Bethlehem 2000

Summary

The Palestinian Authority project, launched in 1997, to restore the religious and historical sites of Bethlehem and rebuild its infrastructure for the millennium celebrations, promoted by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and made a General Assembly agenda item at its fifty-third to fifty-fifth sessions (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part V (1989-2000), PDF p.15).

Approximately 2 million visitors were expected to visit Bethlehem to celebrate the historic occasion; years of military occupation had left their mark, making rehabilitation an extremely challenging task (PDF p.15).
The Bethlehem 2000 Participants Conference, held in Brussels on 11 and 12 May 1998, was convened by the Bethlehem 2000 Project in association with the European Commission, the United Nations Development Programme, UNESCO and the World Bank, and provided an opportunity for some 600 representatives to contribute through financial contributions, investment, expertise and promotion (PDF p.15).
General Assembly resolution 53/27, adopted unanimously, concerned commemorations to be held from Christmas 1999 to Easter 2001; resolutions 53/27, 54/22 and 55/18 were adopted without a vote. Resolution 55/18, against the backdrop of the Second Intifada, stressed free and unhindered access to the holy places in Bethlehem and concluded the Assembly’s consideration of the item (PDF p.15).
The Bethlehem 2000 International Conference was convened by the Committee at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome on 18-19 February 1999; the project was also highlighted at the United Nations Seminar on Prospects for Palestinian Economic Development and the Middle East Peace Process, held in Cairo on 20-21 June 2000, and disseminated through UNISPAL, with a separate Department of Public Information website established under resolution 54/41 (PDF p.15).

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aliases	Bethlehem 2000 Project