Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
Part of the Operation Defensive Shield
Catholic section of the Church of Nativity, where the siege took place. Marks of Israeli bullets can be seen in the upper left corner
Date April/May 2002. Location Bethlehem, West Bank Result Negotiated Palestinian retreat
Combatants
Israel (Israel Defense Forces)	Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades Fatah and Tanzim
Strength
Unknown	200
Casualties
N/A	9

The Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem occurred during the April/May 2002 Israeli “Operation Defensive Shield” in the West Bank. Operation Defensive Shield (In Hebrew, מבצע חומת מגן) was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israeli Defence Forces in April 2002. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1280x960, 433 KB) Summary Photo: Soman Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Bethlehem Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Bethlehem (Arabic بيت لحم   house of meat; Standard Hebrew בית לחם house of bread, Bet léḥem / Bet láḥem; Tiberian Hebrew Bêṯ léḥem / Bêṯ lāḥem; Greek: Βηθλεέμ) is a city in the West Bank under Palestinian Authority considered a central hub of Palestinian cultural and tourism industries. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Israel_(bordered). ... The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ×”×’× ×” לישראל  , [Army] Force for the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated with the Hebrew acronym צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels military forces, comprising the Israeli Army, the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli Navy. ... Image File history File links Alaqsalogo. ... The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (كتائب شهداء الأقصى) are a Palestinian armed terrorist group closely linked to the Fatah party. ... The Fatah official emblem shows two fists holding rifles and a hand grenade superimposed on a map of the land they claimed as Palestine (roughly, the present State of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip). ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Tanzim (Organization in Arabic) is a faction of the Palestinian al-Fatah movement. ... View of The Church of the Nativity from Manger Square The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world. ... Bethlehem (Arabic بيت لحم   house of meat; Standard Hebrew בית לחם house of bread, Bet léḥem / Bet láḥem; Tiberian Hebrew Bêṯ léḥem / Bêṯ lāḥem; Greek: Βηθλεέμ) is a city in the West Bank under Palestinian Authority considered a central hub of Palestinian cultural and tourism industries. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Operation Defensive Shield (In Hebrew, מבצע חומת מגן) was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israeli Defence Forces in April 2002. ...

The siege

From March to April 2002 the Israeli forces carried out “Operation Defensive Shield” in the West Bank. As a part of these large-scale military operations, Bethlehem was invaded in a declared effort ‘to root out militants’. On April 1, 2002, Israeli tanks surrounded Bethlehem. The next day, Israeli tanks and troops entered the city. In early May, Bethlehem was the last West Bank city where Israeli forces were still present in the wake of “Operation Defensive Shield”. They left only after the full evacuation of the Church of the Nativity, which was the scene of a stand-off between the Israeli army and a group of Palestinians terrorists who had taken refuge inside the Church. April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... The Palestinian flag, adopted in 1948, is a widely recognized modern symbol of the Palestinian people. ...

On April 2, 2002, approximately 200 Palestinians fled the advancing Israeli forces into the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. During the siege, 9 Palestinians inside the Church were killed and many more wounded. While the isrelis were preforming a physchlogical attack on the millitants, a fire broke out. According to a PBS doccumentary, an IDF flare was responsible. Frontline Following extensive negotiations, the IsraeliThe Israeli forces laid siege to the Church for a total of 39 days, during which many civilians and policemen left, some of whom were taken into Israeli custody^{[citation needed]}. Among the people still present in the Church in early May 2002 were 39 Palestinian men wanted by the Israeli army, as well as various civilians, clerics, policemen, the Governor of Bethlehem Muhammad al-Madani, and 11 people who sneaked into the Church on 2 May - ten foreign activists of the International Solidarity Movement and Carolyn Cole, a photographer of the Los Angeles Times. April 2 is the 92nd day of the year (93rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 273 days remaining. ... The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ההגנה לישראל Tsva Ha-Haganah Le-Yisrael ([Army] Force [for] the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels armed forces... For information on the Polish trade union, see Solidarity. ... Carolyn Cole (born April 24, 1961) is a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times. ... The Los Angeles Times (also known as the LA Times) is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the Western United States. ...

Negotiations

Negotiations over how to end the siege were arduous and broke down several times. Besides the Palestinian and Israeli negotiation teams, those involved included Greek Orthodox clerics from the Church of the Nativity and officials from the USA, the European Union and the Vatican. Finally, an agreement was reached to end the siege. Under this Agreement, 26 Palestinians from the Church of the Nativity were to be exiled in the Gaza Strip. Thirteen others were to be deported abroad. Greek Orthodox Church can refer to any of several hierarchical churches within the larger group of mutually recognizing Eastern Orthodox churches: the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, headed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, who is also the first among equals of the Eastern Orthodox Communion. ...

On 9 May, 26 men, emerged from the Church into Manger Square, were taken on two buses to Gaza, under US escort, and passed through the checkpoint into Gaza on foot, after having been questioned at an Israeli army base. The following day, 10 May, the remaining 13 Palestinians left the Church. The 13 men were then taken on a bus to Ben Gurion Airport (outside Tel Aviv), from where a British military aircraft carried them to Cyprus. The remaining Palestinian policemen and civilians were released. Later the same day, the ten International Solidarity Movement activists were removed from the Church. The Netanya suicide attack (also known as the Netanya bombing and the Passover massacre) was a Palestinian suicide bombing in Park Hotel at Netanya on March 27, 2002. ... Operation Defensive Shield (In Hebrew, מבצע חומת מגן) was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israeli Defence Forces in April 2002. ... Combatants Israel Defense Forces al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Palestinian Islamic Jihad Fatah Tanzim Hamas Casualties 23 military dead 52 killed (30 defenders and 22 civilians), 685 kidnapped The slaughter of Jenin refugees took place in April 2002 in Jenins Palestinian refugee camp as part of Operation Defensive Shield, a... The wreckage of a commuter bus in West Jerusalem after a suicide bombing by Hamas on Tuesday, 18 June, 2002. ... Front view of Terminal 1 at Ben Gurion International Airport Ben Gurion International Airport or Ben Gurion Airport, (named for David Ben_Gurion), located near Lod and once known as Lod Airport, is 15 km southeast of Tel Aviv, and is the largest international airport in Israel. ... Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ...

The 13 deportees arrived in Cyprus where they were to remain temporarily until the European Union, which had undertaken the will to receive them, would decide to which specific member states they would go. Staying at the Flamingo Hotel in Larnaca, 12 of the Palestinians were under constant supervision, had almost no access to the outside world, and had their freedom of movement limited to two floors inside the hotel, the one they lived on and the one where they took their meals^{[citation needed]}. Larnaca, or Larnaka (also colloquially Skala or Iskele), is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus. ...

On 21 May, The European Union finally decided on the host countries for 12 of the 13 deportees. Italy and Spain would each take three, Greece and Ireland would each take two and Belgium and Portugal would each take one. On 22 May, the 12 Palestinians were taken under police escort to Larnaca airport. In the following days, they reached their destinations. No agreement was found with respect to the 13th man, Abdallah Daoud, described by Israel as “the most wanted of the wanted”^{[citation needed]}. He was eventually received by Mauritania on 25 November 2002.