Arafat's place again empty

BETHLEHEM - Yasser Arafat was but a ghost of Christmas past at Midnight Mass in Bethlehem, his empty chair a symbol of holiday gloom for Palestinians in a town ringed by Israeli armour.

Israel for the second straight year barred the Palestinian President from travelling to the town of Jesus' birth, accusing him of fomenting violence in the uprising for statehood that began more than two years ago. Arafat denies the allegation.

Christmas was a washout in dark and rainswept Bethlehem, where even an Israeli Army pullback to the town's outskirts failed to bring comfort or joy to residents of what used to be a prosperous place of pilgrimage, packed with Christian tourists.

"Bethlehem is a sad city," said Mayor Hanna Nasser. "It's the first time in the city's history that the Christmas tree is not lit - in protest against the Israeli occupation."

Arafat's front-row seat in St Catherine's Catholic Church, adjoining the Church of the Nativity, was - as last year - draped with a chequered Arab headdress, a symbol of his struggle for a homeland.

On the chair was a sign in English reading: "His Excellency Yasser Arafat, President of the State of Palestine".

Manger Square, once a brightly lit centre of Christmas festivities, was illuminated this year by the headlights of cars and taxis using it as a parking lot.

Israeli troops had reoccupied the town following a suicide bombing that killed 11 Israelis on a Jerusalem bus. Bethlehem was the bomber's home town.

"Now they have prevented me for the second time to participate with my brothers in the Nativity Church," Arafat, a Muslim, told reporters in his headquarters in Ramallah, 20km from Bethlehem.

"In spite of that, I am sending from my heart my greetings, 'Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas', and we hope that we will meet together in Jerusalem and also in Bethlehem."

In an apparent goodwill gesture following appeals from Pope John Paul, the Israeli Army said it had withdrawn to the edges of Bethlehem.

But it said it would "continue to operate according to the security situation and existing terror threats".

The Army said Palestinian Christians with security permits, foreign tourists and pilgrims were being allowed into Bethlehem for Christmas events.

The city came under Palestinian rule in 1995 but Israel controls its entrances.

Christians are a tiny minority among the three million mostly Muslim Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, but they make up about 35 per cent of the 140,000 people in Bethlehem and its satellite villages.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: The Middle East