Page "Bethlehem" Paragraph 24

From 1831 to 1841, Palestine was under the rule of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty of Egypt.

During this period, the town suffered an earthquake as well as the destruction of the Muslim quarter in 1834 by Egyptian troops, apparently as a reprisal for the murder of a favored loyalist of Ibrahim Pasha.

In 1841, Bethlehem came under Ottoman rule once more and remained so until the end of World War I.

Under the Ottomans, Bethlehem's inhabitants faced unemployment, compulsory military service, and heavy taxes, resulting in mass emigration, particularly to South America.

An American missionary in the 1850s reported a population of under 4, 000, nearly all of whom belonged to the Greek Church.

He also noted that a lack of water crippled the town's growth.