EU Hosts to Treat Militants as Refugees

Thirteen Palestinian militants freed after a standoff at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity will receive refugee status in their host European nations and will not be arrested or detained, European Union officials said Monday.

Six EU nations--Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain--are ready to take the Palestinians to help defuse tensions in the Middle East, said Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique, whose country currently holds the EU presidency.

“Six countries have explicitly said they are prepared to let these people into their territory,” he said.

Officials will work out their residency details this week in hopes of relocating the 13 men by the weekend, said Pique, who chaired a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

Refugee status in many EU nations comes with a monthly stipend, shelter and clothing provisions, and the possibility of family reunions.

“They are not going to be arrested or detained,” Pique told reporters. “These people are classified as terrorists by Israel, but there are no outstanding cases against them in Europe.”

Pique said Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority has given guarantees that the 13 militants “will comply with the laws of their host countries.” Pique did not elaborate about how such a guarantee could be made or honored.

Twelve of the men were staying at a seaside hotel near the Cypriot city of Larnaca under police protection, while the 13th has been hospitalized with a broken leg.

Although Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres suggested over the weekend that Israel might seek the extradition of the 13, whom it calls senior terrorists, Pique insisted that the Israeli government has, in fact, formally promised not to do so.

Senior EU officials were to sort out an arrangement ensuring that the 13 men will receive the same treatment no matter where they end up, EU spokeswoman Anna Rodriguez said.

The men were among dozens of Palestinians who ran into the Church of the Nativity on April 2 to flee advancing Israeli troops and remained there for more than five weeks. The military operation followed a wave of suicide bombings in Israel. The standoff was ended by an EU-brokered deal.