Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said yesterday that he hopes to visit Jesus' traditional birthplace at Christmas, but Israel said the Palestinian leader will instead spend his third yuletide in his battered West Bank headquarters.

　　Arafat met yesterday with a Christian delegation at his sandbagged headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Asked whether he plans to take part in the Bethlehem Christmas festivities, Arafat said: "I hope so. I haven't missed it, except since being besieged in this building."

　　The Palestinian Authority has officially requested that Arafat, a Muslim, be allowed to attend Christmas services in Bethlehem, said an Israeli official.

　　Since 2001, Israel has banned Arafat from attending services at the Church of the Nativity, built over a grotto where it is believed Jesus was born. Israel has only let Arafat leave his Ramallah headquarters once in the past two years to visit the West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus.

　　Israel's policy is that "Arafat stays where he is," an Israeli official said. "He's free to go, but it's not guaranteed that he'll be able to return."

　　Meantime, the Israeli Foreign Minister said Israel will coordinate any unilateral moves in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with the United States.

　　Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom met on Monday in Washington with Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Israel Radio said the US officials urged Israel to refrain from unilateral moves.

　　Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to announce in a major policy speech later this week that he will take unilateral steps if there is no progress on the US-led "road map" peace plan within six months, Israeli media reported yesterday.

　　Sharon has talked of unilateral moves in recent weeks if peace efforts fail. Those moves would include the completion of a West Bank separation barrier that swallows up large chunks of the land the Palestinians seek for their state, as well as the dismantling of some Jewish settlements, said Israeli reports, citing legislators whom Sharon briefed on his plans in recent days.

　　Sharon mentioned two Gaza settlements - Netzarim and Morag - as already being marked for evacuation, the Haaretz daily reported. Some 7,000 Israeli settlers live in Gaza, which is home to 1.3 million Palestinians.

　　Sharon will stop short of annexing parts of the West Bank, to avoid further angering the United States.