Our home town of Bethlehem
Bethlehem or Beit Lahem is a small conurbation of old towns such as Beit Lahem itself, Beit Sahour, Beit Jala and al Khader, joined together by newer urban spread and refugee camps such as Deheishe and Aida, plus a few villages such as Irtas.
The total population is about 70,000. It is just south of Jerusalem by 10km. It has always been connected with Jerusalem until a decade ago, since the building of the separation wall at Rachel's Tomb, an ancient holy site.
Bethlehem is a centre of Palestinian culture and tourism, particularly because of its reputation as the birthplace of Jesus. It has one of the world's oldest Christian communities, which once comprised 60-70% of the population, though now it stands at around 10-20% due to emigration.
History
The city is also reputedly the birthplace of the biblical King David. It has very ancient origins going back many millennia, starting as a place of Canaanite goddess-worship located atop a hill, centred around a series of ancient wells.
In Greek and Roman times the site of the Church of the Nativity was a Temple of Apollo, later to become a Byzantine Christian shrine marking the birthplace of Jesus.
When conquered by the Muslims under Umar ibn al-Khattab in 637, he ensured the safety of the town's Christians and their churches. Christians were tolerated in the Muslim Caliphate.
At the time of the Crusades after 1099, the Crusaders took Bethlehem and replaced its Syriac and Greek Orthodox clergy with a Latin Catholic one. They were sent packing by Saladin after the fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims 88 years later. The city has had a long historic continuity under Muslim rule since then, through Mamluk and Ottoman times, until 1920, when the British took over.
At the end of the British Mandate in 1948 Bethlehem was to have become part of the international zone of Jerusalem, but Jordan annexed the city during the subsequent Arab-Israeli War, to prevent the Israelis invading the West Bank, and the UN international zone came to nothing.
It was later occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, together with the rest of the West Bank. Since 1995 Bethlehem has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority, following the Oslo Agreements, which were supposed to lead toward independence for Palestine around 2000, but this has not occurred. In the second intifada, 2000-04, Bethlehem was militarily re-occupied, and there was a nasty shoot-out at the Church of the Nativity. The Israeli army has now withdrawn behind the separation wall.
Come and visit Bethlehem!
If you come from abroad via Ben Gurion airport in Israel, go to Jerusalem, and then catch the (Palestinian) 21 bus from the Damascus Gate bus station. Or catch a Palestinian taxi. It doesn't help to go to an Israeli settlement such as Gilo, near Bethlehem. If entering the country from Jordan, catch a bus from the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge to Jericho bus station, then a service taxi to Bethlehem from there.
It's a pleasant city with friendly, hospitable people and a safe and liberal-thinking atmosphere. We have at least two millennia of experience in hosting foreign visitors! The old city of Bethlehem is quaint and pleasant to walk around. The even higher hilltop town of Beit Jala is well worth a visit.
Hope Flowers Center is located on the main Hebron road from Bethlehem, just before Deheisheh.
Hope Flowers School is located further along the same road, just past al Khader Gate and Solomon's Pools, up a road to the left just as the Hebron road leaves the town. Follow that road for a half kilometer. Or just catch a taxi! See map below.
