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AP. 8 April 2002. Fire in Compound of Church of Nativity After Gunbattle. BETHLEHEM -- Israeli troops ringing the Church of the Nativity fired Monday upon one of Christianity's holiest shrines, throwing a smoke grenade into the compound that sparked a fire near an adjacent church. A Palestinian policeman, who was trying to extinguish the fire, was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper, said a fellow policeman in the compound. The Israeli military said Palestinian gunfire wounded two Israeli border police officers. Israeli officials and senior Franciscans in Rome, whose clerics are among those inside, appeared increasingly at odds as the standoff stretched into a seventh day. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told parliament hours after the pre-dawn violence that soldiers would surround the church until the gunmen release the clerics, whom he described as hostages, and surrender. The Franciscans, however, accused Israel of violating a pledge not to attack the church. They maintained that the clerics aren't hostages and will remain in the compound throughout the standoff. The fire burned in a second-floor meeting hall above the courtyard of St. Katherine's, a Roman Catholic church in the compound adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born. The blaze, which burned for an hour before a fire crew could arrive, destroyed a piano, chairs, altar cloths and ceremonial cups. It sent plumes of smoke into the sky, which glowed orange as the sun rose. "While the people were trying to put out the fire, Israelis opened fire and killed one Palestinian whose body is still inside the church," said Father Amjad Sabara. [N.B.] A Palestinian policeman, who gave only his first name, Salah, said an Israeli soldier shot a Palestinian policeman, 23-year-old Khaled Syam, in the head as he went to put out the fire. Palestinian firefighters were stopped and searched before being allowed to go to Manger Square to put out the fire. They weren't allowed inside the compound, but witnesses said they sprayed water over the wall to extinguish the blaze. A senior Israeli officer said Palestinians rang the church bells before dawn, signaling gunmen in a bell tower of the compound to fire on two Israeli border police manning a nearby rooftop lookout over the church. The two border policemen were injured and scrambled inside an attic where they threw a smoke grenade into the compound, starting the fire, the officer said on condition of anonymity. Gunmen inside the compound fired rifles and threw hand grenades, and soldiers returning fire killed one Palestinian, he said. [N.B.] A Catholic missionary news agency in Rome quoted the Rev. Giovanni Battistelli, the Franciscan's top representative in the Holy Land, as saying: "Nobody opened fire from inside the basilica compound. It was an attack carried out by Israeli forces." Father Gianfranco Pinto Ostune, a spokesman for the Franciscan Church in Rome, said Franciscan friars in the compound found material "unequivocally belonging to the Israeli army." A Palestinian policeman, who would not give his name, said four M-16 assault rifles and two Israeli army bulletproof vests were found on a rooftop. Battistelli said the Franciscans, among some 60 clerics inside the church, would stay put to protect the site. If they left, he said, "(Israeli) soldiers would be free to attack." A spokesman for the office of the Custodian of Catholic sites in the Holy Land characterized it as an Israeli attack in "violation of every canon of human decency." "I've been warning for days now that an attack is imminent and on behalf of my brothers calling on the church and the world to intervene with the Israeli government," the Rev. David Jaeger told Associated Press Television News in Rome. "What we heard instead (was) lying - promises day after day, hour after hour from the Israeli government to the whole world that they will never attack." Sharon, who is under growing U.S. pressure to immediately withdraw from West Bank Palestinian cities, said Monday the army will not leave Bethlehem yet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
