Beit Sahour or Beit Sahur (;

Palestine grid The Palestine grid was the geographic coordinate system used by the Survey Department of Palestine. The system was chosen by the Survey Department of the Government of Palestine in 1922. The projection used was the Cassini projection, Cassini-So ...

170/123) is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

town east of

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

, in the

Bethlehem Governorate The Bethlehem Governorate () is one of 16 governorates of Palestine. It covers an area of the West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Its principal city and district capital is Bethlehem. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, its pop ...

of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

in the

State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. The city is under the administration of the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a c ...

. The population was of 13,281 in 2017,2017 PCBS Census

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ) is the official statistical institution of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures at the national and international levels. It is a state institution that provid ...

. consisting of approximately 80%

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

(most of them

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

) and 20%

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s. Christian tradition holds Beit Sahour to be the site of the

Annunciation to the Shepherds The annunciation to the shepherds is an episode in the Nativity of Jesus described in the Bible in Luke 2, in which angels tell a group of shepherds about the birth of Jesus. It is a common subject of Christian art and of Christmas carols. Bibl ...

. Accessed 5 May 2022 via pressreader.co
here
an
here
There are two enclosures in the eastern part of Beit Sahour that are claimed by different Christian denominations to be the actual 'Shepherds Field': one belonging to the

Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Christianity in Greece, Greek Christianity, Antiochian Greek Christians, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christian ...

, and the other, the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

site, belonging to the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

Custody of the Holy Land The Custody of the Holy Land (Latin: ''Custodia Terræ Sanctæ'') is a Custos (Franciscans), custodian priory of the Order of Friars Minor in Jerusalem, founded as the ''Province of the Holy Land'' in 1217 by Saint Francis of Assisi, who had als ...

. The mainly

Christian Palestinian 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 reli ...

inhabitants are being pressured by encroaching

Israeli settlements Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Jewish identity or ethnicity, and hav ...

, with one housing development threatened with demolition.

Etymology

The name Beit Sahour has been translated variously as "House of the Magicians" by Palmer (1881), and more recently on Palestinian websites as "House of Vigilance"Beit Sahour City Profile (ARIJ 2010) or literally as "House of the Night Watch".VisitPalestine.ps
22 Oct. 2016 Modern Beit Sahour is also known as ''Beit Sahur an-Nasara'' ("Beit Sahur of the Christians").Sharon (1999), p
154
/ref> Another, former village near Jerusalem, known as ''Beit Sahur al-Atiqah'' ("ancient Beit Sahur") or ''Beit Sahour al-Wadi'' ("Beit Sahur of the Valley"), is fully distinct from the town of Beit Sahour in the Bethlehem Governorate.

History

Origins and early demographics

According to local tradition, Beit Sahour was uninhabited until the 14th century when a number of Muslim and Christian families from

Wadi Musa Wadi Musa (, literally "Valley of Musa (AS)) is a town located in the Ma'an Governorate in southern Jordan. It is the administrative center of the Petra Department and the nearest town to the archaeological site of Petra, being only 3.5 km (2.2 ...

near

Petra Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, P ...

(today in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

) settled in caves on the site of the modern village. Another Christian family of Wadi Musa, from the remnants of the

Ghassanids The Ghassanids, also known as the Jafnids, were an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe. Originally from South Arabia, they migrated to the Levant in the 3rd century and established what would eventually become a Christian state, Christian kingdom unde ...

, arrived in the 17th century. Further immigration in the 18th century from Rashda in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

Shobak Montreal (; ), or Qal'at ash-Shawbak () in Arabic, is a castle built by the Crusaders and expanded by the Mamluks, on the eastern side of the Arabah Valley, perched on the side of a rocky, conical mountain, looking out over fruit orchards below ...

Transjordan Transjordan may refer to: * Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River * Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan * Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946) * Hashemite Kingdom o ...

and Al-Kukaliya "in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

" cemented the Christian character of the village. In spite of the influx of Christian families, they remained in the minority all until 1839, when Muslims from Palestine fought in the armies led by

Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt Ibrahim Pasha ( ''Ibrāhīm Bāshā''; 1789 – 10 November 1848) was an Egyptian general and politician; he was the commander of both the Egyptian and Ottoman armies and the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman Wāli and unrecognized Khedi ...

in his war against the Turkish Sultan. Huge losses, due mainly to heat and dehydration rather than battle, meant that three quarters of the male Muslims of Beit Sahour perished, leaving the Christians in the majority.

Ottoman period

Beit Sahour, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1517, and in the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 1525/26 ( AH 932), Beit Sahur an-Nasara ('Christian Beit Sahur') had 5 Christian and 7 Muslim households, increasing in 1538/39 (AH 945) to 8 Christian and 8 Muslim households.Toledano (1984), p. 312 By 1553/34 (AH 961), 13 Christian and 21 Muslim households were noted, and in 1562/63 (AH 970), 9 Christian and 17 Muslim households were counted. In 1596, Beit Sahur an-Nasara was registered as a village in the ''

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...

'' of Quds (Jerusalem) of the '' Liwa'' of Quds, with a total population of 24 households; 15 Muslim and 9 Christian. The villages paid taxes on the same products as the villagers of Beit Sahur al-Atiqah. The Franciscans ceased holding religious services at the shrine by Shepherd's Field around 1820. In 1864 a new Roman Catholic church and school were completed. An Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Beit Sahour el-foka ("upper Beit Sahour") had a population of 37 "Latins" (Catholics) in 11 houses, and 187 "Greeks" (Eastern Orthodox) in 48 houses, bringing the total population of both villages, Beit Sahour el-foka and Beit Sahour et-tahta ("lower Beit Sahour"), to 190 (men only) in 76 houses. In 1883, the PEF's ''

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the completed Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The ...

'' (SWP) described Beit Sahur as:

This village is a sort of suburb of Bethlehem, situated on the same ridge, with the broad plateau east of it known as the 'Shepherd's Field' ...
ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometers, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is i ...
the small Greek Church of the Grotto of the Shephard, a subterranean chapel reached by 20 steps, containing pictures and mosaic. Above the vault are ruins with a Latin altar. Bait Sahur contains a well-built modern house belonging to the Latin
curé A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...
, and is surrounded with olives and vines.

In 1896 the population of Beit Sahour was estimated to be about 861 persons. A construction text, dating to 1897, engraved in the

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

of a door on Municipality Street has been examined, and was found to be a poem in 19th century Christian naskhi script.

British Mandate

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Bait Sahur'' had a population 1,519; 285 Muslims and 1,234 Christians,Barron (1923), Table VII, Sub-district of Bethlehem, p
18
increasing in the 1931 census to 1,942; 395 Muslims and 1,547 Christians, in a total of 454 houses.Mills (1932), p
35
/ref> In the 1945 statistics the population of Beit Sahour was 2,770; 370 Muslims and 2,400 Christians,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945), p
24
/ref> who owned 6,946 (rural) and 138 (urban)

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s of land, according to an official land and population survey. 1,031 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,641 for cereals, while 100 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

Jordanian annexation

In the wake of the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,was annexed by Jordan along with the rest of the West Bank. In 1961, the population of Beit Sahur was 5,316.

Israeli occupation

Since the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

in 1967, Beit Sahour has been under

Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...

. The population in the 1967 census was 5,380. According to ARIJ, 52.8% of the village land is classified as being in Area A, while the remaining 47.2% is in

Area C Area C (; ) is the fully Israeli-controlled territory in the West Bank, defined as the whole area outside the Palestinian enclaves (Areas A and B). Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the West Bank territory, containing most Israeli settle ...

. From 1997 and onwards, Israel has confiscated hundred of dunams of village land for the construction of the

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

Har Homa Har Homa (, lit ''Wall Mountain''), officially Homat Shmuel, is an Israeli settlement in southern East Jerusalem, near the Palestinian city of Beit Sahour. The settlement is also referred to as "Jabal Abu Ghneim" (also "Jabal Abu Ghunaym"), ...

. The mainly Christian Palestinian inhabitants are being pressured by encroaching Israeli settlements, with one housing development being ruled as illegal by an Israeli court in the early 2000s and, as of 2013, standing under threat of demolition.

Economy

The town's economy is largely based on tourism and related industries, such as the manufacture of olive-wood carvings. Agriculture and work in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

also play a significant role. The town had a prominent role in the Palestinian national "Bethlehem 2000" project, as extensive renovations of tourist sites, hotels and businesses, and historic sites were carried out prior to the millennium celebrations. During the

First Intifada The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...

, residents in the town had attempted to develop their own

dairy industry A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

—a move resisted by Israeli authorities. These efforts were documented in 2014 film ''

The Wanted 18 ''The Wanted 18'' () is a 2014 Palestinian-Canadian animated documentary about the efforts of Palestinians in Beit Sahour to start a small local dairy industry during the First Intifada, hiding a herd of 18 dairy cows from Israeli security forces ...

'', co-directed by Palestinian filmmaker

Amer Shomali Amer Shomali (Arabic: عامر شوملي, born 1981) is a Palestinian interdisciplinary visual artist who uses conceptual art, painting, digital media, films and comics to explore Palestinian sociopolitical issues and revolution iconography. Ea ...

and Canadian Paul Cowan. Social and economic development were disrupted by the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

Political activism

Beit Sahour is a center of Palestinian political activism. The town played a key role in the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and Second Intifadas, with local activists pioneering

nonviolent resistance Nonviolent resistance, or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, construct ...

techniques. During the First Intifada and the Second Intifada, the

Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between Peoples Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between Peoples (PCR) is a non-profit and non-religious organization. The PCR is based in Beit Sahour under the aegis of the International Solidarity Movement. George Rishmawi is director of PCR. The group was ...

(PCR) based in Beit Sahour encouraged non-violent activism under the aegis of the International Solidarity Movement. George Rishmawi is director of PCR. During the First Intifada, the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between Peoples issued an invitation to Israelis of goodwill to come and spend a weekend (Shabbat) in Palestinian homes using the slogan "Break Bread, Not Bones". The

Alternative Information Center The Alternative Information Center (AIC) is a joint Palestinian territories, Palestinian-Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO) which "engages in dissemination of information, political advocacy, grassroots activism and critical analysis of ...

is also partly based in the town. Elias Rishmawi, a member of the Beit Sahour council, is co-founder, together with Ghassan Andoni, Majed Nassar, Rifat Odeh Kassis and Jamal Salameh, of the

Alternative Tourism Group Alternative Tourism Group and Study Center (ATG) is a Palestinian NGO based in Beit Sahour (Bethlehem) that specialises in tours and pilgrimages that include critical examinations of the history, culture, and politics of the Holy Land. ATG was es ...

(ATG), a

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

specializing in tours of the

Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...

, where the olive harvest is used as a backdrop for showing the effects of the Israeli occupation and land confiscation on the Palestinian population.

Tax resistance

In 1989, during the First Intifada, the Palestinian resistance (

Unified National Leadership of the Uprising The Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU; ) was a coalition of local Palestinian leadership during the First Intifada. By the late 1980s, the central Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leadership had largely been exiled, impri ...

, UNLU) and

Ghassan Andoni Ghassan Andoni (; born 1956) is a Palestinian activist. Born in Beit Sahour to a Palestinian Christian family, he is a professor of physics at Bir Zeit University at the West Bank. He advocates nonviolent resistance in the Israeli-Palestinian c ...

and Kamel Danoun, urged people to stop paying taxes to Israel, which inherited and modified the previous Jordanian tax-collection regime in the

.
Local Government in the West Bank and Gaza
(says parenthetically that the ''property tax'' "rate and base" were "unchanged since 1963") *Baxendale, Sidney J. "Taxation of Income in Israel and the West Bank: A Comparative Study" Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Spring, 1989), pp. 134-141 "it retained the Jordanian tax law" "No taxation without representation," said a statement from the organizers. "The military authorities do not represent us, and we did not invite them to come to our land. Must we pay for the bullets that kill our children or for the expenses of the occupying army?" The people of Beit Sahour responded to this call with an organized citywide

tax strike Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in violation of the ta ...

that included refusal to pay and file tax returns. Israeli defense minister

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

responded: "We will teach them there is a price for refusing the laws of Israel." The Israeli military authorities placed the town under curfew for 42 days, blocked food shipments into the town, cut telephone lines to the town, tried to bar reporters from the town, imprisoned ten residents (among them Fuad Kokaly and Rifat Odeh Kassis) and seized in house-to-house raids millions of dollars in money and property belonging to 350 families. The Israeli military stopped the consuls-general of Belgium, Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden when they attempted to go to Beit Sahour and investigate the conditions there during the tax strike. Israel's military occupation had the authority to create and enforce taxes beyond the baseline Jordanian code enacted in 1963 in areas formerly administered by that country, including Beit Sahour. During the Intifada, they used that authority to impose taxes on Palestinians as collective punishment measures to discourage the Intifada, for instance "the glass tax (for broken windows), the stones tax (for damage done by stones), the missile tax (for Gulf War damage), and a general ''intifada'' tax, among others." The

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

considered a resolution demanding that Israel return the property it confiscated during the Beit Sahour tax resistance. The United States vetoed the resolution, which was supported by the other eleven council members.

Development projects

'Ush Ghurab, a hill occupied by a military base until 2006, is now the site of a development project. A restaurant, a climbing tower, a football field and a park are being built on the hillside. The municipality of Beit Sahour also has plans for a hospital and a sports center.

Municipal government

The municipal council of Beit Sahour was established by the British Mandate on April 16, 1926, but was formally implemented in 1929. Prior to that date, the first village council was established in 1925 at the initiative of the citizens of Beit Sahour. The village council developed into a municipal council in 1955 under the chairmanship of Nicola Abu Eita. In the 2005 municipal election, two lists gained seats in the municipal council. Eight seats went to 'United Beit Sahour' and five to 'Sons of Beit Sahour'. The most popular vote was for Hani Naji Atallah Abdel Masieh of United Beit Sahour with 2,690 votes, followed by Elen Michael Saliba Qsais of Sons of Bethlehem with 2,280 votes.

Demography

According to the 1984 census, there were 8,900 Beit Sahouris. 67% were

, 17% were Sunni Muslim, 8% were

Latin Catholic The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 ''sui iuris'' churches in full communion w ...

, 6% were

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

and 2% were

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

.Bowman, Glenn (2006). "A Death Revisited: Solidarity and Dissonance in a Muslim-Christian Palestinian Community", in Ussama Samir Makdisi, Paul A. Silverstein (eds.) ''Memory and Violence in the Middle East and North Africa,'' Indiana University Press, pp.27-48
p. 30
.

"Shepherds' Field" pilgrimage churches

The old core of Beit Sahour is reputed to be close to the place where, according to the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

, an

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

announced the birth of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

to the shepherds—the "Annunciation to the shepherds". The eastern part of Beit Sahour is home to two sites alleged to be the biblical "Shepherds' Field".

Greek Orthodox monastery

Kenisat er-Ruwat is the name of the site where, according to tradition,

St. Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

built a convent, which is today known as the shepherd's cave. The

s acquired a shrine there in 1347.Kildani (2010), p
332
/ref> The ''

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

'', a 250-year old understanding between religious communities, applies in principle to the site, although no concrete regulations could be found. The new Greek Orthodox monastery, which includes on its grounds the ancient church, was established through the efforts of Archimandrite Serapheim Savvaitis as a

metochion A ''metochion'' or ''metochi'' ( or ; ) is an ecclesiastical embassy church within Eastern Orthodox tradition. It is usually from one autocephalous or autonomous church to another. The term is also used to refer to a parish representation (or ...

of the Lavra of St. Sabbas between 1971 and 1989.

Catholic monastery

The Catholic site belongs to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and includes the Chapel of the Shepherds' Field, along with two cave chapels and the ruins of a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

monastery known in Arabic as Khirbet Siyar el-Ghanem ("Ruins of the Sheepfold").

Archaeology

Khirbet Umm-Toba

Within the environs of Beit Sahour is the ruin ''Khirbet Umm Toba''. An archaeological survey-excavation was conducted at the site in 2010, 2013 and 2016 by Zubair Adawi on behalf of the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, ; , before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservatio ...

(IAA), which yielded pottery from the Byzantine era. Some had surmised that the site may have been the ''Caphartobas'' of

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

Khirbet Beit Bassa

In the southern outskirts of the village is the ruin ''Khirbet Beit Bassa'', which is identified with ''Bethbassi'', a fortress in the toparchy of

Herodium Herodion (; ; ), Herodium (Latin), or Jabal al-Fureidis () is a fortified desert palace built by Herod the Great, king of Herodian kingdom, Judaea, in the first century BCE. The complex stands atop a hill in the Judaean Desert, approximately s ...

in which Hasmonean leader Jonathan Appus was besieged by

Seleucid The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great, a ...

general Bacchides.

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Beit Sahour is twinned with many cities and communes across the world.

Notable people

(b. 1956), physics professor and non-violent resistance activist * Laila al-Atrash (1948–2021), writer and journalist * Israa Ghrayeb, 2019 "honour killing" victim *

Munther Isaac Munther Isaac (born 1979) is a Palestinian pastor, author, and Theology, theologian based in the West Bank. For some time, Isaac has vocally criticized the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians and Christian Zionism, Christian Zionist su ...

(b. 1979), pastor, author, and theologian * Rifat Odeh Kassis, human rights and community activist active since the 1990s * Fuad Kokaly (b. 1962), former mayor, politician and diplomat * Qustandi Shomali (b. 1946), professor of history * Mazin B. Qumsiyeh (b. 1957), scientist, national and human rights activist

Beit Sahur al-Atiqah near Jerusalem

Beit Saḥur al-Atiqah ('ancient Beit Sahur') or Beit Sahour al-Wadi ('Beit Sahur of the valley'),

171/123,''The ancient Beit Sahur'', also called ''Beit Sahur of the valley'', according to Palmer (1881), p
287
/ref> is geographically distinct from Beit Sahour and lies very close to the

Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem (; ) is a walled area in Jerusalem. In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Arm ...

, upon a lofty hill across the valley of Kidron, not far from

En-Rogel Ein Rogel (Hebrew: ''ʿĒn Rōgēl'') is a spring on the outskirts of Jerusalem, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It is most commonly identified as what Arabs refer to as Well of Job ( ''Bir Ayoub'') in Silwan, though some scholars dispute this v ...

. It surrounded the tomb of Sheikh Ahmad al-Sahuri, a local saint to whom the local Arab tribe of al-SawahrehSharon (1999), p
155
/ref>

Mujir al-Din Mujīr al-Dīn al-ʿUlaymī (; 1456–1522), often simply Mujir al-Din, was a Jerusalemite '' qadi'' and historian whose principal work chronicled the history of Jerusalem and Hebron in the Middle Ages.Little, 1995, p. 237.van Donzel, 1994, p. ...

mentions this place in a biography of a Muslim scholar ''Sha'ban bin Salim bin Sha'ban'', who died in ''Beit Sahur al-Atiqah'' in 1483 at the age of 105. In 1596, ''Beit Sahour al-Wadi'' appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the ''

'' of Quds of the '' Liwa'' of

Quds Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Juda ...

. Beit Sahour al-Wadi had a population of 40 Muslim households. The villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, vines or fruit trees, and goats or beehives; a total of 4,500

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

. All of the revenue went to

waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...

s; half of which was to the

madrasah Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning ...

br>Muzhiriyya
in Jerusalem. The place was noted by French geographer Guerin in 1863 as being 40 minutes south-east of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, a short distance south of the

Kidron Valley The Kidron Valley ( classical transliteration, ''Cedron'', from , ''Naḥal Qidron'', literally Qidron River; also Qidron Valley) is a valley originating slightly northeast of the Old City of Jerusalem, which then separates the Temple Mount fro ...

. An Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Beit Sahour et-Tahta ("the lower Beit Sahour") islabelled?had a population of 66 (whereby only men were counted), with a total of 17 houses.Socin (1879), p
147
/ref>Hartmann (1883), p
124
noted 76 houses In 1883, the PEF's ''

'' (SWP) described the place as: "Ruins of a village with wells and a mukam."

Clermont-Ganneau Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (19 February 1846 – 15 February 1923) was a noted French Orientalist and archaeologist. Biography Clermont-Ganneau was born in Paris, the son of Simon Ganneau, a sculptor and mystic who died in 1851 when Clerm ...

found here several old tombs in the 1890s.Clermont-Ganneau (1899), vol 1, p
435
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* * * * * 29; 29, 85 (Beit Sahur al-Atiqah) * * * * * * * * * * (pp
157159171
* * * *

External links

Beit Sahour Municipality

History of Beit Sahour residents
*

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAA

Wikimedia commons Wikimedia Commons, or simply Commons, is a wiki-based Digital library, media repository of Open content, free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used ...

''Beit Sahour City Profile''

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research projects in the fields of management of natural resources, water m ...

(ARIJ), 2010 ** p.35, also separately a
"The priorities and needs for development in Beit Sahour city based on the community and local authorities' assessment"
* {{Authority control Populated places in the Bethlehem Governorate Cities in the West Bank Palestinian Christian communities Municipalities of Palestine Status quo holy places