Wednesday April 3, 11:25 AM
Israel prevents church heads entering Bethlehem

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers are preventing Church leaders from delivering a peace message to Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, after Palestinian gunmen fought pitched battles with Israeli troops.


About 50 church leaders and clergymen drove with olive branches from Jerusalem to a military checkpoint on the northern outskirts of the West Bank town.


Israeli soldiers prevented them entering, saying the town was a closed military zone. Troops entered Bethlehem on Tuesday as part of a military campaign that started last Friday after a Palestinian suicide bombing which killed 25 people.


"We are here to visit Bethlehem and we want to bring a message of peace to Israel, to the Palestinians inside," said Latin Patriarch Michael Sabbah, head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land.


"I think that the fight is over. The Israelis have done the fight, they won the fight, so there is no more reason to remain in Bethlehem. They can go back very peacefully," he added.


Reiterating the area was closed, the army said it did not want to risk the clergymen's lives.


Church leaders have expressed grave concern over the situation in Bethlehem after Israeli troops thrust into the town as part of what Israel says is a campaign to halt the wave of suicide bombings and isolate Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.


At least seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers as they fought outgunned Palestinians who tried to hold back scores of tanks and armoured vehicles, witnesses said.


Israeli troops ringed the Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, after scores of Palestinians, some wounded gunmen, took refuge inside.


The Israeli army said the Palestinian gunmen were firing from the church. The Palestinians denied that.


"We told them (the Israelis), we are not here to demonstrate. We are here to make peace, to ask them to withdraw immediately from Bethlehem," said Anglican Archbishop Riah Abu al-Assal before they turned back to Jerusalem.