Israel’s Defense Minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, said Sunday that Israel would request the extradition of the 13 exiled Palestinians who had been holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
Cyprus said earlier in the day that the 13, temporarily located in its territory as part of the deal to end the five-week siege at the church, would have to leave by next Wednesday. Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said "there is an agreement which will be implemented and that says they have to move on by early this week," he said.
Asked if that meant they would be gone by Monday, he added: "I would say by Tuesday or Wednesday, at the very latest." European Union foreign ministers were due to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss where to disperse the fighters, who left the church compound Friday.
Meanwhile, the first masses since the end of the Israeli siege were celebrated Sunday at the Church where a senior clergyman blasted Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory as "the root of evil" in the Middle East.
"As long as the root of evil is there, the violence will stay. The root of evil is the Israeli occupation," the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Monsignor Michel Sabbah, told a special mass.
"More important than condemnations, it is action which is necessary," Sabbah said. "We need for the two partners, Israelis and Palestinians, to show their courage and pull out the roots of evil and put and end to the occupation."
Sabbah was speaking to nearly 1,000 worshippers gathered at the church at one of the first special masses being held to reconsecrate the holy ground after the standoff which claimed the lives of eight Palestinians. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
