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Last update - 16:22 01/09/2008
Cars allowed into Rachel's Tomb area for first time in years
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Rachel's Tomb, Israel 

Israeli security authorities opened the Rachel's Tomb compound to private car traffic Monday, in response to pressure from rightist MKs and groups, after years in which only bulletproof buses were allowed into the area surrounding the shrine, located on the outskirts of the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

However, despite widespread requests, for the time being, entering the compound on foot remains prohibited for the time being.

The arrangement is to be in effect on a trial basis for a month, at which time it may be extended.
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The decision was made jointly by the police and the Border Police,following a directive by Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, and after lobbying by a number of groups acting together to press for the new arrangement.

Among them were right-wing Nation Union-National Religious Party MK Uri Ariel and ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush, former rightist MK Hanan Porat, and local groups.

By tradition, the tomb is the burial site of the biblical matriarch Rachel, wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. The tomb has long been a place of pilgrimage for pregnant women, as well as for Jewish women unable to give birth.

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