Palestinian militants to remain in the Union

Date: 04/11/04

A group of Palestinian militants expelled by Israel after the 2002 siege at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity is to be allowed to remain on EU territory for a third consecutive year.

EU foreign ministers have agreed that the permits under which the 12 men were accepted into a particular member state following the 39-day siege at one of Christianity's holy sites should be extended for another 12 months.

The position had been drafted at the working group on the Middle East peace process at the Council of Ministers.

Israeli sources say they are willing to accept this extension; one said there appeared to be "no other solution" to how the question of the men's exile should be handled.

Israel accuses the men of belonging to Hamas and the Al Aqsa brigades - both of which appear on the Union's list of proscribed terrorist organizations.

But Ariel Sharon's government has no intention of seeking their extradition, according to Israeli officials.

The men were initially admitted to the Union for a one-year period following two weeks of intense negotiations in May 2002.

Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland, Belgium and Portugal were, however, the only states that would accept them.

Spain, then the holder of the EU's rotating presidency, had publicly voiced unease that many member states declined to accept any of the men.

Josep Piqué, foreign minister in the Madrid government at the time, said that he was "disappointed that certain countries often say we must do more to resolve the [Middle East] conflict, but when the time comes to take difficult decisions, they do not take them".

The 12 men were part of the 200 Palestinians who took refuge in the Church of the Nativity after fleeing an Israeli offensive in the West Bank.

Under the terms of their acceptance to the EU, none of the men is allowed to leave the particular country which admitted him.

While they were accepted on humanitarian grounds, the men are said to have accepted police controls.

EU Foreign Ministers agreed that a group of Palestinian militants expelled by Israel after the 2002 siege at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity was to be allowed to remain on EU territory for a third consecutive year.