PARIS, Dec 17: France has again very firmly condemned Israel for its decision not to allow Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to go to Bethlehem, for the second year in a row, to attend Christmas Mass at the Basilica of the Nativity.

According to the French Foreign Ministry’s principal spokesman Francois Rivasseau: “The decision by the Israeli authorities to forbid the President of the Palestinian Authority to make his way to Bethlehem for the second consecutive year, is in no way justifiable and it is a decision that we deplore.”

He added: “We call on the Israeli authorities to lift the obstacles that hinder the liberty of movement of the President of the Palestinian Authority as well as that of the representatives of the Palestinian people.”