The story of Beit-Jala
Historians,Father George shahwan,Ms.Margo ezoumar, and Mr. Josef almaso
Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Beit Jala
The Greek Orthodox Church celebrated on September 22nd, the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Beit Jala.
biet jala 2018 2 copy
beit jala Palestine the west bank Israel occupied territories
Holly Satarday Beit Jala Palestine
A wonderful view from Beit Jala (Palestinian Authority) of the Judean Hills
Zahi Shaked A tour guide in Israel and his camera zahigo25@walla.com +972-54-6905522 tel סיור עם מורה הדרך ומדריך הטיולים צחי שקד 0546905522
My name is Zahi Shaked
In 2000 I became a registered liscenced tourist guide.
My dedication in life is to pass on the ancient history of the Holy Land.
Following upon many years of travel around the world, which was highlighted by a very exciting emotional and soul-searching meeting with the Dalai Lama, I realized that I had a mission. To pass on the the history of the Holy Land, its religions, and in particular, the birth and development of Christianity.
In order to fulfill this calling in the best way possible, I studied in depth, visited, and personally experienced each and every important site of the ancient Christians. I studied for and received my first bachelors degree in the ancient history of the Holy Land, and am presently completing my studies for my second degree.(Masters)
Parralel to my studies, and in order to earn a living, I was employed for many years in advertising. What I learned there was how to attract the publics attention, generate and, increase interest, and assimilate information. All this I use as tools to describe, explain and deepen the interest in the sites that we visit. From my experience, I have learned that in this way, the Holy Land becomes more than just history, and that the large stones that we see scattered about in dissaray, join together one by one until they become - a Byzantine Church. This also happens when I lead a group of Pilgrims in the Steps of Jesus. We climb to the peak of Mount Precipice, glide over the land to the Sea of Galilee, land on the water and see the miracle which enfolds before us. This is a many faceted experience. Not only history which you will remember and cherish, but an experience which I hope will be inplanted in your hearts and minds, and will accompany you all the days of your life.
Beit Jala - Kremesan 27-3-2017
Christians mass at church in Beit Jala to celebrate Palm Sunday.
Beit Jala, West Bank
1. Crowd of of Christian worshipers walking towards church
2. Various close ups of worshippers carrying palm fronds
3. Various priest leading the procession
4. Close up woman kissing Bible book
5. Wide shot procession entering church
6. Various service
7. Various people singing
8. Close up priest
9. Tracking shot of crowd gathered outside church
10. Wide shot church
STORYLINE:
Hundreds of Palestinians Christians who have traditionally celebrated Palm Sunday at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, gathered on Sunday to attend the service instead at the Virgin Church in West Bank town of Beit Jala.
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem remains under the siege of Israeli army, who are demanding the surrender of Palestinian gunmen hiding inside.
On Palm Sunday, the Israeli army lifted a curfew in Beit Jala to allow a procession of worshippers to the Virgin Church.
Israeli and Palestinian officials met Sunday in Bethlehem and planned to meet again, the Israeli military said. A statement said several new ideas were raised and the talks were adjourned for consultations.
No details were given.
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The Armenian Monastery in the the Church of Nativity, Bethlehem with Zahi Shaked
צחי שקד, מורה דרך ומדריך תיירים. מצלם אותם בכל הזדמנות 0546905522
Zahi Shaked A tour guide in Israel and his camera.
+972 54 6905522 zahigo25@walla.com
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world. The structure is built over the cave that tradition marks as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth, and thus it is considered sacred by Christians.
WRAP Adds Israeli pullout from Beit Jala
Bethlehem
1. Various of Israeli tanks leaving Bethlehem
2. Israeli soldiers boarding coach to leave
3. Israeli military jeep with flashing light goes through checkpoint, soldiers waiting at side
4. Various of soldiers with their kit preparing to leave
Beit Jala
5. Various of tank pulling out of Beit Jala
6. Pan from photographer to people clapping
7. Israeli soldiers standing on road
8. Sign saying Beit Jala
9. Various of police cars patrolling Beit Jala
10. Soldiers standing on roadside
11. Police cars
STORYLINE:
Israel began withdrawing its troops from two West Bank Palestinian towns on Sunday, security sources said.
Raanan Gissin, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the redeployment operation had begun in Bethlehem and nearby Beit Jala on Sunday night.
Israeli forces started their withdrawal despite two Palestinian shooting attacks earlier in the day that killed five people in Israel.
Israeli officials had demanded a ceasefire before they would withdraw.
But Gissin said the Palestinians had started to take steps to comply with their obligations.
He said Palestinian police had moved in to take over security operations in certain positions and made some arrests, but gave no further details.
Witnesses said tanks were still present in the two towns but had begun pulling back towards Israeli territory.
Israeli forces first launched incursions into West Bank towns on October 18, the day after Palestinian militants assassinated Rehavam Zeevi, an ultra-nationalist Israeli cabinet minister.
Israel said it had entered the towns to prevent further attacks on Israelis.
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Have you tried zawadeh in beit jala ?
Have you tried zawadeh in beit jala ?
Zawadeh one of the places you have to try in beit jala
Beit Jala and Hebron
Another day in this apartheid system ruling over the holy land. Representing the popular committee against the wall and settlements in Beit Sahour, we joined with our friends in Beit Jala, a town which lost nearly half its land to Israeli Jewish-only colonial settlements over the past four decades. Now town residents are prevented from getting to additional areas near the apartheid walls and bypass roads (all to serve illegal Jewish colonies on Palestinian land). The weekly Sunday demonstration proceeded as expected: soldiers stretching barbed wire across the road, activists speaking to those present (including soldiers) in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. There was a poignant moment when a young German girl tried to speak to a soldier who even refused to look her in the eye.
We then drove to Hebron to show a visiting teacher from Denverwhat it is like to have 400 racist settlers ruin life for 150,000 Palestinians. The settlers took over some buildings, built a few other sites and make life in this largest Palestinian city hell for its inhabitants (Hebron is largest now because cities like Nazareth, Jerusalem, and Jaffa have had much of their Palestinain population ethnically cleansed). I am trying to get a steadier hand and better editing for youtube videos of these things. Below is my latest attempt which I end by a more mundane segment showing poor children who we took to a park ( they have not been to a park for 2 years). We fed them Knaffa (Palestinian dessert) at that time but I did not have my camera then so I show what Knaffa looks like in Bethlehem with our small group that visited Hebron earlier.
The Olive Tree 39 - Johnny Shawan
Julia Fisher talks to Johnny Shawan, a Palestinian Christian and founder of Beit A’Liqa, a community centre for children in Beit Jala, a suburb of Bethlehem.
Our aim is to build bridges ....
To build bridges of understanding and support, in a spirit of reconciliation, between believers (both Jewish and Arab) in the Holy Land (Israel and the Palestinian Areas) and Christians worldwide.
Israel behind 'Christian exodus' from Palestine
Beit Jala, Palestine - The Israeli occupation of Palestine is the main factor behind the exodus of Palestinian Christians from the region, according to a new study.
The research carried out by the Dar al-Kalima University in the occupied-West Bank town of Beit Jala, concluded that only small percentage of Christians had left Palestine because of concerns over Muslim religious conservatism.
Researchers interviewed more than a thousand people, roughly half of whom were Christian and half Muslim on their outlook on life and if negative, the causes of their pessimism.
The pressure of Israeli occupation, ongoing constraints, discriminatory policies, arbitrary arrests, confiscation of lands added to the general sense of hopelessness among Palestinian Christians, the study said.
Palestinian Christians: 'Jerusalem is for the three religions'
These conditions have put Palestinian Christians in a despairing situation where they can no longer perceive a future for their offspring or for themselves, it added.
Bernard Sabella, a member of Palestinian Legislative council and one of the authors of the study, said: It is not the fear of disappearance Palestinian Christians fear the most, rather losing their space in society.
He stressed that the conflict with Israel and the lack of political solution to the occupation of Palestinian territories served as the main causes for the reduction in the number of Palestinian Christians.
In Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Christianity, Palestinian Christians are rapidly disappearing under the current political and economic conditions.
Palestinian identity needs to be highlighted and emphasised, Sabella added.
The study also found that 50 percent of interviewed Christians and 54 percent of Muslims were optimistic that their situation will eventually improved and attributed their optimism to the belief that God is on their side.
This finding reflects the religiosity of the Palestinian people, said Varsen Aghabekian, another of the study's authors.
Only two percent of Christians attributed their pessimism to religious extremism, while the percentage among their Muslim counterparts was double that at four percent.
'No one can take us away from here'
A majority of Christians and Muslims said the political conflict with Israel made them feel unsafe.
I can say with a lot of certainty that the migration [of Palestinian Christians] was never caused by religious perception, said Aghabekian
Christian migration out of Palestine began in the Ottoman period and was mainly about seeking economic opportunities in North and Latin America.
But recent migration has been tied to regional instability and the conflict with Israel according to the study.
Between 1860-1914 Palestinian Christians were about 11 percent of Palestinian population of 350,000 people.
On the eve of World War I, the Palestinian population reached 616,000 of which 69 thousand were Christians.
Today Palestinian Christians in all of historic Palestine, which includes Israel, the West Bank and Gaza accounts for only 1.7 percent of the Palestinian population of six million.
Iskandar El Hinn, a Christian Palestinian whose family fled Yafa to Ramallah when Israel was founded in 1948, told Al Jazeera that he had never thought of leaving Palestine.
Instead he said that he encourages his children and grand children to remain steadfast and hold on to their lands.
As a Palestinian, I am living where I belong, everywhere I go here is Palestine to me and Jerusalem is its capital, he said.
We have been living here for thousands of years; no one can take us away from here.
beit jala
En la busqueda de los familiares palestinos.
MIDDLE EAST: ISRAELI SOLDIERS SHELL BEIT JALLA
Arabic/Nat
XFA
Israeli soldiers shelled the West Bank town of Beit Jalla adjacent to Bethlehem on Sunday after Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo.
At least one house was set on fire in the attack.
A vehicle was also hit by the shelling.
Israeli army and border police closed the area of Gilo and kept residents away from the area.
Gilo has been the scene of attacks by Palestinian gunmen in recent weeks.
Israel has threatened the Palestinians that it will retaliate against strategic Palestinian targets.
In Gaza, the founder of the militant group Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, called on Palestinians to escalate their uprising and start using weapons against Israelis.
He said Israeli only understood the use of force.
SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)
The current resistance should be maintained in its current form. God willing, for now and for the foreseeable future. But I hope and I believe that this intifada will start using more force and start using weapons against this enemy. And it will be an armed struggle. Because this enemy does not understand anything other than the language of force.
SUPER CAPTION: Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas leader
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Man injured in mortar attack which killed an Israeli soldier plus exchanges of fire at Gilo
NIGHT SHOTS
Beer Sheba
1. Ambulance arriving at Soroka Hospital
2. Injured settler being taken out of ambulance on stretcher and wheeled inside
Gilo - looking towards Beit Jala
3. Israeli army flares over no-man's land between Gilo and Beit Jala
4. Wide shot of Beit Jala with sound of gunfire
5. Building illuminated and sound of gunfire
6. Outgoing tracer fire from Israeli Defence Force Positions
7. Wide of Beit Jala with outgoing tracer fire
8. Flares over no man's land, light of Beit Jala in background.
STORYLINE:
An Israeli was killed and another wounded on Saturday in a mortar attack in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli was killed at Kfar Darom, a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
Later on Saturday, shooting erupted around Gilo, a disputed neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
After a brief exchange of fire Israeli forces shot flares over the no-man's land between Jewish areas of Gilo and the neighbouring Palestinian area of Beit Jala to try to locate the source of the gunfire.
Shooting often erupts here when Palestinian anger is running high - today's shooting followed the killing of a prominent Hamas activist on Friday.
Mahmoud Abu Hanoud was killed when an Israeli army helicopter fired a missile at a van he was travelling in in the West Bank town of Nablus.
He was one of the Israeli government's most wanted men.
The latest violence raised fears of heightened turmoil two days before the arrival of two American mediators to the region.
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Yalla Ila Amrika Panel: Part 2
In the Fall of 2019, ACMCU hosted the Yalla Ila Amrika Panel featuring four expert scholars talking about the Arab Christian diaspora in South America. In this video, we show part two of the event featuring talks by Dr. Camila Pastor De Maria y Campos and Nicholas Bascuñan-Wiley.
Gunbattles in Beit Jalla between Israelis and Palestinians.
Beit Jalla
1. Wide shot of Beit Jalla - audio of heavy gunfire
2. Close up bombed-out building
3. Various wide shots of area - gunfire audible
4. Palestinian ambulance along road
5. Two wide shots tank moving along road
6. Tank in position on road
7. Close up Israeli soldier loading heavy machine gun on tank
8. Palestinian children looking on
9. Palestinian man looking out of window of house
10. Palestinian men looking from balcony
11. Bulldozer driving along road
12. Tank in position
13. Bulldozer moving concrete barriers
Gilo Mountain, entrance to Beit Jalla
14. Rear shot of army commander facing press
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Brigadier General Gershon Yitzhak, Israeli army commander
During the night a combined force of paratroopers armour and engineers took over some positions in Beit Jalla village which controls the tunnel road and the Gilo neighbourhood in Jerusalem. The operation still goes on and I can say that in this moment that we had no other choice except to act.
Hebron, West Bank
16. Palestinian crowd
17. Close up identification card of Palestinian policeman shot in Israeli attack on Palestinian police post
18. Wide shot hospital
19. Body of policeman in morgue
20. Relative crying over body - sheet removed
21. Two shots crying relatives being helped away
STORYLINE :
Heavy gunfire echoed around the streets of Beit Jalla on Tuesday afternoon as sporadic gunbattles erupted between Palestinian forces and Israeli army troops occupying parts of the Arab village.
The army moved in late last night in what they said was retaliation to continued attacks by gunmen on innocent civilians living in the nearby Jewish neighbourhood of Gilo.
The army said they were also acting to prevent more sniper attacks on civilian motorists using the tunnel road - the main route connecting Jerusalem to the West Bank city of Hebron.
Israeli tanks cordoned off the road and positioned themselves at strategic points throughout the village backed up by a squad of paratroopers and army engineers.
Army bulldozers erected barricades and protective concrete walls as the forces dug in.
In other fighting, a member of the Palestinian security forces was killed in a gun battle with Israeli troops near the West Bank town of Dura on Tuesday.
A Palestinian police post was destroyed in the exchange.
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Israeli and Palestinian residents talk about escalating crisis
Jerusalem
1. Wide street scene in early morning
2. Customers in coffee shop
3. Man reading Israeli newspaper
4. Zoom out from Israeli newspaper showing photo of kidnapped soldier with a settler
5. More newspaper front pages
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Vox Pop, No name given
We see that we pull out from Gaza and nothing with the Palestinian people helps and the only thing left to salute them with is only power.
Ramallah, West Bank
7. Street scene in early morning
8. Palestinian police officers
9. Pan down Palestinian newspaper front pages
10. Set up shot, Bassam Al- Ashab
11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Bassam Al-Ashab, Ramallah Resident
As expected and as usual there is nothing we can expect from the Israelis, this is the policy they have been executing all over.
12. Street scene
13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Julius Abdo, Ramallah Resident
The policy for Israeli government and Israeli army that they don't need any breaks or any chances to make any solutions (about) the hostage and they need this points (chance) to start the attack into Gaza Strip and destroy everything about our revolution.
15. Wide of street
STORYLINE:
Israelis and Palestinians reacted to growing tensions in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, after waking up to the news of Israel's military action overnight.
Israeli tanks and troops entered southern Gaza and planes attacked three bridges and a power station, stepping up the pressure on Palestinian militants holding captive a 19-year-old Israeli soldier.
Wednesday's action marked the first Israeli ground offensive in Gaza since it pulled out of the territory last summer, tearing down all 21 Jewish settlements.
In Jerusalem one Israeli man said power was the only method the Palestinians understood.
We see that we pull out from Gaza and nothing with the Palestinian people helps and the only thing left to salute them with is only power, he said.
In Ramallah, some Palestinians said that Israel's actions would be unlikely to lead to the release of the kidnapped soldier. They were bracing themselves for a major offensive.
Ramallah Resident Bassam Al-Ashab said the response was to be expected.
As expected and as usual there is nothing we can expect from the Israelis, this is the policy they have been executing all over, he said.
Another local resident, Julius Abdo said the kidnapping served as an excuse for Israel to re-enter the Gaza Strip as their leaders were not pursuing diplomatic methods.
They don't need any breaks or any chances to make any solutions (about) the hostage and they need this points (chance) to start the attack into Gaza Strip and destroy everything about our revolution, he said.
The operation, dubbed 'Summer Rains', was launched 60 hours after a Palestinian attack on an Israeli outpost and the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday said Israel had no intention of reoccupying Gaza, but added that they wouldn't balk at extreme action to bring their soldier home.
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