Gaza rocket kills 2 girls, Israel lifts blockade By Nidal al-Mughrabi Nidal Al-mughrabi – Sat Dec 27, 1:18 am ET
GAZA (Reuters) – Israel eased a blockade of the Gaza Strip on Friday but militants there aimed rockets and mortars across the border, one of which misfired and killed two Palestinian girls.Israel said it was responding to numerous requests from the international community by reopening border crossings with Gaza to allow in vital truckloads of fuel and humanitarian aid.But renewed fire from Gaza-based militants --a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Islamist group Hamas to stop firing rockets or pay a heavy price -- ensured that the easing of tension was short-lived.About a dozen rockets and mortar bombs were fired from Gaza on Friday. One accidentally struck a northern Gaza house killing two Palestinian sisters, aged five and 13, and wounding a third, Palestinian medics said.No militant group claimed responsibility. Hamas police said they would investigate.An Israeli military spokesman said the Erez border crossing, the main passage for people between Israel and Gaza, was closed after two mortar bombs fell in that area.The earlier reopening was seen as potentially easing tensions that might have led to military action to end rocket attacks, though in the past Israel has allowed Gaza to resupply with vital goods before launching assaults.Palestinian workers at the crossings said fuel had arrived for Gaza's main power plant, where shortages mean periodic blackouts for many of the territory's 1.5 million residents.Raed Fattouh, coordinator of supplies, said about 100 trucks loaded with grain, humanitarian aid and goods for the private sector were due to come in to Gaza during the day, including a convoy from Egypt.
TRUCE EXPIRY
Israel also let a Palestinian man go to an Israeli hospital for treatment for an injury after a militant rocket struck his home in Gaza earlier this week, medics and officials said.Gaza, a largely impoverished coastal enclave, has been under a heightened Israeli blockade since Hamas seized control of the territory from Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement in 2007.In renewed fighting since a six-month truce expired last week, at least six militants have been killed by Israeli air strikes and dozens of rockets and mortar shells from Gaza have slammed into Israel, damaging homes and causing panic.Israel's cabinet plans on Sunday to debate a decision by a security panel to hit back at Gaza militants, beginning with air strikes on Hamas targets, political sources said.Israel withdrew its forces and settlers from Gaza in 2005 and Olmert has said he does not wish to re-occupy the coastal strip. A military offensive could involve ground combat likely to result in high casualties.Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni discussed the crisis on Thursday with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, which borders Gaza to the west and which brokered the truce in June. Mubarak urged restraint on both sides.At the same time, Olmert appeared on an Arabic television channel, urging Gazans to reject their Islamist rulers and stop the rocket attacks.He said it was a last-minute appeal and said he would not hesitate to use Israel's military might if they did not.(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Mark Trevelyan).
Iran to send aid ship to Gaza Fri Dec 26, 9:10 am ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran's Red Crescent is sending a shipment of aid to the Gaza Strip in the face of a blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory by Islamic republic's archfoe Israel, the state broadcaster reported on Friday.Despite the Zionist regime's opposition... this consignment will leave Bandar Abbas for Palestine on Saturday and will arrive in 12 days, a provincial Red Crescent director, Ahmad Navvab, was quoted as saying.The cargo contains over 2,000 tonnes of food, medicine and appliances and it will be accompanied by 12 Iranian doctors and relief workers, he said.Earlier this month, the Red Crescent said it aimed to send a 1,000-tonne shipment of grain, sugar, oil and medicine to the aid-dependent land, which has been subject to Israeli blockades and repeated raids since the Islamists of Hamas seized power in June 2007.
Violence in and around Gaza has flared since a six-month ceasefire ended on December 19 and there is widespread speculation Israeli forces are gearing up for large scale military action in the coastal strip.Israel responded to violence that erupted around Gaza in early November by tightening its blockade of the territory and blocking deliveries of humanitarian aid and other basic supplies.Tehran is a staunch supporter of Hamas but rejects allegations it is supplying arms to the movement, saying it only provides moral backing.Iran does not recognise the Jewish state and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map and called the Jewish Holocaust a myth.
UN steps up Lebanon border patrols after rockets found Fri Dec 26, 5:58 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops have stepped up patrols along the border with Israel after rockets were discovered aimed at the Jewish state and ready to fire, a UN spokeswoman said on Friday.The UN Interim Force in Lebanon and the Lebanese army have deployed additional troops and intensified patrols and security control of the area, said UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane.UNIFIL commander Major General Claudio Graziano of Italy, is in contact with senior Lebanese and Israeli military officials, Bouziane added.On Thursday, security forces found eight Katyusha rockets in the coastal region between Naqura and Tair Harfa.The rockets were aimed at Palestine (Israel) and connected to a timer, an officer said on Friday, adding that an investigation was under way and that the rockets had been dismantled.The area where the rockets were found is a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah group and lies less than five kilometres (three miles) from the border.Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war in 2006 that killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.During the war, Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 rockets at Israel.The group has been accused by the Jewish state of using the time since the end of the conflict to rearm. Last month, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told parliament that Hezbollah is now three times stronger than it was in 2006.
Report: Israel set to launch limited operation in Gaza Fri Dec 26, 4:00 am ET
Israel attacks Gaza, scores killed Reuters Israel is preparing a limited military strike against Hamas, according to a new report, even as it opens the border to allow much-needed supplies into Gaza.Haaretz reports that in the face of ongoing rocket and mortar attacks into Israel by Hamas, including some 22 shells fired Thursday and Friday, the Israeli cabinet has approved a limited operation ... that will combine an air attack with some ground operations in Gaza. In statements Thursday, senior security officials were unwavering. Anyone who harms Israeli citizens and soldiers will pay the price, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, speaking at the graduation of a pilots' training course at Hazerim Air Force Base, said, We will have to use all of our might against the terror infrastructure and create a different security reality around the Gaza Strip.
Israel is planning a relatively short operation that will cause maximum damage to Hamas assets. The defense establishment says the operation would not necessarily limit itself to stopping rocket launches and that during the operation, daily massive rocket launches can be expected. Hamas might fire rockets with a range beyond the 20 kilometers it has used so far.Haaretz adds their sources said an Israeli ground operation would result in many civilian casualties, especially in the Palestinian refugee camps.The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reports that both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who was in Cairo Thursday discussing Gaza with her Egyptian counterpart, warned Hamas that Israel was prepared to act to stop the Palestinian militants' ongoing rocket attacks.
Hamas needs to understand that our aspiration to live in peace doesn't mean that Israel is going to take this kind of situation any longer, Livni said at the end of the meeting.Enough is enough. And while we are working with the pragmatic leaders, trying to change the situation on the ground in the West Bank, we cannot tolerate a situation in which Hamas continues to target Israel, Israel's citizens, and this situation is going to be changed.Her sentiments were echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who called on the people of Gaza to turn against Hamas, the Islamist political and military organization that holds de facto control of the area.
I'm telling them now it may be the last minute. I'm telling them stop it, we are stronger, Olmert said in an interview with Arabic satellite television channel al-Arabiya.There will be more blood there. Who wants it? We don't want it.The increase in Israeli military rhetoric comes soon after a six-month-long truce between Israel and Hamas ended last week. Since then, Israel has suffered an increasing number of rocket attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the conflict is further complicated by the impending political contests in both Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israel is set for an election on Feb. 10, while the term of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas –a member of Fatah, Hamas's rival – is set to expire on Jan. 9.In an editorial, The Jerusalem Post argued that the time for Israeli negotiation with Hamas had passed, and that Israel must instead attempt the methodical elimination of Hamas's leadership.As a matter of grand strategy, Israel must not tolerate a hostile entity anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Hamas cannot be allowed to metastasize into a second Hizbullah.Israel's immediate objective must be to make it impossible for Hamas to govern in Gaza. Yet the choice is not between a massive land invasion and paralysis. The proper method of fighting Hamas is a methodical elimination of its political and military command and control. Concurrently, IDF artillery need to shoot back at the sources of enemy fire. ...
Any resort to force by the IDF raises the possibility of unintended consequences. Israel's home front could be hit hard. Hizbullah could launch diversionary attacks. The Arab street in non-belligerent countries could roil. If enemy non-combatants are killed, nasty media coverage is certain.We may express regret; but we must not apologize. Whatever happens, we must be resolute: Hamas must be stopped. Another article in the Post noted, however, that Hamas said it was prepared for Israeli attempts at assassinating its leadership. An aide to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told the Post that Hamas would quickly elevate new leadership to fill any vacuum, and that Hamas is a popular movement that doesn't center on this or that leader.... Almost every member of Hamas is fit to become a leader.Despite the signals of its willingness to attack Hamas, Israel also reopened its border with Gaza to allow supplies into the territory for the first time in 10 days, reports CNN. About 80 trucks filled with commodities were expected to cross into Gaza. Among the goods were 400,000 liters of fuel and 120 tons of cooking gas. The decision to open the crossings at Kerem Shalom, Karni and Nahal Oz came after requests from international aid groups and Egypt, said Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In addition, he said, Israel has no desire to hurt the civilian population in Gaza. Lerner said the decision to keep the crossings open would be made on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called for calm from both Hamas and Israel, reports Haaretz. Mr. Gheit also warned that renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas could imperil the process of freeing Cpl. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Gaza militants in 2006. The situation has slided again to a confrontation, Gheit said. We are hoping that both parties would restrain their actions. Hence they would allow us to build and to establish that situation where by we can bring an end to the tension, then to restore the quiet and then we would work on Gilad Shalit anew.Gheit said the security situation was linked to talks regarding a prisoner swap that would entail the release of Shalit. A military operation by the IDF would be hazardous to such a process, he said. He is part of a bigger and more general problem between Hamas and Israel, Gheit said, referring to Shalit. My understanding from our own intelligence is he is okay and well treated.
Calm brings record tourism to Bethlehem By Joshua Mitnick Joshua Mitnick – Fri Dec 26,3:00 am ET
Bethlehem, West Bank – At the height of the Palestinian uprising six years ago, the only traffic in this holy city, believed to be Jesus' birthplace, were Israeli military jeeps enforcing curfew. Now, with record bus loads of Christian pilgrims filing through the Church of the Nativity and sleeping at local hotels, Bethlehem is abuzz.The revival of tourism in the West Bank is one of the few bright spots in the Palestinian economy, which was supposed to get a big boost from the Bush administration at its Middle East peace conference in the fall of 2007 in Annapolis, Md.After the Annapolis conference ... there was a relative relief in the political situation, says Palestinian tourism minister Khouloud Daibes-Abu Dayyeh. The pictures coming through the media showed at least part of Palestine as more safe and ... ready to receive tourists, he says.While tourists must pass through the Israeli security barrier at the main entrance to Bethlehem, West Bank visitors have doubled over the past year. The 1.3 million tourists expected for 2008 surpasses the pre-uprising peak nine years ago. The surge is filling hotels to capacity – an encouraging sign as chains Mövenpick and Days Inn pursue plans to open in Ramallah.
Tourism contributed to a modest 2 percent growth rate in the overall Palestinian economy this year – a figure that would have been twice as high if it weren't for the flagging economy in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a yearlong Israeli blockade.In the Beit Sahour suburb of Bethlehem, hammers can be heard from hotel construction just up the road from Shepherds' Field, the hillside believed to be the site from where the biblical Star of Bethlehem was sighted. Builders are adding to the Sahara Hotel to nearly triple its capacity to 52 rooms.Owner Majed Banoura said he would open the hotel, closed for renovations, for Christmas to accommodate overflow from Bethlehem. There is security and a sense of calm, says Mr. Banoura, who says his family's souvenir business took in a record $1 million this year. We feel the rule of law. This is what we need.The construction sector is also getting a kick-start with housing projects in and around Ramallah. And the rollout of a new Palestinian cellphone company this year marked the largest single foreign investment ever. Yet the economy has a deep hole to climb out of. Hemmed in by hundreds of Israeli military checkpoints, Palestinians have been struggling, with international donors contributing $1.75 billion to keep the government running. The private sector has been in retreat. A recent World Bank report said that the economy won't fully recover unless Israel removes more restrictions on movement and allows West Bank residents access to agricultural land.These are wonderful sparks of potential, says one Western diplomat who requested anonymity. But now the Israelis have to enable it to explode.When the Bush administration convened Israelis, Palestinians, and Middle East allies in Annapolis a year ago, boosting prosperity in the West Bank was part of a plan to encourage support for peace negotiations and the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas – at the expense of Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Since then, negotiators failed to meet a deadline for a political accord set for the end of the year. The political vacuum opened up by change in Israeli and US governments has left progress on the economy in the West Bank as one of the sole bulwarks of the peace process. For Christmas Eve and morning, Israel's Tourism Ministry arranged a free shuttle to ferry pilgrims hourly between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. At the Bethlehem crossing point this week, a soldier hung a Tourism Ministry banner with holiday greetings for tourists. Israeli officials say they see Bethlehem and Jerusalem as part of the same package for tourists.In Manger Square, Montreal native Ryan Roe says he is vacationing in the region for the first time since moving to Abu Dhabi to work as an investment banker. The passage from Jerusalem to Bethlehem was unexpectedly hassle-free. We showed up at the wall and there was no one in line, he says. They didn't even check our passports. It was like zero security.Palestinians complain that they're getting only a fraction of tourism revenues because most of the visitors' time and cash is spent in Israel. And Israel has approved only about 40 of about 200 requests for entry permits for Palestinian tour guides.Moreover the tourism revival is concentrated in Bethlehem and Jericho. If in 1999 the industry was 10 percent of Palestinian gross domestic product, in 2008it accounted for only 4 percent, according to the World Bank.At a souvenir shop near Shepherds' Field, owner Linda Elias says that anywhere from 10 to 30 buses show up daily, but few tourists linger. We want this wall to go and we want our rights. But we don't want another war. We want peace, she said. I pray some people will come.
Lebanese army finds seven missiles pointed at Israel Thu Dec 25, 3:18 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese security forces found seven missiles directed at Israel in southern Lebanon on Thursday, an army official said.The army has found seven missiles in the coastal region between Naqqura and Tair Harfa directed toward Israel, the official told AFP, asking not to be named.We are investigating whether they were prepared for launching or for use at a later stage. The expert is dismantling them now,the official added.The area where the missiles were found is a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah militant group and lies less than five kilometers (three miles) from Lebanon's border with Israel.Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war in the summer of 2006 which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.During the war, Hezbollah fired over 4,000 missiles at Israel. The group has been accused by the Jewish state of using the time since the end of the conflict to rearm.Last month, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told parliament that the Shiite group is three times stronger now than it was in 2006.
Israel sentences PFLP leader to 30 years in prison by Hossam Ezzedine Hossam Ezzedine – Thu Dec 25, 2:02 pm ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – An Israeli military court on Thursday sentenced Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the leftist Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), to 30 years in prison for heading a terrorist organisation.Ahmed Saadat is guilty ... because of his position and activities within the (PFLP) terrorist movement, an Israeli army statement said.Given the status of the accused within this terrorist organisation, given the actions put in place to develop the movement's military structures and given that ... the fighters (of the organisation) were under his command, the court sentences him to 30 years in prison, the statement said.When Israeli forces seized Saadat in March 2006 in a controversial raid on a Jericho prison, he stood accused of planning the 2001 murder of far-right Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, which was carried out by four PFLP militants.Prosecutors later decided not to pursue this case against Saadat, instead pressing the charges against four PFLP gunmen who were seized along with him in Jericho.The PFLP slammed the verdict as political.When the Israelis arrested him, they accused him of having killed Zeevi, but this accusation did not appear in the sentencing which proves that his arrest was political and was not related to security issues, PFLP member Khalida Jarar told AFP.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in a statement released in Ramallah denounced the sentence as unjust and without legal foundation.We will continue unceasingly to demand his release and the release of all our heroes still held in Israeli prisons, Abbas said.Several dozen Palestinians, meanwhile, staged a demonstration in a refugee camp near Bethlehem to protest the court's decision.Zeevi, 75 at the time of his death, was shot at a hotel in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem on October 17, 2001.Saadat and the four militants convicted of Zeevi's killing were seized during a controversial raid on Jericho prison in the West Bank in March 2006 when Israeli troops stormed the jail shortly after British guards left their posts.The PFLP claimed the killing of Zeevi after its leader Abu Ali Mustafa was assassinated by Israeli troops.Zeevi was an ultra rightwinger and supported the ideology of transfer, which would see all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip expelled to neighbouring Arab countries.The 54-year-old Saadat is a father of four and a veteran of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada.The former university mathematics student was a popular leader in the first Palestinian uprising in 1987 and his election to the PFLP in October 2001 was seen as a boost to the leftist group's radical line.He gained a reputation as a man of the people who was much more charismatic and better tuned in to the situation on the ground than his PFLP predecessor, Abu Ali Mustafa.Mustafa was killed in an August 2001 helicopter strike on his offices in the West Bank town of Ramallah, triggering swift warnings of revenge from Saadat. Zeevi's death prompted the Palestinian Authority, under US and Israeli pressure, to arrest Saadat. Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that his Palestinian Authority arrested Saadat on January 15, 2002 to force him to surrender Zeevi's killers. Saadat's arrest was one of the conditions set by Israel for lifting the blockade which had stranded Arafat at his West Bank headquarters in the town of Ramallah in 2002, but was widely protested by Palestinians. While in prison, Saadat was elected to the Palestinian parliament in January 2006.
Israeli FM vows to strike back at Hamas by Samer al-Atrush Samer Al-atrush – Thu Dec 25, 11:08 am ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni vowed on Thursday to strike back at the Hamas rulers of Gaza after a sharp escalation of violence in the Palestinian territory dashed hopes of a new truce.Enough is enough. The situation is going to change, Livni said in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip since a truce expired six days ago.Unfortunately there is one address to the situation of the people in the Gaza Strip, this is Hamas, Hamas controls them, Hamas decided to target Israel, this is something that has to be stopped and this is what we're going to do, she said in English.Yesterday's escalation was unbearable, Livni said after Gaza militants hit Israel with their biggest rocket barrage in six months to avenge the killing of three fighters from the Islamist movement.Hamas needs to understand that our aspiration for peace does not mean that Israel will take this situation any longer, Livni said at a press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.
Hamas's control of the Gaza Strip is not only Israel's problem... but what we are doing is an expression of the needs of the region.The situation in the Gaza Strip has become an obstacle on the way of the Palestinians toward a state, added Livni, who has vowed to topple Hamas if her Kadima party wins a general election in February.Livni has been heading the Israeli negotiating team in peace talks with the Palestinians that resumed in November last year but have failed to make any visible headway since.Abul Gheit, whose government mediated the six-month truce that expired on Friday, called for restraint in the impoverished territory that has been ruled by Hamas since it routed the rival Fatah movement in June 2007.Egypt has made clear that there should be restraint and no escalation and an alleviation of the humanitarian situation, he said, saying Israel should refrain from collective punishment.He said Egypt would continue its mediation efforts, but expressed pessimism that a new truce could be achieved.Egypt won't stop its efforts as long as the parties agree. But I do not imagine that we can convince both parties to return to the truce as long as there is such a strong confrontation between them.Israel's Maariv newspaper said the security cabinet had given the army the go-ahead to conduct expanded operations in Gaza after a meeting on Wednesday and Defence Minister Ehud Barak warned that Israel would respond to the fire.Hamas... will pay a big price, he said. We will not allow this situation to last.Hamas has vowed to step up attacks if Israel strikes Gaza, a tiny enclave sandwiched between Egypt and Israel that is home to 1.5 million largely aid-dependent Palestinians.Since Friday's expiry of the truce, Israel has threatened to launch a major offensive on Gaza, with top leaders threatening to topple Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel and the West.
In turn, Hamas -- which is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state -- has warned it would retaliate by resuming suicide bombings inside Israel. The last such attack was in January 2005.A UN statement said UN chief Ban Ki-moon was gravely concerned" about the situation, that he condemned the rocket attacks and also called for an urgent easing of humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip. Pope Benedict XVI also urged an end to hatred and violence in the Middle East during his midnight mass Christmas homily ahead of a planned trip to the region. Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, called in an interview published on Thursday for residents of Gaza to stop Hamas militants from firing missiles into Israel. I say to you in a last-minute call, stop it, Olmert said in an interview with the Arab television station Al-Arabiya, according to quotes reprinted in the Israeli media.
Don't let Hamas, which is acting against the values of Islam, put you in danger, he said. Stop them. Stop your enemies and ours. Tell them to stop firing on innocent civilians.
Tourists, locals pray in Bethlehem on Christmas By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Thu Dec 25, 7:34 am ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Bethlehem marked Christmas on Thursday with crowds of tourists joining local Palestinian Christians in Jesus' traditional birthplace, as the West Bank town basked in its once-a-year appearance in the world spotlight.The mood was upbeat, with hotel rooms fully booked and merchants reporting good business for the first time in years, as a long period of Israeli-Palestinian violence that dampened moods and tourism seemed to be easing.Light rain fell on Bethlehem on Christmas morning. Crowds of worshippers and tourists carrying umbrellas walked briskly across the plaza in front of the Church of the Nativity, built atop the grotto where Jesus is believed to have been born.Inside the dimly lit Crusader-era church, hundreds of people lined up five abreast between two rows of columns on one side, quietly waiting their turn to descend a few stone steps to the grotto.Most of the people in the ancient church on Christmas morning were Asian, with a few Europeans and Americans joining them.After ducking through the low entrance into the church, Wayne Shandera, 57, a physician from Houston looked awed by the massive presence of the old stone church. You feel in continuity with all the pilgrims through the ages who have been here, he said.
Brad Shannon, 28, a mechanic from Atlanta, said he saved money all year to make the trip to Bethlehem with three friends.I came here to see the oldest church that is still in use, he said. It's not every Christmas that you're surrounded with people from all over the world.At the nearby Church of St. Catherine, the recently installed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, conducted his first Christmas morning service in his new role. For the Midnight Mass a few hours earlier, the church was filled on Christmas Eve with dignitaries, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and tourists who obtained tickets and passed through security checks.
Christmas morning services were more relaxed. Most of the congregants were local Palestinians, with some tourists standing in the back, listening to the Arabic-language liturgy.The outbreak of the Palestinian uprising against Israel in late 2000and the fighting that followed clouded Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem for years, battering the tourism industry that is the city's lifeline.Although holiday tourism numbers this year were still off from the tens of thousands who visited in the peak years of the late 1990s and the 2000 millennium, they were up from recent years, when just a few thousand visitors trickled in. Bethlehem officials said that over the course of the year, more than 1 million tourists visited their town, providing a much-needed boost to the local economy.Still, all is not well in Bethlehem, despite the diminished violence and the relaunch of peace talks last year between Israel and the government of Abbas.Bethlehem remains surrounded on three sides by a barrier of towering concrete slabs and electronic fences that Israel has erected. Israeli says the barrier is meant to keep out suicide attackers, but because it dips inside the West Bank, Palestinians see it as a thinly disguised land grab that strangles their economy.Emigration, meanwhile, has slashed the town's Christian population to an estimated 35 to 50 percent of its 40,000 people, down from 90 percent in the 1950s.The festivities in the West Bank town contrasted sharply with the mood in Hamas-run Gaza, 45 miles away. Militants there have been bombarding nearby Israeli communities with rockets and mortars since a truce expired a week ago, waiting to see whether Israel would act on its frequent threat to pummel them militarily.The tiny Christian community in Gaza — 400 out of a total population of 1.4 million — called off its Midnight Mass to protest Israel's blockade, imposed after the militant Islamic Hamas overran the territory last year and further tightened last month, when Gaza militants resumed rocket fire.Additional reporting by Associated Press writer Dalia Nammari in Bethlehem.
Bethlehem fills up with Christmas pilgrims By Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh – Wed Dec 24, 11:15pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) – Thousands of Christian pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem's Manger Square on Wednesday to celebrate Christmas under the protection of security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.About 500 security men arrived from the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho to provide security for the holiday. Similar deployments have taken place across the West Bank over the past year with U.S. backing.We expect about 40,000 visitors in Bethlehem this week, said Khouloud Daibes-Abu Dayyeh, the Palestinian Authority's minister of tourism.The estimate includes Christians from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Israel and the rest of the world. About 900 from Gaza applied for Israeli permission to go to the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, but only 300 got it.It's better to spend Christmas in Bethlehem because we are close to the church. It's important to visit where Jesus was born, said 58-year-old Italian tourist Messimo Silzestri beneath a giant Christmas tree and decorations in Manger Square.While Gaza teeters on the brink of a major crisis following the end of a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas Islamists in control of the strip, a decline in violence in the West Bank has tempted back tourists who no longer fear gunbattles in the streets.Israel attributes this partly to the barrier it is building in and around the occupied West Bank. For Bethlehem, the barrier takes the form of a daunting concrete wall 4 meters (13 feet) high with watchtowers.
MUCH-NEEDED REVENUE
Tourism collapsed here when a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in 2000. But this Christmas, the Palestinian tourism minister says, hotel occupancy is rising.The increase in security and easier movement means we have our largest numbers, and we are making great efforts to restore tourist activity, she told Reuters in Ramallah.The numbers themselves are not as important as the length of stay, she added. The direct contribution of tourism to the Palestinian economy is reckoned at about $480 million a year.Palestinians say the Israeli barrier is a major obstacle to peace that cripples trade and turns off foreign tourists.Many visitors see the wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem as an ugly scar defiling a Christian holy site.Going to the checkpoint and the barrier is really crazy. But being here, it is totally worth it, said 20-year-old Emma Serienni who was on her first visit from the United States.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Tuesday said the Jewish state must press on with plans to complete the barrier around key parts of Jerusalem, which could be divided in a future deal to create a Palestinian state.
There is little prospect of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the time Pope Benedict visits Bethlehem in mid-May 2009.(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta; Writing by Douglas Hamilton; editing by Jon Boyle)
Bethlehem sermon calls for peace in the Middle East by Patrick Moser – Wed Dec 24, 7:44 pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – The Catholic leader in the Holy Land Thursday prayed for Mideast peace, telling the faithful at the traditional birthplace of Jesus the silent night of Christmas overpowers the voice of guns.Peace to Bethlehem and all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal said in his sermon at midnight mass in Bethlehem, just a few meters from the grotto that marks the spot where Christians believe their Prince of Peace was born in a stable.On this night, the silence of the grotto will be even louder than the voice of the cannons and submachine guns, he told pilgrims from around the world who celebrated Christmas in this Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.His words rang out as violence escalated in the Gaza Strip where fighters of the Hamas movement that rules the besieged Palestinian enclave fired a barrage of rockets at Israel which responded with a deadly air raid.The silence of the grotto gives life to those whose voice has been suffocated by tears and who have sought refuge in silence and impotence, he told the crowd that packed the church, which included Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The cry of the widows and the children is mixed with the noise of cannons and submachine guns, said Twal who delivered his sermon in his native Arabic and then again in French.Peace, Twal said, is the solution for all conflicts and differences. War does not produce peace, prisons do not guarantee stability.The highest of walls do not assure security, he told the faithful, many of whom had driven through a gate at the eight-metre (26-feet) high concrete wall that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem and forms part of the projected 700-kilometer West Bank separation barrier Israel says is needed for security.It was heartbreaking to see that wall, it's a blot on Israel, said Jessica Kelly, 22.
She and her boyfriend Sean Wright, 30, both said they felt torn between the joy of Christmas and the sadness at the reality of the wall.The two students from Sydney were among thousands of Christians who flocked to Bethlehem.Throughout the day, pilgrims prayed in the Church of the Nativity and the adjoining St Catherine's Church where midnight mass was celebrated.Others milled in Manger Square just outside, where Boy Scout marching bands kicked off celebrations playing hymns on bagpipes and drums.It is really very special to be in Bethlehem on the day we celebrate Christmas, it is a very emotional moment, said Eduardo Robles Gil, a Mexican priest who was on a pilgrimage with his family.Souvenir stores were doing brisk business selling nativity scenes carved in olive wood, rosaries and religious trinkets.Elsa Marie Kierkegaard, a Dane who converted to Catholicism five years ago, was taken aback by what she felt was crass commercialism.It's like one big market, she said looking at the food stands, garlands of lights, synthetic pine trees and inflatable Santas.But the visitors, returning in the largest numbers yet since the 2000 start of the second Palestinian uprising, brought a strong dose of Christmas cheer. Bethlehem welcomed over one million tourists this year, twice as many as in 2007 and the highest number since 1999, Palestinian officials said. The tourist boom is a welcome respite for the Palestinian territory, whose economic growth has been severely hurt by hundreds of Israeli checkpoints and the separation barrier that restrict movement of goods and people. In Gaza City, Roman Catholic priest Manuel Musalem celebrated midnight mass six hours early in what he called a protest against the violence and the Israeli blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory. We pray for peace and that the blockade and the siege end in the Gaza Strip, and we ask the world to help Palestinians, he said in his sermon to about 200 faithful.
