Beit_Sahour

Beit Sahour

Beit Sahour (بيت ساحور pronounced ) 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 Bible, the angel announced the birth of Jesus to 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. The origins of the name Beit Sahour (the house of shepherds) reputedly stems from the Canaanite family language words "Beit" meaning place, and "Sahour" meaning night watch, which reflected the importance of the area for shepherds.

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 touristic 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 based in Beit Sahour encouraged non-violent activism under the aegis of the International Solidarity Movement. 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, as is the Alternative Tourism Group, a non-governmental organisation specializing in tours of Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

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. “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, and seized in house-to-house raids millions of dollars in money and property belonging to 350 families. 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.

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 neighborhood 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 voted candidate was 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.