Bethlehem: Being strangled by the wall ©David B. Fankhauser, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Chemistry University of Cincinnati Clermont College, Batavia OH 45103
The location of Jesus' birth, Church of the Nativity	This page has been accessed  times since 14 July 2006.  14 July 2006	Manger Square

The first thing you notice about Bethlehem, birth place of Jesus, is that it is nearly totally surrounded by the Wall, and access involves passing through checkpoints that look like the entrance to a prison.  The second image is looking up the main road towards Jerusalem:  completely blocked off.  The third and fourth are pictures of shttered stores on this once thriving main street of Bethlehem:

Settlers have built extensively along the ridges surrounding Bethlehem:

 
 
 

Across the valley is a military outpost from which massive fire power was aimed at this former mansion.  The owner has vowed not to rebuild, but leave it as a witness of the destruction reigned down on Bethlehem:

 

Scenes in Bethlehem:

Manger square and church of the nativity.  Note that the threshold entrance to the church was raised up so that Turkish occupiers could not ride their horses into the church:

Garden of the Visitation:

A christian family in whose home I stayed in Beit Sahour, next to Bethlehem:

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