New Israeli Settlement in Beit Sahour

In November 2025 Israel proposed a new Israeli settlement – Shdema, on land taken from Beit Sahour next to Bethlehem in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  While we were singing carols about Bethlehem and the meaning of Christmas - Peace on Earth, etc., Israel was completing its encirclement of Christianity’s birthplace. 

The land had been earmarked by the Palestinian authority for a children’s hospital, recreational areas, cultural center, green space and a community hall.  Donor support and plans were on hand.  Settler pressure and the Israeli government halted it all.  Palestinian lands, homes and backyards will be taken and Beit Sahour will be cut off its eastern border.

UPDATE:  Tuesday Jan 20/26   After two decades of efforts by Israeli settlers, it took just a month for Shdema to be renamed “Yatsiv,” to go from an unauthorized outpost of a few mobile homes to a fully recognized settlement. Fittingly, the new settlement's name means “stable” in Hebrew.

“We are standing stable here in Israel,” Finance Minister and settler leader Bezalel Smotrich told The Associated Press at Monday’s inauguration ceremony. “We’re going to be here forever. We will never establish a Palestinian state here.”

All Israeli settlements have been deemed illegal under international law.