Conditions bleak inside besieged Church of the Nativity

By Ibrahim Hazboun

Associated Press

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Foreign pro-Palestinian activists who sneaked into the besieged Church of the Nativity described a startling scene Friday: gaunt men huddling around green soup made from boiled lemon leaves, others too weak to move lying in blankets.

Providing the first detailed account of conditions inside the church compound, the visitors said several buildings have been scarred by bullets and fires, though the basilica itself sustained only minor shooting damage to a 12th-century fresco.

The standoff at the reputed birthplace of Jesus entered its second month Friday, with Israeli armor surrounding about 150 Palestinians, including about 30 gunmen. There are also a few dozen clergy and nuns inside.

On Orthodox Good Friday, spirits were low. The 10 activists from the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Denmark and Sweden brought packets of rice, lentils, salt, sugar and bits of other food when they dashed through the dark, low passageway into the church on Thursday. A day later, there was enough for half a bowl of soup for everyone, said Jacquie Soohen, 27, a documentary filmmaker from Canada.

Soohen said the cold and damp kept people awake through the night. Some huddled around paint cans full of lit candles for warmth. She said there was just dirty well water to drink. Some of the older men, including some with heart trouble and diabetes, were without medication, she said.

Soohen, speaking by cellular phone, said she and others slept in Jesus’ underground birth grotto, the warmest place.

The filmmaker ran into the compound behind several other activists, her camera rolling. One of them, Kristen Schurr, 33, from New York City, said soldiers in Manger Square might have been distracted by a TV cameraman who was interviewing an Israeli officer. Soldiers caught 13 of the activists.

Soohen said that as she reached the church, she and the others stepped over the blood-soaked clothes of a Palestinian gunman who had been killed by Israeli troops a few hours earlier.

Despite the danger and harsh conditions, Soohen said the activists are determined to remain inside for the duration.

Negotiations have secured the release of some of the injured and sick civilians. But talks have not been able to break the confrontation.

Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz, an Israeli military spokesman, said soldiers have given food to the clergy inside the church.

However, Palestinian negotiator Salah Taameri claimed he was informed by an Israeli intelligence official Friday that no food would be allowed into the church.

Rafowicz said Palestinian civilians and clergy were being held hostage. Those inside and some who have left the church deny that they have been held against their will. Some have said they are afraid of being shot or arrested if they leave. The clergy say they want to stay to protect the church.

Rafowicz countered that those inside are afraid to acknowledge their captivity.

"When you have 200 Kalashnikov rifles and the doors are booby-trapped from inside, you cannot really express your own feelings," he said.

Soohen, the filmmaker, said that she asked Palestinian civilians and clergy inside if they were held against their will. "Absolutely nobody is being held hostage. That’s ridiculous," she said.

The filmmaker said there were no signs of booby traps on the doors and there were few guns on display. Some men armed with assault rifles guarded areas around the courtyard, she added.

On Friday, Soohen toured the church compound, looking at damage. Inside the basilica, a 12th-century fresco of a saint was damaged by bullets, she said. It’s not clear if the shots came from inside or outside the church.

In the Greek Orthodox section of the compound, a dormitory was riddled with bullets and windows were shot out in other bedrooms, she said. Two rooms were scorched by fire, one of them riddled with bullets. "It looks like Swiss cheese."

In the courtyard, she said a statue of the Virgin Mary has been hit by bullets on part of its face and torso. Parts of the courtyard wall have been gouged out and windows have been shot out in an upstairs prayer room, said added.

Soohen said priests told her that they have been ducking as they go from room to room, for fear of being hit by Israeli snipers. Rafowicz, the army spokesman, declined comment when asked about the soldiers’ rules for opening fire at the compound.

Schurr and some of the other activists spent their first night in the birth grotto below the basilica’s central altar. Oil and candle lamps hang in the small cave, which normally smells of rosemary incense. There’s a silver star on the stone floor, revered as the spot where Jesus was supposed to have been born.

A Palestinian gave Schurr a floor mat, blanket and pillow.

At 5 a.m., Greek Orthodox and Franciscan priests stood in Jesus’ birth cave and prayed and sang ancient hymns. Schurr called it serene moment in the besieged church.