wfn.org | Franciscans Report Israelis Fire at Bethlehem Monastery

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For more information:
Fr. Raed Abusahlia
Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
P.O.Box  14152 - Jerusalem 97500
E-mail address: latinpat@actcom.co.il 
Personal e-mail: nonviolence@writeme.com 
Patriarchate's Homepage: www.lpj.org 

FOUR WINDOWS BROKEN AT CASA NOVA RESIDENCE

BETHLEHEM, April 12, 2002--The Custodian of Bethlehem's Basilica of the 
Nativity yesterday afternoon accused Israeli Soldiers of firing at the 
Franciscan monastery. 

At 13:30 GMT, Father Ibrahim Faltas telephoned Father Giacomo Bini, Minister 
General of the Order of Friars Minor, in Rome, to tell him that Israeli 
soldiers began to fire at the basilica, the sacristy and the monastery's 
kitchen, according to the Rome-based newsservice, Zenit.org. 

Father Faltas also called the Misna missionary agency to make a dramatic 
appeal: "They are shooting at the monastery and at us." he said.   "We don't 
know what is happening in the Nativity complex, we have heard detonations, 
but we don't know what is happening outside there." 

"They have broken at least four windows of the Casa Nova residence -- center 
for receiving pilgrims -- a window of the sacristy, they have also damaged 
the kitchen, they are shooting all over.... They follow us everywhere when we 
move inside the monastery," the priest said. 

In a statement sent to the news agency, Father Bini disclosed that 
Franciscans have been "denied permission to enter the Casa Nova," and that 
"it is feared that special units of the Israeli army are stationed in the 
interior" of the hostel. 

"Since yesterday evening, the supplies of water and food have run out; the 
removal of the body of the young Palestinian killed has not been permitted; 
it is not possible to provide suitable care to the other gravely wounded 
Palestinian," the Franciscan friar explained.

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