Beit Sahur, Bethlehem Governorate, West Bank, Palestine

🇵🇸 Beit Sahour (بيت ساحور) is a Palestinian town east of Bethlehem under the administration of the Palestinian National Authority. The population of approximately 14,000 is 80% Christian (most of them Greek Orthodox) and 20% Muslim.

Modern Beit Sahour is also known as Beit Sahur an-Nasara ("Beit Sahur of the Christians"), or Beit Sahour al-Wadi ("Beit Sahur of the Valley").

Another former village near Jerusalem known as Beit Sahur al-Atiqah ("ancient Beit Sahur") is fully distinct from the town of Beit Sahour and is only mentioned here for technical reasons.

Christian tradition holds Beit Sahour to be the site of the Annunciation to the shepherds, Judean shepherds, but the Christian Palestinian occupants are being driven out of the town, as Israeli settlements occupy land and Israeli courts rule Palestinian homes as illegal and subject to demolition.

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, to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

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 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, residents in the town had attempted to develop their own dairy industry—a move resisted by Israeli authorities. These efforts were documented in 2014 film The Wanted 18, co-directed by Palestinian filmmaker Amer Shomali and Canadian Paul Cowan.

Social and economic development were disrupted by the Second Intifada.

Political activism Beit Sahour is a centre of Palestinian political activism. The town played a key role in the First and Second Intifadas, with local activists pioneering nonviolent resistance techniques. During the First Intifada and the Second Intifada, the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between Peoples (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 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 (ATG), a non-governmental organisation specialising in tours of the Palestinian territories, where the olive harvest is used as a backdrop for showing the effects of the Israeli occupation and land confiscation on the Palestinian population.