Yasser Arafat has called Israel's refusal to allow him to travel to Bethlehem a "crime". The Palestinian leader was speaking during a televised speech from the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he has been under virtual house arrest for the past three weeks.
President Arafat said that his "heart is heavy with sorrow", and that it was criminal of Israel to prevent a "believer in God and peace" from going to Bethlehem for Monday night's Midnight Mass celebrating Jesus's birth.
A Jewish settler was been critically wounded after Palestinian gunmen opened fire on his car near the West Bank city of Nablus. One of the gunmen was killed in the attack.
An armed group linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction said that the attack was carried out in retaliation for Israel's decision to bar President Arafat from attending the mass in Bethlehem.
The Vatican has strongly criticised Israel's decision. It described the ban as arbitrarily imposed. Israel has said that it intends to enforce the ban.
The Israelis are insisting that President Arafat will not be allowed to travel to Bethlehem unless he orders the arrest of two men named as the killers of the Israeli tourism minister. Israeli officials have accused the Palestinian Authority of protecting the men responsible for killing the minister, Rehavam Zeevi, in October.
One of the Palestinian Authority ministers, Nabil Sha'aath, accused the Israelis of provoking a crisis. The United Nations, the European Union and the United States have been involved in efforts to encourage Israel to change its mind.
