Bethlehem

Bethleem; initially named after Canaanite fertility god Lehem is a city located in the central West Bank, Palestine, about 10 km (6.2 miles) south of Jerusalem. Earliest known mention of Bethlehem is around 1350 - 1330 BC in the Amarna correspondence when it was inhabited by Canaanites.The Hebrew Bible says Bethlehem was built up by Rehoboam first king of Judah, its the city where David was crowned King of Israel. And lets not forget its where Jesus was born.

Bethlehem was destroyed by Emperor Hadrian during the second century Bar Kokhba revolt; Empress Helena mother of Constantine promoted the rebuilding of the city thats also when Constantine commissioned the building of The Church of Nativity in 327

Bethlehem became a military district in 637 due to the Muslim conquest muslim rule continued in Bethlehem until 1099 when Crusading Army who replaced the town's Greek Orthodox clergy with a Latin one

In the mid 13th century the Mamluks demolished the city walls which were rebuilt by the Ottomans in the 16th century control of Bethlehem was passed from the Ottomans to the British at the end of World War I. Bethlehem came under Jordanian rule during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and was later captured by Israel in 1967 Six-Day War. Since the 1995 Oslo Accords, Bethlehem has been administered by the Palestinian Authority.