JERUSALEM, Apr 10, 02 (FIDES/CWNews.com) - Diplomatic efforts to resolve a standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity have been stepped up, but no resolution is in sight, and "tension is still very high," according to a Franciscan spokesman.
After nine days inside the shrine-- located on the site where Jesus was born-- the occupants are without food and water, and an Israeli blockade prevents the delivery of supplies. About 200 armed Palestinian troops are inside the building, together with 40 Franciscan friars, four nuns, and small contingents of Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks.
An Armenian monk was shot and wounded on Wednesday, as he stood at a window in the shrine. The shot apparently came from outside the building. An Israeli army spokesman said that the monk was hit by gunfire from Palestinian troops inside the building. Father Armen Sinanian was taken to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem for treatment; he is reported in serious condition.
The body of a young Palestinian, killed during an Israeli strike early on Monday morning, has still not been buried. The body has been moved to the coolest place in monastery, in the Greek Orthodox part of the compound. Father Ibrahim Faltas told the Fides news service that he had asked the Israeli army to allow a Red Cross ambulance to take the body of the youth and return him to his family. The military agreed, but no ambulance has arrived.
Father David Jaeger, the spokesman for the Franciscans in Jerusalem, told Fides that diplomats and Church officials "are working hard to settle the question before it explodes with more military intervention."
In Rome, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See charged that the Palestinian gunmen had committed a "war crime" when they occupied a house of worship. He said that the Palestinians were using the Church of the Nativity as a "military objective," in violation of the Geneva Convention.
The April 10 edition of the official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, expressed new fears of an Israeli army assault on the Church of the Nativity. The paper also condemned the Palestinian bombing in Haifa, which killed 13 Israeli soldiers. "The abyss that is opened up by hatred has no bottom," the paper said.
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10. april 2002