Siege of the Church of the Nativity

The Church of Saint Catherine or Chapel of Saint Catherine (Latin: Ecclesia Sanctae Catharinae, Arabic: كنيسة القديسة كترينا, Hebrew: כנסיית קתרינה הקדושה) is a Catholic religious building located adjacent to the northern part of the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the West Bank, Palestine. It works as a parish church and Franciscan monastery. There is a complex of caves underneath the church.It is administered by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, follows the Roman Rite, and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2012 as part of the "Birthplace of Jesus" world heritage site.

The Church of the Nativity, or Basilica of the Nativity, is a basilica located in Bethlehem in the State of Palestine, in the West Bank. The grotto holds a prominent religious significance to Christians of various denominations as the birthplace of Jesus. The grotto is the oldest site continuously used as a place of worship in Christianity, and the basilica is the oldest major church in the Holy Land.The church was originally commissioned by Constantine the Great a short time after his mother Helena's visit to Jerusalem and Bethlehem in 325–326, on the site that was traditionally considered to be the birthplace of Jesus. That original basilica was likely built between 330 and 333, being already mentioned in 333, and was dedicated on 31 May 339. It was probably destroyed by fire during the Samaritan revolts of the sixth century, possibly in 529, and a new basilica was built a number of years later by Byzantine Emperor Justinian (r. 527–565), who added a porch or narthex, and replaced the octagonal sanctuary with a cruciform transept complete with three apses, but largely preserved the original character of the building, with an atrium and a basilica consisting of a nave with four side aisles.The Church of the Nativity, while remaining basically unchanged since the Justinianic reconstruction, has seen numerous repairs and additions, especially from the Crusader period, such as two bell towers (now gone), wall mosaics and paintings (partially preserved). Over the centuries, the surrounding compound has been expanded, and today it covers approximately 12,000 square meters, comprising three different monasteries: one Roman Catholic, one Armenian Apostolic, and one Greek Orthodox, of which the first two contain bell towers built during the modern era.The silver star marking the spot where Christ was born, inscribed in Latin, was stolen in October 1847 by Greek monks who wished to remove this Catholic item. Some assert that this was a contributing factor in the Crimean War against the Russian Empire. Others assert that the war grew out of the wider European situation.Since 2012, the Church of the Nativity is a World Heritage Site and was the first to be listed by UNESCO under 'Palestine'.Since 1852 the rights of the three religious communities are ruled by Status Quo.

Bethlehem (; Arabic: بيت لحم, Bayt Laḥm, ; Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם Bēṯ Leḥem) is a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestine, located about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Jerusalem. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate, and has a population of approximately 25,000 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.The earliest-known mention of Bethlehem is in the Amarna correspondence of ancient Egypt, dated to 1350–1330 BCE, when the town was inhabited by the Canaanites. 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 Helena, and her son, 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. Amidst the Muslim conquest of the Levant, 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 clergy—composed of representatives from the Greek Orthodox Church—with representatives from the Catholic Church. 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, following the Ottoman–Mamluk War. After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, it became part of Mandatory Palestine until 1948, when it was annexed by Jordan during 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. Movement around the city is limited due to the Israeli West Bank barrier. While it was historically a city of Arab Christians, Bethlehem now has a majority of Arab Muslims; it is still home to a significant community of Palestinian Christians, however it has dwindled significantly, mostly due to difficulties resulting from living under the Israeli occupation. Presently, Bethlehem has become encircled by dozens of Israeli settlements, which significantly hinder the ability of Palestinians in the city to openly access their land and livelihoods, which has contributed to the exodus of Palestinians.

Manger Square (Arabic: ميدان المهد; Hebrew: כיכר האבוס) is a city square in the center of Bethlehem in Palestine. It takes its name from the manger where Jesus is said to have been born which, according to Christian tradition, took place at the Grotto of the Nativity, enshrined since the fourth century in the Church of the Nativity. A particular building set in Manger Square is the Mosque of Omar, the Old City's only mosque, and the Palestinian Peace Center. The streets that lead to the square are related to the Christian faith, such as Star Street and Nativity Street. In 1998–1999, the square was renovated to relieve the traffic congestion and currently is, to a large degree, pedestrian only. It is mainly a meeting place for locals and for the town's many pilgrims. There are rows of celtis australis trees that provide shade to its people, with benches and fountains made of yellowish-white local limestone known as Naqab marble.

The Chapel of the Milk Grotto of Our Lady (Latin: Crypta lactea; Arabic: مغارةآلسثئ; Hebrew: מערת החלב) also called Grotto of Our Lady or Milk Grotto, is a Catholic chapel in Bethlehem, in the West Bank of the State of Palestine, erected in 1872. Since Byzantine times, the place has been a center of Christian pilgrimage, maintained since its last erection together with its Marian shrine and monastery by the Custody of the Holy Land of the Order of the Friars Minor of the Catholic Church in Palestine. The Status Quo, a 250-year-old understanding between religious communities, applies to the site.

The Mosque of Omar (Arabic: مسجد عمر Masjid Umar) is the only mosque in the Old City of Bethlehem, Palestine. It is located on the west side of Manger Square, across the square from the Church of the Nativity.

Baituna al-Talhami Museum (Arabic: متحف بيتنا التلحمي), also known as Bethlehem Folklore Museum or The Museum of Traditional and Popular Art, is a museum located in Bethlehem, Palestine, on Star Street, slightly off Pope Paul VI Street. Its rooms are designed to resemble those in a traditional nineteenth-century Palestinian home, containing a selection of pictures, clothing and jewelry, alongside the tools used to produce them. It was originally set up by the Arab Women's Union (AWU) in 1948, under Julia Dabdoub, as a center for Palestinian refugees fleeing their villages to eat, and practice in traditional embroidery for income. The AWU established the museum in 1979. It consists of two houses of typical Palestinian architecture, which include a renovated kitchen, a diwan room, a bedroom and an upper floor or illeyeh. The contents of the museum included a collection of traditional Palestinian household items displayed in an old house. The amount of items increased after a campaign amongst Bethlehem's prominent families to donate their traditional belongings commenced. Many items were thus saved from withering away in the basements of homes. In 1984, the museum was expanded to include an adjacent old house which had been restored. This new house, according to Julia Dabdoub, "is one of the few authentic old houses left in Bethlehem… similar to the house in which Jesus was born." In 1992, Dabdoub donated her forty-year collection of photographs, furniture, and works of art to furnish the upper room or "al-Illiyeh" which shows the life of Bethlehem residents between 1900 and 1932. Although Baituna al-Talhami is run as a museum, it still serves and employs refugees, as well as host festivals celebrating Palestinian artists, poets and writers.

The al-Bad Museum for Olive Oil Production (Arabic: متحف البد), also known as Badd Jackaman Museum (Arabic: متحف بد جقمان, also known as the al-Bad Museum for Olive Oil Production) is located in the center of Bethlehem, Palestine, near the Church of the Nativity. The museum houses several ethnographic and archaeological artifacts depicting the process of olive oil production. The exhibits demonstrate the use of olive oil for lamps, medicine, food, soap, cosmetics, etc. The building in which the museum was built dates from the late 18th century. From 1998 to 2000, the museum was restored by the Department of Antiquities of the State of Palestine, in coordination with the UNDP and the Greek Orthodox Society. In April 2002, during the invasion and siege of the Church of the Nativity, Israeli forces stormed the museum. On May 25, 2006, Israeli forces destroyed the museum's main gate and broke into the museum; as a result, a number of antique pottery jars and flasks, and some office supplies, were destroyed.

Beit Sahour or Beit Sahur (Arabic: بيت ساحور pronounced Bayt Saahoor ; Palestine grid 170/123) is a Palestinian town east of Bethlehem, in the Bethlehem Governorate of the State of Palestine. The city is under the administration of the Palestinian National Authority. The population was of approximately 14,000 in 2017, consisting of approximately 80% Christians (most of them Greek Orthodox) and 20% Muslims.Christian tradition holds Beit Sahour to be the site of the Annunciation to the Shepherds. 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, and the other, the Catholic site, belonging to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. The mainly Christian Palestinian inhabitants are being pressured by encroaching Israeli settlements, with one housing development threatened with demolition.

Jacir Palace or Qasr Jacir (Arabic: قصر جاسر) is the largest hotel in Bethlehem in the central West Bank. The building's original design was based on typical Palestinian architecture and the characteristics of an Arab household. Jacir Palace has three floors, each spanning 800 sq m. The newly built hotel added an outdoor swimming pool, a health spa, two meeting rooms, 250 available rooms and 11 food and beverage outlets including restaurants and bars.Jacir Palace was built in 1910 by local craftsmen on commission of the former mayor of Bethlehem, also a merchant, Suleiman Jacir (great grandfather of Nasri Jacir, Emily and Annemarie Jacir), who intended that he and his five brothers’ families would live in the mansion together. So they did for a time, however, the family went bankrupt in the 1920s and were forced to sell the palace and its furniture. Jacir Palace was eventually taken over by the British who used it as a women's prison in the 1940s. In the 1950s it was a private school called al-Ummah, later the house became a public boys school and at a still later stage was transformed into a public girls school. The house was also used by the Israel Defence Forces, particularly during the First Intifada, as a point of control considering its advantageous location and continued to be a major point of confrontation between local stone-throwing youths and the IDF. In 2000, a group of Palestinian investors belonging to PEDCAR — which is linked to the Palestinian National Authority — acquired Jacir Palace; they refurbished and renovated it soon after. Munib il Masri, father of filmmaker Mai Masri, now owns the Palace. However, the hotel was closed down from 2000 to 2005. It closed again in 2021 because of the COVID-19 epidemic, and remains shut in January 2023.

'Azza (Arabic: مخيم العزة; also spelled 'Azzeh, 'Azzah or Alazzeh) also known as Beit Jibrin Camp (Arabic: مخيم بيت جبرين) is a Palestinian refugee camp in the Bethlehem Governorate located within the city of Bethlehem. It is the smallest of the 59 refugee camps in the West Bank and the other Arab countries. It was established in 1950 in an area of 20 dunams (0.020 km2; 0.0077 sq mi) and receives services from UNRWA workers based in nearby Aida camp, but inside the camp, there are no medical or educational services, so it was merged with the Aida camp to receive services. The camp is named after a prominent Palestinian family from the depopulated village of Beit Jibrin west of the Hebron Hills in present-day Israel. The UNRWA recorded a population of 2,025 in 2005, while the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics projected a population of 1,750 in 2006, with UNRWA reporting a population of approximately 1,337 refugees and 2,900 total in 2016.It has been under the control of the Palestinian National Authority since 1995.

Beit Jala Governmental Hospital or Al-Hussein Governmental Hospital is a government hospital in the Beit Jala city, West Bank, Palestine. Followed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It was built in 1955 and has 131 beds. It employs 363 staff, including a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, physiotherapist, laboratory technician, radiologist and others.