Bethlehem

Bethlehem, town in the West Bank, situated in the Judaean Hills 5 miles (8 km) south of Jerusalem. It is the birthplace of Jesus, according to Christian tradition, and the Church of the Nativity has been a focal point of Christian pilgrimage—and the cornerstone of the town’s economy—since its initial construction in the 4th century.

Biblical significance

An ancient settlement, Bethlehem is possibly mentioned in the Amarna Letters (14th-century-bce diplomatic documents found at Tell el-Amarna, Egypt), but the reading there is uncertain. In the Bible the town is often referred to as Bethlehem Ephrathah, or Bethlehem-Judah. It is first mentioned chronologically in the biblical narrative in connection with Rachel, who dies on the wayside near there (Genesis 35:19). It is the setting for most of the Book of Ruth and is the presumed birthplace, and certainly the home, of Ruth’s descendant King David; there he is anointed king of Israel by the prophet Samuel (I Samuel 16). Rehoboam, David’s grandson and the first king of Judah after the division of the state between Israel and Judah, fortifies the town (II Chronicles 11). During the Jewish return to Palestine after the Babylonian Exile (516 bce and following), the town is repopulated.

The Book of Micah reflects Bethlehem Ephrathah’s reputation as the home of the Davidic royal line and indicates a future ruler for Israel will come out of the town (Micah 5:2). Christian theologians link this passage to Jesus, who according to the Gospels (Matthew 2; Luke 2) was born in Bethlehem. Some modern New Testament scholars believe parts of the Gospel accounts to be later accretions and hold that Jesus was born in Nazareth, his childhood home, but normative Christian belief has sanctified Bethlehem as Jesus’ birthplace for almost two millennia.

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Church of the Nativity

The site of the Nativity of Jesus was identified by St. Justin Martyr, a 2nd-century Christian apologist, as a manger in “a cave close to the village”; the cave, now under the nave of the Church of the Nativity in the heart of the town, has been continuously venerated by Christians since then. St. Helena (c. 248–c. 328), mother of the first Christian Roman emperor (Constantine I), had a church built over the cave; later destroyed, it was rebuilt in substantially its present form by Emperor Justinian (reigned 527–565). The Church of the Nativity is thus one of the oldest Christian churches extant. Frequent conflicts have arisen over the jurisdiction of various faiths at the sacred site, often incited by outside interests; thus, for example, the theft in 1847 of the silver star marking the exact traditional locus of the Nativity was an ostensible factor in the international crisis over the holy places that ultimately led to the Crimean War (1854–56). The church was later divided between the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic faiths at the Congress of Berlin (1878). In 2012 the church was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The town has been a monastic center for centuries; St. Jerome built a monastery there and, with the aid of Palestinian rabbis, translated the Old Testament into Latin from the original Hebrew (5th century ce). This, together with the New Testament, which he had translated from the Greek before going to Palestine, constitutes the Vulgate, the standard Latin translation of the Bible used by the Roman Catholic Church.

In 2002 when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered Bethlehem as part of Operation Defensive Shield, an extensive Israeli military campaign into Palestinian cities during the second intifada, about 200 Palestinians, some of them armed or members of militias, took refuge in the church. A standoff between the Palestinians in the church and the IDF captured significant international attention before it ended 39 days later.

Modern Bethlehem

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Bethlehem was administered as part of the British mandate of Palestine (1920–48; see Palestine: The British mandate); after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, it was in the territory annexed by Jordan in 1950 and placed in al-Quds (Jerusalem) muḥāfaẓah (governorate). After the Six-Day War of 1967, it was part of the Israeli-occupied territory of the West Bank while East Jerusalem, with which Bethlehem had close ties, was annexed and governed as part of Israel. In 1995 Israel ceded control of Bethlehem to the newly established Palestinian Authority (PA) in preparation for a two-state solution.

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Bethlehem is an agricultural market and trade town. The manufacture of religious articles, chiefly of mother-of-pearl, is a traditional industry, as is the carving of olive wood. For a long time the town has been important as a pilgrimage and tourist center and has been closely linked to nearby Jerusalem, although, in the decades following the Six-Day War, tourism and pilgrimage were frequently affected by conflict as well as Israeli restrictions on movement between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Several initiatives were undertaken in the early 21st century to encourage local economic development through renewed tourism by Western pilgrims. But the expansion of nearby Israeli settlements and, since 2002, the construction of a separation barrier near and within the municipal boundaries has led to loss of land access and stifled economic expansion.

Although Bethlehem was under the rule of successive Islamic empires from the 7th century until the 20th century, it was inhabited mostly by Christians until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began. Since then, sustained economic hardship in tourism and hospitality—borne disproportionately by Christian businesses and landowners—has driven a steady decline in the Christian population, who are more likely than their Muslim compatriots to receive opportunities to emigrate. By the time the PA took control in 1995, Muslims had become the majority. Nonetheless, provisions—such as a law reserving the mayoralty for a Christian—seek to preserve the town’s historic Christian character. The town forms a conurbation with the adjoining town of Beit Jala, to the northwest, and Beit Sahour, to the southeast, both of which remain majority Christian.

Bethlehem and its suburbs have many churches, convents, schools, and hospitals supported by Christian denominations the world over. Annual Christmas festivities draw visitors from around the world, beginning with the tree lighting in early December and ending with the celebration of the Christmas mass by the Armenian Apostolic Church on January 18–19. Bethlehem University (1973), which is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, offers instruction in both Arabic and English. Pop. (2017) town, 28,248; Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Beit Sahour conurbation, 54,728.