Palestinian gunmen leave besieged church

Palestinian gunmen wanted by Israel emerged from the Church of the Nativity today, marking the end of a tense five-and-a-half week standoff with Israeli troops at one of Christianity’s holiest shrines.

The deal, which calls for 13 militants to be deported and another 26 to be transferred to the Gaza Strip, sets the stage for an Israeli troop withdrawal from biblical Bethlehem.

The gunmen emerged, one-by-one and accompanied by priests, from the basilica’s low-slung main entrance, the Gate of Humility.

From there, they walked along Manger Square, on a path marked by a row of police barricades. They passed through two metal detectors, and were briefly questioned by three Israeli soldiers in full battle gear before being escorted to a red-and-white Israeli bus.

Militiaman Jihad Jaara, one of those to be deported, was carried out on a stretcher, with a bandage on his right leg. He was taken to an ambulance.

The first to come out just before 7am (5am Irish time) was the intelligence chief of Bethlehem, Abdullah Daoud, the most senior in the group.

He had to take off his jacket before being cleared through the metal detectors. Wearing a black and white check Arab scarf around his neck and accompanied by two priests, he approached two Israeli soldiers, who talked to him briefly before directing him to the bus.

Foreigners, including US security officials, witnessed the scene from Manger Square, while journalists and Palestinian civilians watched from rooftops.

The Palestinians were to be taken to an Israeli military base, where their identities were to be verified.

From there, the group of 13 was to be taken to an airport, where an RAF plane was to fly them to Cyprus.

The second group was to be bused to Gaza and the civilians were to be released in Palestinian areas, the Israeli military spokeswoman, Capt Sharon Feingold, said.

About 85 civilians and Palestinian policemen in the church are to be freed.

Ten demonstrators and a photographer who stormed into the church a week ago will be taken into custody and probably deported, Feingold said.

The crisis began on April 2, when more than 200 people fled into the church that marks the traditional birthplace of Jesus, ahead of Israeli troops invading the biblical town.

At first Israel insisted that the gunmen among them must surrender, but dropped that demand when the Palestinians agreed that 13 of the senior militants would be deported and others sent to Gaza.

Arduous negotiations and several near-deals characterised the effort to defuse the standoff at one of Christianity’s holiest shrines.

The Vatican pressed for a quick solution, criticizing Israel for surrounding the church and the Palestinians for taking weapons inside.

The United States and European Union were active in negotiating a solution. The EU found several countries to take in the 13 militants after Italy refused to accept them all, torpedoing a solution worked out early yesterday.

When the militants were on their way to their destinations, Israeli soldiers were to pull out of Bethlehem, the last town they were occupying as part of a large-scale military offensive in the West Bank that started March 29, a response to a series of Palestinian suicide bomb attacks.