[Tom Jefferson]

It is a mistake to paint them as Muslim terrorists when many of these people are Palestinian Christians. Bethlehem still has a very large Palestinian Christian population some of whom are in that Church including the Palestinian Franciscan monk Father Ibrahim.

There may be innocent civilians who are Christian in the church, but keep in mind that the people who are there shot their way in. They shot locks off of the doors. When the priests said this was a holy site and guns were not permitted, they pushed the priests aside and forced their way in. If they are not terrorists they have no reason to stay. Israel has offered to let everyone out. The only people who have anything to fear are those who have committed terrorist acts against Israel. All others will be free. Further, if there are Christians in the church who were not part of the terrorist group - what are they doing there? The church was closed at the time this group of armed men forced their way in.

[history_matters]

There were civilians cornered at the same time during the shoot out with the IDF and entered with the armed men to seek safety in their church. Fr. Peter Vasko, OFM of the Custody of the Holy Land has addressed this issue on EWTN. This link should give you the broadcast if you have RealPlayer.