Gunfire exchanged in church siege

Heavy gunfire broke out tonight between Israeli forces and armed Palestinians holed up inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem as religious leaders warned the three-week-old crisis was getting worse.

Stun grenades were heard around the church, and a puff of white smoke rose up from the compound.

A Palestinian policeman inside the compound, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israeli fire was hitting the church walls.

Israel’s army said Palestinians opened fire from several positions in the church compound and soldiers returned fire.

Bethlehem Governor Mohammed Mdani, who is inside the church, said the Israelis fired first, and armed Palestinians shot back.

There were no reports of injuries in the 15-minute exchange.

Mdani said fires set by the stun grenades damaged two rooms of Greek Orthodox monks and were put out. A courtyard statue of the Virgin Mary near St. Catherine’s church also was damaged by gunfire, he said.

Palestinian policemen inside the church said Israeli soldiers were leaning ladders against compound walls. The army has leaned up ladders before to throw in leaflets urging surrender and to allow people interested in leaving the church to get out. Israel has promised Christian leaders it would not storm the church.

On Sunday, five people used the ladders to get out - two civilians, two Palestinian police and one member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s guard.

Three weeks ago, armed Palestinians fleeing Israeli troops shot open the locks of a nearby Franciscan monastery, and broke into the church compound.

Since then, Israeli tanks and snipers have surrounded the compound. The church stands on a grotto where Christians believe Jesus was born.

The army says armed Palestinians number about 230 and include some militants wanted for killing Israeli civilians or soldiers. There are also 35 priests, monks and nuns and about 50 unarmed Palestinian civilians, some of them teen-agers.

Attempts to negotiate a solution have failed so far. Israel wants everyone inside to surrender and has said anyone deemed to be linked to deadly attacks on Israelis must be exiled or stand trial in Israel.

Christian Palestinian church leaders want the army to pull back for three days to allow everyone to lay down their weapons and leave the compound safely.

Earlier today, a visiting envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of steadily worsening

conditions inside the church.

‘‘There is no food, the sanitary conditions are terrible and some of the people are sick or wounded,’’

said Canon Andrew White, who was sent to the Holy Land by Anglican Archbishop George Carey to help in the search for a solution.

A few people who have fled or been taken out of the church by medical workers in the past week have spoken of food supplies running out and hunger driving them to risk sniper bullets by venturing out. Franciscans say food ran out Saturday.