West Bank barrier has made Bethlehem a 'giant prison': Jerusalem patriarch

West Bank barrier has made Bethlehem a 'giant prison': Jerusalem patriarch

AFP
Date: 12-21-04

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem protested that Israel's West Bank barrier had turned the holy city of Bethlehem into a "giant prison".

"The wall makes Bethlehem a giant prison," Michel Sabbah said Tuesday in his annual Christmas message at the patriarchate in Jerusalem's Old City.

Sabbah, who is to attend the midnight mass at Saint Catherine's Church in Bethlehem on Friday, slammed the so-called separation barrier, saying it would not protect the Jewish state or provide secure borders.

"It will only increase hatred, ignorance of the other, and therefore, hostility toward the other, and, as a further consequence, violence and insecurity," he warned.

The separation barrier, which Israel argues is vital to preventing Palestinian attacks on its soil, slices through several kilometres of Bethlehem, where the Bible says Jesus Christ was born.

Palestinians say the barrier is a cynical attempt by the Israelis to seize more land in the occupied territories.

Sabbah praised the new Palestinian leadership for the calmness it had shown since the death of Yasser Arafat last month and called on the Israelis to take "more decisive steps towards peace".

"The Palestinians are ready to talk. Israelis must end the incursions," he said.

The deadliest Israeli incursion in several weeks, during which 11 Palestinians were killed, wound up late Saturday in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis refugee camp.

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