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Bekijk Volledige Versie : Israeli dreigt zichzelf op te blazen in Bethlehem



lennart
15-03-03, 16:48
17:39 Palestinians: Israeli enters Nativity Church in Bethlehem, says he is armed with explosives and will commit suicide

17:44 IDF: The Israeli threatening to blow himself up in Nativity Church apparently fueled by personal, not nationalist motives

lennart
15-03-03, 17:30
Israeli couple holed up inside Church of Nativity threaten to blow themselves up (UPDATE)
By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF

An Israeli citizen threatening to blow himself up is holed up inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Israel Radio reports that the man is armed with a gun and several explosives.

A woman, reportedly the man's wife, is also inside the church.

Palestinian sources say the woman is wearing an explosives belt.

The IDF spokesperson, who reports that the man is known to the army, says the man is mentally unstable.

Palestinian sources say the man has threatened to blow himself up inside the church if a dispute between himself and Israel's Interior Ministry is not settled, reports Israel Radio.

Police were negotiating with the couple. The Army says the man has a history of similar threats. The man is believed to be Jewish, while his wife is believed to be Christian, reports the Associated Press.

Large IDF forces are on their way to the scene at this moment.

lennart
15-03-03, 17:49
Israeli man and his wife threaten to commit
suicide in Nativity Church

By Amos Harel and Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondents and AP

An Israeli man and his wife, who had entered the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Saturday and threatened to commit suicide, handed themselves over to church priests. The man had entered the church earlier in the day, claiming to be armed with a gun, and threatened to commit suicide. No worshippers were at the church at the time.

The Israeli man, named by Army Radio as Haim Habiba, was at the site with his wife, who he claimed was wearing an explosives belt. After he handed himself over to the priests, it appeared that the gun that he was holding was plastic, and his wife's explosives belt was apparently made of Purim firecrackers.

Palestinian police officers conducting negotiations with the couple before they gave themselves up to the priests.

Father Barnodos, a priest at the church, said earlier that the couple was threatening to blow themselves up. He said that the man was holding a rifle and that his wife appeared to be wearing an explosives belt.

Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser said after rushing inside the church to try to defuse the situation that the man had only a plastic weapon. "It's not serious," Nasser told Reuters after exiting.

Last year, the same individual entered the Muqata in Ramallah, and threatened to commit suicide as an act of protest against the fact that Israel will not grant his wife citizenship. Habiba apparently entered the Church of the Nativity to protest the fact that his wife, who is not Jewish, has still not been granted citizenship and that his children do not live with him.

A large number of Palestinian policemen, the head of the local police force, and senior members of the Palestinian Authority were at the Church of the Nativity.