- It was
here 2,000 years ago, the Bible says, that shepherds
tending their
flocks by night heard from an angel of the Lord that Jesus
would be
born in nearby Bethlehem.
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- Beit
Sahour means Shepherds, Field, but these days there
are few shepherds
left and for the past three months many of the modern
residents have
been sheltering their children by night from exchanges of
gunfire
between Palestinians and Israeli troops.
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- Some Palestinian Christians, such as John Matarweh, say
that this Christmas will be their last here until some measure of security
returns to the Holy Land. In recent months the front section of his home
has been ripped open by Israeli tank fire, his living room reduced to a
pile of rubble and the interior walls of his home riddled with bullet
holes.
"Enough is enough," said Dr Matarweh, a Roman
Catholic, peering
out from a gaping hole in his home towards an Israeli
military base across
the road. "Instead of protecting us, they
(the Israelis) are attacking
us," he said.
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- "We are leaving for the States because we can,t
live in war. This is an act of war and we are scared. The kids, you can
imagine, during the night are screaming, asking Why have we been shot?,
I can,t reply. I just can,t reply."
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- Violence continued to rage across the West Bank and Gaza
Strip yesterday when a Palestinian strapped with explosives blew himself
up in a roadside café in the West Bank, injuring three Israeli
soldiers.
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- The incident came
after three other Palestinians were
killed by Israeli security forces.
In Jerusalem, there were scuffles and
stone-throwing after Palestinian
worshippers were turned away by Israeli
security forces from the walled
Old City on the last Friday of the Muslim
holy month of
Ramadan.
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- The latest violence
came amid the last efforts by President
Clinton to strike a deal in the
Washington peace talks. Yassir Abed Rabbo,
the Palestinian negotiator,
said Mr Clinton had suggested a framework for
each of the key final
issues, including the fate of Jerusalem, which both
sides claim as
their political and religious capital.
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