'Tough Points' Hinder Bethlehem Talks

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were unable to resolve the three-week-old standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity during their first day of direct talks Tuesday but will keep trying, a Palestinian official said.

The official, Salah Tamari, said after emerging from an evening session of negotiations that there were "still some tough points" to be tackled and both sides would reconvene Wednesday. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

Palestinians had been optimistic for a quick resolution, possibly by day's end.

"The meeting ended without any result. It was important, and we agreed to continue discussions," said Bethlehem mayor Hanna Nasser, who also participated in the talks. He wouldn't say if progress had been made in any areas.

The key dispute apparently remained: Israel says wanted militiamen inside the Church of the Nativity must be tried in Israeli courts or exiled abroad; the Palestinians propose sending them to the Gaza Strip under international escort.

Gadi Golan, head of religious affairs division at the Israeli foreign ministry, said he had not yet been briefed on the result of the day's talks, which were handled by an all-military team. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz declined to comment, and his office would only say progress had been made and talks would continue.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, told a parliamentary committee that Israel arrested "100 terrorists of the first rank" in its three-week offensive in the West Bank. And with the Israeli siege significantly scaled back, gruesome street scenes were playing out of masked militiamen carrying out summary executions of Palestinians accused of aiding Israel. On Tuesday, three men were shot dead in Hebron, and two of the bullet-riddled bodies were strung up by a mob.

An explosion also rattled the Ramallah headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Tawfik Tirawi, head of Palestinian intelligence in the West Bank, accused Israel of wanting to destroy a wall between the prison inside the compound and Arafat's office so they could easily enter. The Israeli army said the explosions were controlled, to blow up grenades found in the compound.

In Bethlehem, where about 230 armed Palestinians, including about 30 militiamen, forced their way into the Church of the Nativity on April 2, negotiators sounded more optimistic earlier Tuesday after the opening round of talks.

Several dozen Palestinian civilians, as well as priests and nuns, are also in the church compound, site of the basilica built over Jesus' traditional birth grotto. Those holed up in the compound have complained of deteriorating health conditions.

Nasser, said Israeli negotiators had not rejected the Palestinian plan outright. The Vatican news service Fides reported from Rome some details of the Palestinian proposal, saying wanted men would be disarmed then transferred to Gaza under international guarantees offered by the Red Cross, the Vatican and the United States.

Golan said the Gaza proposal hadn't formally been rejected, but only because negotiations were still in progress. Israel, he said before the second round of talks began, wouldn't accept such a plan and insists the wanted men be exiled outside the Palestinian territories or stand trial in Israel. Palestinians have rejected that plan.

"Our position is that they must be expelled. Too many times, terrorists have been put in jail (by the Palestinians) and have come out again on the streets," Golan said.

Senior Israeli military officials identified eight wanted suspects inside the church, including seven activists in Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia affiliated with Arafat's Fatah organization it accused of a variety of attacks, roadside ambushes, dealing in weapons and other crimes.

Ibrahim Musa Salim Abayat, whose extended family has been among local leadership for years, and Jihad Ja'ara, who Palestinians inside the church say was shot in the leg when the standoff began, were among the seven.

One wanted Hamas member also was identified as being inside the church, Ibrahim Mohammed Salem Abayat, who the military officials said was in charge of organizing Hamas activities in the Bethlehem area.

Sharon, meanwhile, told the Israeli parliament's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that "no place will offer immunity for terrorists," when asked why Israeli forces had not invaded the Gaza Strip during the military offensive that began March 29 to rout Palestinian militants.

According to a parliament statement, Sharon said terror attacks in the strip had been "incessant," but that it was not wise to reveal where Israel would operate.

As Israel scales back its operation, Palestinian gunmen are targeting fellow Palestinians accused of being Israeli informants. On Tuesday morning, gunmen shot three suspected collaborators to avenge the Monday night Israeli killing of Marwan Zalloum, commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade in Hebron.

"The fate of all collaborators will be like this," said a masked militiaman, wearing a headband of the Al Aqsa Brigades, before he and six others sped away.

A large crowd, including children, gathered at the scene. Some of the bystanders took one of the bloodied victims and strung him, head down, on a pylon. One boy climbed up on the pylon to help with the hanging.

A day earlier, gunmen from the same militia, fired round after round into three accused collaborators in a downtown Ramallah square. One died as some bystanders tried to prevent ambulances from approaching the men writhing on the ground in pain.

On the political front, a senior Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told a briefing of foreign correspondents Israel was interested in last month's Arab League peace initiative and that there was some hope the Arab world, negotiating on behalf of the Palestinians, would be more flexible than the Palestinians.

In Washington, President George W. Bush renewed his call Tuesday for a Palestinian state and said Sharon should keep pulling back on the West Bank.

Mr. Bush, in an exchange with reporters while seeing King Mohammed VI of Morocco in the Oval Office, also insisted that Aafat renounce and fight terror. But the weight of his remarks seemed to respond to Arab demands.

"Our government means what we say, and we said that the only way for there to be lasting peace is for there to be two states, living side by side with each other."

On Thursday, Mr. Bush will receive Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, whose proposal for a settlement between Israel and the Arabs already has been embraced by the president.

It would have Israel turn over the land the Arabs lost in the 1967 Mideast War in exchange for pledges of peace and recognition.