Bethlehem

==Local government==
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|Basic Law]] was established so that if the victor for mayor was a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], his deputy should be of the [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox]] community.<ref name="BME"/>
[[File:Palestinian Government Bureau, Betlehem.jpg|thumb|[[Bethlehem Governorate]] building]]
Throughout, Bethlehem's rule by the British and Jordan, the Syriac Quarter was allowed to participate in the election, as were the Ta'amrah [[Bedouin]]s 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.<ref name="BME">[https://web.archive.org/web/20080813060937/http://www.bethlehem-city.org/English/TempVewMenuSub.php?Mid=6 Municipal Council Elections during the British and Jordanian Periods] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813060937/http://www.bethlehem-city.org/English/TempVewMenuSub.php?Mid=6 |date=August 13, 2008 }} Bethlehem Municipal Council.</ref>

There are several branches of political parties on the council, including [[Communism|Communist]], [[Islamism|Islamist]], and secular. The leftist factions of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) such as the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] (PFLP) and the [[Palestinian People's Party]] (PPP) usually dominate the reserved seats. [[Hamas]] gained the majority of the open seats in the 2005 [[Palestinian local elections, 2004–2005|Palestinian municipal elections]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bethlehem-city.org/English/Counil/index.php |title=Bethlehem Municipality(Site Under Construction) |access-date=January 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118135922/http://www.bethlehem-city.org/English/Counil/index.php |archive-date=January 18, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Mayors===
[[File:Bethlehem-Nativity-207.jpg|thumb|Bethlehem Municipality building in [[Manger Square]]]]
In the October 2012 municipal elections, Fatah member Vera Baboun won, becoming the first female [[mayor of Bethlehem]].<ref name="kuttabmonitor">{{cite news|last1=Kuttab|first1=Daoud|title=Bethlehem Has New Female Mayor, Yet Same Old Problems|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/christmas-bethlehem-palestine.html|access-date=March 17, 2016|work=Al-Monitor|date=December 23, 2012|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212143/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/christmas-bethlehem-palestine.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
{|
|
* Mikhail Abu Saadeh – 1876
* Khalil Yaqub – 1880
* [[Suleiman Jacir]] – 1884
* Issa Abdullah Marcus – 1888
* Yaqub Khalil Elias – 1892
* Hanna Mansur – 1895–1915
* Salim Issa al-Batarseh – 1916–17
* Salah Giries Jaqaman – 1917–1921
* Musa Qattan – 1921–1925
* Hanna Ibrahim Miladah – 1926–1928
* Nicoloa Attalah Shain – 1929–1933
|
* Hanna Issa al-Qawwas – 1936–1946
* [[Issa Basil Bandak]] – 1946–1951
* [[Elias Bandak]] – 1951–1953
* Afif Salm Batarseh – 1952–53
* [[Elias Bandak]] – 1953–1957
* [[Ayyub Musallam]] – 1958–1962
* [[Elias Bandak]] – 1963–1972
* [[Elias Freij]] – 1972–1997
* [[Hanna Nasser]] – 1997–2005
* [[Victor Batarseh]] 2005–2012<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nablus.org/en/htm/guide/Municipalities.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221063335/http://www.nablus.org/en/htm/guide/Municipalities.htm|archive-date=February 21, 2007|title=Municipalities Info}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bethlehem-city.org/English/Mayor/FormerMayors.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227075912/http://www.bethlehem-city.org/English/Mayor/FormerMayors.php |archive-date=December 27, 2007 |title=Bethlehem Municipality |access-date=January 22, 2008}}</ref>
* [[Vera Baboun]] – 2012–2017<ref name="kuttabmonitor"/>
*[[Anton Salman]] – 2017 – present
|}