Israel will allow Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to attend midnight Christmas mass in Bethlehem only if he arrests the assassins of former Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze'evi by sundown Monday evening.

Ra'anan Gissin, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Arafat "will not be allowed freedom of movement" unless he arrested the killers, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the radical PLO faction's leaders, Ahmed Saadat and Jihad Ghoulmi, who reportedly planned the assassination.

"Both of them (Saadat and Ghoulmi), and the two killers

"No one will prevent me from traveling to Bethlehem" - PA Chairman Yasser Arafat

(of Ze'evi) are in Ramallah, and Arafat knows exactly where they are. Yet he has not arrested them," Gissin said.

Gissin said that Saadat and Ghoulmi were behind a suicide bombing attack planned yesterday in Haifa as well. Two Palestinians were captured by security forces in the city overnight and explosives were found in their hotel room.

The Israeli ultimatum to Arafat came amidst a wave of growing international pressure on Israel to allow Arafat to attend the Bethlehem mass. Arafat, who has been effectively grounded in Ramallah since Israel destroyed his helicopters and advanced troops to within a few hundred meters from his office on December 4, has regularly attended the Christmas ceremonies ever since Bethlehem was turned over to Palestinian control shortly before Christmas in 1995.

Palestinian officials said that diplomatic efforts were under way, including efforts by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, to get Israel to lift its ban in order to avoid a possible confrontation.

Belgian Ambassador to Israel Wilfried Geens called on Israel to allow Arafat to go to Bethlehem as an act of "solidarity with the Christian world." Speaking for the EU, Geens said, "We asked Israel to allow Arafat to attend the mass, because he is the only Islamic leader to attend a Christian event, and because it would be a shame to ruin Israel's positive position recently attained in world opinion."

Arafat considers international incident at roadblock
According to media reports, Arafat considered driving to the IDF's Kalandiya roadblock just south of Ramallah in the accompaniment of Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah and international television crews. IDF forces barred all cars from leaving Ramallah, and senior Arabic-speaking officers were positioned along with additional reinforcements at each of the checkpoints in the area.

Arafat, who remained determined to attend the Christmas mass, hoped that the international coverage of Israel's ban would win him points in world opinion, ynet reported. Palestinian sources said they wouldn't be sorry if an international incident took place with Israeli soldiers forcibly preventing the Chairman's passage, something the PA would present as a confrontation with a religious background.

"No one will prevent me from traveling to Bethlehem," Arafat said Sunday morning. He pledged that he would take part in Christmas mass in Bethlehem "with or without Israeli approval," even if that meant that he had to walk to the city.

Israeli diplomatic sources dismissed the international criticism of the ban. "We will not give in to the head of an entity that supports terror, while master terrorists roam free at his side," said officials in the Prime Minister's Office. The officials stressed that Israel respected freedom of religion, but that Arafat himself was Muslim.

Cabinet decides Arafat will not enjoy Christmas
Israel's security cabinet decided Saturday night "not to allow Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to leave for Bethlehem." In an official statement, the cabinet explained its "decision was taken against the background of the fact that Chairman Arafat is neither acting to disband the Palestinian terrorist organizations, nor foil acts of terrorism against Israel from PA territory, nor detain and punish terrorists, including the late Minister Rechavam Ze'evi's assassins, as well as those who dispatched them."

The cabinet decision was reached after a telephone survey of ministers. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer opposed the decision, but sources in his office denied media reports that he had referred to the decision as "awful and idiotic." Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres told Army Radio, "I don't want our prevention of Arafat visiting Bethlehem to become the talk of Christmas around the Christian world...Let him go, pray, do what he wants to do."

"Arafat has to understand there is no chance that he will leave Ramallah," said minister without portfolio Danny Naveh. "Israel has to come to the world and say 'this terrorist who has harmed Christianity will not come and enjoy Christmas this year.'"

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo condemned the ban on Arafat's visit as "an example of the arrogance of occupation. It's a humiliation for the entire Palestinian people, Christians and Muslims,'' he told Reuters. "Sharon wants blood and tears instead of Christmas carols."

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