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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bethlehem Church Evacuees Celebrated in Gaza

Aired May 10, 2002 - 06:31   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: With the Church of the Nativity standoff over, will Bethlehem ever return to normal?

CNN's Matthew Chance has been checking on the mood of the people. He joins us with a live report. Matthew, you are in Gaza City, and I understand some of the people holed up in the Church of the Nativity are returning home right now. What's that like?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the situation is this: The people who were holed up in the Church of the Nativity, at least the 26 who have been sent to Gaza, have now arrived in this strip of Palestinian territory.

I am standing in this very crowded area. The Palestinians, many of whom are members of the Palestinian Security Forces who were holed up in that church, have come here. They are in this hotel, which is in the sea front here in Gaza. There is some kind of reception for them being held for them inside. They are being met by senior Palestinian officials.

What their fate will be is pretty unclear at this stage. As you know, we all assumed I think at some point throughout the five-week- long siege in the Church of the Nativity that these people, the condition of their being released to Gaza would be that they came under some kind of Palestinian custody, perhaps even face a trial in the Palestinian courts.

Our understanding now is that is not going to be the case; in fact, quite to the contrary. They have been parading through the streets of Gaza throughout the course of the last hour. People have been coming out onto the streets out of their homes, waving victory signs and Palestinian flags in support of these people. It's seen by many here as a sort of half victory at least. And really, these people have come back not to the possibility of a Palestinian trial, but rather to a heroes welcome.

The argument from the Palestinian side is, of course, that these people have done absolutely nothing wrong at all, that they were not charged by Israel for any particular crimes. And so they have no crimes to answer for -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So they are heroes, and this has given Palestinians a shot in the arm to fight any possible retaliation attack by the Israelis. CHANCE: Well, that's right. And that is the dark side of the mood here. It's a momentary period of excitement and elation that we are witnessing here. The fact is, though, that many people in Gaza are extremely concerned about what the coming days or even what the coming hours will bring.

As we know, Israel's forces have massed on the outskirts, or just outside Gaza, perhaps threatening at least it seems some kind of strike into Gaza. In fact, Israeli officials have said that they will carry out pinpoint strikes here. People in Gaza have been making their own preparations, hording food, getting supplies in, in case there is some kind of a siege situation that develops, like we witnessed in Bethlehem, in Ramallah and in Jenin, in places like that.

They are also building barricades along the streets. We are seeing lots of sand, barricades that have been constructed. Many, we are told, have been laces with land mines, also sandbags. Communities across this city are building their own sandbag defenses, not to try and stave off tank attacks, of course. But people are aware that they have very little ammunition to fight that kind of onslaught, but at least, they say, to stop Israeli bullets -- back to you, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Matthew Chance reporting live for us from Gaza City. And I apologize for my poor choice of words, when I said "shot in the arm" -- sorry about that.

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