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CNN Live Today

Conflict in the Middle East: Negotiations Continue at Church of Nativity

Aired May 08, 2002 - 14:32   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All morning we continue to talk about the send-off at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Negotiations looking at a new proposal to end that standoff. Our Walter Rodgers has been live from there updating us from moment to moment. Walter, what do you have for us now?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra. In the absence of the Italians saying yes, definitely, they will take the 13 hardcore Palestinians inside the church, we have a compromise which has apparently emerged at this point. One-hundred and ten people will emerge from the church shortly within the next hour, perhaps two or three hours. Again, some last minute details to be worked out.

But the 13 hardcore fighters in there, the ones the Israelis call senior terrorists, because they have no place to go yet, are apparently going to spend another night inside the Church of the Nativity. Coming out will be 30 members of the clergy, 26 priests, four nuns.

Also, many Palestinian policemen who just got swept up in the initial rush to refuge inside the Church of the Nativity. There are some peace advocates in there. They will be coming out as well. Additionally, there are 26 Palestinian fugitives in there. The Israelis say these are wanted men, but not so badly wanted that the Israelis haven't agreed to let them go to Gaza.

So again, 110 people will be emerging from the church. The 13 most seriously wanted men will stay inside the church overnight. The problem continues to be that no one apparently wants these people, at least not yet. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian president, said Italy is not yet prepared to accept these 13, and certainly not all 13 of the hard core Palestinian fighters.

The Spanish are involved. The Spanish hold the presidency -- rotating presidency of the European Union. They say they are participating in the negotiations. But the Spanish say at this point they are not yet ready to accept any of the 13 hard core Palestinians, most wanted Palestinians, inside the Church of the Nativity.

All of that can and will be resolved. But that is no longer an obstacle to the release of the others. As I say, 85 people inside the church plus 26 semi-wanted Palestinian fugitives will be coming out fairly quickly. You can see behind me, the Israelis have been preparing Manger Square in Bethlehem. It is lighted with floodlights. There is one armored personnel carrier. But the Israelis have moved their big Merkava-3 tank out of there. That was a rather sore eyesore, if you will, standing in front of one of the holiest signs in Christendom.

And the Israelis are sensitive to public relations at this point. Consequently, the big tank is gone. You can see white privacy screens just in front of the door of the church. That's called the door of humility. It has a very low overhead and consequently, humility, you have to sort of bow down as you exit the church.

When the people inside the church come out, they will pass through two metal detectors and along the blue police barricades. When they get to the nearest portion of the barricade, they will turn right and then they'll be transported on busses.

Many of them will be allowed to go home. Eighty-five of them will be freed very, very quickly. Again, 13 however, are going to spend yet another night there until the Americans and the British want them -- can decide what country will take them.

There are two little glitches. The 13 hard core fighters inside the church are saying they don't want to come out and surrender just to the Israelis. They want a third party present.

The Americans are not willing to do that at this point because the CIA representatives don't want to be that closely involved. It is possible a British diplomat may be there. The Palestinians say they will surrender to Israelis with a third party present.

One final glitch: who gets the guns of the 13 fighters inside the church? Yasser Arafat insists they belong to the Palestinian Authority. The Israelis, so far at least, have been reluctant to return them to the Palestinians -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Our Walter Rodgers, live from Bethlehem. When they do come out, we will be there with you. Thank you so much.

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