Posted on 05/10/2002 1:01:06 PM PDT by Cinnamon Girl
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - The overwhelming stench of urine was the first thing to hit visitors who entered the shrine in Bethlehem revered as the birthplace of Jesus.
The standoff between Palestinian militants and the Israeli army at the Church of the Nativity, which came to an end on Friday after nearly 40 days and nights of high drama, had left one of Christianity's holiest places in a shocking mess.
Garbage bags, lemon peels, gas canisters, petrol cans and electric hotplates were scattered throughout the church off Manger Square. A Reuters correspondent saw altars, the sacred focus of Christian worship, covered with food scraps.
"It's not a church any more, it's a place filled with beds and trash," said Sandy Shahin, a local teenager who rushed into the church minutes after the end of the siege on Friday.
"The smell is too bad. The floor is too bad. I'm filled with fear," Shahin, a Roman Catholic, said between sobs.
It seemed almost a small miracle that the Grotto of the Nativity, where a silver star installed by the Catholics in 1717 is set in white marble over the exact spot where Christians believe Jesus was born, was immaculate.
A Reuters correspondent saw dusty mattresses, flak jackets and helmets, left behind by the Palestinian militants holed up in the church and scattered across the floor.
Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian denominations share the fourth-century shrine, where areas of worship appeared to have escaped major damage in the standoff that included exchanges of gunfire between Israeli troops and the gunmen.
But the second floor of the Franciscan order's parish building in the complex looked like a war zone. Walls were pockmarked by bullet holes and scarred by smoke stains.
"I couldn't imagine something like this," said Manal Deik, a local banker, standing next to a bullet-riddled church wall which was also marked with graffiti scrawled in Arabic.
"We will repair it because the damage is not outside, it's inside and we can do something about that," said the 25-year-old Catholic.
Greek Orthodox priest Father Kariton, standing in the basilica near a pile of discarded gasmasks, added: "The most important things are okay, but the museum is a little damaged."
BICKERING
Soon after the militants left, priests from the often bickering denominations argued over whether to allow Israeli army bomb disposal experts in to make sure no explosives were left behind. The clergymen decided in favor of a sweep.
"We have found 40 explosive devices and five rifles hidden there and the IDF is dismantling them now," an army spokeswoman said.
Earlier, 13 men on Israel's most-wanted list left the church and were quickly flown on a British aircraft to Cyprus, the first stop in an exile abroad which will take them to third countries under a European Union-brokered deal.
Twenty-six others considered less serious offenders by Israel were expelled from the West Bank and taken to Gaza.
Some 200 people -- Palestinian militants, police, civilians, priests and nuns took refuge in the sanctuary to evade Israeli troops and tanks that swept into Bethlehem on April 2 in a West Bank offensive triggered by suicide bombings.
CROWD CHEERS
Outside the church on Friday, crowds of Palestinians cheered after Israeli armored personnel carriers pulled out of Manger Square. Church bells rang and cries of "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Greater" rang out from the loudspeakers of mosques.
Some of the 85 civilians, who returned to normal life in Bethlehem after undergoing an Israeli security check in a nearby army compound, were overjoyed at the prospect of simply taking a shower and eating a full meal for the first time in weeks.
After hugging and kissing emotional relatives who greeted them at Beit Jala Hospital near Bethlehem, the men said they asked themselves difficult questions during the standoff -- such as when Israeli snipers would fire next or food would run out.
"The Israelis had this tower with a remote control electronic device that fired on us whenever we were exposed. When we went outside we had to run away from it," said Naji Abu Obeid, a 19-year-old Palestinian policeman.
"We each had a safe spot in the church where we would hide such as behind columns," added Obeid, who said he used his AK-47 assault rifle to defend himself and others.
Israel, which engaged in lengthy negotiations with the Vatican and other interested parties over the church, strenuously denied firing into the shrine and said it did all it could to avoid damaging the Church of the Nativity.
Two Palestinian men were killed by gunfire in the church compound last month and another was later wounded.
NO STRANGER TO CONFLICT
A lemon tree stood in the Franciscan compound, its branches bare after those who had been holed up inside the shrine ate its leaves.
The church is no stranger to conflict. Samaritans destroyed much of the original church during a revolt in 529. Christian Crusader and Muslim armies fought over it for many years.
The church was rebuilt during the reign of the Roman Emperor Justinian in about 530 AD. Crusaders redecorated it and over the centuries it has been renovated and expanded with the addition of other chapels and monasteries around it.
Yeah, "only a few candleholders and some crucifixes were deemed to be missing."
I suppose you think the Palis deserve praise for only stealing the things that WEREN'T nailed to the walls.
Does it hurt to contort your reason and common sense to such a degree, in your efforts to embrace these people? Is it worth it?
My thoughts exactly.
Hey, open your eyes. Im not embracing these people. I'm simply suggesting you base your arguments on reality, not some ideological feel good exercise. Yes, the church stunk. If you had filled it with 200 inner city kids or two hundred French men for five weeks, do you think you would have had a different result? I doubt it.
Hey, open YOURS. The people inside that church have known since last Sunday that a resolution was in the works and could come at any moment. Good "guests" would have at least made the effort to clean up a little themselves, while they were waiting--if for no other reason than as a gesture of "thanks" to their "hosts" who had "offered sanctuary" in their "time of need", in essence saving their sorry hides. Instead they MAKE work, and a lot of it, for the monks and the Palestinian Christians who they supposedly hold in such high esteem. If I'd seen blankets folded, mattresses stacked, and all the trash and food and pots and pans gathered into one place, I might not care so much about the sanitary situation. I might be inclined to cut them some slack.
It should be obvious to you and everyone else that these people were determined to leave with a message of malice, and they did. And I notice you've failed to address the items that were stolen.
I think a far more equitable solution would be for conscientious Christians to hunt down the jihadists who did this and kill them. Bringing them to justice for their actions will secure the safety of innocents in the future. By this principle Christians are justified to kill. In fact, it's one of the basic tenents of Western law and one which Christians ceded to the (Roman) government 1,700 years ago. It now appears that several Western governments are shirking their obligation to protect Christians. It's foolish, because that is the foundation of their legal systems, their government -and their authority.
Like your kids clean their room everyday? Right? LOL.
It should be obvious to you and everyone else that these people were determined to leave with a message of malice, and they did. And I notice you've failed to address the items that were stolen.
It should be obvious to you that you want to find a message of malice whether one is present or not. I expect if we knew the truth it would be indifference, not malice. After all when they were leaving the church they did seem appreciative and friendly towards the priests.
As for the stolen items, I have no way of knowing what if anything was taken. The items certainly didnt go out when the 39 left the other morning as they all went thru x-ray machines. I havent seen or heard anything in the regular news media about stolen items, just here, so what does that tell you media bias or FR paranoia?
This is a great idea! I hope it passes into law. President Bush should be ashamed of himself for allowing these murderers to go free.
Why not call them Jordanians since they migrated mostly from Jordan. Personally I like the evil devil worshippers of Mad Mo!
I'm not sure about your "beaming up" facts here, but I’m glad that at least you would consider a Christian nation in the area. I was thinking of Bethlehem as the capitol not Jerusalem. Jerusalem belongs to our friends the Israelis. I like the name Christland what would you suggest? OBTW are you a big fan of Star Treck?
What is it going to take for people around the world to realize what the Israelis already know; you cannot deal honorably with arafat or his people. The 26 palestinian militants who were supposed to go to jail in Gaza are riding around, with new guns, in a hero's parade. I'm sure they too will also be getting a beachfront vacation. And we are supposed to be compassionate because "you have to understand, we have been oppressed." ENOUGH! These are the same people who danced in celebration of 9-11.
Would it do any good to express our outrage anywhere? Who would listen and/or do anything? Kofi, yea right! What can we do?
Better yet, why was ANYBODY allowed to leave before it was cleaned up?
That should have been a condition of their newfound "exile".
I cannot resist passing on this naughty tasteless email I got from a doctor friend:
Akmed came to the United States from Jenin, and he was only here a few months when he became very ill. He went to doctor after doctor, but none of them could help him. Finally, he went to an Arab doctor. The doctor said, "Take dees bucket, go into de odder room, poop in de bucket, pee on de poop, and den put your head down over de bucket and breathe in de fumes for ten minutes."
Akmed took the bucket, went into the other room, relieved himself in it, then bent over and breathed in the fumes for ten minutes. Coming back to the doctor he said, "It worked. I feel terrific! What was it?"
The doctor said, "You were homesick."
I have faith that Israel will deal them a deathly end sooner or later!
They had days to prepare for their departure. The state in which they left the church can be considered nothing less than an expression of contempt for the people who sheltered them and shared their food with them and put up with their crap--literally--for 39 days, under the point of a gun. Who did they think was going to have to clean up the mess? The people who were fit for that and little else, in the minds of the occupiers. The Christians within the church.
And as for the stolen items, there were people coming and going from that church every day, not the least of whom was the mayor of Bethlehem (who with the governor and others was behind much of the pretense and hyperbole in circulation during the standoff, so there's no question which side he supports), and there were also local people passing supplies over walls and through windows to their friends and family inside. The missing artifiacts did not go through the metal detectors. They must have been taken out of the church beforehand by other means. Unless you think the Armenians and Franciscans were lying when they said they witnessed the thefts?
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