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Church of the Nativity standoff is no accident
The standoff between Israel's army and Palestinians at the Church of the Nativity has sparked frequent bloodshed in a site that has attracted pilgrims for almost 1,700 years.


THE WASHINGTON POST

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, April 20 — Inside the Church of the Nativity, priests were singing vespers and meditating. Incense filled the air. All doors and gates to the outside were sealed, in a vain effort to insulate the holy shrine from a battle raging between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli army.


‘It was planned this way. Everybody knew that if there was trouble, they would go to the church.’
— REV. MAJDI SIRYANI
Priest to several of the armed Palestinians THE PRAYERS that evening, April 2, were interrupted by a gunshot coming from the Franciscan monastery, adjacent to the church’s ancient basilica. A bullet blew apart a lock to a century-old side door, enabling a handful of Palestinian gunmen to walk in. Over the next two hours, dozens more followed, about 200 in all, until the sanctuary was filled with Palestinians, black paint streaked across many of their faces.
The sudden appearance of a small army of guerrilla fighters in one of the holiest sites in Christianity did not, however, come as a complete surprise to most of the clergy members inside. Many of them had been expecting the visit. They welcomed the Palestinians, asked them to please shoulder their weapons and offered them tea.

“We finished our prayers, then went over to find out what was going on,” said Father Parthenius, a Greek Orthodox priest who is still inside the church. “We spoke to them. They were very tired, nervous and scared. They wanted something sweet, so we made some tea.”
Since that moment, the Palestinians have remained inside, surrounded by Israeli troops, snipers and surveillance equipment that tracks their movements. The standoff has sparked near-daily gunfights, two blazes in the attached monasteries and frequent bloodshed, prompting an international outcry over the treatment of a place that has attracted pilgrims for almost 1,700 years.

CHURCH WAS AN ESCAPE ROUTE
Although each side has accused the other of desecrating the church and acting out of desperation, the standoff at the Church of the Nativity did not happen by accident. The decision by the Palestinians to seek refuge there was part of a calculated strategy, planned days in advance, to map out an escape route from their street battles with the advancing Israeli army, according to interviews with more than a dozen Palestinian officials and church leaders in Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
“It was planned this way,” said the Rev. Majdi Siryani, a Roman Catholic priest in Bethlehem who speaks daily with the monks and priests inside the Church of the Nativity and counts several of the armed Palestinian as his parishioners. “Everybody knew that if there was trouble, they would go to the church. They knew the Israelis would not storm the holy site. They’d be insane to do it.”
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For now, the siege remains a stalemate. Palestinian and Israeli officials have scheduled talks on ending the crisis on four different occasions, but each meeting was canceled, each side blaming the other. Israel has said the gunmen can either agree to a trial in a military court or accept permanent exile to another country. The Palestinians have rejected the offer.
It is not the first time that Palestinians have sought sanctuary in the Church of the Nativity. During the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967, scores of Bethlehem residents fled their homes for the confines of the church. Unlike the Palestinians currently in the church, however, those refugees were unarmed.
Palestinians here said the church was selected as a refuge because they believed the Israeli troops would not attack it.
“The Jews will think one time or two times before going into a mosque,” said the Rev. Maroun Lahham, director of a Roman Catholic seminary in Beit Jala, a village near Bethlehem. “But they will think 10 times before going into a church. It is a political decision for them.” Notably, no Palestinian gunmen tried to hide in the large mosque directly across Manger Square when Israeli troops invaded Bethlehem.

AN ‘HONOR AND MATTER OF DIGNITY’
The Rev. Michael McGarry, director of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Christian Studies, located between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, said the religious orders that oversee the Church of the Nativity have a long tradition of sheltering people who are fleeing danger, regardless of their guilt or innocence.
“For the church, it’s a very important honor and matter of dignity to allow people to seek refuge there and not turn them over in the face of a hostile situation,” he said.
Many clergy members in Bethlehem openly support the Palestinian cause. Several priests and monks inside the church are Arabs; others have spent their careers ministering to Palestinian Christians. Although official church positions vary, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the region, is a longtime ally of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. Israel has rejected Palestinian attempts to have the prelate serve as a mediator.
On the same day that the Palestinians entered the Church of the Nativity, the Latin patriarchate in Jerusalem sent specific instructions to its churches in the West Bank urging them to embrace people seeking protection from the Israeli military offensive, church leaders said.
“I think the priests did expect this to happen,” Lahham said. “Maybe they didn’t expect all these guns and so many people, but I’m sure they expected people would come to the church seeking refuge.”
Forty-four priests, friars, monks and nuns remain inside the church, according to a survey of officials from the Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic churches — the three religious orders that serve as custodians of the site. Franciscan Catholics account for three-fourths of the total.

CLERICS SAY THEY ARE NOT HOSTAGES
Israeli military officials have described the clerics as hostages unable to speak ill of their captors, but those contacted by telephone inside the church strongly disputed that characterization.
“No, no, no,” said the Rev. Amjad Sabbara, a parish priest in the Roman Catholic compound. “We are not hostages. We share everything we have with these people, and pray that they will be able to leave peacefully and go back to their homes.”
Sabbara said the Franciscan monks and friars have provided the Palestinians with the bulk of their food supplies, which amount to a single bowl of rice soup each day shared by two people. Nuns have tended to the wounded. Franciscan leaders also oversaw the construction of two coffins — made of wooden shipping crates — to hold the remains of two Palestinians shot to death by Israeli snipers. The coffins are kept in a cave underneath the main basilica, priests said.
Some of the clergy members are wary about the presence of gunmen in the church. The five Armenian monks and priests have isolated themselves in their monastery and have sealed the door that connects their quarters to the basilica, where most of the Palestinians remain. The Armenians have accepted some small food deliveries from the Israelis, but said they are reluctant to share it with the Palestinians; the supplies are slim.
“We are treating them as guests, although you might call them unwanted guests,” said Bishop Aris Shirvanian, director of external affairs for the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem. “So far they have been respectful to all, but you can imagine what might happen when they reach the point of starvation and desperately look for food or water. They may become violent inside the compound. This is a serious concern.”
The six Greek Orthodox priests have offered the bottom two floors of their monastery to the Palestinians and have handed over five sacks of rice, but have drawn the line at providing any more food from the limited stocks, Father Parthenius said.
He said the Greek priests have enough spaghetti, beans and rice to last them another 10 days, plus plenty of wine.

CHURCH’S ANCIENT HISTORY
The Church of the Nativity was originally built in 326 A.D. on the orders of the Roman Emperor Constantine, after his mother made a pilgrimage to the area. Local Christians first identified the site as the birthplace of Jesus in the 2nd century.
The church was razed but rebuilt 200 years later by the Emperor Justinian. It was also extensively remodeled by the Crusaders from Europe and designed to repel invaders. The stone structure strongly resembles a fortress, with thick walls, a handful of small iron-grated windows and a tiny front door, only 4 feet 2 inches high.
The interior of the basilica is decorated with ancient mosaics and supported by rows of red limestone columns. Most of the Palestinians sleep on the stone floor, where there are no pews or other furniture. People inside the church said there is a shortage of blankets, so the men sleep in shifts. Candles illuminate the basilica during the day because so little natural light penetrates the building.
Underneath the main floor is the Grotto of the Nativity, where Jesus is said to have been born. Priests and monks have held daily services here for centuries, but recently have had to sidestep about a dozen wounded Palestinians who have turned the spot into a makeshift medical ward, priests said.
The Greek Orthodox and Franciscans venture into the basilica and grotto daily, where they keep candles and incense burning, but spend most of their time in the monasteries and convents that serve as wings to the church.


Like the basilica, those buildings are constructed like fortresses and equipped in the same spirit. There are old cisterns that collect rainwater, and a large well underneath the Greek Orthodox monastery. Although Palestinian leaders said the gunmen were running out of water days ago, priests said a sizable reservoir remained. In recent days, the Israeli army has also delivered bottled water — fortified with 40 minerals and vitamins — to some of the clergy, church leaders said.
Perhaps the most pressing shortage is a lack of cigarettes. Father Parthenius said almost all the Palestinians are smokers and are growing increasingly irritable from nicotine withdrawal. Some have resorted to smoking oregano and other spices. “They’re having to go cold turkey, and it bothers them a lot,” he said.
Estimates vary on the number of Palestinians inside the church. Israeli military officials said there are between 200 and 240, but even they aren’t sure. Nor is it known exactly how many are armed.
The Israelis have said that most of the Palestinians are innocent of crimes and that only 30 to 40 are wanted for specific crimes. They have identified 10 of the Palestinians by name as suspected terrorists, including two men wanted for the slaying of Avi Boaz, a U.S. citizen and longtime resident of Israel who was dragged from his car and killed in the West Bank in January.
Gunfire erupts daily in the vicinity of the church, with each side blaming the other for starting the fights. But the Israelis have refrained from an all-out assault on the church, saying they want to avoid damaging the holy site.
Col. Marcel Aviv, the commander of the Israeli forces in Bethlehem, said the military would be patient but would not withdraw until the Palestinians surrender.
“They think if they go inside these holy places, we won’t do anything and we’ll eventually go away,” he said. “But they’re wrong. We’ll wait here until we get them.”
In the meantime, the Israelis blare grinding noises and other unpleasant sounds from loudspeakers set up on Manger Square. They also broadcast messages informing the Palestinians that their families might face harm if they don’t give up.
But there have been few signs that the Palestinians are losing their stomach for resistance. Jihad Abdul Rahman, a 16-year-old Palestinian who escaped from the church this week, said the conditions inside were dire but predicted the fugitives would hold out for many more days, if necessary.
“They are really in a horrible situation,” he said in an interview at his home in a refugee camp south of Bethlehem. “Prison would be a more merciful place for them. But they were all saying they would rather die than surrender to the Israelis. They don’t trust them.”

© 2002 The Washington Post Company




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