Which Bethlehem? Or Neither?

"I'm positive. I have no doubts because the whole surroundings of Jesus's life was the Galilee and the Kineret [nearby areas of northern Israel]."
"I asked myself, what are the chances that the baby would still be alive if she [Mary] rode all the way to Bethlehem in Judea [West Bank]? Zero. Whereas the distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem is possible."
"Underneath the church, where the holiest of holies usually is, there was a natural cave."
"It was very convenient. Christianity claims that Jesus is the messiah -- and the messiah should come from the house of David, from Judea."
Dr. Aviram Oshri, Israel Antiquities Authority

"The story that Jesus was born [there] was to connect him to King David. Since Helena [St.Helena] hallowed it, all the Christians believe it."
"If you ask me, Jesus was born in Nazareth. At that time in the Roman period, people didn't move from place to place. All of his family is from Nazareth."
Dr. Uzi Dahari, archaeologist, Israel

A Greek Orthodox priest watches pilgrims roam around the ancient church of nativity, where many Christians believe Jesus was born.. (photo credit:DOV LIEBER)

Bethlehem in the West Bank is considered the birthplace of Jesus; a belief that ancient history of the fourth Century A.D. through St. Helena, mother of the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine, identified. As a pious Christian who persuaded her powerful son of the authenticity of Christianity as the only religion worth following, she built religious structures at Biblical holy sites she believed represented historical accuracy.

She was responsible for the construction of the Basilica of the Nativity, built over what is considered to be the place where Jesus was born, in Bethlehem located on the West Bank. The trouble is that Bethlehem is far from Jesus' family's residence in Nazareth, about 160 kilometres distance, and it would have taken three days to travel there. Whereas the Bethlehem that exists in the Galilee is a three-hour travel distance from Nazareth.

So although it might seem logical that it is the Bethlehem located close to Nazareth, about 12 kilometres distant, the seat of Christ's family's residence, is the place where he was born, it is the West Bank-located Bethlehem, far more distant, that is celebrated as the place of his birth. As Dr. Oshri explains it, there are allusions in the ancient records of a fortification wall around the Biblical Bethlehem.

Between the bell tower of the Church of Nativity and the main Christmas in Manger Square, a gaurd keeps watch on the rooftop. . (photo credit:DOV LIEBER)

No such walls or remnants of one are to be found in the West Bank Bethlehem, whereas one can be seen clearly in the area of the Galilee Bethlehem. As well, a once-grand church dating back to the Byzantine era remain in the Bethlehem in Galilee. Where, under the church ruins, is a cave, one Dr. Oshir believes is the very cave where Jesus was actually born in a manger.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her husband Joseph, lived in Nazareth; at nine months into her pregnancy it doesn't seem reasonable to these archaeologists that they would have travelled so far to the West Bank, rather than reaching instead the far closer Bethlehem located a mere 12 km from their home, in her condition.

History was twisted slightly for the purpose of connecting Jesus to the line of King David since the messiah, in Jewish tradition, was to have come from the house of David, from Judea. Human nature hasn't changed all that much in the space of several millennia; with its propensity to make events fit imagined or prophesied structure and strictures to aid in the making of a legend.

In this instance, a legend of monumental proportions whose belief and wide acceptance globally became one of the widest celebrated stories of the human-god connection to convince human beings that a spiritual creator of all that exists has high expectations of his creations with the belief that they can, if they try hard enough, meet those expectations of simple decency.

Bethlehem's Muslim majority population was well represented in Manger Square, Bethlehem on Christmas Eve.. (photo credit:DOV LIEBER)

The presence of Christians flocking to the West Bank Bethlehem where the majority Christian population has long since left as a result of persecution by Muslims, leaving Muslims now the majority population in the ancient city of the Biblical story, allows the city to capitalize on the tourism at Christmas time, and at the same time to take the opportunity to politicize Christmas: note the sign on the right of the photograph above: "All I want for Christmas is justice"....