Israel and the Palestinian Authority have reached an agreement on an arrangement to end the Bethlehem Church of Nativity standoff - but now Italy is holding it up. Thirteen wanted terrorists, part of a group that has been holding 70 Christian clergymen hostage in the church for the past five weeks, were to be deported to Italy, but Italy now says that it was not consulted on the details of the plan. The agreement also stipulates that the other terrorists using the church for refuge will be transported to Gaza. An IDF Spokesman said this afternoon that the deal will be implemented as soon as a third country is found that is ready to take in the terrorists, who are responsible for the murder of many Israelis.
The municipalities of Gaza Coast and Sderot are not upset about the delay in the agreement. They made a last-minute plea to Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer this morning, asking him not to allow the terrorists into Gaza, which is \"overflowing with terrorists as it is.\" The Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) Communities Council has also come out against the agreement, which it says represents a way for the government to \"exempt itself from its decision to dismantle the terrorist infrastructures.\"
Among the 13 terrorists scheduled for deportation are Mahmoud Hamdan, who was behind the murders of Lt.-Col. Yehuda Edri, Sarit Amrani, and American citizen Avi Boaz. Arutz-7\'s Kobi Finkler reports that two others of the 13 are apparently those who carried out the brutal lynching of Kobi Mandell and Yosef Ishran outside Tekoa last year. Coincidentally, Riad al-Amour, another of those involved in the murder of Lt.-Col. Edri, was arrested today near Bethlehem.
The municipalities of Gaza Coast and Sderot are not upset about the delay in the agreement. They made a last-minute plea to Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer this morning, asking him not to allow the terrorists into Gaza, which is \"overflowing with terrorists as it is.\" The Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) Communities Council has also come out against the agreement, which it says represents a way for the government to \"exempt itself from its decision to dismantle the terrorist infrastructures.\"
Among the 13 terrorists scheduled for deportation are Mahmoud Hamdan, who was behind the murders of Lt.-Col. Yehuda Edri, Sarit Amrani, and American citizen Avi Boaz. Arutz-7\'s Kobi Finkler reports that two others of the 13 are apparently those who carried out the brutal lynching of Kobi Mandell and Yosef Ishran outside Tekoa last year. Coincidentally, Riad al-Amour, another of those involved in the murder of Lt.-Col. Edri, was arrested today near Bethlehem.