BETHLEHEM, West Bank, 26 December 2002 — Hours after the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem called for peace and tolerance in a message to hundreds of Christians attending midnight Christmas mass, a Hamas activist was killed yesterday by Israeli soldiers.
Ibrahim Abu Awash was gunned down by Israeli troops in Nablus, while another activist was wounded and arrested, Israeli military and Palestinian medical sources said.
The army also arrested a total of 16 Palestinians as they pressed ahead with their relentless raids in Bethlehem and other West Bank towns it has reoccupied almost entirely since June.
Members of an armed offshoot of the Fatah and of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were arrested in Nablus, Hebron and Bethlehem, where hundreds were celebrating Christmas.
The fresh violence came as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah delivered his midnight mass sermon in Bethlehem, calling for tolerance in spite of the military occupation which cast a pall on the annual celebrations.
Speaking to a packed congregation at Midnight Mass in the Roman Catholic Saint Catherine’s Church, adjoining the Church of the Nativity, Patriarch Michel Sabbah told Israelis: "Blood has been flowing in your cities and streets, but the key to solving this conflict is in your hands. By your actions so far, you have crushed the Palestinian people but you still have not achieved peace."
A Palestinian, Sabbah addressed the empty chair which Arafat — although a Muslim — had occupied in past years. "We wish you were with us tonight, and we call on God to give you the wisdom and the power under this siege to continue your mission toward peace and justice," Sabbah said.
Arafat’s front-row seat was draped with a checkered 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," framed by a drawing of the Palestinian flag.
In an apparent goodwill gesture following appeals from Pope John Paul, the army said it had withdrawn to the edges of Bethlehem. It said it would "continue to operate according to the security situation and existing terror threats".
Israel handed the town over to Palestinian rule in 1995 but controls its entrances. In April, the Israeli Army pushed into Bethlehem as part of a massive offensive following bombings in Israel.
About 30 Palestinian fighters holed up inside the Church of the Nativity on April 2, and Israel laid siege to the shrine. Under a European Union-brokered deal, 13 Palestinians were exiled abroad and 26 expelled from the West Bank to Gaza. (Agencies)
