Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank of Palestine. The city was founded around 1400 BC, and it was built as a fortified city by Rehoboam. David was born in Bethlehem, and it was in Bethlehem that he was crowned King of Israel. Bethlehem was also the birthplace of Jesus in 4 BC. The city was destroyed by the Roman emperor Hadrian during the Bar Kokhba revolt, and it was rebuilt under Empress Helena, who built its great Church of the Nativity in 327 AD. In 529 AD, the church was badly damaged during a Samaritan revolt, but it was rebuilt a century later by Justinian. In 1099, Bethlehem was conquered during the Crusades, and its Orthodox Christian clergy was replaced with a Catholic one. After centuries of Muslim rule, the city came to have a Muslim majority, but it was also home to a significant Christian population. In 2007, Bethlehem had a population of 25,266 people.
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