Ending the month-long stand-off, Israel and the Palestinian negotiators on Monday agreed on a deal to end the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestinian sources said as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived in Washington for talks. While details of the deal were not available, the sources were quoted as saying that they had reached a draft agreement with Israelis to end the 34-day old standoff.
They said of the more than 100 people still inside the church, six to eight senior Palestinian militants would be deported to Italy, about 30 others would be escorted to the Gaza Strip and rest would be freed. Israeli defence sources, however, denied that any deal had been reached yet but Palestinian officials were reported as saying that the accord had been worked out by the Vatican and the European Union.
The deal came as the Israeli Prime Minister arrived in the US with what he said a ``serious`` peace plan which he would present to President George W Bush during their meeting on Tuesday. Bureau Report