Bethlehem is a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of the State 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 largely tourist-driven; international tourism peaks around and during Christmas, when Christians embark on a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity, revered as the location of the Nativity 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 International Solidarity Movement is a Palestinian-led movement focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ISM is dedicated to the use of nonviolent protests and methods only. The organization calls on civilians from around the world to participate in acts of nonviolent protests against the Israeli military in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The ISM participates in the Free Gaza Movement.
Christian Zionism is a political and religious ideology that, in a Christian context, espouses the return of the Jewish people to the Holy Land. Likewise, it holds that the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 was in accordance with biblical prophecies transmitted through the Old Testament: that the re-establishment of Jewish sovereignty in the Levant—the eschatological "Gathering of Israel"—is a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The term began to be used in the mid-20th century, in place of Christian restorationism, as proponents of the ideology rallied behind Zionists in support of a Jewish national homeland.
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.
Toby Litt is an English writer and academic based at the University of Southampton.
Matthew "Matt" Thorne is an English novelist, writer, and journalist.
The New Puritans was a literary movement ascribed to the contributors to a 2000 anthology of short stories entitled All Hail the New Puritans, edited by Nicholas Blincoe and Matt Thorne. The project is said to have been inspired by the Dogme 95 manifesto for cinematic minimalism and authenticity. The young writers in the anthology deliberately eschewed many of the devices favoured by the pre-eminent British literary generation exemplified by Julian Barnes, Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie.
Laurence Daren King is an English novelist and children's writer. His debut novel, Boxy an Star, made the shortlist for the Guardian First Book Award and the ten finalists for the Booker Prize in 1999. He won the Nestlé Children's Book Prize gold medal in the 6 to 8-year-old readers category for Mouse Noses on Toast in 2006.
Leila Sansour, is a USSR-born Palestinian film director and film producer. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Open Bethlehem, a non-governmental foundation established to promote and protect the life and heritage of the city of Bethlehem. Sansour developed the Bethlehem Passport in partnership with the city council and governor of Bethlehem. Pope Benedict XVI became the first recipient of the Bethlehem passport when he accepted the citizenship of Bethlehem from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in December 2005.
From 2 April to 10 May 2002, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the West Bank was besieged by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), targeting suspected Palestinian militants who had taken shelter in the church.
Tony White is a British novelist, writer and editor. Best known for his novel Foxy-T, described by Toby Litt in 2006 as his 'favourite British novel from the past ten years', White has been called a 'serious, engaging voice of the modern city'. Since 2010, he has been chair of London’s arts radio station Resonance FM.
The Chemical Generation refers to a collection of writers in the 1990s who created work responding to the hedonistic ecstasy and rave culture of the era. Irvine Welsh's book Trainspotting is often described as inciting the movement. The Chemical Generation created DJ-led literature where the key aspiration was authenticity. Stylistically, texts recreated the characteristic rhythms of rave music. Welsh said that he wrote in Scottish vernacular because he "...just liked the beat, the 4/4 beat. The English language is weights and measures - controlling, imperialistic - and I don't want to be controlled".
Zembla was a literary and arts magazine published in London for eight issues between 2003 and 2005.
Yanun is a Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank, located 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) southeast of Nablus, and 3 miles north of Aqraba. It lies within Area C, under total Israeli control, of the West Bank. It is divided into two sites, upper and lower Yanun. Upper or northern Yanin is considered illegal by the Israeli authorities, and development is prohibited there.
The Palestine Olympic Committee is the National Olympic Committee of the State of Palestine. The State of Palestine has been recognized as a member of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) since 1986, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 1993.
Simon Lewis is a Welsh novelist and screenwriter, born in Newport, Monmouthshire, in 1971. He went to school in Monmouth, then studied Art and Art History at Goldsmiths College in London. After graduation, he travelled extensively in Asia, before beginning work as a travel writer for Rough Guides publishing. He has since worked on five editions of the Rough Guide to China and is sole author of the Rough Guide to Shanghai and the Rough Guide to Beijing.
Welcome to Palestine, dubbed by Israeli media the flytilla, is an initiative of Palestinian civil society organizations in the West Bank to welcome hundreds of internationals to participate in a series of solidarity activities with the Palestinian people in the territory. According to organizers, the aim is also to draw attention to Israel's border policies and life under Israeli occupation. Israeli officials described those participating as "hooligans" and "provocateurs," and maintained they had a right to deny the activists entry. Both in 2011—the project's inaugural year—and 2012, many participants were not allowed onto flights departing from European airports to Israel as a result of Israeli diplomatic efforts. In 2011, a total of 130 activists who did arrive at airport were refused entry upon landing, and a few were flown back to their countries' of origin immediately. Four people were granted entry after agreeing to sign documents in which they pledged not to participate in disturbances of the order. The rest of those refused entry were kept in two jails, some for several days, until their expulsions could be arranged.
Paul Larudee (born April 25, 1946) is an Iranian-born American political activist who is a major figure in the pro-Palestinian movement. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, he is involved with the International Solidarity Movement and was a founder of the Free Gaza Movement and the Free Palestine Movement.
Izzat Tannous (1896–1993) was a Palestinian physician and politician who was the representative of the Palestine Arab Higher Committee and the member of the Arab Higher Committee heading its treasury department. He was among the community leaders of the Arab Anglicans in Palestine. He was one of the figures who tried to block partition of Palestine and a cofounder of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
