Heroes' welcome for Palestinian militants in Gaza
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Flag-waving crowds greeted 26 Palestinian militants as heroes when they arrived in the Gaza Strip Friday after 38 days holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity in a standoff with the Israeli army.
Under a deal reached during the night, the army took the 26 men by bus from Bethlehem in the West Bank to the Erez Crossing between Israel and Gaza and let them walk free. Thirteen other militants were flown to Cyprus to start exile abroad.
Some of the fighters were given M16 assault rifles which they fired in the air. Others flashed V-for-Victory signs to cheering crowds who accompanied them through the streets of Gaza to the smart Cliff Hotel on the seafront where they will stay.
"Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)! Death to Israel!" chanted the crowd.
"We are receiving them with honor. They are freedom fighters and they will be placed in the best hotels of Gaza City," said Colonel Salim Darduna, the chief military liaison officer for the northern Gaza Strip.
"There will be no monitors, there will be no jailers, they will be free in their homeland, whether Gaza or the West Bank."
The overnight agreement ended one of the most difficult and emotive episodes of a military offensive launched by Israel in the West Bank on March 29 after a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings, but involved each side giving some ground.
Some Palestinian groups have said the militants should not have been forced into exile from the West Bank, but the men who were released said they had approved the deal.
"It was our personal decision," said Najeh Abeyat, a member of the Islamic militant Hamas group.
But he added: "We appeal to President Yasser Arafat to take us back home soon."
FAMILIES LEFT BEHIND
The gunmen were among 200 people who took refuge in the church as troops entered Bethlehem on April 2 and searched for militants as part of a broad military offensive across the West Bank which followed a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings.
Israel wanted to arrest the militants and try them, but later agreed to the deal under which some went to Gaza and some into exile abroad.
Israel considers the 26 militants less serious offenders than 13 others who were in the church and were on Israel's most-wanted list. The 13 were flown to Cyprus, from where they will be transferred to other countries.
The Gaza Strip is about 28 miles from the West Bank at their nearest points. But for the men who have no prospects of returning home to Bethlehem, it constitutes exile.
"We do not feel strangers. At the same time we feel pain to leave behind our families and our beloved friends in Bethlehem and in the West Bank," said Mazen Hussein, 28.
"After the whole world let us down, including the Arabs, I think whatever the solution was, it was the best that could have been done."
Asked about the conditions in the church, Hussein said: "We ate...grass. The whole world was unable to help and even to offer us one meal to survive."
05/10/02 09:45 ET |
