BETHLEHEM, West Bank, April 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A Palestinian resistance activist killed by Israeli forces besieging the Church of the Nativity on Tuesday became the first Muslim ever buried in the grounds of the site marking Jesus' birthplace, as the siege entered its second week.
Khaled Abu Siam, a 23-year-old Palestinian security member from Gaza was shot dead at dawn on Monday in fighting that erupted outside one of Christianity's holiest sites, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
After vainly attempting in vain to coordinate with the Israeli army for medical teams from the Red Cross to retrieve the body, Palestinians inside the church decided to bury Abu Siam in its garden, one of them told AFP by telephone.
Around 200 Palestinians, security forces members and civilians have been besieged in the Nativity Church since the Israeli army occupied the West Bank town on April 2.
Civilians are also trapped inside the church or in adjacent convents, in addition to some 30 Franciscan monks.
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Monsignor Michel Sabbah, said last week the men would receive sanctuary if they downed the weapons, which they had already done.
Several other people have been killed in shooting around the church, including its bell ringer.
Meanwhile, as the siege of the Nativity entered its second week Tuesday, April 09, 2002, food almost ran out and Israeli forces continued their pressure, ignoring angry protests worldwide.
"I don't know if the Franciscans have provisions for more than 200 people, or how long they might last," Father Maroun Lahham, head of the Beit Jala Roman Catholic seminary near Bethlehem, in regular telephone contact with the church, told AFP Tuesday.
One of the civilians under siege, Palestinian lawyer Tony Salman, said, "Last night we ate zaatar (bread with thyme and olive oil) by candlelight with the governor" of Bethlehem, Mohammed al-Madani.
