Bethlehem

===Modern era===
[[File:AN AERIAL PHOTO OF THE CITY BETHLEHEM. צילום אויר של העיר בית לחם.D332-057.jpg|thumb|Bethlehem 1937]]
[[File:2018 OCHA OpT map Bethlehem.jpg|thumb|left|2018 [[United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs|United Nations]] map of the area, showing the [[Israeli occupation of the West Bank|Israeli occupation]] arrangements.]]
[[File:Palestine stamp.jpg|thumb|1927 stamp from the [[Mandatory Palestine]] period, showcasing [[Rachel's Tomb]] (or Bilal bin Rabah Mosque) in Bethlehem]]
Bethlehem was part of [[Mandatory Palestine]] from 1920 to 1948.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/63429/Bethlehem Bethlehem]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014172813/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/63429/Bethlehem |date=October 14, 2013}}</ref> In the [[United Nations General Assembly]]'s [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|1947 resolution to partition Palestine]], Bethlehem was included in the [[Corpus separatum (Jerusalem)|international enclave of Jerusalem]] to be administered by the [[United Nations]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://imeu.net/news/article00125.shtml|title=IMEU: Maps: 2.7 – Jerusalem and the Corpus Separatum proposed in 1947
|access-date=January 22, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729204009/http://imeu.net/news/article00125.shtml|archive-date=July 29, 2013}}</ref> [[Jordan]] captured the city during the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]].<ref>[http://www.insideout.org/documentaries/jerusalem/land/timeline2.html A Jerusalem Timeline, 3,000 Years of The City's History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109171903/http://www.insideout.org/documentaries/jerusalem/land/timeline2.html |date=January 9, 2009}} (2001–02) [[NPR|National Public Radio]] and [[BBC News]].</ref> Many refugees from areas captured by [[Israel]]i forces in 1947–48 fled to the Bethlehem area, primarily settling in what became the official refugee camps of [['Azza]] (Beit Jibrin) and [[Aida Camp|'Aida]] in the north and [[Dheisheh]] in the south.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bethlehem.ps/about/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113114509/http://www.bethlehem.ps/about/ |archive-date=November 13, 2007 |title=About Bethlehem |url-status=dead |access-date=June 1, 2016}} The Centre for [[Cultural heritage|Cultural Heritage]] Preservation via Bethlehem.ps.</ref> The influx of refugees significantly transformed Bethlehem's Christian majority into a Muslim one.<ref>[http://www.bethlehem.ps/facts/population.php Population in the Bethlehem District]{{dead link|date=March 2016}} Bethlehem.ps. {{dead link|date=May 2014}}</ref>

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.

[[File:Die Mauer von Bethlehem.jpg|thumb|[[Israeli West Bank barrier]] in Bethlehem in 2012|left]]

During the early months of [[First Intifada]], on 5 May 1989, Milad Anton Shahin, aged 12, was shot dead by [[Israeli army|Israeli soldiers]]. Replying to a Member of [[Knesset]] in August 1990 Defence Minister [[Yitzak Rabin]] stated that a group of reservists in an observation post had come under attack by stone throwers. The commander of the post, a senior non-commissioned officer, fired two [[plastic bullets]] in deviation of operational rules. No evidence was found that this caused the boy's death. The officer was found guilty of illegal use of a weapon and sentenced to 5 months imprisonment, two of them actually in prison doing public service. He was also demoted.<ref>Talmor, Ronny (translated by Ralph Mandel) (1990) ''The Use of Firearms - By the Security Forces in the Occupied Territories''. [[B'Tselem]]. [https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files2/publication/199007_use_of_firearms_eng.doc download] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914221355/http://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files2/publication/199007_use_of_firearms_eng.doc |date=September 14, 2014}} p. 75 MK [[Yair Tsaban]] to defence ministers [[Yitzhak Rabin]] & [[Yitzhak Shamir]] p.81 Rabin's reply</ref>

On December 21, 1995, Israeli troops withdrew from Bethlehem,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/chronology/19941995.htm|title=Palestine Facts Timeline: 1994–1995 |publisher=[[Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs]]|access-date=March 29, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729174648/http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/chronology/19941995.htm|archive-date=July 29, 2013}}</ref> and three days later the city came under the administration and military control of the [[Palestinian National Authority]] in accordance with the [[Oslo II Accord|Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/EVENTS/seasons_greetings/bethlehem_celebration/|title=Muslims, Christians celebrate in Bethlehem|first=Jerrold|last=Kessel |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=December 24, 1995|access-date=January 22, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731210658/http://www.cnn.com/EVENTS/seasons_greetings/bethlehem_celebration/ |archive-date=July 31, 2013}}</ref> When the Palestinian Authority assumed control in 1995, it publicly extended the boundaries of Bethlehem, allegedly to secure a Muslim majority.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last1=Klein |first1=Aaron |last2=Daily |first2=World Net |date=2005-12-27 |title='Muslims persecuting Bethlehem's Christians' |language=en |work=Ynetnews |url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3190798,00.html |access-date=2023-12-07}}</ref> This expansion incorporated over 30,000 Muslims from nearby refugee camps into the city.<ref name=":2" /> Yasser Arafat, then the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), unilaterally replaced the predominantly Christian city council with a leadership that was largely Muslim.<ref name=":2" /> During the [[Second Intifada|Second Palestinian Intifada]] in 2000–2005, Bethlehem's infrastructure and [[tourism]] industry were damaged.<ref name="OCHA">{{cite web|title=Costs of Conflict: The Changing Face of Bethlehem |publisher=United Nations |author=Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) & Office of the Special Coordinator for the Peace Process in the Middle East |date=December 2004 |url=http://www.miftah.org/Doc/Reports/2004/Beth_Rep_Dec04_En.pdf |access-date=July 22, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729131103/http://www.miftah.org/Doc/Reports/2004/Beth_Rep_Dec04_En.pdf |archive-date=July 29, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7146980.stm |title=Better times return to Bethlehem |agency=[[BBC News]] |date=December 22, 2007 |access-date=January 22, 2008|first=Martin |last=Patience|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106191329/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7146980.stm |archive-date=January 6, 2014}}</ref> In 2002, it was a primary combat zone in [[Operation Defensive Shield]], a major military counteroffensive by the [[Israel Defense Forces|Israeli Defense Forces]] (IDF).<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1916580.stm |title=Vatican outrage over church siege |agency=[[BBC News]] |date=April 8, 2002 |access-date=March 29, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109192256/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1916580.stm|archive-date=January 9, 2014}}</ref> The IDF [[Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem|besieged the Church of the Nativity]], where dozens of Palestinian militants had sought refuge. The siege lasted 39 days. Several militants were killed. It ended with an agreement to exile 13 of the militants to foreign countries.<ref name="siege timeline">{{cite news|title=Chronology of the Siege |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/siege/etc/cron.html |publisher=PBS |work=Frontline |access-date=December 26, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227111530/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/siege/etc/cron.html|archive-date=December 27, 2013}}</ref>

Today, the city is surrounded by two bypass roads for [[Israeli settlement|Israeli settlers]], leaving the inhabitants squeezed between thirty-seven Jewish enclaves, where a quarter of all West Bank settlers, roughly 170,000, live; the gap between the two roads is closed by the 8-metre high [[Israeli West Bank barrier]], which cuts Bethlehem off from its sister city Jerusalem.<ref>Nicholas Blincoe, [http://www.lrb.co.uk/2014/08/14/nicholas-blincoe/phantom-bids 'Phantom Bids,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109181210/https://www.lrb.co.uk/2014/08/14/nicholas-blincoe/phantom-bids |date=January 9, 2018}} ''[[London Review of Books]]'', August 14, 2014</ref> In 2002 the Church of Nativity was broken into by 200 militiamen who held priests and nuns hostages and plundered the church's coffers, it was subsequently sieged by Israeli forces until a deal was reached.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Vatican and the Standoff at the Church of the Nativity - Sergio Minerbi |url=https://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp515.htm |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=www.jcpa.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-04-01 |title=This Week in History: Church of the Nativity siege |url=https://www.jpost.com/features/in-thespotlight/this-week-in-history-church-of-the-nativity-siege |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en-US}}</ref>[[File:The walled off hotel outlook.jpg|thumb|upright|[[The Walled Off Hotel]], owned and decorated by [[Banksy]]]]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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|title=Settlements choke peace in the little town of Bethlehem|last=Philp|first=Catherine|date=December 24, 2013|work=[[The Times]]|pages=28–29}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" /> Christians have reportedly suffered persecution under the Palestinian Authority, leading to emigration.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=CNEWA |date=2002-01-23 |title=Christian Emigration Report: Palestine |url=https://cnewa.org/christian-emigration-report-palestine/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=CNEWA |language=en-US |quote=Selected accounts of Christians expressing feelings of intimidation/persecution due to rise in Muslim extremism: Muslims refusing to hire Christian workers or to sell property to Christians Christian women describe increasing harassment from Muslim men.}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Meotti |first=Giulio |date=2012-04-28 |title=Bethlehem's last Christians? |language=en |work=Ynetnews |url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4221651,00.html |access-date=2023-12-07}}</ref> According to [[International Christian Concern]], there are reports of Christians suffering sexual harassments, kidnappings, forced marriages, extortion and murder of converts by Muslims and PA officials.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2008-09-15 |title=Muslims Continue Pushing Christians Out of Bethlehem |url=https://www.persecution.org/2008/09/15/muslims-continue-pushing-christians-out-of-bethlehem/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=International Christian Concern |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Palestinian Crimes against Christian Arabs and Their Manipulation against Israel |url=https://jcpa.org/article/palestinian-crimes-against-christian-arabs-and-their-manipulation-against-israel/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs |language=en-US}}</ref>