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Bethlehem is the city in which our calendar began. During the Christmas season Bethlehem is present in many living rooms, symbolized by the crib, the stable and the star.

Star-of-bethlehem.org describes history, culture and realities of the birth place of Jesus Christ, one of the most important destinations for the pilgrims and tourists in the world.

The church of the Nativity

The church of the Nativity is one of the oldest church buildings of the world. Still more important is the fact that since Justinian in the early sixth century services have been held there without a break. The first durable church structure was built to the order of the emperor Constantin early in the 4th century after christianity had been established as a religion in the roman empire. This was the result of a request by bishop Macarius of Jerusalem at the first Ecumenical council in Nicea in 325. in 326 Constantin’s mother Helena travelled to the Holy Land visiting places which had been of importance in the life of Jesus.

She was shown a cave outside Bethlehem which according to early traditions amongst christian ... FULL STORY »

The Christian faith in Bethlehem

Palestinian Christianity:

From the start Christianity in Palestine was characterized by differing movements. As early as the 1st century different christian communities co-existed in the Holy Land.

Today the challenge is to live unity in diversity. Pentecost is the birthday of the whole Church and for this reason the church at jerusalem is considered the Mother of all churches. Since the first Whitesun Pentecost there has been no break of christian presence in Palestine ... FULL STORY »

Christmas in Bethlehem

Nobody knows exactly when Jesus was born. Since olden days the Eastern Church remembered the coming of the saviour on January 6th. In the west this day is the day of the feast of the three kings. It was in Rome that the 25th of December became the feast day of the birth of Christ. Because of their refusal to accept the Gregorian calendar the Armenians celebrate Christmas on January 18th.

On December 24th the Roman Catholic Church and the protestant churches celebrate Christmas Eve. The holiday begins at 11 am when political and church dignitaries make their way to Rachel’s grave in order to meet the Latin Patriarch from Jerusalem. Then follows a long procession in which groups of pathfinders accompany ... FULL STORY »

Tourism

Since the travels of the pilgrims in the Middle Ager up to the beginning of modern tourism Bethlehem has always been known for it’s hospitably.

In 1995 alone one million visitors came to the town, on an overage that means 50 touring busses per day. In spite of this great number the economic impact of tourism was no longer big since the visitor as a rule only spent 45 minutes in Bethlehem spending a much longer time in Israel. Until 1995 tourism depended completely on the Israeli occupation forces.

Since the beginning of the Palestinian autonomy Bethlehem has its own tourism administration which tries to revive the successful tourist tradition from the time before 1967 and the same time develops its own ideas like the project Bethlehem 2000, 30 years of Israeli occupation have caused great damage to the once thriving Palestinian tourist industry. As no permits were available no new hotels could be ... FULL STORY »

George Bato and his family

born on 12.10.1939, one of four sons and a daughter.

George Bato has worked for more than 32 years in the field of the education and theory at 17 schools in different areas of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and in the West Jordan territory, as a teacher, head master, co-ordinator of the observers of the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination and in the evaluation commission of the results of the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination.

More than 15 years he worked as a tutor of the training courses of the teachers. In the year 1988 he retired.

Since 1999 he teaches Arabic at the ... FULL STORY »