Bethlehem children's hospital continues to send out a message of hope

In the early days, 80 per cent of the city's population were Christians. Today that figure has dwindled to just below 10 per cent. As a result, most of the patients are Muslim.

The Caritas Baby Hospital of Kinderhilfe was also originally intended for the entire region, but the Gaza Strip has been separated from occupied west Jordan for years, so road blocks mean reaching it from the north is practically impossible.

The hospital therefore mainly serves the population living around Bethlehem and up to the hills south of Hebron.

For those who do have access, however, the hospital is a Godsend. Modern medicine is is on offer – and those in need receive it practically for free, which is not the case in other impoverished Palestinian hospitals.

During 2005, 3,700 children were treated as in-patients, while another 26,000 were out-patients.

Their complaints were often infectious diseases of the digestive tract, caused by malnutrition as well as dirty water.

Genetic illnesses are also common, since marriage among blood relatives is still tolerated in Palestine.

And in winter, colds and flu affect children whose defences are already weakened by poor health.

Other services affiliated with the hospital include a social welfare centre, a nursing school and a school for mothers.

The hospital is also an important employer in the area, with 180 of the 200 workers being locals.

Thanks to its fame as the birthplace of Christ, Bethlehem has benefitted in the past from tourism – about 20 per cent of the population once made a living from the industry. But with the outbreak of the second Intifada in September 2000, that slowed down significantly.

Only recently have visitors started travelling again to the city on the edge of the West Bank, close to Jerusalem and enclosed by 'the wall'.

The majority of the town is governed by the Palestinian authorities and is in what is known as Zone A, which grants it a fair degree of autonomy.

A look at the map of the West Bank shows just how fragmented this small piece of land is: apart of Zone A there is also Zone B (under combined Israeli-Palestinian security), and Zone C (under Israeli Military Control).

Zone C is home to 121 Israeli settlements and a total of 240,000 settlers, though other sources quote that figure as closer to 200 settlements and one million settlers). Zones A and B are home to 2.5 million Palestinians.

This article was first published in Scotland On Sunday, 19 December, 2010