wfn.org | Bethlehem Negotiations Show Dialogue Can Bring Peace

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For information, contatct:
Fr. Raed Abusahlia
Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
P.O.Box  14152 - Jerusalem 97500
E-mail address: latinpat@actcom.co.il
Patriarchate's Homepage: www.lpj.org

JERUSALEM, MAY 10, 2002 -- Following the end of the siege of Bethlehem4s
Basilica of the Nativity, the Franciscan leaders here said the outcome shows
how peace is reached through dialogue, not violence.

     "In this case cooperation and willingness to dialogue have been the sole
source of this ray of light that may be a step forward toward a global plan
for a stable peace," the minister general of the Franciscan Friars Minor,
Father Giacomo Bini, told the Rome-based Zenit news agency.

     An agreement ended the Israeli army4s siege which began April 2 after
armed and unarmed Palestinians entered the historic site seeking refuge.

     For his part, Father Giovanni Battistelli, Custodian of the Holy Land,
entered the basilica this morning after the siege ended.  Battistelli is a
member of the Franciscan order who have long served as the official Roman
Catholic custodians of holy places in Israel and Palestine.

     "The first impression was of distress, because there are many blankets
and filth in the basilica," Father Battistelli said in a statement broadcast
on Vatican Radio. "All the Palestinians slept in the basilica."

     "Going down to the Grotto of the Nativity, I was able to see that what
was said about the mosaics was in part true:  Some have been damaged. It is
distressing," he said.

     "However, I entered the basilica with great joy and much confidence that
soon everything will be in order," the Custodian added.

     He continued: "There is no electricity in the grotto, there is nothing,
but there were candles. You can4t imagine with how much faith I kissed the
tile where Jesus was born, and I knelt before the crib.  It was a unique
sensation."

     In Father Bini4s message, the Franciscans make three appeals to all
people of good will:

     1. "Help us to heal the wounds opened by this conflict between two
peoples who can and must live together in the same land."

     2. "Help us to rebuild a culture of coexistence, to not be ashamed of
this period of 'our history in which we have witnessed these tragedies
without being able to stop them.'"

     3. "Help us to continue to hope in a peace that is possible, based on
justice and forgiveness."

     The Franciscans also thanked all those who supported the men and women
religious who were confined in the Monastery of the Nativity during the
siege: John Paul II, the politicians and diplomats who helped, and the
journalists, who reported on their situation.

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