Bethlehem

This article is about the city in the West Bank. For other uses, see Bethlehem (disambiguation).

"Bethlehemite" redirects here. For other uses, see Bethlehemites (disambiguation).

Bethlehem بَيْت لَحَم
Skyline of Bethlehem Church of the Nativity Chapel of the Milk Grotto Church of St. Catherine Mosque of Omar in Manger Square Bethlehem University Church of the Theotokos
Municipal Seal (PNA)
Interactive map of Bethlehem
Bethlehem Location of Bethlehem within the West Bank Bethlehem Location of Bethlehem within the State of Palestine
Country	Palestine
Governorate	Bethlehem
Founded	1400 BCE (est.)
Government
• Type	Area A City (from 1995) Palestinian enclaves
• Head of Municipality	Maher Canawati
Area
• City	10,611 dunams (10.611 km2; 4.097 sq mi)
Population  (2017)
• City	28,591
• Density	2,694.5/km2 (6,978.6/sq mi)
• Metro	97,559
Demonym(s)	Bethlehemi Bethlehemite
Etymology	House of Bread (Hebrew, Aramaic); House of Meat (Arabic)
Website	www.bethlehem-city.org

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Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about ten kilometres (six miles) south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of 28,591 people, as of 2017. The city's economy is strongly linked to tourism, especially during 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.

A possible first mention of Bethlehem is in the Amarna correspondence of ancient Egypt, dated to 1350–1330 BCE, although that reading is uncertain. In the Hebrew Bible, the period of the Israelites is described; it identifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of David. In the New Testament, the city is identified as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. Under the Roman Empire, the city of Bethlehem was destroyed by Hadrian, but later rebuilt by Constantine the Great, who commissioned the Church of the Nativity in 327 CE. In 529, the Church of the Nativity was heavily damaged by Samaritans involved in the Samaritan revolts; following the victory of the Byzantine Empire, it was rebuilt by Justinian I.

Later, during the rule of several Caliphates, Bethlehem became part of Jund Filastin in 637. Muslims continued to rule the city until 1099, when it was conquered by the Crusaders, who replaced the local Christian Greek Orthodox clergy with Catholic ones. In the mid-13th century, Bethlehem's walls were demolished by the Mamluk Sultanate. However, they were rebuilt by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century when it came to control the region. After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, Bethlehem was part of Mandatory Palestine until 1948, and later of the West Bank that was annexed by Jordan following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. During the 1967 Six-Day War, Bethlehem was occupied by Israel along with the rest of the West Bank. Since the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, Bethlehem has been designated as part of Area A of the West Bank, nominally rendering it as being under Palestinian control, but it remains under Israeli occupation. Movement around the city is limited due to the Israeli West Bank barrier.

Historically, it was a city of Arab Christians, who made up about 86% of the population in 1950, although in 2022, The Times reported that this community had dwindled about 20%, with a large majority of Arab Muslims.