Israel seizes control of Bethlehem

By Laura King

Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Widening its offensive, Israel seized control of Bethlehem and another West Bank town Tuesday in a day of wild fighting that left at least 13 Palestinians dead. Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, traditional birthplace of Jesus, and Israeli tanks and helicopters pounded the headquarters of a Palestinian security chief.

Amid what has become the fiercest Israeli offensive in 18 months of conflict, Palestinians angrily rejected an Israeli proposal to free Yasser Arafat from confinement in his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah – provided he goes into exile. The Palestinian leader spent a fifth straight day pinned down by Israeli troops and tanks, his compound now ringed by barbed wire.

Israeli troops pressed ahead with house-to-house searches for Palestinian militants and weapons as part of what Israel calls “Operation Protective Wall” – aimed at halting terror attacks targeting Israelis, including six suicide bombings in the past six days.

In a dramatic gesture meant to underscore hardships caused by the Israeli incursion, Palestinians buried 15 of their dead in a hospital parking lot in Ramallah because their families had been unable to claim the bodies, which were decomposing in a hospital morgue due to power cuts. Relatives wailed and gunfire from fighting echoed as the bodies were placed in common graves carved out by a bulldozer – one for 13 men, one for two women.

Ramallah residents, though, got a respite of a few hours from a curfew that has been in effect since Israeli tanks and troops moved in on Friday. People poured into the shops, lugging away canisters of cooking oil and plastic bags bulging with pita bread. Canned goods were popular, as many people have no electricity and perishable food has been rotting in refrigerators.

By nightfall, most of the about 400 Palestinians trapped in the compound of West Bank security chief Jibril Rajoub near Ramallah had surrendered to Israeli troops, in a deal brokered by U.S. and European officials. About eight men remained inside. The sprawling compound was battered by the Israeli onslaught, with gaping holes punched in rooftops and building facades by shellfire and rockets.

Holy places were not immune from violence that raged the length and breadth of the West Bank. Dozens of armed Palestinians were holed up inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which is built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born. About 20 of the gunmen were wounded and being tended to by nuns, according to witnesses trapped in the church compound.

The armed men, some of them Palestinian policemen, forced their way into the church after running battles with Israeli troops firing from helicopter gunships and from tank-mounted machine guns. At nightfall, the bodies of four gunmen lay sprawled just off Manger Square, where the church is located.

As the fighting intensified, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proposed publicly for the first time that diplomats fly Arafat into exile. Sharon noted such a move would require Cabinet approval, but the Palestinians rejected the offer out of hand.

The Palestinian leader “will not leave Palestine – this is the final return,” said Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian planning minister.

Throughout the conflict, much has been made of Sharon and Arafat’s bitter personal enmity, which many observers see as a driving force behind the fighting. “These two people … have lived this conflict for a very long time – too long if you ask me,” European Union security chief Javier Solana said.

Battles have been raging almost around the clock, and Tuesday was no exception. Tanks rolled into the West Bank towns of Tulkarem and Bethlehem before dawn, and the assault on the headquarters of Rajoub, in the West Bank village of Beitunia, also came in the pre-dawn hours.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the offensive would last three to four weeks, the first senior Israeli official to give a time frame. However, Sharon has said the campaign was open-ended.

In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Israel should end the campaign quickly, but suggested the United States would not insist on an immediate Israeli withdrawal. “I would guess it will take them (the Israelis) a couple of weeks” to conclude the mission, Powell said on NBC’s “Today” show. Powell expressed opposition to expelling Arafat. “Until he decides he’s going to leave the country, it seems we need to work with him where he is,” Powell said.

Mass roundups of Palestinian men ranging from their mid-teens to their mid-40s continued Tuesday – a tactic denounced by Palestinians as collective punishment, but defended by Israel as a legitimate means of hunting down wanted men. About 700 suspects have been rounded up since Friday in Ramallah, according to the army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ron Kitrey.

Palestinian civilians have mainly tried to stay out of harm’s way by huddling inside their homes, and the streets proved deadly dangerous again Tuesday. A 56-year-old Palestinian woman was fatally shot on her way home from Ramallah Hospital, apparently by an Israeli sniper, doctors said. She had gone to the hospital to have a plaster cast removed from her leg, they said.

Lately, each day of fighting has brought some first. The forces of Rajoub, who formerly had close links to U.S. intelligence, had not previously come under Israeli attack. And until now, the fighting had not spilled over into the Church of the Nativity, one of Christianity’s holiest shrines.

Israeli forces have entered Bethlehem several times during the past 18 months, but they are under orders not to harm holy places, and have kept their distance from the church. That, however, makes it an attractive sanctuary for Palestinian gunmen.

There was also a heavy exchange of fire outside the Santa Maria Convent in Bethlehem run by the Salesians, a Roman Catholic order. Near the convent, 64-year-old Samieh Abdeh and her 38-year-old son Khaled were wounded by Israeli fire at their home, Abdeh’s son Sami said. Israeli troops prevented ambulances from reaching the home, and the two bled to death, Sami Abdeh said.

In an appeal to President Bush, leaders of Christian denominations in the area asked to “stop immediately the inhuman tragedy that is taking place in this Holy Land in our Palestinian towns and villages.”

Also Tuesday, two Israelis died of wounds sustained in last week’s suicide bombing during a Passover banquet in an Israeli hotel. That brought the total number of victims to 24, making it the deadliest Palestinian attack in 18 months of fighting.