Template:Infobox Palestinian Authority municipality Beit Jala (Arabic: (lit. Aramaic 'grass carpet') is an Arab Christian town in the Bethlehem Governorate of the West Bank. Beit Jala is located 10 km south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Hebron road, opposite Bethlehem, at Template:M to ft altitude. In 1997, Beit Jala had 12,239 inhabitants, predominantly Christian Palestinians with a Muslim minority, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
3,500 acres (14 km²) of land are planted with olives, grapes and other crops. Cremisan Cellars, located in the Cremisan monastery, is an important local winemaker. Beit Jala is famous for its olive wood souvenirs. Other economic branches are tobacco, textiles, agriculture and pharmaceuticals.[1][citation needed]
Beit Jala has a hospital and three societies for the disabled: the Bethelehem Arab Society,[2] Lifegate Rehabilitation[3] and House Jemima,[4] a Dutch-founded home and daycare-center for children with mental disabilities.
Beit Jala is home to educational institutions run by a variety of Christian denominations, including the Arab Orthodox Benevolent Society. A Russian Orthodox school was established in 1870. The Latin Patriarchate Seminary, which supervises religious liturgical education in the Jerusalem Patriarchate, moved to Beit Jala in 1936. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the West Bank runs the Talitha Kumi School, which is closely linked to the German Lutheran community. The school runs an environmental education program and operates the only bird-ringing station in the Palestinian sector. The Beit Jala skyline is dominated by several churches, among them the Church of the Virgin Mary and the Church of Saint Nicholas. According to tradition, St. Nicholas spent four years in the Holy Land. Both of these churches are Orthodox Christian.
In the 2005 municipal election, six seats went to the United Beit Jala list (Fatah and Palestinian People's Party), five seats went to Sons of the Land (PFLP and independents), one seat went to Independent Beit Jala Group and one candidate was elected as an independent. The most popular candidate was Raji George Jadallah Zeidan of United Jala with 2,892 votes, followed by Nadir Antoun Issa Abu Amsha of Sons of the Land with 1764 votes.[5]
The Beit Jala Lions is a rugby club active in Beit Jala.[6]
Following a Israel Defense Forces reprisal raid in Beit Jala in 1952, that resulted in the deaths of seven civilians, a complaint was lodged that Israel had violated the General Armistice agreement. The United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation issued a condemnation of Israel for breaching the agreement.[7][8]During the Second Intifada, Tanzim militants used Beit Jala as a base for shooting at the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, which is located on a hilltop directly across from it, partially on the former lands of Beit Safafa and Sharafat.[9][10]The gunmen reportedly positioned themselves in or near Christian homes and churches in the knowledge that a slight deviation in Israeli return fire would harm Christian buildings.[11]
There have been incidents of tension between Christians and Muslims in Beit Jala since the Palestinian Authority took over in 1995. Many Muslim families from Hebron and other parts of the West Bank moved to Beit Jala and illegally seized privately-owned lands. Christian resdients who tried to prevent Tanzim gunmen in Beit Jala from firing at the Israeli settlement of Gilo were beaten by the gunmen who were also accused of raping and murdering two sisters. There have been reports by Christian women in Beit Jala of being harassed by Muslim men from the village of Beit Awwa in the Hebron area.[12]Muslim and Christian political leaders say that the violence is mostly the result of "personally motivated" disputes and deny the existence of an organized anti-Christian campaign. [12]
