Your seester???
Are you a Catholic Priest?
Speaking of which, have you seen this???
Bethlehem Standoff Talks Break Down
Thu May 9, 3:38 AM ET
By IBRAHIM HAZBOUN, Associated Press Writer
BETHLEHEM, West BanK (AP) - Talks on ending a five-week standoff at the Church of the Nativity broke down Thursday over new Palestinians demands to send European monitors into the shrine, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators said.
Earlier in the day, both sides had said a deal was in place to allow dozens of Palestinians to emerge from the church, leaving behind 13 suspected militants whom Israel wants deported.
Among those emerging from the church were to be about 80 civilians, and 26 Palestinians wanted by Israel who would be transported to the Gaza Strip (news - web sites). Three buses were parked in Manger Square early Thursday, presumably to drive those coming out of the church to their various destinations.
However, by midmorning the buses drove away empty.
An Israeli negotiator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Palestinians caused the delay when they made a last-minute demand that a European envoy enter the church to remain with the 13 until a host country has been found for them.
When Israel first announced the deal Tuesday, it said the 13 would be deported to Italy, but Rome balked at accepting them because it had not been consulted.
Ali Hosni, the Palestinian police chief in Bethlehem, confirmed that the dispute arose over the European monitors, but accused the Israelis of posing last-minute problems. "The Israeli army said it will not allow the European envoy to enter the church," Hosni told The Associated Press.
Hosni said there was also a dispute over the collection of the weapons in the church. The police chief said Israel had initially agreed that the 13, who would remain in the church, would be allowed to keep their assault rifles.
The Israelis said they would maintain a presence at the church until all the suspected Palestinian militants are out.
The siege began April 2 when more than 200 Palestinians fled into the church, which marks the birthplace of Jesus, ahead of invading Israeli forces. In the weeks that followed, several groups of civilians were allowed to leave.
Hopes for a breakthrough in the five-week standoff were raised early Thursday after a meeting by negotiators from both sides. Also attending the meeting were a lawyer, two Franciscan priests and two Greek Orthodox monks who emerged from the church.
Also, the Palestinian governor of Bethlehem, Mohammed Madani, left the church for the first time since the siege began — another hopeful sign. He was accompanied by two priests as he ducked through the low-slung main door of the 4th-century church.
One of the Palestinians inside the church, Abdulla Daoud, told The Associated Press by telephone early Thursday that negotiators said the 26 should be ready to leave the church at a moment's notice.
Under the proposed agreement revealed Wednesday, the transfer to Gaza would take place under U.S. aegis, diplomatic sources said.
A dispute still remained over the weapons inside the church. The Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) wants possession over all the weapons brought in by Palestinians but Israel is prepared to return only those weapons that belong to Palestinian policemen, the official said.
On Wednesday, Yaron Vatikay, a spokesman for the Israeli defense ministry, said Israel had agreed to exile 26 to Gaza but would not specify whether that meant they could go free there.
As far as 13 others who Israel considers most wanted, Vatikay said Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer was discussing their fate with Javier Solana of the European Union (news - web sites).
Israel Radio said Wednesday that Spain was being discussed as a possibility, but Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique said his country had not been asked and would have a difficult time holding the men since they had not been charged with a crime there.
Despite a Palestinian suicide attack near Tel Aviv on Tuesday night that killed 15 bystanders, both sides remained committed to finding a solution to the standoff, Joel Lion, spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, said Wednesday afternoon.
Daoud, said he and the other 12 had reluctantly agreed to exile in Italy and were annoyed by the delay.
"Me and my colleagues in the church are anxious to see an end to this," he said. "We welcome any kind of solution except one — to be handed over to the Israelis."
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) approved the deportation deal, Palestinians said, but the decision to send the militants into exile is an extremely sensitive one and many Palestinians oppose it.
A leader of Arafat's Fatah (news - web sites) movement in the West Bank, Hussein al-Sheik, said approving exile set a dangerous precedent. And the leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, criticized the deal.
"We are against deporting people and we are against this policy," he told The Associated Press. "We have the full right to stay on our land, but if people who are inside the church agreed to be deported, this is their own decision. It's not ours because we reject this policy."
Those remaining inside include 39 gunmen, as well as civilians, clerics, policemen and 10 foreign demonstrators who slipped past the Israelis into the church last week in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians.
According to a Palestinian list of names obtained by The Associated Press, those slated for exile include nine members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, as well as three Hamas members and Daoud, who had served as the Bethlehem intelligence chief.
Israel has said most on the list were involved in bombing and shooting attacks, including Ibrahim Moussa Abayat, accused of killing two Israelis and an American, Avi Boaz. |
