Talks start to end Bethlehem church siege

11.00am

BETHLEHEM - US diplomats have joined talks to end the Israeli army's 33-day siege of Palestinian militants inside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

Hopes of a breakthrough were raised and dashed throughout the day, with Bethlehem's mayor Hanna Nasser saying at one point a solution was in reach "within hours" but another source saying later the talks were "an utter disaster".

Tensions around the church -- revered by Christians as the site where Jesus was born -- remained high with an Israeli sniper shooting dead a Palestinian in the church compound and an explosion in what the army said was a Palestinian bomb factory in a nearby building close to Manger Square.

The Bethlehem church standoff has now become the focal point of the confrontation as the Israeli army scaled back its biggest offensive in 20 years.

Both sides were weighing a US proposal for a Middle East conference to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the peace table and halt the violence that has raged since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation broke out 19 months ago.

But in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Israel should first withdraw from re-occupied Palestinian areas before there could be any discussion of a peace conference.

Egypt, the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel, has often played a key mediating role in Arab-Israeli talks. Maher was due to leave for Ramallah in the West Bank on Sunday to meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

The controversy over Israel's assault last month on the Jenin refugee camp continued as the EU said it deplored the fact that the United Nations had been forced to call off a fact-finding mission to the camp.

"Israel says it has nothing to hide, but in the words of the UN Secretary-General, the long shadow cast by the recent events in the Jenin refugee camp will remain if there is no investigation," Spain's UN ambassador, Inocencio Arias, told the UN Security Council on behalf of the EU.

A swift resolution of the church siege -- which started on April 2 when 30 wanted-militants fleeing Israeli troops took refuge -- could open the door for Orthodox Christians to celebrate their Easter Sunday in one of Christianity's holiest sites.

Dozens of civilians and clergymen are also inside the church -- hostages, Israel says, there voluntarily, Palestinians say.

Israel says the militants inside carried out attacks on Israeli civilians and demands they be exiled or stand trial in the Jewish state. Palestinian officials reject such proposals but say they will accept the men's detention under foreign supervision.

The body of the shot man was brought out of the church on a stretcher by two monks. Palestinians said he was a member of the Palestinian Force 17 presidential guard. An Israeli military source said he was a wanted militant behind attacks on Israelis.

Israel's army said it had found a makeshift bomb factory in a clinic near Manger Square. The discovery came after a 13-year-old boy was hurt when a device he handled exploded.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli troops and tanks entered Tulkarm before dawn and searched several houses before pulling out, witnesses said. No arrests or fighting were reported.

In the Gaza Strip, soldiers shot dead a Palestinian security officer during what Palestinian witnesses said was an incursion north of the Khan Younis refugee camp. The army denied any incursion but said soldiers killed an armed Palestinian who fired at them at a checkpoint near a Jewish settlement.

On the diplomatic front, US Secretary of State Colin Powell's announcement of plans for a new peace conference drew a wary reply from Israel but was welcomed by Arafat, who Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejects as a peace partner.

"It is an idea that we welcome. But it has not been agreed upon and we have not been officially notified," Arafat said.

No venue or date has been set for the conference, although Israeli media reported it may take place in Turkey this summer.

"Israel is certainly interested in the resumption of the peace process...the big question still is are the Palestinians ready to put an end to the strategy of terror against the state of Israel?" Israeli Foreign Ministry official Arieh Mekel said.

Sharon will seek more details on the plan when he meets US President George W. Bush at the White House on Tuesday, Makel said.

The White House tried to lower expectations, saying the conference would not be empowered to propose a final peace deal.

Foreign ministers of the Arab League were due to meet in Cairo next week to follow up on a Saudi-inspired plan which offers Israel normal relations if it withdraws from all occupied Arab land, accepts a Palestinian state and accepts the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

At least 1,340 Palestinians and 459 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.

Feature: Middle East

Map

History of the conflict

UN: Information on the Question of Palestine

Israel's Permanent Mission to the UN

Palestine's Permanent Observer Mission to the UN

Middle East Daily

Arabic News

Arabic Media Internet Network

Jerusalem Post

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US Department of State - Middle East Peace Process

The Mitchell Plan (May 23, 2001)

The Tenet Plan (June 13, 2001)