Officials: Deal made to end seige of Bethlehem church

Associated Press

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Israel and the Palestinians have agreed on a deal to end the monthlong standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestinian officials said early Monday.

Of the more than 100 people still in the church, six to eight senior Palestinian militants would be deported to Italy, about 30 others would be escorted to the Gaza Strip and the rest would be freed, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

Israeli military officials would not confirm the report. They said talks were still going on.

The Palestinian officials said the accord was worked out by the Vatican and the European Union. On Wednesday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat went free from his Ramallah office after 34 days of captivity, after the two sides accepted a similar compromise promoted by President Bush.

More than 200 Palestinians, including about 30 gunmen, fled into the church April 2, ahead of invading Israeli forces, at the height of Israel’s large-scale incursion into the West Bank. Israeli forces surrounded the church, which marks the traditional birthplace of Jesus and is one of Christianity’s holiest sites, demanding that the gunmen surrender.

Later, Israel altered its demand to give the gunmen the choice between surrender and exile, and the Palestinians proposed that all of them be transported to Palestinian-controlled Gaza. Negotiations deadlocked over the conflicting positions for several days, while groups of people began emerging from the church, describing conditions of shortages of food and other hardships.

Early Thursday, a fire broke out in the courtyard near the church, and later that day, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian they said was armed, underlining the volatility of the standoff.