These also included 20 demolition orders targeting the eastern rural areas of Bethlehem. The commission noted that in 2024, Israel carried out 684 demolitions, impacting a total of 903 Palestinian ...

Even before the latest war the fortunes of Christians in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, were fast declining. Gaining permits from the Israeli authorities to travel in and out of Bethlehem and ...

Before the Hamas attacks in early October, Bethlehem resident Taly Nassar crossed an Israeli checkpoint every day to work at a store in Jerusalem. Her husband, a construction worker, did the same.

Meanwhile, an Israeli-built wall partially encircles Bethlehem, cutting it off from Jerusalem and stifling homebuilding and urban growth. Israel says the wall is a necessary security measure to ...

BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Just 1,500 steps from where Jesus was born was born, a chivalric order of Catholic knights is working towards a future where no newborn baby in the Holy Land will be ...

Around half of the population in the Bethlehem area, including nearby villages, works in either tourism or in jobs in Israel. The unemployment rate in Bethlehem is roughly 50%, said Salman.

Wretchedly, the Israeli occupation has significantly impacted religious tourism in the Holy Land for decades, especially in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Hotels now remain empty or closed, souvenir ...

Christmas is not necessarily the optimal time to visit Bethlehem. Not, at least, this year, after the mayor announced that Christmas is cancelled as a result of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.

as Christmas Eve celebrations in Bethlehem were called off due to the Israel-Hamas war. The festive lights and Christmas tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing, as were the throngs ...

Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus, were cancelled this year. The West Bank town was instead patrolled by Palestinian security forces amid the Israel-Hamas war.

We must be peaceful in the Holy Land.” Bethlehem would normally be full of visitors at this time of year (Bel Trew/The Independent) Israel has launched a crippling siege and a ferocious aerial ...

"Now the tourism sector is dead." Drawn by historical sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and Tel Aviv's white sandy beaches, some three million tourists flocked to Israel in the first nine months ...