WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: STAND-OFF BETWEEN ISRAELI TROOPS AND PALESTINIAN GUNMEN AROUND BETHLEHEM'S CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY ENTERS ITS 14TH DAY

Record ID: 400200

  • Title: WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: STAND-OFF BETWEEN ISRAELI TROOPS AND PALESTINIAN GUNMEN AROUND BETHLEHEM'S CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY ENTERS ITS 14TH DAY
  • Date: 15th April 2002
  • Summary: (U2) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (APRIL 15, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) ***NIGHTSHOTS 1. WIDE OF THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY BEING LIT UP BY EXPLOSIONS 0.06 2. LV: GUNFIRE OVER THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY/ EXPLOSIONS OVER THE CHURCH 0.32 (U3) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (APRIL 15, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3. GV: SMOKE RISING FROM T
  • Embargoed: 30th April 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM/BETHLEHEM AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: West Bank West Bank Jerusalem Jerusalem MIDDLE EAST Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVAD01GO6UBJ2W5W63VWKN10YCO4
  • Story Text: The stand-off between Israeli troops who have besieged
    the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and Palestinian gunmen
    who took refuge has continued into its 14th day.

    Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has repeated
    Israel's proposal for a regional peace summit which the
    Palestinian leadership had already rejected, saying Prime
    Minister Ariel Sharon should accept the Saudi peace proposal.


    A Reuters television crew recorded explosions and
    flashes emanating from Manger Square in the city centre just
    after midnight on Monday (April 15).

    Israeli military sources said soldiers had discovered bomb
    factories near the church and were blowing them up.

    Israel has said it would not violate the sanctity of
    Nativity Church, which was stormed by Palestinian gunmen
    seeking refuge from the Israeli army's West Bank offensive,
    launched on March 29 after a wave of suicide bombings against
    Israelis.

    Since then, two Palestinians have been killed, and an
    Armenian priest and two Israeli soldiers wounded, in clashes
    around Nativity Square.

    The Israeli army says the gunmen have fired from within
    the church compound.

    On Sunday (April 14), Israel gave visiting U.S. Secretary
    of State Colin Powell a proposal for ending the standoff,
    whereby the gunmen in the church could surrendered and be
    tried in Israeli military court or go into permanent exile.

    Sharon has said visiting US Secretary of State Colin
    Powell has accepted his idea of a U.S.-hosted regional peace
    conference and a State Department official acknowledged that
    the two men had considered it. But more discussion will be
    necessary on both sides to establish such a meeting, officials
    have said.

    Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has repeated a
    proposal suggested by his government for a regional peace
    summit, under United States auspices.

    "I think the regional conference is a positive idea. I
    think the purpose of this conference should be to open a
    political horizon in order to solve the Palestinian-Israeli
    conflict in a positive manner. There won't be any dictates,
    there will be intentions but not a hard closed agenda. It must
    have a certain openness in a way like a brain storm to permit
    all parties to express their problems, their hopes, and try to
    reach an agreement peacefully", Peres said.

    But the Palestinian leadership has rejected the idea,
    saying it is no substitute for a peace plan floated by the
    Saudis and backed by last month's Arab summit.

    "Sharon is trying to change the idea, to make it his own.

    Now, there is no logic that should accept a conference dealing
    with the Palestinian cause without the presence of the
    Palestinian leadership and without the presence of the
    international community and the Arab countries.

    In the background of everything that we are talking about
    is the Arab peace initiative which was suggested by Crown
    Prince Abdallah and therefore we need an international
    conference with the presence of all the leaders of the region
    and the world and Arafat should be the first to attend the
    conference", Palestinian cabinet minister Ziad Abu Zayyad
    said.

    In Ramallah on Monday, Palestinian residents went out to
    buy essential supplies as Israeli forces have lifted the
    curfew which they have imposed upon the city.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register