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Nativity Church deal remains elusive as no country agrees to accept Palestinian
exiles

By Anat Cygielman





IDF soldiers securing the area around Manger Square yesterday.
(Photo: AP)

A deal to end the standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was
thwarted at the last moment yesterday due to the failure to find a country
willing to accept militant Palestinians as exiles. Under an agreement between
Israel and the Palestinians, 13 militants on Israel's most wanted list were to
be deported abroad, while another 26 militants were to be sent to the Gaza
Strip and the remaining 80 Palestinians holed up in the church were to be
allowed to go home.

Yesterday morning a PA official entered the church complex for a final check on
the list of those to be exiled, and the final details to end the 35-day siege
were settled and approved by both sides with the time for the evacuation of the
church set at 2 P.M.

Israeli soldiers began to dismantle the huge crane they had used to peer at the
goings-on within the church complex. Metal detectors were set up at the
entrance of the church, ready for security checks on the Palestinians who were
to emerge. The Palestinians waited inside, eager to get out. The soldiers
waited on the other side, edgy and impatient to leave. Families of those holed
up inside waited for their loved ones. Bethlehem residents waited eagerly for
the curfew on their city to be lifted.

But then it emerged that Italy was not willing to accept them. Meanwhile, Egypt
said it was willing to serve as a temporary haven for the militants, but only
if it had clear confirmation of the final destination of the exiles. The end of
the siege was put off and the departure of Israeli troops from Bethlehem was
delayed. The Palestinians remained holed up inside the church complex, the IDF
in place outside.