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Restorers, after clearing away centuries of dirt, discovered the Church of the Nativity had a seventh mosaicAn Italian team has completed restoration of Crusader-era mosaics in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The mosaics will only be unveiled publicly after work on lighting, electricity and a fire alarm system. The work involved removing the layers of centuries-worth of soot and dirt – a result of the smoke of candles lit by pilgrims coming to venerate the site traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus – from about 1.55 million tiny mosaic pieces that were reviewed and restored. “I...

Pilgrims who visit next Easter will be able to see the extraordinary work that has been done to the roof, walls and 900-year-old mosaics.BETHLEHEM — Christians planning on making a Holy Land pilgrimage — for many, a once-in-a-lifetime journey — may want to wait until Easter 2017, when the scaffolding used to restore the ancient Church of the Nativity is expected to come down. While the $15-million repair, conservation and restoration of the church, which is revered as the site of Jesus’ birth, will not be absolutely completed for another couple of years, due to a funding gap, pilgrims who...

By studying and excavating ancient burial grounds, we can learn about how final respects were paid when people died during ancient times. The artifacts located alongside these remains also provide insight into what items people valued and what they believed about the afterlife. A 2013 discovery of an ancient burial ground near Bethlehem is providing new information about one civilization that lived approximately 4000 years ago. In 2013, efforts began to build an industrial park near Bethlehem, leading to a discovery that may prove to offer fresh insights about the ancient world. The area where the industrial park was to...

A 4,000-year-old cemetery made up of more than 100 tombs has been found near Bethlehem in the West Bank. Now known as Khalet al-Jam'a, the cemetery probably served an undiscovered settlement for more than 1,500 years. Many of its tombs have been destroyed by modern construction or looting, but at least 30 tombs have survived. Many of them are shaft tombs with one or more rock-cut chambers. According to Lorenzo Nigro of Sapienza University of Rome, the settlement was situated near trade routes, and artifacts from the tombs indicate that it had been a wealthy place. "Typical pieces of the...

According to the Times of Israel, the artifact is made of brass, silver, shells and stones. It was covered in plaster and found near a window in the church that reportedly was built by Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena in the fourth century. Although officials confirmed that the artifact has been cleaned up, it is not on display, and there are no images of it as yet.Ziad al-Bandak, a Palestinian presidential adviser for Christian Affairs, said the artifact is, “of great religious and historical value.” The church itself is built over the cave where the birth of Jesus...

In what can only be described as a celebration of violence and death, young Palestinian children participated in a Bethlehem parade last week by dressing up as armed terrorists, complete with mock suicide belts. The parade marked the 51st anniversary of the first terrorist attack by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, and was attended by several high ranking Palestinian Authority officials. Ofer Gendelman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official spokesman to the Arab media, called the event a glorification of terrorism aimed at encouraging a new generation of Palestinian youth to join the violence.

Proof of when the Star of Bethlehem happened and how...

A blessed Christmas to one and all The best ‘Christmas Card’ in the sky ever seen could be viewed through my windows at quarter to three this morning. Something awoke me early, and I when I made my way out to the great room, it was flooded with a strange and lovely kind of light. A look outside the windows showed a huge silver moon, and stars ever so bright, one of them the brightest of all, recalling that one special night in Bethlehem to mind. Even though the winds were high, Lake Huron to the west in my view...

Near the church in Bethlehem’s Manger Square, built over the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, tour guides pace back and forth, waiting in vain for tourist buses that fail to show.

"A Ruler from Bethlehem" (Micah 5:2-5a) So which is it? "Too little" or "by no means least"? We're talking about Bethlehem here. On the one hand, the prophet Micah says that Bethlehem is "too little to be among the clans of Judah." But then on the other hand, in Matthew 2, we hear the chief priests and the elders saying that Bethlehem is "by no means least among the rulers of Judah." So what gives here? This sounds like two opposite views about Bethlehem: on the one hand, "little," and on the other hand, "by no means little." Well, there...

On June 30, 2015, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ voted to single out Israel for an economic and propaganda war. Ignoring the violent state of affairs in an unstable region, the plague of terrorist groups, and the victimization of millions of Christians and other minority groups, the UCC elected to boycott Israel, the only functioning democracy in the Middle East. Giving a pass to Hamas rockets aimed at Israeli children and the prohibition of any Jews to enter Palestinian-controlled territory, the UCC jumped on the bandwagon of slander to demonize Israel. Deletion and Replacement of Jews...

Palpably illustrating its indifference to the Arab Christian population’s fate, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) unity government on Tuesday largely brushed off the detailed threat by an Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate in Jerusalem to “purify” the city of Christians. The ISIS announcement was posted in the eastern part of the capital city last Thursday, and in it the ISIS affiliate threatened to murder all Christians in the Muslim Arab neighborhoods during the month of Ramadan, starting with Shuafat and on to the Muslim sections of the Old City. It also threatened an attack against the Church of the Nativity located...

When it comes to tomorrow, Christians need to think while watching the Star of Bethlehem which will appear after an absence of roughly 2000 years. Tomorrow (June 30th, 2015) the Star of Bethlehem will be making a return. Will this mean that the signs of the end is beginning to unfold? And what did this sign mean? Is it a time of joy or suffering or both? How could King Herod's own advisors have been unaware of a star so bright that it could have led the wise men to Jerusalem? According to Professor David Weintraub, this may be because...

The Vatican on Friday signed an historic first accord with “Palestine,” two years after officially recognizing the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a state. The accord, a treaty covering the life and activity of the Church in Judea and Samaria, was the first since the Vatican made the controversial step of recognition in February 2013. It also recognizes the PA as having authority in eastern Jerusalem, the undivided capital of the Jewish state. […] Signing international treaties unilaterally is a breach of the 1993 Oslo Accords which created the PA. […]The agreement appears to ignore the fact that Christians have been...

The New Testament says Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, but one rogue Israeli archaeologist says it is far more likely the Christian savior was born in Bethlehem of the Galilee, more than 60 miles from Jerusalem. Aviram Oshri spent nearly eleven years excavating artifacts in Bethlehem of the Galilee — an ancient biblical village near Nazareth that was later settled by German Templers — which he believes show that the traditional account of Jesus’s birthplace may be wrong. But when he produced his findings for his employer, the Israel Antiquities Authority, he found his proposal dismissed and called...

Jerry Golden "REPORT" PO Box 10268 Jerusalem 91102 Israel www.TheGoldenReport.com Published 8/4/2003 The Fence the Wall and more. Yesterday I was in the back area of South Jerusalem near Bethlehem, not a real safe place to be these days. But then how else can I get you these nice pictures. There has been a lot of talk about the fence so I thought I'd show it to you from an angle you may not have seen on TV News. In this first picture you can see the new security fence that separates the southern part of Jerusalem from Bet Sahur...

WASHINGTON -- "I'm not spreading propaganda," George Stephanopoulos' orthodox-nun sister vows, but Israeli soldiers last week "defecated" on the floors of a West Bank medical clinic they raided. They're also looting Palestinians' homes there, claims Sister Maria Stephanopoulos, a nun at the Convent of St. Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem. A Russian Orthodox Christian (she converted from Greek Orthodox), Stephanopoulos runs a school for Palestinian girls there, and is pleading with priests here, via e-mail, to "get on the phone and ask your congressman and senators why the United States government is backing this invasion of Israeli forces into sovereign (Palestinian)...

Mosab Hassan Yousef worked as an Israeli agent for about ten years. When I met him, he was a young and wild Palestinian. Over the years, I watched him become one of the most important players in the bloody intelligence game in the West Bank. Mosab was never a yes-man. He had strong beliefs and character, and he never made any attempt to flatter anyone. Last week, I read an article by one, Walid Shoebat, who claims to have been a PLO terrorist who bombed Bank Leumi in Bethlehem. Yet, I never heard his name before, never saw his name...

PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND ON THE OCCASION OF THE 50th ANNIVERSARYOF THE MEETING BETWEEN POPE PAUL VI AND PATRIARCH ATHENAGORAS IN JERUSALEM(24-26 MAY 2014) HOLY MASSHOMILY OF POPE FRANCISManger Square (Bethlehem)Sunday, 25 May 2014Video “This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12).What a great grace it is to celebrate the Eucharist in the place where Jesus was born! I thank God and I thank all of you who have welcomed me on my pilgrimage: President Mahmoud Abbas and the other civil authorities; Patriarch Fouad...

The Palestinian Authority (PA) plans to modify history by modifying classical art, in an exhibit it commissioned to show Pope Francis during his visit to Bethlehem next Sunday, which presents Jesus as a “suffering Palestinian.” The Palestinian Museum arranged exhibit features an array of collages mixing classical paintings of Christian art with photographs of what are to be taken as “oppressed” Palestinians. […] One work on the display is a modification of Raphael’s “The Deposition” (1507), which depicts the dead Jesus being brought to his tomb. The PA version weaves in a wounded Arab man being carried away as an...