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Bethlehem - the last place you would want to be for Christmas

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  • Bethlehem - the last place you would want to be for Christmas

    Scotsman, UK
    Dec 24 2006

    Bethlehem - the last place you would want to be for Christmas

    ANNETTE YOUNG
    IN BETHLEHEM
    CHRISTMAS cheer is hard to find in this year in Bethlehem.

    Inside the West Bank town's Church of Nativity - the birthplace of
    Jesus Christ - preparations were being made for Midnight Mass,
    overshadowed by worsening violence between Palestinian factions and
    an international aid boycott.

    But outside in Manger Square, an Arab Christian youth scoffed when
    asked about the expected attendance of Palestinian President Mahmoud
    Abbas.

    "Bethlehem is the last place in the world where I would want to be
    for Christmas," he said. "Hamas and Fatah should remember the enemy
    is not each other but Israel, and the longer they fight one another
    the better it will be for the Israelis."

    The Palestinian president's visit to the beleaguered town comes after
    gunmen from his Fatah faction spent the last week battling their
    Hamas counterparts on the streets in Gaza and the West Bank.

    Years of feuding and rivalry between the two Palestinian factions
    came to a head when Abbas called for fresh presidential and
    parliamentary elections in an attempt to remove the Hamas-led
    government.

    Abbas and his Fatah advisers believe such a move will allow for the
    establishment of a government that would be more acceptable to the
    West and thus end an international aid boycott in place since the
    Islamist movement came to power in March.

    Hamas immediately rejected the Palestinian president's call,
    describing it as a coup. However, Abbas has yet to name an election
    date and both sides are still talking of last-minute attempts to
    establish a national unity government.

    Inside the Bethlehem Peace Centre located in Manger Square, its
    director, Michael Nasser, tries to remain resolutely upbeat: "In view
    of what's going on at the moment, it's important for people always to
    remember that this is where the 'Prince of Peace' was born.

    "What's happening elsewhere in Palestine should hopefully not affect
    us here since this town is not only for the Palestinians but is there
    for the whole Christian world."

    For Christian pilgrims making their way to Bethlehem, they have to
    pass through Israel's controversial separation barrier that now loops
    its way around three sides of the town, cutting it off from the
    southern edge of Jerusalem normally only a five-minute drive away.

    Much of the barrier surrounding Bethlehem is an eight-metre tall
    concrete wall and while foreigners are able to visit the town, local
    residents cannot leave without applying for a permit from Israeli
    authorities.

    Israeli officials say the barrier is necessary to stop Palestinian
    suicide bombers from entering Israel and that it could be re-routed
    or torn down if violence ceases and peace talks resume. But
    Palestinians say the barrier's route is a de facto border and its
    existence prevents the creation of the viable state they seek in the
    West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel captured in 1967.

    Before the Palestinian uprising began in 2000, Bethlehem attracted
    more than 90,000 pilgrims a month. At Christmas in 2005, about 20,000
    visitors made their way there. However, its mayor, Dr Victor
    Batarseh, said the town would be "extremely lucky if we come anywhere
    close to that figure this year".

    Of Bethlehem's 30,000 residents, the number of Christians has
    dwindled from about 85% in 1948 to just 25%. The Palestinian
    uprising, along with the barrier's construction, has taken its toll
    on the Christian population, who due to large diaspora communities
    elsewhere are able to emigrate to places such as the United States,
    Latin America and Canada.

    In addition, the Islamisation of Palestinian society has weakened the
    Christian community's position, although Bartaseh denied that
    pressure from Muslims was a contributing factor.

    "The [Israeli] occupation is solely the cause of Christian families
    leaving here and seeking a life elsewhere," he said. "We happily live
    in co-existence with our Arab Muslim brothers."

    Bartaseh, who was recently quoted as saying there was a danger of
    there being no Christians living in Bethlehem at all within a
    generation, was far more circumspect when approached by Scotland on
    Sunday, saying: "Of course, there will always be Christians here as
    long as we have hope."

    The town's Christian community did receive a boost last week when a
    delegation of British church leaders, led by the Archbishop of
    Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, made a Christmas pilgrimage as a move
    of solidarity with its Christian residents.

    Williams condemned the barrier, saying it was "a sign not simply of
    the passing problem in the politics of one region; it is a sign of
    the things which are deeply wrong in the human heart itself."

    "We're here to say that the sufferings of the people here are ours
    too," said Williams, joined by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of
    Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor; the Free Churches'
    Moderator in England, the Reverend David Coffey and the Primate of
    the Armenian Church of Great Britain, Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian.

    "We want to do what we can to alleviate them and we hope to see a
    Bethlehem that is open for all pilgrims," he told a gathering at the
    Bethlehem Peace Centre.

    However, while he was speaking, the violence continued.

    On Friday, Fatah gunmen opened fire on Hamas members preparing for a
    rally in the West Bank city of Nablus, wounding at least nine.

    Gunfights also erupted near the Hamas-controlled foreign ministry and
    President Abbas's Gaza residence. It died down as Muslim clerics and
    other mediators worked to restore a ceasefire. Abbas was not in Gaza
    at the time.

    On Friday, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas urged gunmen to
    spare Palestinian blood, and said government officials were working
    to bring the violence under control.

    In the meantime, Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, were
    meeting last night to discuss the thorny issue of the release of
    Palestinian prisoners.

    It has been hoped a deal on the release of Israeli soldier Gilad
    Shalit in exchange for Palestinian prisoners could be concluded by
    the Islamic festival of Id al-Adha that falls this coming Friday.

    However, sources in Olmert's office have said that the prime minister
    was unwilling to release any Palestinian prisoners unless Shalit is
    set free beforehand.
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