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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bethlehem Standoff Ends

Aired May 10, 2002 - 05:02   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: After a series of snags, the ordeal at a Bethlehem church has finally come to an end. As we zoom in on the region, Israeli tanks and troops entered Bethlehem on April 2. And this morning, all the Palestinians, militants and civilians, finally left the Church of the Nativity.

CNN's Walter Rodgers was there when they came out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The evacuation of the Church of the Nativity here in Bethlehem has been flawless. It was as fluid and harmonious as the diplomatic road leading to the conclusion of this crisis was marred by disagreements, missteps and miscues.

A short while ago, the first group of Palestinians to emerge from the church, the 13 Palestinian militants, were met by a Franciscan priest. Those Palestinians in that first group of 13 emerged one by one. They had already voluntarily forfeited their weapons inside the church. They passed through two metal detectors. Again, there was not a hitch. One of them had to pass through several times, but it was not a problem at all.

The Israelis deliberately kept a low military profile, staying away from the entrance of the Church of the Nativity. Indeed, they stayed some 40 or 50 meters back. When the Palestinians emerged through the police barricades, there was only the briefest contact with the Israelis and that, if not cordial, was at least correct.

Then the Palestinians boarded buses, the first group of 13, those who were to be deported, the ones the Israelis call senior terrorists on their way to Cypress. In Cypress they will then go through a central processing and be dispersed to various countries in Europe.

Then came a second group out. Again, no problem at all. It was flawlessly planned and executed, the evacuation of this church, after 38 days. That group, of course, is going into a kind of internal exile. They are going to Gaza. They will not be allowed to return to their homes here in Bethlehem.

After that, the large number, the big group of civilians came out. Those who emerged from the Church of the Nativity are being allowed to go free and after that the Israelis brought out the guns, which were collected inside the Church of the Nativity. All of this has gone without a hitch. Thirty-eight days later this crisis is on the verge of being ended. The Israelis say it won't be long now before the church can be returned to its custodians, the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox and Armenian Churches. After that, of course, the Israelis plan to leave Bethlehem.

Walter Rodgers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Thanks, Walter.

Despite a peaceful resolution in Bethlehem, violence and the threat of violence hang like clouds over the Middle East. A bomb exploded near a bank in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba early today. Four people hurt. Police say two terrorists threw or planted a bomb. One suspect has been caught, the other remains at large.

With Israeli troops now preparing to pull out of Bethlehem, though, the military's primary focus appears to be the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces made a brief incursion into Gaza yesterday with a small number of tanks and troops. Israeli officials believe the bomber in Tuesday's suicide attack was from Gaza and belonged to the militant group Hamas.

As part of a crackdown on Hamas, Palestinian security forces have arrested at least 14 militants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NABIL SHA'ATH, PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTER: Wherever it's possible for the Palestinian security forces, they've been carrying out the orders of President Arafat and they have, in fact, arrested some of the Hamas leaders and some of their operatives, as well. There is quite a hunt for people who may be involved in this last suicidal bombing in Rishon Letzion.

DORE GOLD, SENIOR SHARON ADVISER: The initial reports are that the number of people being rounded up and the level of the individuals involved is not particularly impressive. But Israel has to take measures to defend itself. Hamas has created in Gaza a vast infrastructure of terrorism, which is being used, was just recently used south of Tel Aviv in Rishon Letzion, where we lost 16 Israelis and nearly 60 were wounded. How many more of these events are supposed to repeat themselves until the world recognizes that Israel has a right to defend itself against this kind of terrorism, against these kinds of attacks?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: As you might expect, the tanks headed to Gaza. Palestinians living there are preparing for possible Israeli military action by setting up rudimentary defenses.

CNN's Matthew Chance visited one refugee camp to take the pulse of the people. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Into the Chatah Refugee Camp (ph) in Gaza -- impoverished, overcrowded and a center of Palestinian militancy. We drove through these streets to find residents preparing for a fight. As Israel ponders its next move, there are sandbags on street corners here, makeshift defenses placed in case the troops are sent in. They can't stop the Israeli Army, only make their advance more painful and more difficult.

NIMAH (ph): Our doors...

CHANCE: They won't prevent tanks coming here, Nimah says, but at least these bags will protect our doorways from bullets, we hope.

Mounds of earth tipped across the roads are said, in places, to be land mined with homemade devices to slow any Israeli advance.

Inside her kitchen, Nimah's mother shows me how she's trying to hold whatever little food she can. Stories of drawn out sieges in Ramallah and Bethlehem and in Jenin have taught these people to expect acute shortages when the Israelis are in town. But she says every Palestinian living here is willing to fight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We would resist.

CHANCE: Everyone who has a weapon will use it to defend those who have not, she says -- guns, knives or anything else. It may be that Israel's forces will again enter Gaza to dismantle what it says is a terrorist infrastructure here. In places like Chatah, it could mean a terrible battle in which lives on both sides are lost.

(on camera): Already, members of Hamas have been detained by the Palestinians. Their leaders have gone into hiding and been instructed not to talk to the press. The Palestinian Authority says it is now cracking down on militant groups here. But will it be enough to stop more suicide attacks or a heavy Israeli response?

Matthew Chance, CNN, Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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