Posted on 04/05/2002 12:10:43 PM PST by kattracks
An initial breakthrough was reached in negotiations that took place Friday between IDF troops and Palestinians holed up in the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Four of the sixty priests that had been held by those fortified in the church were released.
Franciscan officials in Rome offered to mediate in the standoff between IDF troops and the armed Palestinians, who have been holed up since Tuesday inside the Bethlehem basilica built on the traditional site of Christ's birth.
The Israeli troops are under orders not to invade with force and have been calling on the some 250 gunmen inside to surrender, but the men continued to resist Friday.
The situation at the complex, which includes the Church of the Nativity, was "very grave," the minister-general of the Franciscans, the Reverend Giacomo Bini, told reporters. "We have 40 brothers and over 200 armed Palestinians. The brothers have shared their food but it is now running out, and we appeal to be allowed to leave the church to go and get supplies."
Bini said the Franciscans' top representative in the Holy Land, the Reverend Giovanni Battistelli, is willing, together with other local religious leaders, to "mediate talks between the two groups - the Israeli soldiers besieging the exterior of the basilica of the Nativity and the over 200 Palestinians who have taken shelter in the monastery."
He also said that he had written to U.S. President George Bush "to ask him to ask Sharon to stop and to start a dialogue."
"We need people to lay down their arms but those in the church will not lay down their arms if they see those outside still have guns," Bini said.
Asked if the Israelis had destroyed a door to the courtyard, as gunmen and others inside the church had said, Bini replied: "They did destroy the door the same way the Palestinians destroyed a door trying to get in."
The IDF has denied the claim, saying soldiers did not make a move on the shrine.
Bini said there had been shots fired into the courtyard but no Israelis had entered the complex.
The standoff began Tuesday when the fighters, who had been battling advancing IDF troops, dashed to the church for refuge.
Besides the 40 Franciscan brothers, in the basilica complex there are four nuns and some 30 Orthodox and Armenian monks.
"Our brothers are tired psychologically and physically," Bini said, stressing, however that the Franciscans are not abandoning the place.
Before the violence, Bethlehem was a popular pilgrimage town. One of the most famous pilgrims was Pope John Paul II, who celebrated Mass in Manger Square, just outside the basilica, two years ago. He called Bethlehem "the heart of my pilgrimage."
Five Italian journalists, who were inside the complex when the Palestinians poured inside, were evacuated Wednesday in a convoy of armored cars with diplomatic plates.
The terrorists only care about keeping the Christian clerics hostage - the villagers would have been useless for that purpose.
In any case all the news stories are inexact and maddening! Is it 40 priests or is it 40 brothers?
Total 300 +/-
They may have been pilgrims, not residents.
I wouldn't be surprised if they murdered some of the hostages and blamed it on Israel. There's no way that the Israelis would be so stupid as to fire on the building, or attempt a forcible entry - the whole world is watching, and they have enough PR problems (why, I don't know, but they do).
Can someone please explain to me why the WHOLE WORLD is in denial? This is like some big bad dream.
They are. The western lefties are in a tizzy since 9/11, their anti-American constructs challenged, in Europe the realization of future civil wars forced into their smug minds. Along with their leftist agendists hiding under the cover of "reporter", they've found something familiar to lash out about and protest their moral superiority by comparison. All reporting on the issue should basically be reclassified to the opinion pages.
They fear the death of multiculturalism, anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism. Russia no longer helps them with propaganda and money. What to do? Blame the Jews.
The Arab governments are relatively sane.
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