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Orthodox Good Friday Sees Empty Bethlehem; Many Wait for Peace

Aired May 03, 2002 - 13:12   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the Middle East right now. It is Good Friday on the Orthodox calendar, and normally, streets in the holy city of Bethlehem would be packed with churchgoers. The situation this year anything but normal.

The scene now from Walter Rodgers, who's reporting again from the town of Bethlehem and more.

Walter, good evening.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

It's less than a happy Easter for Orthodox Christians here in Bethlehem, the city of Jesus' birth. They are locked out of the Church of the Nativity, they cannot get there. Many of them would be thronging that church at this hour for Good Friday services. They cannot get there because Israeli tanks and armored vehicles ring the Church of the Nativity; from the outside they cannot get in, because Palestinian gunmen are inside, and the Palestinians have used that church over the past several weeks as a fortress of sorts to shoot at the Israelis whose are on the outside.

Currently, however, what we have is a situation which seems to be that both the Israelis and the Palestinians are struggling to achieve a kind of high ground, a moral high ground in this crisis. The Palestinians are now latching upon the fact that the Israelis have been less than generous in allowing food in to the people who are inside that church, dozens and dozens of people. The Israelis have allowed meals into the priest, nuns, and monks, but, of course, the Israelis did say that the gunmen inside the church, the Palestinians who are commanding it, have taken the food away from the clergy inside the church.

The Israelis point to the fact that the Palestinians have generally lost the moral high ground in recent weeks because of the rash of suicide bombings, and now there are efforts by the Palestinians to try to manipulate the situation here in such a way that they can reachieve the moral high ground -- the Palestinians trying to persuade the world that Israel is generous. Indeed, the Palestinians are trying to vilify the Israelis by suggesting the Israelis are trying to starve out the people inside that church.

There was an attempt to bring some people out of the church today, people who were said to be so weak some had to be carried out on stretchers for lack of nourishment.

Also, there was a brief meeting in the afternoon here in Bethlehem between the Israeli negotiators and the Palestinian negotiators. According to the Palestinians, the Israelis did agree to allow more food inside the church.

But the ultimate resolution of this crisis not going to be here in Bethlehem; it is going to come from Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. He is calling all the shots -- Bill.

HEMMER: Walter Rodgers, in Bethlehem, thank you.

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