Terrorists to descend on Jesus' birthplace

TEL AVIV – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization has decided to hold in the West Bank city of Bethlehem its first congress in 20 years.

Well-known terrorists and anti-Israel extremists are slated to descend upon the important Christian city, where, among other things, the Fatah party is set to vote on a clause that would affirm "resistance" against Israel, WND has learned.

The event will mark Fatah's sixth General Congress. At the meeting, hundreds of voting Fatah members will discuss the future of their party and pass official resolutions outlining Fatah's major objectives.

Abbas secured special permission from Israel to allow Fatah members to travel to Bethlehem from other West Bank towns and the Gaza Strip as well as from Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

According to a list obtained by WND, the Fatah delegates slated to attend the Bethlehem event include such notable jihad supporters as:

Kamal Ranam, the chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist group in Ramallah. Ranam is accused personally of carrying out recent shootings, attacks against Israeli forces operating in the Ramallah and a shooting attack in northern Samaria in December 2000 that killed the leader of the ultra-nationalist Kahane Chai organization, Benyamin Kahane. Ranam last year was granted amnesty by then–Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as part of a gesture to bolster Abbas.
Jamal Abu Al-Rub, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades from the Samarian village of Qabatya, just outside Jenin. Al-Rub is commonly known on the Palestinian street by his nickname, Hitler, for his routine public executions of Palestinians his group has suspected of collaborating with Israel. Al-Rub is accused by the Jewish state of planning several terror attacks.
Zacharia Zubeida, a former Al Aqsa Brigades terrorist leader from Jenin who was also pardoned by Olmert in 2007. Zubeida is accused of multiple terrorist attacks and for a time was one of Israel's most wanted terrorists.
Abu Mahar Ranam, a Fatah central committee member who openly opposes peace talks with Israel.
Sultan Abu al-Ainiin, Fatah's main representative in Lebanon. He is known for his excellent relations with the Hezbollah terrorist group.

Qadura Fares, a PA minister and member of the Fatah Legislative Council, explained to WND in a phone interview yesterday the goals of the Fatah congress:

"We have to check our political ideology. Many things happened in last 20 years since our last congress. We must renew and evaluate our internal laws, the structure of our movement and our
messages for Palestinian unity. Lastly, we must elect a new leadership for Fatah institutions."

The new Congress also is set to vote on a resolution that would affirm the "armed struggle" and "resistance" against Israel as official Fatah doctrine, according to Fatah sources speaking to WND.

The Congress was last held in 1989 in Tunisia, prior to any Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. At the time, the Congress, led by late Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, officially resolved continuing "to intensify and escalate armed action and all forms of armed struggle to liquidate the Zionist occupation from our occupied Palestinian land and guarantee our people's rights to freedom and independence."

Israel had hoped under Abbas and amid intense negotiations that the Sixth Congress would moderate the party's objectives.

But senior Farah sources speaking to WND said a list of Fatah resolutions to be voted upon includes text affirming as one of Fatah's main objectives the "resistance" and "armed struggle" against the Jewish state.

The sources said Abbas and other senior Fatah officials opposed the inclusion of "resistance" in any resolution to be called for a vote but said that the majority of Fatah members insisted it be incorporated.

The sources said it was "very likely" the "resistance" clause could be accepted during the congressional meeting by the majority of general Fatah voters, who tend to publicly express more radical views than Abbas.

Fatah's Fares told WND that Bethlehem was selected because of the city's hotel space and because it boasts a meeting hall large enough to accommodate the Fatah congress.

The choice of Bethlehem, however, may be less than settling to the town's dwindling Christian population which at times has accuses Fatah of intimidation and persecution. Bethlehem is the site of the Church of the Nativity, which is built over a cave that is the believed birthplace of Jesus.

Bethlehem's Christian leaders, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, said they face an atmosphere of regular hostility and intimidation by Muslims. They said Palestinian armed groups stir tension by holding militant demonstrations and marches in the streets. They spokes of instances in which Christian shopkeepers' stores were recently ransacked and Christian homes attacked.

In April, WND reported a Molotov cocktail and gunshots targeted the car of Bethlehem's Christian mayor as local leaders there quietly fingered Islamists for attempting to intimidate Christians in response to Passover festivities.

Christian leaders said one of the most significant problems facing Christians in Bethlehem is the rampant confiscation of land by Muslim gangs.

"There are many cases where Christians have their land stolen by the [Muslim] mafia," Samir Qumsiyeh, a Bethlehem Christian leader and owner of the Beit Sahour-based private Al-Mahd (Nativity) TV station, told WND.

"It is a regular phenomenon in Bethlehem," Qumsiyeh said. "They go to a poor Christian person with a forged power of attorney document, then they say we have papers proving you're living on our land. If you confront them, many times the Christian is beaten. You can't do anything about it. The Christian loses and he runs away."

One Christian Bethlehem resident told WND her friend fled Bethlehem after being accused by Muslims of selling property to Jews, a crime punishable by death in some Palestinian cities.

A February 2007 Jerusalem Post article cited the case of Faud and Georgette Lama, Christian residents of Bethlehem who said their land was stolen by local Muslims and when they tried to do something about it, Faud was beaten by gunmen.

Bethlehem Christian leaders noted they cannot complain to local authorities since the city's security forces are controlled by the PA.

"What authorities?" asked one Christian leader, rhetorically. "You mean the security forces controlled by the Palestinian government, which is allowing this to happen?"

Qumsiyeh commented, "The gangs hide behind the security forces, and one cannot petition the court system. That takes years and many times a verdict isn't even reached."

Qumsiyeh himself has been targeted by local militias. Earlier this year, after speaking out publicly against anti-Christian violence, Qumsiyeh says his house was attacked with Molotov cocktails.

"It was an absolute miracle I wasn't killed," he said. "Also my wife was outside at the time. My home has a big gas line that could have exploded."

Aiman Abu Eita, Fatah's representative in Bethlehem claimed to WND that Christians were making up stories about persecution:

"Most of those Christians who left Bethlehem gave the impression of persecution just as an excuse to justify why they left Bethlehem," he said during an in-person interview.

Eita claimed a security "wall" that Israel constructed in 2002, which he said "circles the city," strangled Bethlehem's economy and prompted the mass fleeing of Christians.

But Israel did not build a wall that encircles Bethlehem. It built a fence only where the Bethlehem area interfaces with Jerusalem. A tiny segment of the barrier facing a major Israeli roadway is a concrete wall, which Israel says is meant to prevent gunmen from shooting at Israeli motorists. The barrier was built after repeated terror attacks launched from Bethlehem.

The vast majority of Bethlehem's Christian emigration occurred between 1995 and 2001, before Israel's barrier was constructed.

Bethlehem's population was more than 80 percent Christian when Israel was founded in 1948, but the Christians have declined to about 23 percent with a large majority of Muslims. The 23 percent Christian statistic is considered generous, since it includes the satellite towns of Beit Sahour and Beit Jala. Some estimates place Bethlehem's actual Christian population as low as 12 percent, with hundreds of Christians emigrating per year.

Israel controlled Bethlehem until 1995, when it signed the territory over to the PA as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords. Reports of Christian intimidation by Muslims immediately began to surface after the PA gained control.

Arafat also converted a Greek Orthodox monastery next to the Church of Nativity into his official Bethlehem residence.

Qumsiyeh told WND if current trends continue, there may be no Christians left in Bethlehem in 15 years. He said he appealed to U.S. Christian leaders to help initiate housing projects and find ways to fortify and strengthen Bethlehem's Christian population, but that little assistance was offered.

"The way things are, soon there will not be a single Christian living in the land of Jesus," he said.

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