Israel announces closure of West Bank, Gaza following suicide bombing

Published: 2005-12-06

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Israel announced it would impose a general closure on the West Bank and Gaza following a suicide bombing in the coastal city of Netanya, Israel. However, noting the approaching Christmas season, a time when Christians outside Jerusalem generally come to pray in the city's churches, the Israeli Defense Forces said it would allow 500 Christians to enter Jerusalem daily for the purpose of worshipping in the local churches. Normally Israel relaxes permit procedures for entry into Jerusalem during holidays like Christmas and Easter, allowing easier movement for Palestinian Christians between their West Bank homes and the holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, West Bank, and for Israeli Christians into the holy places in Bethlehem. At least five Israelis were killed and more than 40 were wounded Dec. 5 in the Netanya attack near a shopping mall. It was the first bombing to take place in Israel since the Oct. 26 attack in a market in the city of Hadera.

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