About Bethlehem
Bethlehem is located in the West Bank of Palestine, about six miles south of Jerusalem. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate, and as roughly a population of 28,591 people. The city’s economy is strongly linked to tourism, with a focus on the Christmas period, when Christians embark on a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity, which is revered as the location of the birth of Jesus.
22 August 2026
Bethlehem University
This Wednesday and Thursday, a new class of students arrives at Bethlehem University for orientation. On Monday, 31 August, they begin their first classes.
Among last year’s graduates was a young man named Mahmoud.
Mahmoud is blind. He is also a developer and content creator. He first came to Bethlehem University’s Resource Center for Students with Disabilities as a ninth grader, wondering whether he could get the Braille materials he needed to keep learning. The answer, then as now, was simple: of course.
Years later, Mahmoud graduated from Bethlehem University with a degree in English Language, Literature, and Communication. Along the way, he became a Student Ambassador, welcoming pilgrimage visitors to campus. He also became something the Resource Center’s own director didn’t expect: a teacher.
As Hind Zahdeh, Director of the Resource Center, wrote when he graduated:
“Mahmoud is the most well-mannered student I’ve ever known… He came to us in ninth grade, returned to study at the University, and we reached a stage of complete independence together. Then the roles reversed – he became the one teaching students computer skills, and explaining technology to me.”
That is what the right path looks like for a student like Mahmoud: not a path cleared of obstacles, but one walked with the right support – assistive technology, accessible materials, and people who believed he belonged in that classroom from the start.
As a new class arrives this week, we are reminded that their paths will look just as different from one another as Mahmoud’s did from his classmates’. Some will need academic challenge at the highest level. Some will need help with English before a hard course becomes an obstacle. Some, like Mahmoud, will need assistive technology and accessible learning resources. Others will simply need someone to notice they are struggling before they fall too far behind.
Their circumstances may be different.
Their potential is not.
That is why Bethlehem University is strengthening the Yousef Mansour Student Success Center and the Resource Center for Students with Disabilities – so that every student who arrives this week has not just a seat in a classroom, but a real path to walk, and the support to walk it.
This year, we are seeking $75,000 to expand exactly this kind of support: academic mentoring, English-language development, assistive technology, and individualized guidance for every student who needs it.
Will you help us?
Your gift to Student Success can help provide the people, programs, technology, and resources that make the difference between simply enrolling in university and truly thriving there.
Your generosity can help a student move from admission to achievement–from uncertainty to confidence–and ultimately from Bethlehem University into employment, leadership, and service to their community.
Thank you for believing, as we do, that a student’s circumstances should never determine the limits of their future.
With gratitude,
Brother Jack Curran, FSC, PhD, KHS
Vice President for Advancement
Bethlehem University
Bethlehem Marathon 2026
Once a year in the spring, local residents from the Bethlehem area, Palestinians from near and far, and people from all over the world gather in Bethlehem to participate in one of the highlights of the city’s social and cultural calendar. They don running shoes, put on sunscreen and a hat, and flock to the alleys and streets of the ancient town south of Jerusalem, either to engage in physical exercise or to cheer on their friends and relations, some of whom will have trained for months in the hope of winning a prize or an honorable mention.
Bethlehem at Christmas
This a short video from Al Jazeera. After two years of war, Christians are marking Christmas across Palestine. In the occupied West Bank, thousands have gathered at the birthplace of Jesus, in Bethlehem. The lights, the Christmas tree and the pilgrims have returned to the city for the first time since the war on Gaza.
Kairos Palestine documentary
The Silent Genocide
The documentary offers an in-depth portrayal of the silent genocide and the tragic reality Palestinians endure in the West Bank, marked by an entrenched system of apartheid, severe movement restrictions, expanding settlements, land confiscation, forced displacement, and ongoing acts of ethnic cleansing.
Bethlehem University
In 2023 Bethlehem University celebrated its golden jubilee as the first registered university in Palestine with a mission to serve the Palestinian people through education. This Catholic university persevered through many challenges over the past few decades.
Vincent Malham Center – Arabic School
Arabic School for Foreigners
The Arabic School for Foreigners at Bethlehem University has been a popular choice for students for the past 18 years. The programs utilise special methodologies, and their courses are designed by professors who are experts in teaching Arabic, particularly to nonnative speakers.
Church of the Nativity
