Israeli Troops Occupied the Old Section of Bethlehem

AFP reported that Israeli troops on the 2nd intensified the attacks on the west bank region of Jordan River entirely occupying the old section of Bethlehem, the Palestinian town where Jesus was born.

Israeli troops attacked the Palestinian security headquarters in Ramallah, West Bank, with tanks and rockets, and they continued searching houses in the occupied cities like Ramallah, Tulkarem and Qalqiliya.

Foreign Ministers from 57 countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) held a meeting in Malaysia, and unanimously passed the resolution that urges the Security Council of UN to protect Palestinian civilians and control Israel.

Washington Times on the 2nd reported that America would send troops to the Middle East as peacekeepers, if peace were ever achieved between the warring factions. U.S. Senator Arlen Spector, who had talks with several Middle East leaders including Yasser Arafat in recent days, was interviewed on a CBS program on the 1st, and said that Mid-east envoy Anthony Zinni told him that “there is a plan to have a very limited number of U.S. troops deployed as peacekeepers, if the situation of Mid-east were ever stabilized”.

Meanwhile, a high official of the State Department on the 1st said, “the family of personnel in U.S. consul in Jerusalem may be drawn off due to the successive bombing suicide terrors”. But the final decision is under consideration.

Jong-Dae Ha orionha@donga.com¡¤