The deal would divide among several countries the 13 suspected militants, now holed up the historic church, who Israel wants deported, the Associated Press said today. Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides was quoted as saying his country would take in the militants, for the time being.
Earlier, the Franciscan general superior appealed to the international community not to forget the basilica.
Still inside the church are several dozens Palestinian militants, as well as Franciscan men and women religious, and Armenian and Greek-Orthodox monks, who have been shut in there since April 2.
«It is not for us to indicate which country must receive the 13 Palestinians of the Nativity,» the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, Father Giacomo Bini, said in statements to the missionary agency Misna. «However, I extend an invitation to continue the dialogue so that a solution will be found with the cooperation of all.»
