Colin Powell Spoke on the Phone with the Prime Minister of Italy - 2002-05-07

Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, spoke on the phone with Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy, in an effort to resolve the deadlock surrounding the siege of the Church of the Nativity. Earlier, Israel had stated that the implementation of an agreement made with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, to end the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem would be delayed because no country was willing to accept 13 Palestinian militants who were besieged inside the church. Israel claims it wants these 13 Palestinians to be exiled to Italy. However, the Italian government stated that it had not been consulted about this agreement with Italian officials and that the country does not welcome the exile of Palestinian militants to any part of Italy. According to the proposed plan, 13 Palestinian militants inside the Church of the Nativity would be exiled to Italy, and 26 of them to the Gaza Strip. Last month, following the entry of Israeli soldiers and tanks into Bethlehem, about 200 Palestinians, including an unknown number of armed men, sought refuge in the Church of the Nativity and were besieged there by Israeli forces.