Israel Ends Its Blockade of Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Pushing aside the red-and-white barriers that had blocked traffic for nearly a month, Israel lifted its much-resented blockade of Bethlehem on Wednesday.

The move followed days of violent Palestinian street protests and international criticism--including from the Vatican, which complained that Christian pilgrims were kept from visiting the site celebrated as the birthplace of Jesus.

David Bar-Illan, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the closure imposed after suicide bombings July 30 in a Jerusalem market was lifted for security reasons. He gave no further details on why security officials reversed their position.

“Something has changed that made them feel it was safe now to lift the internal closure,” he said.

The gesture was expected to help improve relations between Israel and President Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority.

But Arafat spokesman Nabil abu Rudaineh said it “must be followed by many other steps,” including the lifting of a general closure that keeps tens of thousands of Palestinian workers out of Israel and the full resumption of tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority.

In Washington, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright welcomed the Israeli move.

“We have understood Israel’s need to deal with security threats in the past, but we’ve also been concerned about the effect of closures like this on the daily lives of the Palestinian people,” said Albright’s spokesman, James P. Rubin.

Israel blamed the militant Islamic group Hamas for the market bombings, which killed 16 people. Israel reportedly maintained its blockade of Bethlehem for nearly a month because it suspected two masterminds of the bombings were hiding in the city.

Bar-Illan said Israel was “seeing very little by way of cooperation” from the Palestinians on security. A resumption of security cooperation between the two sides was supposed to be a prerequisite for Albright’s expected visit in September and a new U.S. peace initiative.