Born in Bethlehem: Giving birth in a city under pressure - BBC World Service Documentaries

#BBCEye follows staff and expectant mothers through a year at the Holy Family Hospital, Bethlehem, which serves all women regardless of religion or ethnicity.

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Bethlehem is known globally as the birthplace of Christ. It also sits at the heart of the occupied West Bank - one of the world’s most intractable conflicts. This film follows staff and mothers through a year at the Holy Family Hospital, run by the Catholic Order of Malta, which serves women of all religions and ethnicities.

Since the war in Gaza that followed the 7 October Hamas-led attack, Bethlehem itself has faced increasing pressure: checkpoints and roadblocks hamper movement, while in the hospital, stress can induce premature births, missiles fly overhead and the staff and mothers listen to the devastating daily news from Gaza just 50 miles away.

Vera, a maternity nurse, travels with the hospital’s mobile clinic every week to check up on pregnant women in remote areas. It’s a dangerous road as many of these villages are surrounded by Israeli settlements (deemed to be illegal under international law) and there have been many reports of violent settler attacks on Palestinian villages.

New mother Amani gave birth to premature twins, a boy and a girl. The boy died, and the girl is on life support in the hospitals Neo Intensive Care Unit. Her paediatrician, Dr George, is concerned that she too may not survive. Amani visits her night and day and anxiously monitors her progress.

Renad is pregnant with her first child. Urban, secular and progressive in outlook, she works as a social worker with young girls in Shu’fat camp, one of the most overcrowded refugee camps outside Jerusalem.

Khuloud lives in the village of Kisan, which is surrounded by settlements. She has five children and is pregnant with her sixth. Things are already difficult enough, but then her husband is killed by his cousins in a dispute over water. Israeli settlers are encroaching on her land, and some of her husband’s killers are still at large.

00:00 Introduction: Born in Bethlehem
02:01 Midwives and mothers at a Bethlehem maternity hospital
06:47 Renad: Motherhood begins the moment you know you're pregnant
08:04 We have the right to bring another Palestinian child into this world
08:43 Bethlehem's mobile maternity clinic
13:19 Kisan: Surrounded by Israeli settlements
16:36 Dr Zoughbi: Babies are sacred here
18:10 Delivering twins: God took one but left me the other
19:30 Christ was born here under the same circumstances
21:03 We’ve heard stories of women giving birth at checkpoints
22:44 Baby Matil's nursery remains empty
23:41 The road to Jerusalem is closed
25:15 Khuloud: I now have to be both mother and father
27:47 Water in Kisan is scarce
29:41 The staff are mothers too
32:40 Psychological support for girls in Shu'fat camp
35:27 Learning to live without their father
38:38 Amani holds and feeds Matil
40:15 Khuloud goes into labour: I hope he sees beautiful days
42:05 Christmas Eve in Manger Square
43:01 A baby is born on Christmas Day
46:03 Where will we go if they displace us?
46:55 Hope gives my life meaning
48:24 The most rewarding moment

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