JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Israel said on Sunday it would bar Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from visiting Bethlehem for Christian Seasonal celebrations, insisting that he concentrate on cracking down against anti-Jewish militants instead.
Israel's decision to prevent Arafat's seasonal trip could spark fresh tension with the Palestinian leader, who told Voice of Palestine radio on Saturday he would visit the town of Jesus Christ's birth ``even if I have to go there on foot.''
Arafat, a practicing Muslim, has attended Christian seasonal services at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity since the town came under Palestinian-rule in 1995. To reach Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, Arafat needs to cross Israeli-ruled land.
He has been effectively confined to his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah because of tough Israeli military action designed to force him to rein in militants behind a recent wave of Resistance attacks on Israel that killed 29 people.