A Palestinian gunman was killed and two other people were wounded today in a shootout around Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, which erupted as talks on ending the three-week standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants resumed.
Those talks ended after four hours with no breakthrough to resolve the deadly confrontation at one of Christianity's holiest sites. But in a hopeful development, the Palestinian side it wanted to meet again tomorrow afternoon.
Palestinian lawyer Mr Tony Salman told AFPby telephone from inside the church that two Palestinians were wounded in the brief gun battle.
Both men were evacuated to hospital, with Mr Isaam Jawubra, 20, a member of an armed wing of Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement dying on arrival, Israeli army sources said.
The army added that an Israeli soldier was also injured in the Peace Center, where the second day of talks were scheduled.
The burst of shooting from the direction of the besieged church sent both foreign and Israeli journalists and the Palestinian negotiating team scurrying for cover at the edge of the square.
After the shooting, Israeli soldiers allowed local journalists to enter the Peace Center but told the foreign press to leave within 10 minutes or face arrest.
When the foreign journalists did not leave, troops fired tear gas at them and arrested three reporters. The rest of the 40 or so journalists at the scene then left.
As they were leaving, Mr Salman and a priest were seen carrying one of the wounded Palestinians out of the front entrance of the church, which Christians believe marks the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
The gun battle was the second in the two days around the church, where more than 200 Palestinians, among whom 30 militants wanted by Israel and another 30 or so priests and monks, have been trapped since April 2nd.
Meanwhile, at about 10 p.m. (7 p.m. Irish time), the third session of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed to resolve the standoff broke up without any solution.
"We have still not reached an agreement on an exit for the Palestinians," Mr Salag al-Taamari, the head of the Palestinian negotiating team, told reporters.
However, Mr Tamari hailed the evacuation of the injured today as a positive sign.
"We hope the Israelis are going to permit the burial of the two dead" inside the church, he said.
He described the talks as "positive and constructive, despite the tension from the gunbattle."
He added the Palestinian side has not provided the Israelis with any list of the people inside, whom Israel says counts militants on its most-wanted lists.
Mr Tamari said he hoped the two sides would meet again tomorrow afternoon.
Elsewhere, the army pledged to Israel's Supreme Court that it would feed and provide medicine to priests trapped inside the church, but not to Palestinians also confined there, a court source said.
Only a few hours before today’s shootout, three Palestinians, including a man seriously wounded by Israeli fire late yesterday, were evacuated from the compound under an agreement with the Israeli army.
"He was wounded at night and we agreed that he be transported to a hospital," said Mr Tamari, who described the man's condition as serious.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the man was "on the list of those wanted to be interrogated."
Also today , two sick Palestinian policemen were allowed to leave the church after surrendering to the Israeli forces, Palestinian sources said.
During Israeli-Palestinian negotiations last night, the two parties agreed to evacuate four sick Palestinians, two of whom still remained inside the church this afternoon.
But Israel turned down a Palestinian request for food to be delivered to the church's opponents, who are reportedly desperately short of water and other supplies.
The negotiations over the standoff, which has drawn condemnation from religious leaders world-wide, resumed one day after Israel rejected a Palestinian proposal to move the alleged militants to the Gaza Strip, where they could be put on trial.
Israel had earlier set two conditions: either sending the militants into permanent exile or put them on trial in Israel.
Both conditions were turned down by the Palestinians, who came up with the Gaza counter-proposal yesterday.
Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon has ruled out storming the church by force, but insists that the army will not move until it arrests or evicts Palestinians who are on its wanted list and hiding on the site where Jesus Christ is believed to have been born.
AFP
