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AFP. 3 May 2002. Foreign pacifists enter Church of the Nativity. BETHLEHEM -- Ten foreign pacifists managed Thursday to slip into the besieged Church of the Nativity, declared a closed military zone by the Israeli army, an AFP photographer at the scene said. They brought food into the holy site here where some 180 Palestinian gunmen, as well as priests, monks, nuns and other civilians have been trapped for a month. The group consists of four Americans, an Irish woman, two Swedes, a Canadian woman, a Dane and a Briton, one of their number said. They belonged to the same group who brazened their way past Israeli guards last month to get into the then-besieged West Bank headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, their colleagues told AFP. One of them, American Kristen Schurr, explained that the group used diversionary tactics in their "assault" on the church. Speaking from inside, she said a group of about 35 people had divided into three smaller groups and taken the soldiers by surprise. She said around 10 made it into the church, while the others were arrested. Georgina Reeves, a Briton who lives in the Palestinian territories and who is organizer of the International Solidarity Movement, said outside the church that "Israeli snipers were shouting at us, telling us to go back. "But we brought in as much food as was possible, and we will stay there as long as the siege ends," she said. An AFP photographer on the scene said he saw the pacifists, loaded down with food, jump the coils of barbed wire and bolt across Manger Square to the church, where the door was opened as they approached. Schurr said the group took rice, lentils, cauliflower, salt and sugar into the church, among other things. A similar bid by the International Solidarity Movement to make it into the church on Sunday failed. Reeves said they were better organized this time, and that those inside the church knew exactly when to expect them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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 ==^================================================================
