Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
Encyclopedia
The Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem lasted from April 2 to May 10, 2002 in Bethlehem
in the West Bank
. As part of Operation Defensive Shield
, the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) occupied Bethlehem and tried to capture wanted Palestinian militants. Dozens of them fled into the Church of the Nativity
and sought refuge. After 39 days, an agreement was reached, according to which the militants turned themselves in to Israel and were exiled to Europe
and the Gaza Strip
.
was sent to block the entrance to the site.
The troops were airlifted into the city and met disorganized Palestinian resistance. Israeli Air Force
helicopters landed the force half an hour too late. When the force arrived, the wanted persons were already there. Dozens of militants, Fatah
, Hamas
, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Palestinian Security Forces
men fled into the church to fortify, along with forty monks and dozens of other Palestinians who arrived at the site for different reasons. In total, about 220 men were in the location. Among them were the governor of Bethlehem, Muhammad al-Madani, and Abdullah Daoud, the Palestinian Authority intelligence chief in Bethlehem.
, opposite the church, and Israeli Army snipers took up positions on the surrounding buildings. They were instructed to fire at anyone spotted inside the church, searching out targets with laser beams. The Israeli government said it regarded the militants' use of holy sites as cynical and claimed that the militants had shot at the Israeli troops from the church. IDF spokesman, Brigadier General Ron Kitri, said: "It is complicated because it is a sacred place and we do not want to use live ammunition. There are several channels of negotiation to try to achieve as close to a peaceful solution as possible". Michel Sabbah
, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the region, said the gunmen had been given sanctuary, and that "the basilica is a place of refuge for everybody, even fighters, as long as they lay down their arms. We have an obligation to give refuge to Palestinians and Israelis alike". The IDF placed its headquarters in a Palestinian convention center named the "Peace Center".
The militants were divided into six groups, based on affiliation. They kept contact with the outside world using cellphones. They slept on the church floor and in the monks' rooms. The restrooms broke several times due to the disrupted water supply. Throughout the siege, Israeli Army snipers killed seven fighters inside the church from their rooftop position. According to a witness, they used green laser beams to find targets during the night. An Armenian monk was also injured. A major gunbattle broke out, causing a fire. The IDF said that the Palestinians had opened fire from a bell tower, wounding two Israel Border Police
gendarmes in a nearby rooftop look-out. An IDF officer said the Israeli troops returned fire, and threw a smoke grenade, which started a blaze in a second-floor meeting hall overlooking the Basilica of St Catherine, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity. One Palestinian militant was killed.
On April 7, Vatican City
warned Israel to respect religious sites in line with its international obligations. Spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that the Vatican was following events "with extreme apprehension". A spokesman for Catholic monks in the Holy Land accused the Israelis of "indescribable act of barbarity". Pope John Paul II
urged people to pray for peace in the Middle East and described the violence as having reached "unimaginable and intolerable" levels. Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon
, said the Israeli soldiers would not "defile the holiness of the site as the [Palestinians] have". He also said that the troops would remain in place until the militants inside were captured. British Foreign Office Minister, Ben Bradshaw
described Israeli actions in the area as "totally unacceptable".
April 16 saw the fiercest exchange of fire near the building since the beginning of the siege. One Palestinian was wounded in the stomach and another suffered from epilepsy. They were evacuated to a hospital. Two Japan
ese tourists wandered into the church perimeters by mistake, and were rescued by journalists. One sixteen year old Palestinian, Jihad Abu-Qamil, ran away from the church and gave himself up to the IDF.
On April 20, the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem called upon Christians worldwide to make the upcoming Sunday a "solidarity day" for the people in the church and the church itself, and called for immediate intervention to stop what it referred to as the "inhuman measures against the people and the stone of the church". It also asked Christians, Muslims and Jews to gather at the main entrance to Bethlehem and march to the church.
On April 23, negotiations to end the siege began in the Peace Center. The negotiations were mediated by the Archbishop of Canterbury
's representative in Bethlehem, Canon Andrew White
. The Israeli negotiator was IDF Colonel Lior Lotan, a lawyer by profession. At first, Yasser Arafat
appointed Salah Tamari to head the negotiation team. Tamari rejected Israel's demands to hand over a list of the besieged militants, but then found out that Arafat had given Daoud a contradicting order. Arafat also appointed another negotiation team, headed by Mohammad Rashid
.
After two days of negotiations, the Palestinians were willing to discuss a possible deportation of the militants in the church to what a senior official called a "friendly foreign country". Then an exchange of fire took place. Two Palestinians were wounded, and four surrendered to the IDF. On April 30, Israeli officials said the at least thirty people would soon exit the church. Israel said it wanted to try them within Israel, or alternatively exile them. The Palestinians demanded that those men be moved to the Gaza Strip
and others passed under Palestinian Authority control for trial.
On May 1, twenty-six people came out of the church. IDF spokesman Olivier Rafowicz said one of them was a senior Palestinian security official. He was taken away for questioning. On May 2, ten international activists, including members of the International Solidarity Movement
, were successful in their attempts to bypass soldiers and enter the church, where they announced they intended to remain until the IDF lifted the siege. The next day, another group of international activists delivered food and water, which were in short supply among those inside. On May 5, British and American diplomats arrived. It was suggested that about ten of the militants would be exiled to Jordan
. Meanwhile, the IDF said it had found a large amount of explosives in an apartment about 200 meters from the church. Between six and eight of the militants were to be exiled to Italy
, while as many as forty others were to be sent to Gaza
. The remaining were to be freed. The agreement fell through on May 8, after Italy
refused to accept thirteen militants. The Italian government
said it had received no formal request to take them.
On May 9 it was agreed that twenty-six men militants were to go to the Gaza Strip, eighty-five civilians were to be checked by the IDF and then released and the thirteen most wanted, including Daoud, would remain in the church, monitored by a European Union
official, until they could be moved to Italy and Spain
, after those countries agreed in principle to accept them. Al-Madani was the first to walk out of the church.
, the British Ambassador to Israel, thirty members of the Royal Military Police
, and a Royal Air Force
doctor. They laid down their arms to the IDF behind a curtain, to avoid the photographers. They were denied permission to meet with their families before their exile.
A total of 8 Palestinians had been killed, and an Armenian monk was also wounded. Israeli riot police reported finding 40 explosive devices which had been left in the church by the Palestinians, several of them booby-trapped. In the parking lot beneath the Peace Center, Israeli soldiers had caused heavy damage to dozens of cars. Soldiers also vandalized Arafat's office in the presidential palace in the city. ICOMOS estimated the damage at a total of US$1.4 million, primarily grades 3 and 4, and loss in urban furniture. Direct damage to the church complex from projectiles and fire was estimated to total about US$77,000.
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
. As part of Operation Defensive Shield
Operation Defensive Shield
Operation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002, during the course of the Second Intifada. It was the largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. The operation was an attempt by the Israeli army to stop the...
, the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF) occupied Bethlehem and tried to capture wanted Palestinian militants. Dozens of them fled into the Church of the Nativity
Church of the Nativity
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world. The structure is built over the cave that tradition marks as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth, and thus it is considered sacred by Christians...
and sought refuge. After 39 days, an agreement was reached, according to which the militants turned themselves in to Israel and were exiled to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
.
Prelude
The IDF expected the operation in Bethlehem to be relatively simple, after the Paratroopers Brigade had raided the city several times in the previous months. The mission was given to a reserve infantry brigade, the Jerusalemite Brigade, under the command of Colonel Rami Tzur-Hacham. During previous IDF entries into the city, wanted persons found shelter in the church of nativity. This time, a force from the Shaldag UnitShaldag Unit
Shaldag , also known as Special Air-Ground Designating Team and Unit 5101, is an elite Israeli Air Force commando unit.- History :...
was sent to block the entrance to the site.
The troops were airlifted into the city and met disorganized Palestinian resistance. Israeli Air Force
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
helicopters landed the force half an hour too late. When the force arrived, the wanted persons were already there. Dozens of militants, Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
, Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Palestinian Security Forces
Palestinian Security Forces
The Palestinian National Security Forces, also referred to as the presidential guard are the paramilitary forces of the Palestinian National Authority...
men fled into the church to fortify, along with forty monks and dozens of other Palestinians who arrived at the site for different reasons. In total, about 220 men were in the location. Among them were the governor of Bethlehem, Muhammad al-Madani, and Abdullah Daoud, the Palestinian Authority intelligence chief in Bethlehem.
Siege
On April 3, The IDF deployed tanks near Manger SquareManger Square
Manger Square is an important city square in the center of Bethlehem. It takes its name from the manger where Jesus was born which, according to Christian dogma, is in the Church of the Nativity, possibly the oldest existing church in the world, which surrounds the square. Also around Manger...
, opposite the church, and Israeli Army snipers took up positions on the surrounding buildings. They were instructed to fire at anyone spotted inside the church, searching out targets with laser beams. The Israeli government said it regarded the militants' use of holy sites as cynical and claimed that the militants had shot at the Israeli troops from the church. IDF spokesman, Brigadier General Ron Kitri, said: "It is complicated because it is a sacred place and we do not want to use live ammunition. There are several channels of negotiation to try to achieve as close to a peaceful solution as possible". Michel Sabbah
Michel Sabbah
Michel Sabbah was the Archbishop and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008.Sabbah began his priestly studies at the Latin Patriarchal Seminary of Beit Jala in October 1949 and was ordained a priest for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in June 1955. He was a parish priest for a few...
, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the region, said the gunmen had been given sanctuary, and that "the basilica is a place of refuge for everybody, even fighters, as long as they lay down their arms. We have an obligation to give refuge to Palestinians and Israelis alike". The IDF placed its headquarters in a Palestinian convention center named the "Peace Center".
The militants were divided into six groups, based on affiliation. They kept contact with the outside world using cellphones. They slept on the church floor and in the monks' rooms. The restrooms broke several times due to the disrupted water supply. Throughout the siege, Israeli Army snipers killed seven fighters inside the church from their rooftop position. According to a witness, they used green laser beams to find targets during the night. An Armenian monk was also injured. A major gunbattle broke out, causing a fire. The IDF said that the Palestinians had opened fire from a bell tower, wounding two Israel Border Police
Israel Border Police
The Israel Border Police is the gendarmerie and border security branch of the Israel National Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav , meaning border guard, whilst its members are colloquially known as Magavnikim . Border Guard is often used as the official name of the...
gendarmes in a nearby rooftop look-out. An IDF officer said the Israeli troops returned fire, and threw a smoke grenade, which started a blaze in a second-floor meeting hall overlooking the Basilica of St Catherine, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity. One Palestinian militant was killed.
On April 7, Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
warned Israel to respect religious sites in line with its international obligations. Spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that the Vatican was following events "with extreme apprehension". A spokesman for Catholic monks in the Holy Land accused the Israelis of "indescribable act of barbarity". Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
urged people to pray for peace in the Middle East and described the violence as having reached "unimaginable and intolerable" levels. Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
, said the Israeli soldiers would not "defile the holiness of the site as the [Palestinians] have". He also said that the troops would remain in place until the militants inside were captured. British Foreign Office Minister, Ben Bradshaw
Ben Bradshaw
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Exeter since 1997, and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport....
described Israeli actions in the area as "totally unacceptable".
April 16 saw the fiercest exchange of fire near the building since the beginning of the siege. One Palestinian was wounded in the stomach and another suffered from epilepsy. They were evacuated to a hospital. Two Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese tourists wandered into the church perimeters by mistake, and were rescued by journalists. One sixteen year old Palestinian, Jihad Abu-Qamil, ran away from the church and gave himself up to the IDF.
On April 20, the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem called upon Christians worldwide to make the upcoming Sunday a "solidarity day" for the people in the church and the church itself, and called for immediate intervention to stop what it referred to as the "inhuman measures against the people and the stone of the church". It also asked Christians, Muslims and Jews to gather at the main entrance to Bethlehem and march to the church.
On April 23, negotiations to end the siege began in the Peace Center. The negotiations were mediated by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
's representative in Bethlehem, Canon Andrew White
Canon Andrew White
The Reverend Canon Andrew White is vicar of St George's Church, Baghdad, the only Anglican church in Iraq. He has thus been dubbed the "Vicar of Baghdad". He is also President of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East. He was previously Director of International Ministry...
. The Israeli negotiator was IDF Colonel Lior Lotan, a lawyer by profession. At first, Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
appointed Salah Tamari to head the negotiation team. Tamari rejected Israel's demands to hand over a list of the besieged militants, but then found out that Arafat had given Daoud a contradicting order. Arafat also appointed another negotiation team, headed by Mohammad Rashid
Mohammad Rashid
Mohamed Rashid is a Sierra Leonean professional football defender. He currently plays for the Norwegian team Stavanger IF, which competes in the third highest division in Norway. He previously played for Moss and Sandnes Ulf.Rashid is also a member of the Sierra Leonean football team, a squad...
.
After two days of negotiations, the Palestinians were willing to discuss a possible deportation of the militants in the church to what a senior official called a "friendly foreign country". Then an exchange of fire took place. Two Palestinians were wounded, and four surrendered to the IDF. On April 30, Israeli officials said the at least thirty people would soon exit the church. Israel said it wanted to try them within Israel, or alternatively exile them. The Palestinians demanded that those men be moved to the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
and others passed under Palestinian Authority control for trial.
On May 1, twenty-six people came out of the church. IDF spokesman Olivier Rafowicz said one of them was a senior Palestinian security official. He was taken away for questioning. On May 2, ten international activists, including members of the International Solidarity Movement
International Solidarity Movement
The International Solidarity Movement is an organization focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict using nonviolent protests. It was founded in 2001 by Ghassan Andoni, a Palestinian activist; Neta Golan, an Israeli activist; Huwaida Arraf, a...
, were successful in their attempts to bypass soldiers and enter the church, where they announced they intended to remain until the IDF lifted the siege. The next day, another group of international activists delivered food and water, which were in short supply among those inside. On May 5, British and American diplomats arrived. It was suggested that about ten of the militants would be exiled to Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
. Meanwhile, the IDF said it had found a large amount of explosives in an apartment about 200 meters from the church. Between six and eight of the militants were to be exiled to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, while as many as forty others were to be sent to Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
. The remaining were to be freed. The agreement fell through on May 8, after Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
refused to accept thirteen militants. The Italian government
Politics of Italy
The politics of Italy is conducted through a parliamentary, democratic republic with a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised collectively by the Council of Ministers, which is led by the President of the Council of Ministers, referred to as "Presidente del Consiglio" in Italian...
said it had received no formal request to take them.
On May 9 it was agreed that twenty-six men militants were to go to the Gaza Strip, eighty-five civilians were to be checked by the IDF and then released and the thirteen most wanted, including Daoud, would remain in the church, monitored by a European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
official, until they could be moved to Italy and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, after those countries agreed in principle to accept them. Al-Madani was the first to walk out of the church.
Aftermath
On May 10, the thirteen men left the church, and were greeted by Sherard Cowper-ColesSherard Cowper-Coles
Sir Sherard Louis Cowper-Coles KCMG LVO is a British diplomat. From 2009 to 2010 the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, he is now BAE Systems' international business development director, focusing on the Middle East and south-east Asia...
, the British Ambassador to Israel, thirty members of the Royal Military Police
Royal Military Police
The Royal Military Police is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK, and whilst service personnel are deployed overseas on operations and exercises.Members of the RMP are generally known as...
, and a Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
doctor. They laid down their arms to the IDF behind a curtain, to avoid the photographers. They were denied permission to meet with their families before their exile.
A total of 8 Palestinians had been killed, and an Armenian monk was also wounded. Israeli riot police reported finding 40 explosive devices which had been left in the church by the Palestinians, several of them booby-trapped. In the parking lot beneath the Peace Center, Israeli soldiers had caused heavy damage to dozens of cars. Soldiers also vandalized Arafat's office in the presidential palace in the city. ICOMOS estimated the damage at a total of US$1.4 million, primarily grades 3 and 4, and loss in urban furniture. Direct damage to the church complex from projectiles and fire was estimated to total about US$77,000.