Israel maintains Bethlehem stranglehold

Israeli forces were still surrounding Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and Yasser Arafat’s office in Ramallah today despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon saying the West Bank military assault was virtually over.

Israeli troops in armoured cars and tanks withdrew from the city of Nablus and most of Ramallah yesterday, marking a scaling back of the operation, which began on March 29 after a series of deadly Palestinian suicide bombings.