Steve Quayle News Alerts

May 9, 2002

European diplomats and Israeli sources said late Thursday that a deal was at hand to finally end the standoff at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, after a series of false starts. Under the proposed deal, 13 suspected militants at the holy site would be deported to various European countries. Meanwhile, Israeli tanks moved toward the Gaza Strip amid expectations Israel would launch a strike in retaliation for a suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv suburb.

EUROPEAN UNION foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Thursday night he hoped a deadlock between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants holed up in the Christian holy site would be resolved “in the coming hours.”
“I think the situation in the church in Bethlehem is going to be resolved. I hope it will be done in the coming hours,” Solana told Reuters after giving a speech in Madrid.
The crisis started April 2 when about 200 people, including dozens of civilians, security men and Christian clerics, took refuge in the church as Israeli troops invaded Bethlehem as part of a West Bank offensive. Among them were 13 suspected militants high on Israel’s “wanted” list. About 75 people have left the church, while 123 remain captive.
In earlier negotiations, the parties agreed that 26 Palestinian “activists” would be moved to Gaza under escort, while most of the others would be freed. The fate of the 13 militants Israel accuses of terrorist acts remained the sticking point.
Under Thursday’s deal, the 13 men initially would be flown to Cyprus aboard a British aircraft, an EU diplomat said. “The deal should be implemented, if possible, in the next few hours,” the diplomat said. “It should be happening tonight or early in the morning.”
The diplomat said several European nations had agreed to take some of the militants but details would not be made public until they were out of Israel. “It affects several European nations,” the diplomat said, declining to identify them.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides confirmed Thursday night that his country would temporarily take in the men. From there they would be flown to their final destinations.
“Cyprus has agreed to take the 13 people as a temporary measure,” Yiannakis Cassoulides told reporters at a hastily convened news conference in Nicosia.
In the past few days, hopes for an imminent breakthrough have hung in the air without coming to fruition.
Negotiators had been forced to resume talks Thursday when the 13 men said they would pull out of an earlier deal unless they received guarantees that a European Union envoy would stay with them until a foreign country agreed to receive them.
Under the EU deal, that assurance may no longer be necessary.

ISRAEL READIES FOR ATTACK
Hopes for a deal in Bethlehem appeared to have no effect on the mood elsewhere, as Israeli tanks and troops prepared for an offensive to retaliate for Tuesday’s suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, which killed 15 Israelis.
Israeli military officials said reservists were being called up but would not give a number.
However, the call-up appeared to be smaller than the one that preceded Israel’s military offensive in April against Palestinian militias in the West Bank.
At the time, more than 20,000 reservists were brought in for unexpected tours of duty.
The Islamic militant group Hamas, whose leadership is based in Gaza, has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing Tuesday in a pool hall in the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Letzion. Fifteen Israelis were killed in the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened his security Cabinet at an air force base early Thursday, immediately after his return from the United States, to approve a response to the bombing. The Cabinet did not say what type of response it authorized, but a strike against Gaza was widely expected.
Also, Israeli media reports said forces were massing near the crowded strip, home to more than 1 million Palestinians.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres suggested that the army was not planning a large-scale operation. “We are going to strike at the nests of terrorism, whether in Gaza or elsewhere,” Peres said. “The intention is to reach only those places where the isolated concentrations of suicide terrorists are located.”
Military commentators also said they expected the Gaza operation to be more limited than the West Bank offensive, during which troops occupied six of the eight main Palestinian towns for periods of up to several weeks. Fighting in Gaza would be much more complicated and could expose troops to greater risks.

HAMAS UNRUFFLED
Officials for the militant Hamas in Gaza City speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that 16 members were arrested Thursday by Palestinian police. But they said none of the senior members of the group was among those taken into custody.
Head-to-Head
A Mideast Debate
Despite the Israeli military encroaching on Gaza, a base for Hamas, and the arrests by the Palestinian police, none of the Hamas leaders appeared to be taking special precautions. One leader, Mahmoud Zahar, a lecturer at Gaza City’s Islamic University, said he was busy preparing for weekend exams, and two others — Ismail Abu Shanab and Abdel Aziz Rantisi — said they had scheduled back-to-back media interviews.
Three men were posted outside the Gaza City home of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, including his son Mohammed. Yassin’s son said his father was inside but wasn’t receiving visitors and that he planned to leave to attend the wedding of one of his seven daughters later in the day.
In a show of the growing bravado and popularity of Hamas, Hamas supporter Khaled Abu Shihada exhorted listeners to seek — not avoid — death after leading them in prayer Thursday afternoon.
“My Muslim brothers, why do you fear (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon? Death comes from God not from Sharon,” the bearded preacher said in a brief and impromptu sermon. “Coward is the one who doesn’t want to die as and a bastion of support for Hamas.”

ARAFAT’S RESPONSE
The arrests of the 16 Hamas members suggested that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was responding to growing U.S. pressure to take action against Palestinian militants. Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the Palestinian Authority “has already taken some measures to control the security situation.”
In the past, Palestinian police have detained Hamas leaders, but then released them soon after. In some cases, it appeared the Palestinians took the moves largely to protect the Hamas leaders from possible Israeli attack.
Israel has accused the Palestinian Authority of taking such action to give the appearance of a crackdown on militants, saying their subsequent release shows the arrests were not serious.
Meeting another U.S. demand, Arafat appeared on Palestinian television Wednesday and spoke out against attacks on Israeli civilians. “I gave my orders and directions to all the Palestinian security forces to confront and prevent all terror attacks against Israeli civilians from any Palestinian side or parties,” he said.
President Bush called Arafat’s statement an “incredibly positive sign” and urged Israel to consider the consequences on peace prospects of “whatever response” it chooses.
However, Israel was not swayed. “We are treating this condemnation (of terror) with more skepticism than the president of the United States,” said Israeli Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh. “We will judge Arafat by his actions, not his declarations.”
Yassin said Wednesday his group would continue carrying out bombings against Israelis, despite Arafat’s new call for an end to terror attacks.
Palestinian militants have unleashed about 60 suicide bombings during the 19 months of Mideast fighting, and Hamas has carried out more attacks than any other group, and has been responsible for all of the deadliest blasts.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/677951.asp?pne=msn