wfn.org | Christian Leaders Unable to Deliver Peace Message

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Contact:
Fr. Raed Awad Abusahlia
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Fifty Church Leaders Halted by Israelis on Way to Bethlehem

JERUSALEM, April 3, 2002.-- Following is a dispatch circulated today by 
Reuters:

Filed at 5:28 a.m. ET

Israeli soldiers prevented Church leaders from delivering a peace message to 
Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, on Wednesday after 
Palestinian gunmen fought pitched battles with 
Israeli troops.

About 50 church leaders and clergymen drove with olive branches from 
Jerusalem to a military checkpoint on the northern outskirts of the West Bank 
town.

Israeli soldiers prevented them entering, saying the town was a closed 
military zone. Troops entered Bethlehem on Tuesday as part of a military 
campaign that started last Friday after a Palestinian suicide bombing which 
killed 25 people.

``We are here to visit Bethlehem and we want to bring a message of peace to 
Israel, to the Palestinians inside,'' said Latin Patriarch Michael Sabbah, 
head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land.

``I think that the fight is over. The Israelis have done the fight, they won 
the fight, so there is no more reason to remain in Bethlehem. They can go 
back very peacefully,'' he added.

Reiterating the area was closed, the army said it did not want to risk the 
clergymen's lives.

Church leaders have expressed grave concern over the situation in Bethlehem 
after Israeli troops thrust into the town as part of what Israel says is a 
campaign to halt the wave of suicide bombings and isolate Palestinian leader 
Yasser Arafat.

At least seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers as they fought 
outgunned Palestinians who tried to hold back scores of tanks and armored 
vehicles, witnesses said.

Israeli troops ringed the Church of the Nativity, built on the site where 
Christians believe Jesus was born, after scores of Palestinians, some wounded 
gunmen, took refuge inside.

The Israeli army said the Palestinian gunmen were firing from the church. The 
Palestinians denied that.

``We told them (the Israelis), we are not here to demonstrate. We are here to 
make peace, to ask them to withdraw immediately from Bethlehem,'' said 
Anglican Archbishop Riah Abu al-Assal before they turned back to Jerusalem.

-End-