An uneasy peace marked Christmas day in Israel. The borders were quiet but the armies of Israel, Syria and Egypt were on a high state of alert, each side suspecting that the other might use the holiday to launch a surprise attack. Yesterday was the Moslem feast of Id-el-Adha, the “Feast of Sacrifice” and Israeli sources noted that Arab armies were always put on the alert on Moslem holidays. Arab sources said, however, that the alert was called out of fear that Israel would retaliate for the 1973 Yom Kippur attack by Syria and Egypt.
Jerusalem’s old walled city and the town of Bethlehem, the sites of Christiandom’s holiest shrines, were bristling with guns as Israeli soldiers and police patrolled the streets and stood guard on rooftops against possible terrorist attacks. In Bethlehem, Mayor Elias Freij blamed the security precaution for the disappointing turn out of tourists. Hotels, restaurants and gift shops were empty for the most part and the usual holiday crowds were missing from the streets bedecked with Christmas decorations.
Sunday’s terrorist grenade attack on a tourist bus on the outskirts of Jerusalem, in which a teen-aged American girl was severely wounded, had a chilling effect on the tourists and pilgrims who come to Israel at this time of year. Although the Ministry of Tourism reported 15,000 tourists in Jerusalem and environs, matching the record year of 1972, many of them apparently are cutting their visits short.
STOP BEATING WAR DRUMS
About 1200 tourists, mostly British and German high school students, arrived at Haifa by ship last night. But instead of spending four days in Israel, they are scheduled to leave tonight, foregoing a tour of Jerusalem. A spokesman for the group said the terrorist attack on the tourist bus caused them to change their plans. Tourism Minister Moshe Kol urged an end to talk of war in the Middle East. He said it caused depression at home, deterred immigration and hurt the tourist trade.
Mayor Freij similarly denounced “declarations of war by leaders in the Middle East.” He called on them to “stop beating the drums of war and start playing the tunes of peace.” He complained that security precautions in Bethlehem were excessive. An Israeli military source agreed that “this is a Christmas under bayonets.” But, he added, “We must take precautions to protect those visitors who put their safety in our hands.”
The Christmas holiday brought a flood of appeals from Christian clergymen for the release of Greek Catholic Archbishop Hillarion Capucci who is serving a 12-year sentence for smuggling weapons to terrorists in Israel. But the authorities are apparently determined that the pro-terrorist cleric serve the full sentence imposed by the court. Terrorists news agencies in Beirut claimed that Israel has offered to free Capucci in exchange for free exit for Syrian Jews. There was no Israeli reaction to the report.
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