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American Morning

Second Meeting Between Palestinians and Israelis to End Standoff at Church of the Nativity

Aired April 24, 2002 - 09:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: "Up Front" this morning, a second meeting between Palestinians and Israelis to end a three-week-old standoff at the Church of the Nativity. Negotiators are now meeting in Bethlehem to find a peaceful solution. And we turn to John Vause in Bethlehem for the very latest on those negotiations. Good morning, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well as those negotiations resume here, their third face-to-face direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Just hours earlier, two Palestinian men, we believe the Palestinian men walked out of the church. They were taken away be the Israel defense forces that surround the church now for more than three weeks.

It's still unclear where whether or not in fact these Palestinian men were the gunmen that the Israelis had been asking for or whether they are just those Palestinians who were caught up as the Palestinian gunmen ended that church three weeks ago or whether they were, in fact, members of the clergy. That is still yet to come out.

And of course, these men have come out of the church just as three Armain (ph) priests also came out of the church yesterday. According to the IDF, the priests held up plaque (ph) out, a sign saying "save us." The Israeli forces responded to that, those Armain priests were then taken away. And one of those priests in interview later on, in fact, said that the Palestinian inside the church had looted parts of the building and it caused some substantial damage.

Now they're not the only ones to have come out of the church in recent days. We had five Palestinian men just a few days ago come out of the church. They were questions and released. We also had a teenager come out of the church who said basically he slipped over a wall. He was caught then by the Israeli security, which surrounds the church. He was questioned and released. He said they was bored and hungry and wanted to go home.

So there have, in fact, been a number of people getting out of the church, especially in the recent days and in the early days of standoff a number of priests also came out of the church.

Now here in Bethlehem, a very tight security here as these Israelis and Palestinians sit down for their third round of negotiations. And in these negotiations, we're waiting for the Israeli response to a Palestinian offer. Now the Palestinians put an offer on the table to have the gunmen inside, the gunmen that the Israelis want, the Palestinians have offered to send them to Gaza and be dealt with there under Palestinian law while that's being supervised by a third party. The Palestinians have suggested the United States. The Israelis have not dismissed that out of hand. They met last night. They met earlier today separately, the Israelis. And now as the two parties sit down again, we are waiting for Israeli response - Paula.

ZAHN: And we will come to you for any of the latest on that. Thanks John Vause, appreciate that report.

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