Europe, Canada to offer exile to Palestinian militants
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Several European countries and Canada have agreed to give exile to 13 Palestinian militants holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, who will be taken to Cyprus while the details are worked out, Italian political sources said.
The countries that have agreed to accept the 13, who are on Israel's "Most Wanted" list, are Austria, Canada, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain, the sources, who declined to be identified, told AFP.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides confirmed the Palestinians would be flown to the eastern Mediterranean island while negotiations on their future were completed, adding that both Spain and Greece had offered to take in some of the men.
"A British aircraft will leave Cyprus to pick up 13 Palestinians. They will then be brought back to Cyprus and handed over to Cypriot authorities at Larnaca," Cassoulides told a news conference.
"The Palestinians will stay in Cyprus for a brief period until negotiations are complete on where they will go from here. Spain and Greece have expressed an interest in taking in these Palestinians," he said.
The Spanish government, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the 15-nation European Union, said the final destination of the militants would be discussed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.
An aide to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also confirmed a solution to the standoff had been reached.
Under a EU and US-deal brokered late on Tuesday to end the five-week-old siege of the sixth-century church, one of the holiest sites in Christendom, the activists were to be sent into exile.
But no countries were found that were willing to take them in.
Italy, initially thought to be a possible destination, refused to accept the Palestinian militants, saying the problem needed to be addressed by the EU as a whole.
Thursday's breakthrough came after Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique held separate telephone conversations with Cassoulides and Italian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Spanish and Italian diplomatic sources told AFP.
The Italian diplomat said Berlusconi had also discussed the issue over the phone with US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday.
More than 120 Palestinians remain in the church, where they have been under siege by the Israeli army -- largely without food and water -- since April 2, days after Israel launched its massive military incursion into the West Bank.
The future of the remaining Palestinians, whose fate hinges on what happens to the 13, remains unclear.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020509/1/2p9f4.html
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