Bethlehem siege nears conclusion

All but 13 Palestinians inside in the embattled Church of the Nativity were due to leave the ancient basilica today, as Israel and the Palestinians moved to implement a deal to end a five-week siege.

However, although the Bethlehem crisis appeared to be winding down, another threatened, as Israel’s leadership authorised retaliation against unspecified ‘‘terrorist targets’’ after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a pool hall near Tel Aviv on Tuesday, killing 15 Israelis.

Israeli press reports predicted a strike in the Gaza Strip.

In Bethlehem, a group of 26 suspected gunmen was to leave the church first, to be transported to Gaza and about 80 civilians inside the church would be freed, said Israeli army Capt Jacob Dallal, while 13 other suspected militants, to be deported, would be left behind in the church for now.

At daybreak today, two Israeli buses pulled into the square near the church, another indication that the end of the siege might be nearing.

However, the Israelis said they would maintain a presence at the church until all the suspected Palestinian militants were out.

The siege began on April 2 when more than 200 Palestinians fled into the church, which marks the birthplace of Jesus, ahead of invading Israeli forces. In the weeks that followed, several groups of civilians were allowed to leave.

One of the 26 Palestinians headed for Gaza, Samed Khalil, 24, said that leaving his home and family in the Aida refugee camp, next to Bethlehem, was ‘‘one of the most difficult moments of my life’’.

He said he was a member of Palestinian security and takes orders from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

He told The Associated Press by telephone from inside the church: ‘‘I feel bad for the (13) people who will be expelled from their homeland.’’

Signalling that the end of the siege was near, the Palestinian governor of Bethlehem, Mohammed Madani, left the church for the first time since the siege began.

He was accompanied by two priests as he ducked through the low-slung main door of the 4th-century church.

Meanwhile, Israeli leaders approved retaliation for a bloody Palestinian suicide attack, while Arafat’s denunciation of terrorism won American praise.

A statement issued early today after a meeting of the Security Cabinet, just hours after prime minister Ariel Sharon returned home after cutting short a trip to the United States, said the senior ministers ‘‘authorised the prime minister and defence minister to decide on actions against terror targets’’. No details were given.

Palestinians in Gaza braced for an expected Israeli military thrust as police there increased their patrols.

Israel’s largest military assault in two decades, which started on March 29 after an earlier series of Palestinian suicide bombings, bypassed the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian who blew himself up in the pool hall on Tuesday came from Hamas, based in Gaza, fuelling speculation that Israel would hit back there.

Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas spiritual leader, said his group would continue attacks against Israel.

‘‘Israel’s action will not go unpunished. They have harmed civilians and so their civilians will be harmed,’’ he said.

The bomber devastated the popular nightspot in a business district of Rishon Letzion, sending people flying out the wrecked front of the building and plunging to the street, three floors below.

Arafat spoke out harshly against the suicide bomb attack, which killed 15 Israelis and the bomber. ‘‘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,’’ Arafat said on Palestinian TV.

Wearing large, black-rimmed glasses, Arafat called for American assistance to rebuild his security forces, hit in the month-long Israeli invasion in the West Bank.

Arafat also repeated his call for an international peace force ‘‘to help us stop the (Israeli) aggression’’.

US president George Bush called Arafat’s statement an ‘‘incredibly positive sign’’ and urged Israel to consider the consequences on peace prospects of ‘‘whatever response’’ it chose.

The Israelis appeared less impressed. Gideon Meir,senior foreign ministry official, told BBC television that Arafat had said the same words before. ‘‘We need to see action,’’ he said.

Among the options the Israelis were considering was expelling Arafat from the Palestinian territories, an Israeli Cabinet minister said.