Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank of Palestine, located about ten kilometres south of Jerusalem. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate, and as of 2017 had a population of 28,591 people. The city's economy is strongly linked to tourism, with a focus on the Christmas period, when Christians embark on a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity, which is revered as the location of the birth of Jesus.
Palestinian Christians are a religious community of the Palestinian people consisting of those who identify as Christians, including those who are cultural Christians in addition to those who actively adhere to Christianity. They are a religious minority within the State of Palestine and within Israel, as well as within the Palestinian diaspora. Applying the broader definition, which groups together individuals with full or partial Palestinian Christian ancestry, the term was applied to an estimated 500,000 people globally in the year 2000. As most Palestinians are Arabs, the overwhelming majority of Palestinian Christians also identify as Arab Christians.
The West Bank, so called due to its location relative to the Jordan River, is the larger of the two Palestinian territories that comprise the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the Levant region of West Asia, it is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel to the south, west, and north. Since 1967, the territory has been under Israeli occupation, which has been regarded illegal under the law of the international community.
The West Bank barrier, West Bank wall or the West Bank separation barrier, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. Israel describes the wall as a necessary security barrier against Palestinian political violence; whereas Palestinians describe it as an element of racial segregation and a representation of Israeli apartheid, who often call it "Wall of Apartheid". At a total length of 708 kilometres (440 mi) upon completion, the route traced by the barrier is more than double the length of the Green Line, with 15% of its length running along the Green Line or inside Israel, and the remaining 85% running as much as 18 kilometres (11 mi) inside the West Bank, effectively isolating about 9% of the land and approximately 25,000 Palestinians from the rest of the Palestinian territory.
Beit Jala is a Palestinian Christian town in the Bethlehem Governorate of Palestine, in the West Bank. Beit Jala is located 10 km (6.2 mi)10 km south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Hebron road, opposite Bethlehem, at 825 meters (2,707 ft) altitude. In 2017, Beit Jala had 13,484 inhabitants according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. About 80% of the population were Christians and about 20% Muslims.
Har Gilo is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, organized as a community settlement, located about 2 kilometers west of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem and 5 kilometers south of Jerusalem, in the northern Judean hills.
Gilo is an Israeli settlement in south-western East Jerusalem, with a population of 30,000, mostly Jewish inhabitants. Although it is located within the Jerusalem Municipality, it is widely considered a settlement, because as one of the five Ring Neighborhoods built by Israel surrounding Jerusalem, it was built on land in the West Bank that was occupied by and effectively annexed to Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War and 1980 Jerusalem Law.
Highway 60 or is a south–north intercity road in Israel and the Palestinian West Bank that stretches from Beersheba to Nazareth.
Seam Zone is a term used to refer to a land area in the Israeli-occupied West Bank located east of the Green Line and west of Israel's separation barrier, populated largely by Israelis in settlements such as Alfei Menashe, Ariel, Beit Arye, Modi'in Illit, Giv'at Ze'ev, Ma'ale Adumim, Beitar Illit and Efrat.
Al-Walaja is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, in the Bethlehem Governorate of the State of Palestine, four kilometers northwest of Bethlehem. It is an enclave in the Seam Zone, near the Green Line. Al-Walaja is partly under the jurisdiction of the Bethlehem Governorate and partly of the Jerusalem Municipality. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 2,671 in 2017. It has been called 'the most beautiful village in Palestine'.
Aida, also spelled 'Ayda, is a Palestinian refugee camp situated 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of the historic centre of Bethlehem and 1 km (0.62 mi) north of Beit Jala, in the central West Bank, State of Palestine.
Khan al-Ahmar is a Palestinian village located in the Khan al-Ahmar area of the Jerusalem Governorate of the West Bank. In 2018, there were between 173 and 180 Bedouin, including 92 children, living there in tents and huts, upwards of 100 in 2010, with its local school serving the needs of 150 children in the area. Khan al-Ahmar is located between the Israeli settlements of Ma'ale Adumim and Kfar Adumim on the north side of Highway 1, between the junctions with Route 437 and Route 458.
An Israeli military order is a general order issued by an Israeli military commander over territory under Israeli military occupation. It has the force of law. Enforcement of such orders is carried out by Israeli military police and military courts instead of civil courts.
Tourism in the Palestinian territories is tourism in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. In 2010, 4.6 million people visited the Palestinian territories, compared to 2.6 million in 2009. Of that number, 2.2 million were foreign tourists while 2.7 million were domestic. In the last quarter of 2012 over 150,000 guests stayed in West Bank hotels; 40% were European and 9% were from the United States and Canada. Major travel guides write that "the West Bank is not the easiest place in which to travel but the effort is richly rewarded."
Beit Jimal, Beit el Jemâl, meaning "The house of the camel" is a Catholic monastery run by Salesian priests and brothers near Beit Shemesh, Israel. The Christian tradition identifies the site with the Roman- and Byzantine-era Jewish village of Caphargamala, and believe that a cave there is the tomb of St. Stephen or to have conserved his relics. An alternative spelling and etymology for the name is therefore Beit Gemal or Beit Gamal - the House of Rabban Gamaliel the Elder.
Ratisbonne Monastery is a monastery in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, established by Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, a French convert from Judaism. Work on the building, designed by the French architect M. Daumat, began in 1874 on a barren hill, now in the center of West Jerusalem.
William Hanna Shomali is a Palestinian Catholic prelate who serves as an auxiliary bishop for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Born in 1950 and ordained priest on June 24, 1972, he has served for eight years in the parishes of Jordan, 19 years as professor then as rector of the Seminary of Beit Jala, and then became General Administrator.
Talitha Kumi - German Evangelical Lutheran School, is a German international school in Beit Jala, West Bank, in the State of Palestine. The school, located in proximity to Bethlehem and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Jerusalem, serves Kindergarten, and primary school through senior high school level. Students may obtain the Tawjihi and/or the Deutsche Internationale Abiturprüfung (DIAP). The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land operates the school. The name "Talitha Kumi" originates from Aramaic words which mean "Get up, girl!" or "Little girl, I tell you to get up," a phrase stated by Jesus Christ when he resurrected Jairus's daughter. As of 2015 Rolf Lindemann is the principal of Talitha Kumi.
Nuaman or Khallet an Nu'man, also written al-Numan/an-Nu'man, is a small village located just north of Beit Sahour in the Palestinian Governorate of Bethlehem. The Israeli government incorporated its territory within Jerusalem after the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War. The village is regarded as neither part of the West Bank, nor part of Jerusalem. A United Nations report has described the villagers as "living in limbo." In terms of local government it is treated together with the neighbouring village Al-Khas, to the west, as one unit. The village had a population of 112 in 2017. Settled by families from the at-Ta'mira Bedouin tribe, it is part of the 'Arab al-Ta'mira village cluster, along with Za'atara, Beit Ta'mir, Hindaza, Tuqu', Khirbet ad-Deir, Ubeidiya and al-Asakra.
