- RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters)
- Palestinian gunmen were holed up in one of Christianity's holiest sites
on Wednesday as Israel tightened its grip on West Bank cities.
-
- Palestinians meanwhile angrily dismissed an Israeli offer
of exile for their embattled leader Yasser Arafat, who remains at his headquarters
in the West Bank city of Ramallah, surrounded by Israeli forces.
-
- A journalist at the scene said some 200 Palestinian militants,
many with weapons, have taken refuge in Bethlehem's Church of Nativity,
built over the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born.
-
- "They have decided to take this church as a safe
harbour," Marc Innaro, a journalist with Italian state broadcaster
RAI, told Reuters.
-
- He said the militants, many armed, had entered the church,
on Tuesday afternoon. Israeli tanks were deployed outside but the situation
was calm early on Wednesday morning, he said.
-
- Innaro and five other journalists, mostly from Italy,
were trapped in the church complex. He said the Italian embassy had been
given permission to send armored vehicles to pick them up.
-
- An army spokeswoman said dozens of Palestinian militants
had forced their way inside and were shooting from the church. She said
the army had brought in a representative to mediate.
-
- Israelis and Palestinians had earlier traded charges
about whether holy sites were being respected as clashes broke out between
Palestinians and advancing Israeli troops.
-
- ARAFAT SEEKS INTERVENTION
-
- Arafat appealed on Tuesday for world intervention against
Israeli "attacks" on Muslim and Christian shrines.
-
- "Today in Bethlehem they (Israelis) surrounded the
Church of the Nativity and they attacked many other churches and mosques,"
Arafat said in a telephone interview with al-Jazeera television, speaking
from Ramallah.
-
- The Israeli military drive, which began last Friday,
fanned out to new areas of the West Bank on Tuesday despite mounting international
calls for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to pull out his forces.
-
- Israeli tanks rolled into Bethlehem before dawn on Tuesday.
Witnesses reported clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops near
the Church of Nativity.
-
- Israel says its military campaign in the West Bank is
aimed at isolating Arafat and "uprooting terrorists" behind suicide
attacks that have killed dozens of Israelis.
-
- Israel, which has been hit by six bombings since the
Jewish Passover holiday began last Wednesday, said it had repelled two
further attacks on Tuesday evening.
-
- In the northern Gaza Strip, the army said it thwarted
a Palestinian's attempt to infiltrate and attack a Jewish settlement.
-
- An army spokesman said a "terrorist" opened
fire when soldiers tried to search him. Soldiers killed the man and two
Israeli soldiers were slightly injured, he said.
-
- The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said
a member of its group, Mohammed Saleh, was killed during "a heroic
operation" in the northern Gaza strip.
-
- In another incident in Baka al-Sharkiyeh, near the "Green
Line" dividing Israel from the West Bank, a Palestinian wearing an
explosive vest was killed, an army spokesman said.
-
- Israel army radio said the Palestinian was shot and blew
up after ignoring an order to stop at a checkpoint.
-
- ONE-WAY TICKET
-
- Sharon caused controversy on Tuesday, by saying Arafat
could have a "one-way ticket" to exile.
-
- "It has got to be a one-way ticket. He would not
be able to return," Sharon said during a visit to a West Bank army
base.
-
- Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian
leader, who has sworn to "die a martyr" rather than bow to Israel,
would never leave his homeland voluntarily.
-
- Erekat said Sharon wanted to kill Arafat despite Israel's
repeated assurances to the contrary.
-
- Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed the idea that
Arafat should be expelled, saying the Palestinian president had an important
role to play in the quest for Middle East peace.
-
- Dovish Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, often at
odds with the right-wing Sharon, said the government had no policy of expelling
the Palestinian leader.
-
- "The government decided against it. We are not going
to impose upon him things that he will not agree to. We are not going to
dismantle the Palestinian Authority. We are not going to occupy the West
Bank again," he said.
-
- President Bush said on Tuesday he hoped Palestinians
could have "their own peaceful state" and vowed the United States
would work to stop "terrorist activities" aimed at derailing
peace efforts in the Middle East.
-
- Palestinian forces surrendered to Israeli troops besieging
the headquarters of West Bank security chief Jibril al-Rajoub on Tuesday
after running out of food and ammunition.
-
- The Israeli army said 180 people were taken for questioning.
-
- Rajoub, who was evacuated earlier, denied Israeli charges
that there were militants wanted by Israel sheltering there.
-
- A small contingent of tanks also entered Jenin in the
northern West Bank, apparently as a prelude to a full incursion as more
tanks massed outside, witnesses said.
-
- Witnesses said the latest casualties included an 80-year-old
Palestinian man who was shot dead outside his house in Bethlehem and a
woman and her son also killed there.
-
- Majdi Benoura, 30, a Palestinian cameraman working for
Qatar's al-Jazeera station, was wounded in the neck as he was filming from
the roof of the city's Star Hotel, colleagues said.
-
- The Russian Orthodox Church sent an angry message to
Israel demanding an immediate withdrawal from a Russian church building
it said Israeli troops had occupied in the Bethlehem battles.
-
- OIL AT SIX-MONTH HIGH
-
- European Union president Spain summoned the Israeli ambassador
to Madrid to demand that Israel quit Palestinian cities, in line with a
U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on Saturday, and restore Arafat's
freedom of movement.
-
- Spain later called a rare emergency meeting of EU foreign
ministers for Wednesday to discuss the Middle East crisis. A spokesman
said the meeting would be in Brussels or Luxembourg.
-
- Oil prices hit a six-month high on fears that unrest
could spread in the Middle East, which holds two-thirds of world oil reserves,
though no support emerged for Iraq's proposal to use an oil embargo to
put pressure on Israel's supporters.
-
- Raising the prospect of a second front opening in addition
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas attacked
Israeli positions in an area near the border and the Israeli-occupied Golan
Heights.
-
- Israel said it had sent warplanes into action in response,
It gave no details but witnesses said Israeli warplanes fired at least
four missiles from warplanes at the edges of the nearby Lebanese border
town of Kfar Shouba.
-
- At least 1,142 Palestinians and 403 Israelis have been
killed since a Palestinian revolt began in September 2000., West Bank (Reuters)
- Palestinian gunmen were holed up in one of Christianity's holiest sites
on Wednesday as Israel tightened its grip on West Bank cities.
-
- Palestinians meanwhile angrily dismissed an Israeli offer
of exile for their embattled leader Yasser Arafat, who remains at his headquarters
in the West Bank city of Ramallah, surrounded by Israeli forces.
-
- A journalist at the scene said some 200 Palestinian militants,
many with weapons, have taken refuge in Bethlehem's Church of Nativity,
built over the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born.
-
- "They have decided to take this church as a safe
harbour," Marc Innaro, a journalist with Italian state broadcaster
RAI, told Reuters.
-
- He said the militants, many armed, had entered the church,
on Tuesday afternoon. Israeli tanks were deployed outside but the situation
was calm early on Wednesday morning, he said.
-
- Innaro and five other journalists, mostly from Italy,
were trapped in the church complex. He said the Italian embassy had been
given permission to send armored vehicles to pick them up.
-
- An army spokeswoman said dozens of Palestinian militants
had forced their way inside and were shooting from the church. She said
the army had brought in a representative to mediate.
-
- Israelis and Palestinians had earlier traded charges
about whether holy sites were being respected as clashes broke out between
Palestinians and advancing Israeli troops.
-
- ARAFAT SEEKS INTERVENTION
-
- Arafat appealed on Tuesday for world intervention against
Israeli "attacks" on Muslim and Christian shrines.
-
- "Today in Bethlehem they (Israelis) surrounded the
Church of the Nativity and they attacked many other churches and mosques,"
Arafat said in a telephone interview with al-Jazeera television, speaking
from Ramallah.
-
- The Israeli military drive, which began last Friday,
fanned out to new areas of the West Bank on Tuesday despite mounting international
calls for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to pull out his forces.
-
- Israeli tanks rolled into Bethlehem before dawn on Tuesday.
Witnesses reported clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops near
the Church of Nativity.
-
- Israel says its military campaign in the West Bank is
aimed at isolating Arafat and "uprooting terrorists" behind suicide
attacks that have killed dozens of Israelis.
-
- Israel, which has been hit by six bombings since the
Jewish Passover holiday began last Wednesday, said it had repelled two
further attacks on Tuesday evening.
-
- In the northern Gaza Strip, the army said it thwarted
a Palestinian's attempt to infiltrate and attack a Jewish settlement.
-
- An army spokesman said a "terrorist" opened
fire when soldiers tried to search him. Soldiers killed the man and two
Israeli soldiers were slightly injured, he said.
-
- The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said
a member of its group, Mohammed Saleh, was killed during "a heroic
operation" in the northern Gaza strip.
-
- In another incident in Baka al-Sharkiyeh, near the "Green
Line" dividing Israel from the West Bank, a Palestinian wearing an
explosive vest was killed, an army spokesman said.
-
- Israel army radio said the Palestinian was shot and blew
up after ignoring an order to stop at a checkpoint.
-
- ONE-WAY TICKET
-
- Sharon caused controversy on Tuesday, by saying Arafat
could have a "one-way ticket" to exile.
-
- "It has got to be a one-way ticket. He would not
be able to return," Sharon said during a visit to a West Bank army
base.
-
- Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian
leader, who has sworn to "die a martyr" rather than bow to Israel,
would never leave his homeland voluntarily.
-
- Erekat said Sharon wanted to kill Arafat despite Israel's
repeated assurances to the contrary.
-
- Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed the idea that
Arafat should be expelled, saying the Palestinian president had an important
role to play in the quest for Middle East peace.
-
- Dovish Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, often at
odds with the right-wing Sharon, said the government had no policy of expelling
the Palestinian leader.
-
- "The government decided against it. We are not going
to impose upon him things that he will not agree to. We are not going to
dismantle the Palestinian Authority. We are not going to occupy the West
Bank again," he said.
-
- President Bush said on Tuesday he hoped Palestinians
could have "their own peaceful state" and vowed the United States
would work to stop "terrorist activities" aimed at derailing
peace efforts in the Middle East.
-
- Palestinian forces surrendered to Israeli troops besieging
the headquarters of West Bank security chief Jibril al-Rajoub on Tuesday
after running out of food and ammunition.
-
- The Israeli army said 180 people were taken for questioning.
-
- Rajoub, who was evacuated earlier, denied Israeli charges
that there were militants wanted by Israel sheltering there.
-
- A small contingent of tanks also entered Jenin in the
northern West Bank, apparently as a prelude to a full incursion as more
tanks massed outside, witnesses said.
-
- Witnesses said the latest casualties included an 80-year-old
Palestinian man who was shot dead outside his house in Bethlehem and a
woman and her son also killed there.
-
- Majdi Benoura, 30, a Palestinian cameraman working for
Qatar's al-Jazeera station, was wounded in the neck as he was filming from
the roof of the city's Star Hotel, colleagues said.
-
- The Russian Orthodox Church sent an angry message to
Israel demanding an immediate withdrawal from a Russian church building
it said Israeli troops had occupied in the Bethlehem battles.
-
- OIL AT SIX-MONTH HIGH
-
- European Union president Spain summoned the Israeli ambassador
to Madrid to demand that Israel quit Palestinian cities, in line with a
U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on Saturday, and restore Arafat's
freedom of movement.
-
- Spain later called a rare emergency meeting of EU foreign
ministers for Wednesday to discuss the Middle East crisis. A spokesman
said the meeting would be in Brussels or Luxembourg.
-
- Oil prices hit a six-month high on fears that unrest
could spread in the Middle East, which holds two-thirds of world oil reserves,
though no support emerged for Iraq's proposal to use an oil embargo to
put pressure on Israel's supporters.
-
- Raising the prospect of a second front opening in addition
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas attacked
Israeli positions in an area near the border and the Israeli-occupied Golan
Heights.
-
- Israel said it had sent warplanes into action in response,
It gave no details but witnesses said Israeli warplanes fired at least
four missiles from warplanes at the edges of the nearby Lebanese border
town of Kfar Shouba.
-
- At least 1,142 Palestinians and 403 Israelis have been
killed since a Palestinian revolt began in September 2000.
|
