ISRAEL'S refusal to allow the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, attend Midnight Mass in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve has deepened the gulf between Israel and Palestinians, Muslim and Christian alike.
For the first time since the establishment of the Palestinian administration, Mr Arafat missed Christmas in St Catherine's Catholic Church in Bethlehem, an occasion traditionally attended by the local ruler over many centuries.
His legitimacy was, however, reinforced when the Latin Patriarch, Archbishop Michel Sabbah, and the heads of the other churches in the Holy Land travelled the 15 km from Jerusalem to Mr Arafat's headquarters at Ramallah to pay their respects 12 hours before the Midnight Mass.
During the Mass, a black and white Arab headdress was draped over Mr Arafat's chair at the front of the church.
Archbishop Sabbah delivered a frankly political sermon, calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and the restoration of the right of Palestinians to worship in their holy places.
Few foreign pilgrims came to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem this year. The four-hour service in the high-vaulted church was attended by 2,000 people - two-thirds Palestinian, one-third foreign - and was a homely, friendly, warm parish event.
On Christmas Day, hundreds of Palestinians and about 200 foreign peace activists marched from the field in Beit Shahour - where shepherds minding their flocks were, according to tradition, told by angels of the birth of Jesus - towards the Israeli checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, where Palestinians from the West Bank are normally turned back.
When the marchers failed to reach a compromise with Israeli troops blocking their way, the people of Beit Sahour and Bethlehem turned and sang their way back to the little town of Bethlehem from which Mr Arafat had been barred the previous night.
