Efforts to break church impasse continue

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators moved into what could be the final phase of talks aimed at breaking the month-old deadlock at one of Christianity’s holiest shrines today, as Orthodox Christians marked their Easter holiday.

The intensified push for a solution to the standoff at the Church of the Nativity came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon departed for the United States.

The Israeli leader intended to present a detailed peace plan to President George Bush in talks in Washington, and to try to have Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat sidelined from the political process, according to news reports and Israeli officials.

Zalman Shoval, a Sharon adviser, told Israel’s army radio today: ‘‘It is imperative to build a Palestinian Authority ... a body with which it will be possible to talk in the future, something which does not exist today.’’

In Bethlehem, Palestinians inside the Church of the Nativity gave a list of 123 names of those inside to a European envoy.

Compilation of the list, which was provided to Palestinian negotiators, was seen as a possible prelude to working out a the fate of the wanted Palestinian militants inside the basilica - possibly a deal along the lines of that which resolved the month-long standoff at Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah.

In the wake of last month’s massive Israeli military offensive in the West Bank, Bethlehem is the only Palestinian city still occupied by Israeli troops.

But brief incursions and raids into Palestinian cities and towns continued.

Early today, Israeli forces moved into the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank.

Israel Radio reported that about 20 tanks were involved. Israeli military officials said the operation was limited, but gave no further details.

Advisers to Sharon said he would propose during the talks with Bush that terms for a long-term interim deal with the Palestinians should be arranged at a regional conference attended by Israel, the Palestinians, the US and moderate Arab states.

Arab officials were cautious about committing themselves to the US-sponsored conference, with hard-line Syria indicating it would not attend, and Egypt, a key Arab moderate, saying Israel had first to withdraw from Palestinian lands it recently occupied.

Plans for the peace conference were announced last week by Secretary of State Colin Powell, with the backing of the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

US officials have suggested the conference will be held in June.

The gathering would be held at the level of foreign ministers, avoiding the issue of Arafat’s attendance.

Sharon’s office said yesterday that the premier, who has branded Arafat a terrorist and has said he does not consider him a partner in negotiations, planned to give Bush a 100-page report linking Arafat to terror attacks against Israel.

Throughout the deadlock at the Church of the Nativity, Israel has insisted that the armed men inside the church should surrender or accept exile. Palestinian officials have demanded they be taken to the Gaza Strip.

More than 100 people, including about 30 Palestinian gunmen, are trapped in the church, which is ringed by Israeli forces.

The siege, which began April 2, cast a pall over Orthodox Christian celebrations of Holy Week. Easter fell one month earlier under the Western church calendar.

Arafat was reportedly due later today to receive the first Arab officials to meet him since Israel ended its month-long siege of his compound on Thursday the Egyptian foreign minister and a top adviser to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The Egyptian officials were to be flown aboard a Jordanian helicopter to the West Bank town of Ramallah for a two-hour meeting with Arafat, said an Egyptian diplomat.

Arafat emerged Thursday from 34 days of virtual house arrest under a US-brokered deal that saw six Palestinians including four connected to the slaying of the Israeli tourism minister jailed in a West Bank town under British and US supervision.