December 23, 2001	Sunday	Shawwal 7, 1422

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RAMALLAH, Dec 22: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said on Saturday he intended to make his annual Christmas visit to the traditional birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, with or without approval from Israel, which controls the roads in and out of the West Bank town.

Mr Arafat has been effectively confined to the West Bank city of Ramallah since Israel destroyed his helicopters at the beginning of the month and then tightened a cordon around Palestinian towns following a Dec 12 attack by Hamas that killed 10 Israelis travelling on a bus.

“I will go (to Bethlehem) although Israel will not give me coordination,” he told an Associated Press reporter during a meeting with American Jewish peace activists who visited him on Saturday. “I will go, even walking.”

Israeli officials have hinted that they will keep Mr Arafat confined to Ramallah until Palestinian security forces arrest four suspects in the Oct 17 killing of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, who was shot dead in east Al Quds. Israel said the suspects had fled to the nearby Ramallah area.

Though the globe-trotting Arafat has not travelled outside Ramallah in recent weeks, international delegations have been travelling to meet him in the town, which is just a few miles north of Al Quds.—APP/AP