26 Palestinians leave Church of the Nativity

Associated Press

BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Twenty-six Palestinian civilians and police emerged one by one Tuesday from the Church of the Nativity, the largest group to leave one of Christianity’s holiest shrines since the monthlong standoff began between Israel’s army and a group of armed militants inside.

But negotiations on ending the standoff sputtered, leaving an estimated 200 other people inside the church, most of them Palestinian gunmen.

Israel, meanwhile, defied the United Nations and blocked an inquiry into fighting at the Jenin refugee camp where Palestinians claim Israeli soldiers conducted a massacre of civilians in eight days of house-to-house fighting.

U.N. diplomats said Secretary-General Kofi Annan was leaning toward disbanding the mission. Annan said he had done everything possible to meet Israeli demands to modify the mission.

In the West Bank town of Jericho, U.S. and British security experts toured the local prison Tuesday in another step in a U.S.-backed deal designed to release Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from months of Israeli confinement.

Six Palestinians who are wanted by Israel and are holed up in Arafat’s besieged headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah would be moved to the Jericho prison under U.S. and British supervision, paving the way for Arafat to leave his compound. Palestinian officials said the prisoner transfer could take place within 24 hours, but Israel said there was no agreed upon timetable.

U.S. and British security experts met with Palestinian officials in Ramallah late Tuesday to finalize the technical details of the prisoner transfer.

Yarden Vatikay, an adviser to Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, said Israel would not withdraw tanks from Arafat’s compound until he received word from U.S. officials that the prisoners were in Jericho.

In Bethlehem, the Palestinians left the Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where Christians believe Jesus was born, through a low-slung opening known as the Door of Humility. The group was made up of civilians and Palestinian police, none wanted by Israel. One was carried on a stretcher.

The Israeli military later released 24 Palestinians at Beit Jalla hospital, next to Bethlehem, witnesses said. A senior Palestinian officer was released earlier, they said. An army statement said one Palestinian was taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment.

The Rev. Ibrahim Faltas, a Franciscan priest, had escorted the men, most in their teens and 20s, into Manger Square. With some soldiers on the square crouching and pointing their weapons at the Palestinians, the men held open their jackets to show they were not armed. The Palestinians moved toward an armored bus, where another soldier checked their names off a list of those believed to have been in the church and offered them oranges.