Bethlehem University
BETHLEHEM UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1973, Bethlehem University is a Roman Catholic, Vatican-sponsored Palestinian university, created in cooperation with the De La Salle Brothers, a religious order that has established schools in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and other countries. In 2002 the university had an enrollment of more than two thousand students (of whom 70 percent were Muslim), with faculties in art, business administration, education, nursing, science, and hotel management. It also housed a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biotechnology Center and an environmental research facility. The university was closed by Israeli military authorities from 1987–1990, during the first Intifada. In April and May 2002, during the the al-Aqsa Intifada, the university was shut down several times as Israeli forces entered Bethlehem and besieged the Church of the Nativity in pursuit of Palestinian militants who had taken refuge there. In June, the Israelis reoccupied the city, and the university was shut down until the military occupation ended a year later.
SEE ALSO Aqsa Intifada, al-;Bethlehem;Intifada (1987–1993).