Muted celebrations as Israel pulls back from Bethlehem

This was supposed to be Bethlehem's day of liberation, but nobody was buying it. The Israeli army withdrew from the city and handed control back to Palestinian police. It was billed as the end of 15 months of agony for the birthplace of Christ, 15 months that reduced a city whose narrow limestone streets once thronged with pilgrims and tourists to a ghost town echoing only to the sound of gunfire.

Last year, wrecks of cars lined the burning streets, and the Church of the Nativity was besieged by the Israeli army with Palestinian militants holed up inside. But there was little sign of celebration in Bethlehem yesterday and none of the people seemed to believe this withdrawal would change anything.

The moment of liberation came shortly after 4pm. Three Palestinian policemen ducked through the narrow doorway of the Church of the Nativity to change into uniform, then emerged sheepishly into the sunlight of Manger Square. The bells rang out, and after them the muezzin at the mosque recited the Koran in celebration, his voice echoing over the city. Then the police did a lap of victory round the square in a four-wheel-drive, their sirens blaring.

The officers quickly put on a show of force in the city, four policemen directing traffic at an intersection, others hurriedly setting up roadblocks. But they could not go back to police headquarters. That is a pile of rubble, demolished by the Israeli army last year.

Sitting on the steps of the town hall in Manger Square, the mayor, Hanna Nasser, looked despondent. Some one walked up to him and offered his congratulations. "Congratulations? For what?" the mayor said. "This is all a big bluff by the Israelis. They want to show the world they have made this big withdrawal, when the reality is the checkpoints are still here. What withdrawal? The soldiers weren't here," he pointed at the square. "The only change is the police are back in uniform."

The Israeli soldiers drew back from the streets months ago, and have only been coming in from time to time to arrest suspected militants. Under the withdrawal, the Israeli army has agreed to stop these raids.

From everyone in Bethlehem came the same message: nothing had changed because the city was still surrounded by Israeli checkpoints preventing Palestinians going in or out. On Tuesday, the Israeli army closed two more roads from Bethlehem to nearby villages.

Naila Shaheen said angrily: "Of course the tourists will not return when they see an Israeli checkpoint on the road to Bethlehem." Ms Shaheen, one of Bethlehem's fast-dwindling community of Palestinian Christians, runs a coffee shop near Manger Square. She used to sell cappuccinos and pastries to tourists. On an average day she made 600 shekels (£85). Now she sells Turkish coffee and mint tea to locals. A good day is 50 shekels.

The coffee shop reopened only three months ago. It had been closed for seven months because of almost constant curfews enforced by the Israeli army. The withdrawal should have brought hope to people such as Ms Shaheen. But they seemed despondent.

Israeli soldiers were still at Rachel's tomb, a Jewish pilgrimage site they guard under the Oslo peace accords. But in the area around it, all shops were shut. Israel is planning to build a wall down the centre of the street, separating Amjad Awwad's house on one side from his shop on the other. The area is to be annexed to Israel to safeguard Jewish access to the tomb, which will mean hundreds of Palestinians there will be forced to live behind concrete walls, cut off from Bethlehem on one side and Jerusalem on the other.

"My cousin died in Ramallah," Nasser Dhamseh said. "I was not allowed to go for the funeral." His daughter lives in a nearby village. He cannot visit her. The withdrawal will not change this. "We've had withdrawals before," said Mr Dhamseh, who lives in the Deheisheh refugee camp in the valley beneath the old city. "They came, they destroyed, they killed and they pulled back. Then they came back. We expect the same again."