Beit Safafa (Arabic: بيت صفافا, Hebrew: בית צפאפא) is an Arab neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem midway between Patt and Gilo, on the outskirts of Bethlehem.[1] Beit Safafa had a population of 5,463 in 2000. It covers an area of 1,577 dunams.[2]
In the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the neighborhood was divided - with half in no man's land and the other half in the Jordanian-occupied West Bank. In 1967, after Israel's victory in the Six-Day War, the two parts of Beit Safafa were reunited.
In 1997, the Hand in Hand School for Bilingual Education was founded in Beit Safafa. The school, supported by the Israeli Ministry of Education and the Jerusalem Municipality, offers a bilingual curriculum in Hebrew and Arabic, with joint classes for Jewish and Arab children. A new school campus was inaugurated in October 2007. The student population in 2007-2008 was 410, half Jewish and half Arab.[3]
Notable residents
References
- ^ New architecture in Beit Safafa New York times
- ^ Foundation for Middle East Peace - Population in East Jerusalem, 2000
- ^ The Jerusalem Foundation
External links
- Article on the architect Senan Abdelqader, a resident of Beit Safafa http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/797962.html
Coordinates: 31°44′37.96″N 35°12′20.19″E / 31.7438778°N 35.2056083°E
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