, his deputy should be of the Greek Orthodox community.^[151]

Throughout, Bethlehem's rule by the British and Jordan, the Syriac Quarter was allowed to participate in the election, as were the Ta'amrah Bedouins and Palestinian refugees, hence ratifying the number of municipal members in the council to 11. In 1976, an amendment was passed to allow women to vote and become council members and later the voting age was increased from 21 to 25.^[151]

There are several branches of political parties on the council, including

In the October 2012 municipal elections, Fatah member Vera Baboun won, becoming the first female

According to the

Bethlehem is home to

Bethlehem has three bus stations owned by private companies which offer service to Jerusalem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour,

Bethlehem is twinned with:^{[161][162][163]}

• Bethlehem of Galilee
• Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
• Bethlehem, Wales
• Star of Bethlehem

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External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Bethlehem.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bethlehem.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bethlehem.

• Bethlehem Municipality
• Welcome To The City of Bethlehem
• Open Bethlehem civil society project
• Photo: Christmas in Bethlehem, 2008 Archived November 23, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
• Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans
• Bethlehem University
• Bethlehem aerial photo, Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem