Palestinians take over Christmas in Bethlehem

The Associated Press, Bethlehem

Transcribed from the clipping

“BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Palestinian activists strung a banner proclaiming ‘Jesus, the First Palestinian Revolutionary’ in Manger Square on Wednesday, preparing for the Christmas Eve arrival of Yasser Arafat in the city of Jesus’ birth. The square was festooned with a two-story portrait of the PLO chairman and Palestinian flags for Bethlehem’s first Christmas celebration under Palestinian rule. Some foreign Christians said they were offended by the display linking Christ with Palestinian national symbols, and accused Arafat of hijacking Christmas for political gain ahead of Jan. 20 elections. ‘The whole world is allowing Arafat to use the birthplace of the Lord of our church for propaganda,’ said Jan Willem van der Hoeven, spokesman of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. He says his group represents millions of evangelical Christians around the world. But the top Roman Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, said a dose of politics was justified as Bethlehem celebrates an end to 28 years of Israeli occupation. ‘This year we will have a special Christmas,’ said Sabbah, a Palestinian. ‘This is the first time in history the Palestinian people are free and able to decide for themselves.’ Israeli troops are to withdraw from Bethlehem, a town of 15,000 Christians and 35,000 Muslims, by early Friday… ‘It’s impossible to tell whose birthday it is, but no one has the guts to say it,’ said van der Hoeven, the evangelical Christian. ‘Arafat is not a Christian and he has an abominable record against Christians in Lebanon. He is going to misuse Bethlehem.’ Van der Hoeven’s group has urged Christians to boycott the Bethlehem celebrations and instead spend Christmas at the nearby Jewish West Bank settlement of Efrat. The group believes Israel should not return the West Bank to the Palestinians because it is part of the biblical land of Israel.”

Context added by this archive

A city handed back after twenty-eight years, and the headline verb is “take over.” The Latin Patriarch gets two sentences; the spokesman who objects to him gets four and the last word.

Cite this item

"Palestinians take over Christmas in Bethlehem," The State, 21 December 1995. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1995-004. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1995-004

Elsewhere in the archive

War Continues In Refugee Camps In Gaza StripThe State · 30 September 1971 · the same newspaper
Israeli Opposition Goes Back to Attacking Peace ProcessSan Francisco Chronicle · 23 November 1995 · the same year
First Palestinian police open office in Bethlehem areaThe Morning Call · 2 December 1995 · the same year

This record is part of Covering Palestine, an archive of American and Anglophone newspaper clippings about Palestinians, 1812 to 2022. Researched and assembled by Maria Robles.

The clipping belongs to the newspaper that printed it, or to the wire service that supplied the copy. It is reproduced here for research, criticism and commentary. The city is derived from the masthead, not read off the clipping.

Something wrong here, or something you know about this clipping? The archive is still being built and corrections are wanted: maria@rozumstudio.com, quoting CP-1995-004.

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