Jacir Palace

Jacir Palace or Qasr Jacir (Arabic: قصر جاسر‎) is the largest hotel in Bethlehem in the central West Bank. The building's original design was based on typical Palestinian architecture and the characteristics of an Arab household. Jacir Palace has three floors, each spanning 800 square meters. The newly built hotel added an outdoor swimming pool, a health spa, two meeting rooms, 250 available rooms and eleven food and beverage outlets including restaurants and bars.[1]

Jacir Palace on Christmas Day 2008

Jacir Palace was built in 1910 by local craftsmen on commission of the former mayor of Bethlehem, also a merchant, Suleiman Jacir (great grandfather of Nasri Jacir, Emily and Annemarie Jacir), who intended that he and his five brothers’ families would live in the house together. So they did for a time, however, the family went bankrupt in the 1920s and were forced to abandon the palace as well as sell all the furniture inside. Jacir Palace was eventually taken over by the British who used it as a prison in the 1940s. In the 1950s it was a private school called al-Ummah, later the house became a public boys’ school and at a still later stage was transformed into a public girls’ school.[2] The house was also used by the Israeli Army, particularly during the first intifada, as a point of control considering its advantageous location and continued to be a major point of confrontation between local stone-throwing youths and the Israeli Army.

Jacir Palace Hotel

In 2000, a group of Palestinian investors belonging to PEDCAR — which is linked to the Palestinian National Authority — acquired Jacir Palace; they refurbished and renovated it soon after. Munib il Masri, father of filmmaker Mai Masri, now owns the Palace. [3] However, the hotel was closed down from 2000 to 2005.[4]