Yasser Arafat’s agreement to allow the deportation of 13 suspected militants holed up in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity has angered many Arabs who see it as an ideological betrayal of the Palestinians’ long struggle for independence.

Italy threw a spanner in the works today just as Israel and the Palestinians agreed to terms for ending the 36 day siege of Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.

Palestinians were today threatening revenge amid world leaders’ condemnation of an Israeli missile attack which killed eight people, including top Islamic militants and two children in the bloodiest day in the region in nearly two months.