Heavy Security by Israelis Has Cooling Effect on Holiday Spirit

BETHLEHEM, West Bank â€”  Heavy Israeli security in Manger Square set Palestinian residents grumbling Friday despite expectations of the biggest Christmas crowd in years in the town where Jesus was born.

This is the first year since Israel occupied the West Bank 27 years ago that the Palestinians are in charge of the holiday decorations under the new Palesinian self-rule authority. But security was another matter.

Hundreds of policemen and army border guards filled the square and rooftops a day before the annual Christmas celebrations were to begin.

“I don’t feel any sense of Christmas because we are still under occupation,� said Bassem Marzuka, a 26-year-old architect. “I feel that tomorrow the Christmas will be for the Israelis and not for us.�

Tourism was one of five areas put under Palestinian control by the Israel-PLO autonomy pact. The square at the Church of Nativity, where tradition says Jesus was born nearly 2,000 years ago, shimmered with Christmas lanterns and streamers.

Many Palestinians had also hoped the autonomy agreement, which went into effect in the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho in May, would make this their first Christmas without the Israeli army.

But Israeli troops have converged on the city, wary that Palestinian militants might stage an attack while the eyes of the world are on Bethlehem.

“What are these soldiers here for?� asked Issa Hazbon, 62, a street vendor selling postcards and rosary beads. Because soldiers close off the square, he and his colleagues don’t work on Christmas, he said.

A few hundred tourists arrived Friday to get a head start on the holiday.

“I thought it would be sacrilegious to be in the area and not be here for Christmas,� said Harry McGinnis, 67, a retired Methodist minister from San Diego.