Events to mark Jerusalem's designation as the 2009 "capital of Arab culture" were held in the West Bank on Saturday after Israel banned such activity in the city itself. The streets of the West Bank town of Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, were bedecked with the flags of Arab countries for the cultural festival which was to be launched by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
The Palestinian Authority had organised cultural activites in annexed, mostly Arab east Jerusalem to celebrate the city's proclamation as this year's capital of Arab culture. But Israeli police vowed to "prevent any Palestinian attempt to hold official activities" in Jerusalem, and on Saturday police reinforcements were posted throughout the eastern part of the city.
According to AFP, the authorities also set up barricades along routes to Al-Aqsa mosque compound and prevented young men from entering the area. Israeli police were also confiscating flags and banners associated with the event, and at one point they broke up a small protest of a few dozen people, AFP said.
