WEST BANK: Palestinian security forces are deployed across Bethlehem as Christmas festivities get underway in the town revered as the birthplace of Jesus

Record ID: 561812

  • Title: WEST BANK: Palestinian security forces are deployed across Bethlehem as Christmas festivities get underway in the town revered as the birthplace of Jesus
  • Date: 24th December 2007
  • Summary: BAND MARCHING
  • Embargoed: 8th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA87GLTWQ62VZJL4R5CJPDPT3ON
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Palestinian security men took up positions on the streets of Bethlehem on Monday (December 24) on the eve of Christmas.
    Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus, welcomed some 500 new security officers, the third such deployment by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's forces to a West Bank city since November following earlier deployments to Nablus and Tulkarm.
    Pilgrims from around the world arrived at the nativity square in preparation for midnight mass.

    "Bethlehem is the place of the birth of Jesus, and I am very happy to be here, especially today, when it's the Christmas eve. I'm very very happy," Lolik, a pilgrim from Poland said.
    ''I'm very excited, I have been waiting for this moment, to come here on Christmas time, probably all my life," added Eva, also from Poland.
    Officials say tourist levels are the best in seven years, with more than 60,000 people visiting last month compared to about 20,000 a year ago.
    Many hotels are fully booked for Christmas.

    "I think this year it's very different than the other years. We have a lot of tourists," said Greek cleric from Bethlehem, Ibrahim Faltas.
    The deployment of security forces across the town is aimed at bolstering Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas against Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip in violent clashes in June.
    Israel, which is backing the security push, hopes it will help Abbas and his secular Fatah-backed government rein in militants which the Jewish state has demanded after the two sides launched formal peace talks last month.
    Bethlehem has previously been the site of several street battles between Palestinians and Israeli forces but violence has dropped drastically over the past two years, and a U.S.-backed peace drive launched last month has reassured some tourists.
    The pre-Christmas buzz also masks the daily hardship of life in Bethlehem. Unlike the romantic image portrayed by Christmas cards and carols, the town is encircled by military checkpoints and the towering concrete wall of Israel's West Bank barrier.
    Israel seized control of West Bank cities handed over to the Palestinian Authority under the 1993 interim Oslo peace deal after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in 2000, and has since barred armed security forces from operating in the cities.
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