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Beit Sahour
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Beit Sahour ( pronounced ) (lit. Place of the Night Watch) is a Palestinian town administered by the Palestinian Authority, situated to the east of Bethlehem. The population of 15,400 is 80% Christian and 20% Muslim. The town is reputed to be close to the place where, according to the New Testament, an angel announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds.
There are two enclosures in the eastern part of Beit Sahour which 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.
town's economy is largely based on tourism and related industries, such as the manufacture of olive-wood carvings.
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Encyclopedia
Beit Sahour ( pronounced ) (lit. Place of the Night Watch) is a Palestinian town administered by the Palestinian Authority, situated to the east of Bethlehem. The population of 15,400 is 80% Christian and 20% Muslim. The town is reputed to be close to the place where, according to the New Testament, an angel announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds.
There are two enclosures in the eastern part of Beit Sahour which 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. Social and economic sectors have been seriously disrupted since September 2000 due to the events of the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
Political activism
Beit Sahour is a center of Palestinian political activism. The town played a key role in the first and second Palestinian 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 centre is also partly based in the town. Elias Rishmawi, a member of the Beit Sahour council is co-founder of the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG), a non-governmental organisation specializing in tours of Israel and 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.
Tax resistance
In 1989, during the first Intifada, the Palestinian resistance (Unified National Leadership of the Uprising, UNLU) and Ghassan Andoni, urged people to stop paying taxes to Israel, which inherited and modified the previous Jordanian tax-collection regime in the West Bank.Baxendale, Sidney J. “Taxation of Income in Israel and the West Bank: A Comparative Study” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Spring, 1989), pp. 134-141 "it retained the Jordanian tax law" “No taxation without representation,” said a statement from the organizers. “The military authorities do not represent us, and we did not invite them to come to our land. Must we pay for the bullets that kill our children or for the expenses of the occupying army?” The people of Beit Sahour responded to this call with an organized citywide tax strike that included refusal to pay and file tax returns.
Israeli defense minister Yitzhak Rabin responded: “We will teach them there is a price for refusing the laws of Israel.” The Israeli military authorities placed the town under curfew for 42 days, blocked food shipments into the town, cut telephone lines to the town, tried to bar reporters from the town, imprisoned forty residents (among them Fuad Kokaley and Rifat Odeh Kassis) and seized in house-to-house raids millions of dollars in money and property belonging to 350 families. Lewis, Anthony “It Can Happen There” 29 October 1989, p. E23
Curtius, Mary “Palestinian Villagers are Defiant After Israeli Troops End Tax Siege” Boston Globe 2 November 1989, p. 2
Williams, Daniel “Israeli troops withdraw after failing to stop tax revolt” Austin American Statesman. 1 November 1989, p. A6
“Israel abandons attempt to crush town's tax revolt” The Ottawa Citizen 1 November 1989, p. A10
“Food to West Bank Town Blocked” The Washington Post 28 October 1989, p. A18
“Israelis stop bishops from helping besieged town” The Ottawa Citizen 28 October 1989, p. A10
Sela, Michal “Elias Rashmawi’s ‘Tea Party’” Jerusalem Post 29 September 1989, p. 9
Williams, Daniel “Anti-Israel Boycott: Tax Man Cometh, but an Arab Town Resists” Los Angeles Times 9 October 1989, p. 10 The Israeli military stopped the consuls-general of Belgium, Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden when they attempted to go to Beit Sahour and investigate the conditions there during the tax strike.“Israeli Troops Bar Western Envoys” Los Angeles Times 6 October 1989, p. 1
Israel’s military occupation had the authority to create and enforce taxes beyond the baseline Jordanian code enacted in 1963 in areas formerly administered by that country, including Beit Sahour. During the Intifada, they used that authority to impose taxes on Palestinians as collective punishment measures to discourage the Intifada, for instance “the glass tax (for broken windows), the stones tax (for damage done by stones), the missile tax (for Gulf War damage), and a general intifada tax, among others.”
The United Nations Security Council considered a resolution demanding that Israel return the property it confiscated during the Beit Sahour tax resistance. The United States vetoed the resolution, which was supported by the eleven council members.
Land confiscation and other issues
The Har Homa settlement on the outskirts of Jerusalem was built partially on land owned by Beit Sahour residents, as was a nearby bypass road. Since the Second Intifada, freedom of movement in Beit Sahour has also been disrupted by Israeli restrictions on travel to Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank.
2005 municipal election
In the 2005 municipal election, two lists gained seats in the municipal council. 8 seats went to 'United Beit Sahour' and 5 to 'Sons of Beit Sahour'. The most popular vote was for Hani Naji Atallah Abdel Masieh of United Beit Sahour with 2,690 votes, followed by Elen Michael Saliba Qsais of Sons of Bethlehem with 2,280 votes.
Notable residents
External links
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