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Armed Palestinians holed up in Jesus' birthplace
About 120 Palestinian men shot their way into Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity yesterday, and are still holed up there with the town's Palestinian governor, Mohammed Madani. Elia Melinkovicz, a Greek Orthodox priest from Yugoslavia, said the clergymen in charge of the church have repeatedly asked the Palestinians to leave. "We told them it's forbidden to enter the church with weapons," he told the Associated Press.

Israeli soldiers have the church surrounded, and a tank sits at the edge of Manger Square, but they are under strict orders not to harm holy places. But that's isn't being strictly followed. "Many churches were fired upon," Raed Awad, secretary to the Roman Catholic patriarch in Jerusalem, told the Australian press. "A Lutheran church was hit and a shell entered the office of the pastor." Hospital sources also said the Israeli military shot at least two churches, killing a priest and wounding seven nuns. (This priest was apparently not Jacques Amateis, who was earlier reported dead but isn't.)

Bullets aren't the only weapons in this battle, reports the AFP news agency. After taking over three Palestinian television stations in Ramallah, Israeli troops reportedly began broadcasting pornographic films on them. "I am furious," a 52-year-old mother of three said. "These are the people who are shooting at us that also play this disgusting trick on us." Luckily, she added, half of the town is without electricity. An Israeli army spokesman denied the report.

This story continues to develop, and reports are sketchy and difficult to confirm (as is evident from the Amateis story). Since we won't update until tomorrow morning, check out Yahoo's full coverage, DebkaFile, and other sources for the latest developments.

Meanwhile, President Bush is feeling pressure on many sides for his role in the peace process. All of Jerusalem's Christian leaders united to ask the president to enter the dispute immediately "We call upon your Christian conscience, because we know you are the only one who can stop this tragedy immediately," they wrote. "We in return will play our part in mediating for the peace and security of all the people of this land, both Israeli and Palestinian."

Conservatives in the U.S., however, think Bush has done too much peacemaking, reports the Los Angeles Times. "A chorus of leading conservative voices has begun loudly discouraging the administration from inserting itself into peace negotiations—and instead is urging the president to give Israel a freer hand to respond militarily to Palestinian suicide bombings," writes Ronald Brownstein. "To a broad range of conservative Christians, support for Israel is virtually ordained by the Bible. Last month, for instance, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), a staunch social conservative, declared on the Senate floor that Israel should maintain control of the Palestinian territories 'because God said so. … Look it up in the book of Genesis.'"

War & peace:

• The price of war | Good guys can't do ransom. (Joel Mowbray, National Review Online)
  
  
• The gods of war | One man's Truce of God is another man's opportunity for devilment. (Paul Johnson, The Wall Street Journal, subscription required)
  
  
• Peace seeker | Through his memoirs, and the help if his writing seminars class, the Rev. John Mote, a conscientious objector, battles an unfair label. (The Baltimore Sun)
  
  

Persecution:

• Holy Week, holy terror | We must do more to promote religious liberty (Charles Haynes, Freedom Forum)
  
  

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April (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46