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Franciscans Condemn Attack on Nativity Church, London Calls It Unacceptable
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Nativity church bombed by Israeli occupation forces |
ROME, April 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel's attack on Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity is "a horrible and barbaric act", a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Franciscan order told the Vatican news agency Fides Monday, April 8.
David Jaeger, a priest who himself is an Israeli national, said that the attack threatened to have what he termed "unimaginable consequences.”
"This attack, this violence against a holy site is incredible. I no longer recognize my country," Jaeger said.
Fighting erupted again early Monday around the besieged church, one of Christianity's holiest sites, where some 200 Palestinian resistance activists and others have been trapped by surrounding Israeli occupation forces since last Tuesday.
A Palestinian died and two Israelis were wounded in the latest violence that also left a building next to the church ablaze.
The Franciscans of the Holy Land share official custody of the church together with the Greek and Armenian Orthodox Churches.
Meanwhile, in London, Britain's foreign office minister in charge of the Middle East, Ben Bradshaw said the heavy Israeli gunfire that erupted Monday close to Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity is "totally unacceptable."
"It is totally unacceptable. It is the latest in a long line of completely unacceptable actions by the Israeli defense force," he told BBC radio on Monday.
"The Israelis are playing an extremely dangerous game. They are continuing to defy the United States, not only President [George W.] Bush and [Secretary of State] Colin Powell," said Bradshaw.
"More recently [National Security adviser] Condoleeza Rice made it absolutely clear that what the international community demands is immediate withdrawal from the occupied territories. That means today."
In the latest development in occupied Jerusalem, hawkish Israeli premier Ariel Sharon on Monday announced his army would establish permanent "security zones" in the West Bank, drawing Palestinian charges the peace process was over ahead of a crucial visit by Powell.
Rejecting U.S. calls to withdraw his troops on the 11th day of an army siege in the West Bank, Sharon said the Israeli occupation army had not finished its work and would not withdraw until its operations were completed.
He vowed buffer zones would be created after the withdrawal, which top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said meant the end of the self-rule Palestinian Authority and sounded the death knell for the peace process.
"This will bring you no peace," Erakat said in an appeal to the Israeli people. "This will bring you destruction."
Sharon's hard-hitting speech and Erakat's furious reply quickly darkened prospects for Powell's trip to the region in a bid to keep the Middle East from exploding into all-out war.
Powell arrived in Morocco on Monday starting a tour to try to convince Arab allies in the U.S. anti-terrorism coalition, forged after the September 11 attacks, to play a greater role in cooling down the Palestinian- Israeli conflict.
Before leaving Washington, Powell had said he was "pleased" with Sharon's response to the demand to begin withdrawing his forces, as other U.S. officials said they understood it could not be done immediately.
But Sharon's announcement of the zones, which Erakat charged meant a return to "occupation," will complicate a trip that Powell acknowledged had little hope for immediate and concrete results.
"I'm not going to come back at the end of this trip with a peace treaty in hand," Powell said before heading off for Morocco, where he was also to meet Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, who drafted a bold peace plan for normal ties between the Arab world and Israel.
"I'm not even sure I'll have a ceasefire," he said. Powell has not said he will definitely meet Arafat, and the Palestinians said they will boycott him if he does not.
Erakat said 2,800 Palestinians had been killed or wounded during the 11-day assault, launched March 29, two days after a suicide bomber killed 27 people on the Jewish Passover holiday.
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