An unravelling pledge

An agreement over the Church of the Nativity was put on hold almost as quickly as it appeared. Michael Jansen reports from Bethlehem
Talks aimed at lifting the Israeli siege of the Church of the Nativity that appeared to bear fruit early Tuesday morning, when it was finally agreed that a number of the Palestinians "wanted" by Israel would be exiled to Italy, glossed over a crucial factor -- the agreement of the Italian government.
The stand-off over the church -- revered by both Christians and Muslims as the birthplace of Jesus -- appeared to have been concluded on the second day of Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon's visit to Washington but unravelled in a cross-fire of recriminations on Tuesday and Wednesday. According to the deal, 13 of the militants on Israel's list would be deported to Italy, another 26 would be guaranteed safe passage to the Gaza Strip and the 80-odd others would be released.
Italy's abrupt refusal to grant asylum to 13 of the Palestinian militants holed up inside the Church caught Israeli, American, Palestinian and British diplomats as well as a papal envoy by surprise. Antonio Marino, the Italian defence minister said that his country would consider a request from the Israeli government, were one to be made though he added that there were several details to be resolved such as the deportees' status and the conditions of their confinement.
Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, spoke twice on Tuesday to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a bid to convince him to admit the Palestinian militants but, according to reports, was unsuccessful.
Earlier in the week, Sharon had been warned by the US that he would not enter "government portals" until the issue was resolved but the lack of a deal did not derail the Israeli prime minister from holding meetings with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday.
The agreement amounted to a capitulation to Israel's demands by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. When interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly on Sunday in his battered compound in Ramallah, Arafat was furious over Israel's stance. The agreement for ending the sieges of both the church and his compound was "reached right here in this room with British and American representatives. Ramallah and the Nativity Church had to be solved together," Arafat insisted.
It is no surprise, therefore, that the Palestinians consider Israel's continuing intransigence over the church to be a breach of the US-brokered trade-off that allowed Israel to have its way over the disbanding of the UN mission. The UN mission was meant to investigate possible Israeli war crimes in Jenin and Israel's ending of the sieges of Ramallah and Bethlehem but was obstructed at every turn by the Israeli government who described it as "outside meddling" in their affairs.
On Saturday Arafat appointed a close aide to conduct the Bethlehem negotiations, prompting the resignation of local legislator Salah Taamari from the Palestinian five-member committee. Israel fielded a team from the Shin Bet internal security service while the US Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Tel Aviv, Jeff O'Connell, stepped in as facilitator. A British security expert connected to the European Union helped work out details for the departure of the non- combatants trapped inside the church.
Arafat complained that, "..they said it could be solved if I would accept that several persons go abroad to study." But, on the short list of seven that the Israelis handed over "one was dead and two were in hospital.." meaning that "they are holding all these people because of only four (people). They also want to kick out of the West Bank all those who come from Gaza." By Monday Israel had increased to 13 the number of "senior terrorists" it wanted deported and upped to 30 those it demanded should be sent to Gaza. Arafat balked at these fresh demands while the Italian government maintained that it had yet to agree over whether it would accept the deportees.
Palestinian observers argued that Israel was raising the number on the list of deportees and detainees in order to justify holding for so long the 250 people who originally sought refuge in the church while continuing to humiliate Arafat and undermine his credibility by compelling him to meet fresh demands.
By noon on Monday the atmosphere in Bethlehem changed from hopeful expectation to gloom. The iron-clad curfew, which was lifted in the morning for four hours to allow citizens who still have money to purchase supplies, was reimposed. Pairs of armoured Israeli jeeps patrolled the empty streets warning that circulation in Bethlehem and its sister towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour was "forbidden."
Groups of heavily armed Israeli soldiers conducted house-to- house searches for "wanted terrorists" whose names were not on the list of the 123 still in the church. Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser said that Israel's objective was to draw out the talks for as long as possible because "Israel is benefiting from the situation. It is searching, destroying the infrastructure, entering public buildings."
The only civilians out and about were 200-odd journalists and two dozen Palestinian children trying to sell them cigarettes, bottles of water and chewing gum. The press camped at the barricade about 150 meters from the bottom of Pope Paul VI Street which leads to Manger Square. Television teams settled at the barrier itself, on chairs, tables and flattened cardboard boxes. Behind them were photographers balancing on ladders of varying heights, the long snouts of their cameras trained on the metre-and-a-half tall "Door of Humility," the stand- off's focal point.
As we basked in the sun, a sort of camaraderie developed as press people ringed round their sources and shared slightly stale tips. By late afternoon Bethlehemites from the neighbourhood joined us in the streets prompting one polite journalist to even apologise for having taken over their street.
In the fourth century church itself there was no news. I spoke several times to Mary Kelly, an Irish nurse from Cork who gained entry on 3 May to the church along with nine other peace activists and one press photographer. On Saturday a Palestinian policeman attempting to hang out laundry in the church courtyard was shot in the lungs by an Israeli sniper. "I could do nothing for him," Ms Kelly told me on a mobile phone. "We don't have any IVs [intravenous feeds] in here." The man died after being removed from the church. He was the eighth fatality during the five week siege.
On Monday, during a barricade press briefing, an Israeli lieutenant-colonel who identified himself only as "Adair," was asked by a US journalist, "How can you claim that you respect the sanctity of holy places when you shoot at the church? Wasn't the church damaged? Aren't the people inside part of the sanctity of the church?" To the last Adair replied, "The people we killed, they weren't Christians."
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