WEST BANK/ISRAEL: Spiralling violence clouds holiday season in the Holy Land

Fears of a civil war and Israeli-Palestinian violence loomed over the holiday season for Christians, Jews and Muslims in the conflict torn holy land. Life in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, has grown steadily worse over the past six years as Israel has ratcheted up security, erecting dozens of military checkpoints across the West Bank and building a steel and concrete barrier. And internal Palestinian fighting -- the worst in a decade -- has escalated since President Mahmoud Abbas called on Saturday (December 16) for early elections in an attempt to break a political deadlock with the Hamas government. Hamas has accused Abbas of launching a "coup". For Nasser Alawi, a tourist guide from Bethlehem, the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip as Abbas loyalists and Hamas gunmen exchanged gunfire, is dividing his people and could have a direct impact on Christmas season. "This will affect the situation in general because all of the people who watch TV an see what's happening between the Palestinians and of course will be scared to come here especially for Christmas and we are in the season of Christmas which is we are waiting along time ago, all year we wait to work on the 24th of December and 25th of December and what's happened Tuesday is actually very sad between the brothers, Fatah and Hamas," said Alawi. Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction, has struggled to govern since taking office in March under the weight of Western sanctions imposed because of its refusal to recognise the Jewish state and renounce violence. Hamas and Fatah tried for months to form a unity government to end a power struggle, but talks foundered. The spiraling fighting has renewed fears of civil war in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. "We want the peace to be back to the holy land," said Alawi. Tourists and religious pilgrims, the major contributor to Bethlehem's economy, have stayed away in ever increasing numbers, while residents of the city have found it much harder to get to nearby cities like Jerusalem to work. Unemployment is now estimated at around 65 percent, city workers say. At the peak of tourism, about five years ago, residents say up to 100,000 people would visit each month. That fell sharply as the uprising -- known as the Intifada -- picked up, but still stood at 40,000 a month five months ago. Now, only about 20,000 a month come, and they gradually are spending less and are not staying overnight. While the Christian population, which stood at 90 percent in the 1940s, has declined to stand at only around 35 percent today due largely to emigration, Bethlehem still has a very Christian feel. The Israeli Tourism Ministry said it would arrange to ease the travel limitations for an estimated 18,000 pilgrims to cross from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Israel's stated aim in erecting the barrier inside the West Bank is to stop suicide bombers. Palestinians say the barrier's construction amounts to a land grab that denies them a viable state. The World Court has branded the barrier illegal because it loops into occupied land. In Israel, Alon Amichay gathered with his family to light candles for the Jewish holiday of Chanukah. For Amichay, the fact that all three major religions are celebrating holiday season together renews hopes for a better future. "This year is very symbolic and interesting that all the holidays of three main religious in the world falling within the same period of time. I hope it will be a good start for a new upcoming, happy and peaceful upcoming year," said Amichay. Just a few months ago Israel fought a war against Hizbollah in Lebanon after guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross border raid. Over 1,200 Lebanese were killed, mostly civilians, and some 150 Israelis were killed in the 34 day war that ended by a United Nations brokered ceasefire in August. The Amichay family was still overcoming its wounds from the deadly war after one of its family members was wounded by one of the 4,000 rockets that rained down on northern Israel. The war in Lebanon and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or Intifada, clouded Amichay's Chanukah festivities. But candle lights from the traditional Chanukah lit up houses across the Jewish state. Over the rolling hilltops in the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinians prepared for the annual Haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. It is the fifth of the Five Pillars in Sunni Islam and one of the ten branches of religion in Shi'a Islam. Every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so is obliged to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his or her lifetime. Daoud Ashur's pilgrimage to one of the holiest sites in Islam from the West Bank city of Hebron was clouded by fears of a civil war among his people. He expressed hope Hamas and Fatah would soon reach an agreement and peace would prevail. "We wish that God stands beside us and they (Fatah and Hamas) agree and peace spreads all over," said Ashur. "We wish that a civil war will not occur". Ashur, like many others, hopes to return from his pilgrimage, during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah, to a land where peace has prevailed.

ITN Source | December 24, 2006

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