In the Town where Christ was born, it is Gloomy Christmas, Not Merry Christmas

Read Here full article by LARA SUKHTIAN for AP

Excerpts

Bethlehem faced another gloomy Christmas as the West Bank town has been battered by relentless Palestinian-Israeli violence that has decimated its tourism-based economy, throwing thousands out of work, closing shops and leaving the town's residents with little to celebrate.

Arafat, a Muslim, had attended Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem each year after Israel turned Bethlehem over to his Palestinian Authority in 1994.

Israel has barred Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — a symbol of pride for most Palestinians — from Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem for a third straight year.

Arafat told a Christian delegation at his sandbagged headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah Tuesday that he hoped to take part in the Christmas festivities this year in Bethlehem. "I haven't missed it, except since being besieged in this building," Arafat said.

This year,Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser expects only a few hundred visitors.

The Israelis are never far from Bethlehem, in fact or in spirit, and Nasser said that their measures are harming the town. For example, he said, a security barrier Israel is building to keep West Bank attackers out has cut 4,000 Palestinians off from their town while confiscating part of its land.

Last Christmas, the Vatican complained to Israel about access to Manger Square in Bethlehem because it was again under Israeli military occupation. The Israelis had moved back into the town in response to violence, but pulled their tanks back just before Christmas.

The conflict has reached into the Church of the Nativity, marking the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Last year the church bell ringer, Samir Ibrahim Salman, was killed on his way to the holy site, apparently by a stray bullet, as Israeli forces traded gunfire with Palestinian militants holed up inside the church.

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