Beit Jala — Wikipedia
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Beit Jala (which means in Aramaic: grass carpet) is a Christian Arab city of West Bank under the Palestinian authority, located 10 km south of Jerusalem 2 km from Bethlehem, and next to Beit Sahour. In 2007, Beit Jala had 11,758 inhabitants, mainly Christians with a Muslim minority. Nearly 100,000 people living in Chile and in the Americas descend from residents who have emigrated to flee fighting over the past century [ first ] .
The city is 825 m above sea level on average (its culmination is 925 m) west of the Hébron road and extends over 14 km 2 .
Its rainfall is 700 mm. Precipitation falls mainly in winter, between the end of November and the end of February, rarely with snow. The temperature sometimes rises to 39 degrees at noon in summer.
The average temperatures are 9 to 18 ° C in winter and from 26 to 30 ° C in summer.
Traces of settlement date from the stone age around 200,000 of. J.-C. It is certain that the place was populated by the Canaanites in 3000 of. J.-C. as in Bethlehem.
The oldest ruins attesting to the establishment of a permanent community date from the Byzantine era in the 3rd and 4th centuries, when monks, like Saint Nicolas settled here to be near the birthplace of Christ. This is how the Saint-Georges monastery built on the hill. Its remains are visible in the crypt of the current Saint-Nicolas church, as well as a cave where Saint Nicolas would have lived. Since that time the village has populated Christians without discontinuing.
Beit Jala and Bethlehem were ravaged by the Samaritan rebellion of 529 and the region was conquered by the Caliph Oumar in 637. The Crusaders installed a Catholic clergy in 1099 which was expelled in 1187 by Saladin. Palestine was won over by the Ottomans in 1516 and Beit Jala experienced a prosperous life until XVII It is century, the date on which the decadence of the Ottoman Empire is increasingly imposing taxes and forced conscriptions of Christian children forced to abjure their faith to become among others Janissaries. Mohammed Ali of Egypt occupied the region from 1831 to 1840 and he was driven from it by the Turks returned thanks to the help of the British. The emigration of Christians, more educated than the average, then begins at the end of XIX It is century, especially in Argentina and Chile. It was also at this time that the Russian, French, British and Lutheran German Catholics, French Catholics were interested in the region and obtained the right to open schools and missions.
The Israeli authorities have confiscated since 1967 10,000 from the 15,000 dunnums belonging to the municipality, for the Foundation of the Jewish Colonies of Gilo, Har Gilo, and Givat Hamatos.
Israeli wall project [ modifier | Modifier and code ]
In July 2015, the Israeli Supreme Court authorized a separation wall in the Beit Jala valley, a project to which the Palestinians oppose [ 2 ] .
The city includes six churches and two mosques, including:
- Saint-Nicolas church, Greek-Orthodox church (the most important) rebuilt in 1925
- Sainte-Marie church, Greek-Orthodox church (the oldest)
- Saint-Georges church, Greek-Orthodox church
- Catholic Church of the Annunciation
- Church of the Reformation, a Lutheran church founded by the Jerusalemsverein
- Convent of the Salésiens of Don Bosco (1885) on the ruins of a Byzantine monastery ( VII It is century), including a renowned chai for the viticulture of the surrounding vines
The City welcomes four elementary and secondary public schools that educate 45% of students (1,774 students) and six private confessional schools that educate 55% of students (2,133 students) including the famous Talitha Kumi school founded here in 1951. The programs of Private schools are those of the Palestine Ministry of Education.
- Talitha Kumi school and high school (1951), founded by the Lutheran church: nine hundred students from the child’s garden at the Terminals
- Latin patriarchy school: a thousand students of the child’s garden at the terminals
- Latin patriarchy seminar of Jerusalem (1936), including nine years of study, including one in France
- Hotel School
- A subsidiary of Al Quds University, with 2,500 students in science, technology, agriculture, management, economics and administrative sciences, social and family development, etc.
- Annex to the Bethlehem Music Conservatory
The city is surrounded by vineyards, olive groves (some olive trees being millennia), apricot orchards, apple, plum, etc.
The , two buildings under construction are destroyed by Israeli forces [ 3 ] .
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