VATICAN CITY, April 10 (Reuters) - Israel's president has
rejected a Roman Catholic Church proposal for ending a standoff
at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, telling Pope John
Paul that Israel would not let Palestinian gunmen escape.
Diplomatic sources made the text available on Wednesday of
the firm but polite letter, dated Tuesday, which Israeli
President Moshe Katzav sent the Pope about the showdown at the
traditional birthplace of Jesus in the West Bank town.
"Under the circumstances, I regret that with all the respect
and consideration we have for the Christian Holy Places, we have
no alternative but to prevent armed Palestinian terrorists, who
have murdered innocent Jews, from escaping and continuing their
acts of bloodshed," Katzav wrote the Pope.
Some 200 Palestinian gunmen and civilians took refuge in the
Bethlehem church complex last week and have remained holed up
inside along with 40 Franciscan monks and four nuns.
Katzav's letter was a clear rejection of a proposal by
Vatican and Church representatives in the Holy Land to end the
standoff.
Under the proposal, Palestinians would be given safe passage
to the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip, leaving their weapons
behind, according to Vatican and church sources.
"Our objective remains to extricate these armed terrorists,
unharmed from the church," Katzav wrote the Pope.
"Since giving safe conduct to the extremely dangerous
terrorists presently in the church would constitute a grave
danger to public safety, we have no choice but to maintain our
presence in the immediate area," he wrote in the letter.
PRIEST SHOT An Armenian priest was shot and seriously wounded on Wednesday in the church where Christians believe Christ was born. It was not clear who shot the priest. Katzav told the Pope the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) would redeploy only "once the terrorists hand themselves over". Parts of the letter also appeared to be a response to a statement on Monday in which the Vatican told both Israelis and Palestinians to respect religious sites in the Holy Land which are central to the faiths of Christians, Jews and Muslims. Katzav said the Israeli government "scrupulously ensures that the church does not become a focus of hostilities." After fighting in front of the church on Monday, members of the Franciscan order condemned what they said was an Israeli assault on the complex. One Palestinian was killed in that shooting, which Israel said was a response to shooting from inside the church. Katzav told the Pope that Israeli forces had been ordered "not to fire upon or violate the sanctity of church property". At his weekly general audience on Wednesday, the Pope made a fresh peace appeal. "Pray for peace in the Holy Land!" the Pope said three times with feeling and in a strong voice as he departed from his text during his general audience in St Peter's Square. He blessed a man in the crowd who was waving a pole with both the Palestinian and Israeli flags on it. The Vatican newspaper condemned the killing of eight bus passengers by a Palestinian suicide bomber and violence in the Jenin refugee camp. "In the Middle East, there appears to be no bottom to the abyss that has been dug by hate," L'Osservatore Romano said in an editorial. ((Rome newsroom, +39 06 854 0049, fax +39 06 854 0568, rome.newsroom@reuters.com))
10 APR 2002 15:16:08 UPDATE 1-Israel president writes to Pope on Bethlehem siege
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