Arafat was barred for the second year in a row

With additional reporting by Maha Abdel Hady, IOL Palestine correspondent

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, December 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told several thousand Christian worshippers attending Bethlehem’s Christmas mass Wednesday, December 25, to love their fellow human beings, including Jews, while urging Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories.

But his sermon was lost on a good chunk of the unruly audience who, according to many local residents, were all too happy to enjoy the outing at Bethlehem’s Saint Catherine church after a month of military curfews, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

“We’re passing through difficult days of suffering, destruction and hatred but it is not impossible for the faithful to feel love for all our brothers, whether they be Muslims, Christian, Jews or Druzes,” said Sabbah, his voice often muted by side conversations and buzzing mobile phones.

Sabbah slammed Israel for its siege of Bethlehem and of “every Palestinian city,” which he said “cannot be justified,” and could not “bring (Israel) the security it yearns.”

“The Palestinians will continue to demand their freedom and dignity ... the mission of the Christians is to remain patient, not to hate, and do what they can to put an end to the occupation,” he said, adding that the root of the violence was Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

“We say to the Israeli people: no to the violence, no to terrorism and no to oppression but we ask that you understand the reason behind the violence is the occupation,” he said, exhorting Israel to bring in “new leaders” or “alter its vision.”

He noted Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s absence saying: “We wish you had been with us today and call on God to grant you the power and wisdom to continue working towards justice and peace.”

Arafat was barred by Israel from attending the mass for the second year in a row. Instead, a traditional Palestinian checkered headdress and his name tag had been placed on an empty chair, in the first row, while Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee member Emile Jarjui was representing him here.

Still a good half of the worshippers had come from abroad to the great surprise of many Palestinians.

“I was really amazed that so many foreigners made it, I thought we’d been written off with the intifada,” said a janitor, referring to the 26-month-old Palestinian uprising.

Merinda and 28 other Indonesians had flown from Jakarta the previous day to attend the midnight mass.

“It was worth it and emotional to be here, although I didn't understand most of what was said,” explained the young woman, pointing to very few passages in English.

Caught, Interrogated, Assassinated

Meanwhile, a Hamas member, 33-year-old Ibrahim Hawash, was assassinated and another wounded Wednesday during an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank town of Nablus.

The clash occurred when Israeli soldiers surrounded and stormed into the neighborhood in which the resistance fighters lived. The two Palestinians allegedly opened fire from a house, which responded by attacking the building.

Israeli occupation forces had already been carrying out a search operation since early dawn Wednesday, breaking into several houses in the neighborhood and forcing its residents to leave vacate them.

Witnesses told IslamOnline that residents found Hawash’s body after the Israeli troops retreated.

They carried the body to Rafidia Hospital, in an angry impromptu rally.

Hawash had been wanted by the Israelis and was questioned before his assassination, neighbors told IslamOnline.

However, they could not confirm the identity of the wounded man who was abducted by the Israeli forces.

Adnan Asfour, a member of the political command in the Islamic resistance group Hamas, said that all evidence points to the fact that Hawash was first interrogated and then killed minutes after being questioned.

Asfour said Hawash was shot in his left leg and left to bleed to death, as the Israelis prevented any ambulances from reaching him. He added that “Hawash was killed in cold blood and that his death was an illegal assassination which showed the true face of the criminal Israeli occupation.”

Sixteen Abducted

Meanwhile, the Israeli army abducted 16 Palestinians early Wednesday in the reoccupied West Bank cities of Al-Khalil (Hebron), Bethlehem and Nablus, an Israeli army spokesman said.

Those abducted were mainly from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - an armed offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah - and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the spokesman added.

In December alone, six Palestinians allegedly suspected of planning a resistance a bombing attack inside Israel were detained as well as 15 other Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders, said the spokesman.

On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said that the Israeli army had “rounded up” a 1,000 Palestinians since the beginning of November, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Israeli troops have reoccupied most of the West Bank since June and carry out almost daily raids and abductions.