Church Deal Is on Hold

A deal to end a 38-day standoff in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, one of Christianity’s holiest sites, stalled early this morning.

More than 100 Palestinians and international activists had been set to leave the sacred grounds at daybreak, with the guarantee of eventual safe passage abroad for 13 fighters on Israel’s most-wanted list.

However, officials said today that additional negotiations over the fighters would be needed before everyone could leave the church. A negotiation session set for today was postponed, and buses parked outside the shrine drove off.

Earlier, just as dawn was breaking, the Palestinian governor of Bethlehem, Mohammed Madani, emerged, accompanied by two priests.

“It’s been a real roller-coaster experience,” said Andrew White, special envoy for the archbishop of Canterbury and a member of the negotiating team, referring to the past several days of talks.

“From the inside, one minute everything looked so positive, the next it looked like everything was lost,” White said.

He added that a suicide bombing that killed 15 Israelis near Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening provided a strong incentive to resolve the standoff quickly.

Under the terms hammered out by Israel, the Palestinians, the European Union and religious authorities in consultation with Washington, 26 Palestinians viewed by Israel as a moderate security threat were scheduled to leave the church first for transfer to the Gaza Strip, a region largely under Palestinian control.

They would be followed through the church’s only exit, the half-size Gate of Humility, by 85 Palestinian civilians. Finally, 10 members of the nongovernmental group International Solidarity Movement would emerge, along with observers, including Los Angeles Times photographer Carolyn Cole.

The last group, the 13 Palestinian men viewed by Israel as a grave security threat, would remain in the church for a short while until deportation arrangements could be finalized.

A key sticking point in the negotiations has been the fate of the 13 Palestinian fighters.

Early today, Italy and Spain were considering taking some or all of the men, negotiators said. The men would have a brief stop in Egypt so that their families could say goodbye. The European Union would safeguard the transfers.

The men were required to sign documents declaring that they would not engage in acts of terrorism. “I hope they will behave,” Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz said, adding that it was doubtful that the men would be let back into Israel.

The deal also specifies that all weapons held by the members of various Palestinian security and militia groups inside the church be initially deposited in a small room of the shrine, Rafowicz added. Other officials said that ultimately Israel will conduct ballistics tests and confiscate any weapon linked to a crime or terrorist attack. All legally held weapons will subsequently be returned to Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority.

Under the deal’s memorandum of understanding, the Palestinian civilians faced a maximum 30 minutes of questioning this morning by Israeli authorities at the Gush Etzion military facility south of Bethlehem.

An agreement would offer several advantages. It would allow a deal to proceed that has been all but done for days, pending a few sticking points. For Israel, it would shift global attention away from Manger Square, removing the potentially embarrassing images of a handful of Palestinian fighters holding off the strongest army in the Mideast for more than a month. And it would free up leaders in several countries to focus their attention elsewhere.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could craft a response to Tuesday’s suicide bombing after cutting short his summit with President Bush.

Arafat would be able to focus his energy on factional politics. And the U.S. could concentrate on such issues as broader Mideast policy and the continuation of its anti-terrorism campaign.