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Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Amvrosios, center, arrives in an Israeli APC at the Bethlehem checkpoint on the southern edge of Jerusalem, after leaving the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, together with an unidentified Israeli army officer, left, and an unidentified Greek Orthodox priest, right on Saturday. (AP)
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| By Ellis Shuman April 7, 2002 |
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Some two hundred armed gunmen are continuing to hold nearly 100 priests and Palestinian civilians as hostages in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity. The Israeli army says the gunmen included many "wanted" terrorists, but Palestinian sources denied that hostages were being held. Four Franciscan priests who managed to slip out of the church on Friday confirmed that they were being held against their will.
"Four priests were taken out by the army, without the knowledge of the terrorists, from the Church of the Nativity and were taken to Jerusalem," IDF spokesman Olivier Rafowicz said.
Rev. Giacomom Bini, minister-general of the Franciscans, described the situation in the church and compound as grave. "We have 40 brothers and more than 200 armed Palestinians. The brothers shared their food, but it is running out and we have appealed to be permitted to leave the church and get supplies," he said.
Priests within the compound told Reuters late last week that they feared for their safety. Johannes Simon, a German monk, said the Palestinians had moved from inside the church to a convent area. "These armed people have broken into our convent, and we are in an extremely dangerous situation," he said.
Palestinians said that most of the armed men inside the church were members of the Palestinian security forces who had taken refuge their from Israeli troops with no intentions of holding hostages, Ha'aretz reported.
Negotiations between the IDF, which has refrained from firing at the gunmen in the church compound, and Palestinian Authority officials remained at a near standstill on Sunday. In the course of these negotiations, the IDF repeatedly demanded the surrender of the armed suspects and offered to facilitate the immediate evacuation of any wounded persons located in the church, the army said. The Palestinians rejected the offer, and prevented civilians from leaving. There are an estimated 10-12 wounded people inside the church.
"They were offered medical assistance, medicines, doctors and food, but they refused," said Col. Marcel Aviv, the IDF officer in charge of negotiations. "We have the patience, the tools, and the necessary equipment to bring a halt to the incident. Our aim is to secure release of all those inside the church without the use of weapons and without harming a holy site," he said.
Aviv said Palestinian officials inside the church include Bethlehem Governor Muhammad al-Madani, Abdullah Daoud, head of the city's intelligence, and Anthony Salman, chairman of the rescue organization.
Aviv said the clergy inside the church, who are all from the Bethlehem area, were not being threatened by the gunmen but were just being prevented from leaving.
Father David Jaeger, spokesman for the Franciscan custodians of Roman Catholic sites in the Holy Land, charged that the Israeli army was trying to legitimize an "imminent" attack on the Church of Nativity by declaring the friars inside hostages. "It is impossible not to fear that the use of this term is meant in an effort to legitimize a perhaps imminent military assault," he said, in a statement issued from Rome.
According to media reports, Roman Catholic officials have put forward a proposal to end the standoff at the Church of the Nativity. The plan reportedly calls for the armed Palestinians to lay down their arms and leave the church, and for Israel to lift its siege on the holy site.
Spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the Holy See hoped that in Bethlehem and in all of the territories "both sides will accept principles that already have been put forward by the Holy See through diplomatic channels, which include recent U.N. resolutions, including a withdrawal from occupied territories."
But an official Vatican statement, however, said there was no "plan of the Holy See" to end the stalemate in Bethlehem.
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