Israel bars Arafat's visit to Bethlehem

Israel yesterday barred Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from visiting Bethlehem for Christmas and decided to keep its army in the West Bank city over the holiday.

Showing no goodwill towards a man it accuses of complicity in "terrorism", the Israeli cabinet's decision coincided with a newspaper interview in which Arafat demanded that Osama bin Laden stop claiming al Qaeda was fighting for the Palestinians.

"The Israeli decision aims to provoke the Palestinian people and the Arab nation and belittle international efforts exerted to salvage the peace process," Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdainah said.

The Israeli government source said the cabinet reiterated its decision not to allow Arafat, who is a Muslim, to attend Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem.

A cabinet statement quoted Israeli military chief of staff Lt General Moshe Yaalon as saying the army had "no intention of withdrawing" from Bethlehem but that "Israel will allow Christmas celebrations to go ahead".

He said foreign pilgrims as well as Palestinian Christians from the West Bank and Israeli Christians would be allowed to enter the city to attend the festivities.

A "quartet" of Middle East mediators, the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia, is putting together an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. But Gulf tensions and Israel's January 28 election are likely to delay a final draft.

Looking towards possible US war against Iraq, Israel sent its defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, to the United States for high-level talks on preparations for such a conflict.

Palestinians say there will not be much joy in Bethlehem again this year. Israeli forces have imposed period curfews on Bethlehem since reoccupying the city three weeks ago after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 11 people on a Jerusalem bus.

"The world, instead of seeing Christmas trees in Bethlehem... will see occupation troops, tanks and barrels in Manger Square, in flagrant defiance of Christians' religious feelings," the Palestinian cabinet said in a statement.

Israel controls West Bank roads and airspace, making it impossible for Arafat to travel from his compound in Ramallah to Bethlehem, some 20 kilometres away, without Israeli approval.

Arafat, who was prohibited by Israel from visiting Bethlehem last Christmas, has condemned violence against Israeli civilians in the more than two-year-old Palestinian uprising for statehood, saying the attacks harmed his people's cause.

In an interview in Britain's Sunday Times, Arafat asked: "Why is bin Laden talking about Palestine now? He never helped us. He was working in another, completely different area and against our interests. ...I'm telling him (bin Laden) directly not to hide behind the Palestinian cause."

Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for two attacks on Israeli tourists in Kenya last month, calling these revenge for Israel's military actions against the Palestinians.

Arafat dismissed as "big, big lies" recent charges by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that al Qaeda is active in Palestinian-ruled Gaza, as well as in Lebanon.

But Israeli officials insisted al Qaeda's interference in the Middle East is a fact, pointing to Jordan's announcement on Saturday it had arrested two members of the group for the killing of US diplomat Laurence Foley in October.

"I anticipate an intensive effort by al Qaeda to penetrate moderate Arab countries which might be friendly towards a US war on Iraq, such as Jordan, as well as the (Palestinian) territories," a senior Israeli government official said.

Mofaz, a leading hawk in Sharon's caretaker right-wing government, is to meet US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, the US national security adviser.

Under pressure from Washington not to take action that could split a US-led coalition against Iraq 11 years ago, Israel held fire in the face of Iraqi Scud missiles. It said it would respond this time if attacked by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that caused casualties.

"We will discuss the Iraqi issue and the possibility of an American attack on Iraq," Mofaz, a former Israeli chief of military staff, told Army Radio. He said the "global war against terrorism" and "Palestinian terror" were also on his agenda.

At least 1,719 Palestinians and 670 Israelis have been killed since the uprising began in September 2000.

The militant Palestinian Islamist group Hamas told Reuters it was not prepared to enter any dialogue aimed at stopping "resistance" against Israel, which it said should continue even inside the Jewish state.

Hamas representative in Lebanon, Usama Hamdan said: "The operations should be in Haifa, Jaffa, Nazareth, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv before they are in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip."

About 1,000 Palestinian women and children marched yesterday through Beirut's Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp, home to 8,000 Palestinians, to mark the 15th year since Hamas's founding.