Los Angeles Times
BETHLEHEM – This city rejoiced Friday as a five-week siege of the Church of the Nativity ended, Israeli tanks retreated and people emerged from their houses after weeks under strict curfew.
As they headed for Manger Square and the church’s half-size Door of Humility, however, their joy and relief was tempered by shock at seeing how the sacred Christian site had served for weeks as a weapon-strewn boarding house.
“I can’t believe this,” said Sandi Shakin in tears, as the 18-year-old worshiper surveyed the cigarette butts, spent shell casings and dirty dishes littering the church. “This is the house of God and the place where Jesus was born. What a dark moment.”
While parts of the fourth-century religious compound that forms the center of this community reeked of urine, old shoes and human sweat, structural damage was relatively modest.
“Given all the explosives around and all the firing, thank God it only happened to this extent,” said Archbishop Anistacios of the Greek Orthodox Church. “There are negatives, but we have to overcome it.”
A statue of the Virgin Mary in a courtyard abutting St. Catherine’s Chapel was hit in the neck and arm by gunfire. Several windows were broken. Mosaics high on the left side of the church appeared damaged. And part of an outer building overseen by the Franciscan order suffered extensive fire and smoke damage, following a firefight and grenade blast that erupted early in the standoff.
Bethlehem became the object of global attention in early April after more than 200 Palestinians, including heavily armed militia members, took refuge in the church to avoid advancing Israeli soldiers. The Israelis invaded Bethlehem and other West Bank cities in response to a Passover holiday suicide bombing.
Friday a deal was reached under which 13 of those considered most dangerous by Israel were exiled to Europe, with another 26 sent by bus to Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip.
The Israelis say the militants sent abroad had committed a number of serious crimes, including the murder last June of Israeli military officer Yehuda Edri, the murders in September and January, respectively, of Israeli citizens Sarit Amrani and Avi Boaz, training suicide bombers, selling arms and producing explosives.
U.S. officials Friday collected the weapons left in the church by Palestinians as part of the agreement. Israeli soldiers then searched the church for explosives, which they said unearthed 35 homemade grenades, five guns, 40 magazines and eight bulletproof vests.
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