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Church caretaker and bell ringer shot and killed during Bethlehem standoff
Associated Press ^

Posted on 04/04/2002 3:00:34 PM PST by RCW2001

Church caretaker and bell ringer shot and killed during Bethlehem standoff
Thu Apr 4, 2:21 PM ET

By IBRAHIM HAZBOUN, Associated Press Writer

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - Bethlehem's residents always knew by the tolling bells at the Church of the Nativity when a mass was under way, when a couple was getting married, when someone died and was to be buried. Samir Ibrahim Salman, who rang the bells, had a different chime for each one.

Audio/Video
(AP)
The quiet 45-year-old Palestinian Christian who kept to himself and spent most of his time inside the dark church was shot and killed while walking there Thursday.

Inside the basilica, built above the spot revered as Jesus' birth grotto, 240 armed Palestinians have been holed up since Tuesday, with Israeli troops closing in and calling on the gunmen to surrender and come out. No one has done so.

At dawn Thursday, Salman set out for the church, gunfire or no gunfire. He did so every day for most of his life.

He was well-known by the Palestinian Christian community, which makes up about half of the city's population of about 30,000 people.

You could see him there wiping the drips of candle wax from the old marble and stone or helping the Greek Orthodox priests with their services. But he was best known for his ringing. Each day he'd climb the steps up to the bell tower in the fourth-century, fortress-like stone and wood church.

He was a poor man. He lived alone. He never married. Both of his parents passed away.

"He was a simple guy. He never harmed any person," said a relative, Anton Salman, who spoke by telephone from inside the besieged church. "He never spoke to anyone, but if you asked for help, he would run to do it for you."

He was only interested in taking care of the church, the relative said. And so he hoped to do the same, even as the church became the center of a standoff. He was shot in the chest and died, his body slumping into a street just a few steps from the church.

It was not clear who fired the shots.

At the Church of the Nativity, the standoff continued.

Gunmen and others inside the church said Israeli troops blew open a back door leading into a small courtyard next to the ancient stone shrine and fired inside, wounding three people. The Israeli military denied the claim, saying soldiers did not make a move on the shrine.

Mazen Hassan, a Palestinian policeman in the church, said he and other armed men were close to the metal door when it was blown open and shots were fired injuring the people. An Associated Press reporter speaking to Hassan by phone could hear the sound of heavy shooting in the background. Hassan said Palestinians were not returning fire.

However, Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz, an Israeli army spokesman, denied soldiers moved into the church compound. Other military officials said there was shooting in nearby Manger Square, and that troops were pursuing gunmen.

The Israeli military prevented reporters from reaching the church to independently assess the rival claims.

Rafowicz said Israel has been offering safe passage out of the church for anyone wishing it, and that Palestinian officials holed up inside "are preventing the people from leaving."

The standoff at the church began Tuesday, when the fighters, who had been engaged in heavy gunbattles with advancing Israeli troops for hours, dashed a few dangerous steps from the Palace Hotel to the Church of the Nativity.

An army video released Thursday showed the gunmen running a dozen at a time from the nearby hotel, their heavy footfalls splashing puddles in the cobblestone path under a slashing rain. "One at a time," shouted one of the men. Wearing military vests and boots and carrying rifles, they ran as another turned and provided cover, wildly firing an assault rifle.

Inside the dark, cold church nuns and priests, among about 60 members of the clergy there, have attended to 10 wounded gunmen and tried to come up with blankets. Two of the wounded need immediate medical care, said Father Ibrahim Faltas.

The bells rang out Thursday afternoon. This time though it wasn't Salman tugging at their ropes.

jak-kl


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Israel
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To: cicero's_son
Anyone who claims to know is simply pushing their agenda. Is that what are doing, my friend?
I am asking who it's going to be to autopsy the corpse. Wanna guess? My agenda is not to mask what is happnin with suppositions, even though I am pretty sure that it was not one of the suckers inside who did it.
21 posted on 04/04/2002 3:53:44 PM PST by a_Turk
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To: MarMema
Memory eternal.

Thanks for the ping, MM.

22 posted on 04/04/2002 3:57:21 PM PST by Wordsmith
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To: pocat
Would the United States somehow become weaker or less of a country if we decided to just step back and let these two groups just slug it out over their rocks and sand?

Actually that's what Bush is doing now, to the world's consternation.

As for your original theory, it is possible, but, using Occam's razor, unlikely. The IDF is a disciplined organization which wants to aviod the PR nightmare of damaging the church. The PA genmen, a band of terrorists and yahoos, holed up in the church because it was where they'd be safest from the IDF.

23 posted on 04/04/2002 4:01:53 PM PST by JAWs
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To: a_Turk
Father Parthenius, a Canadian Greek Orthodox priest inside, said the Palestinian militiamen were frightened but respectful of the church and the clergy. He said some of the fighters are Christians and join in the Masses held there each day. Several wounded militiamen, mostly with light injuries, were treated at the church, he said.
24 posted on 04/04/2002 4:03:11 PM PST by jo6pac
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To: pocat
Israel is the only democracy in that region so we have a vested interest in preserving their country. All the other countries are dictatorships or pseudo-monarchies, which hate each other, but not as much they collectively hate the Jews.
25 posted on 04/04/2002 4:19:13 PM PST by secret garden
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To: pocat
Would the United States somehow become weaker or less of a country if we decided to just step back and let these two groups just slug it out over their rocks and sand? Or would we be better off?

Interesting questions. A year ago on Free Republic these questions might have elicited some interesting and informative comments. Unfortunately, FR discussions of the role of the US in the conflict have now deteriorated into name calling and insults.

26 posted on 04/04/2002 4:20:55 PM PST by ladyjane
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Comment #27 Removed by Moderator

To: secret garden
they collectively hate the Jews.
Another ignorant prejudiced biggot.
28 posted on 04/04/2002 4:27:52 PM PST by a_Turk
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To: a_Turk
Just an isolated case I am sure ;o)
29 posted on 04/04/2002 4:30:00 PM PST by luvzhottea
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To: jo6pac
Father Parthenius, a Canadian Greek Orthodox priest inside, said the Palestinian militiamen were frightened but respectful of the church and the clergy. He said some of the fighters are Christians and join in the Masses held there each day. Several wounded militiamen, mostly with light injuries, were treated at the church, he said.

Well then what side could it have been? Hmmmmm.

30 posted on 04/04/2002 4:31:13 PM PST by luvzhottea
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To: jo6pac
Wonder what's going to happen to the status quo when the American Jews have to answer their Christian counterparts' curious question: "How come you shot folks who took refuge in a church?"

Damn that bombastic callous megalomaniac man!
31 posted on 04/04/2002 4:31:33 PM PST by a_Turk
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To: ladyjane
Very true. It seems to descend into name-calling and insults when they run out of points worth debating.
32 posted on 04/04/2002 4:38:44 PM PST by secret garden
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To: jo6pac
PA Propaganda Machines Results in Vatican Apology

(IsraelNN.com) Vatican Ambassador to Israel Cardinal Pietro Samari apologized to the Israel Defense Forces for the incorrect and false report of the supposed death of a priest in St. Mary's Church in Bethlehem.

The Vatican accusation was the result of yet another PA disinformation bulletin, part of Yasser Arafat’s propaganda campaign designed to besmirch Israel in the eyes of the international community.

Please note:
This apology was not issued publicly as was the false report that the IDF had killed a Catholic Priest in his church. I don't expect to see it on the networks nor in the lamestream. The Pope, himself, should have shouted out this apology for a lie perpetrated by Arafat and his merry murderers. He was certainly quick on the draw to defend the SOBs.

33 posted on 04/04/2002 4:47:46 PM PST by Nix 2
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To: Nix 2
You're saying Father Parthenius is a liar?
34 posted on 04/04/2002 4:56:26 PM PST by jo6pac
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To: jo6pac
Not at all. I'm SAYING he isn't DEAD!!!
35 posted on 04/04/2002 5:06:34 PM PST by Nix 2
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To: jo6pac
And neither is any other priest in St. Mary's. Pali prop at the point of a gun can't possibly be a fun thing.
36 posted on 04/04/2002 5:07:50 PM PST by Nix 2
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To: Nix 2
Wrong church. This thread is about what has transpired at the Church of the Nativity.
37 posted on 04/04/2002 5:11:55 PM PST by jo6pac
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To: a_Turk;luvzhottea
Last night I watched a videotape of a column of IDF tanks rolling down a street in, I believe, Bethlehem.

The lead tank came up to what looked like a perfectly intact newer model automobile and instead a driving by it, the tank drove over crushed it.

The hatred sickens me. I am afraid Attila Sharon is leading his country to extinction, and maybe us, too.

38 posted on 04/04/2002 5:46:32 PM PST by jo6pac
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To: jo6pac
If it was a Palestinian car, it was probably used for terror purposes /sarcasm

If Israel's stock goes out the window, you can bet that US as a shareholder will suffer major consequences in world leadership. Good luck Bush, thank God for the quality of his and his dad's inner circles.
39 posted on 04/04/2002 5:55:53 PM PST by a_Turk
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To: a_Turk
If it was a Palestinian car, it was probably used for terror purposes.

Excellent spin.

40 posted on 04/04/2002 6:02:01 PM PST by jo6pac
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