4月2日午後、ベトレヘムに侵攻してきたイスラエル軍の激しい攻撃に恐れをなしたパレステイナ暫定自治政府ベトレヘム駐在の50人とも60人とも言われる警察官がフランシスコ会生誕修道院に住民と一丸となって逃げ込みました。身近にあり、もっとも安全な避難所として、誰もが思うところです。しかし、ここは救い主イエスキリストの誕生の場所です。キリスト信者にとってもっとも神聖なところです。そこに、武器を持った男たちが籠ったため、イスラエル軍は戦車で包囲しています。こうして、緊迫したベトレヘム問題が発生しました。
イスラエルの新聞では、攻撃命令は、現場指揮官ではなく、直接、参謀総長が出すようになっていると報じています。生誕教会の近くでは掃討中のイスラエル軍とパレステイナガンマンとの銃撃戦が終わったとはいえない状況ですが、今のところ、生誕教会へイスラエル軍が突入したとの確かな情報はありません。
イスラエル軍は映像を公表しました。銃を持った10人前後の男たちがけが人を運びながら、修道院へ逃げ込むところです。また、修道院内部のものとして、右手前のフランシスカン、修道院長ですが、困惑した表情で逃げ込んできた男たちを迎えている姿と、逃げ込んできた男の背中に「PRESS」の文字が印象的でした。それに、イバヒム・ファルタス神父さんが全世界の善意の人たちに訴えていました。「虐殺の恐怖が迫っています。助けてください。」イバヒム神父様はエジプト人で、ベトレヘムのテラサンタ学園とカサノヴァの責任者です。恐怖におびえるアラブの同胞を助け、救おうとの熱意は伝わってきます。
しかし、住民や旅行者を迎え入れ、カサノヴァと修道院を避難所として提供することは当然ですし、しなければならないことです。しかし、武器を持った男たちを、武器を取り上げずに迎え入れることは重大な問題を作ったと思います。彼らが教会からイスラエル軍を攻撃すれば、生誕教会は戦場になってしまいます。また、ここでも繰り返しますが、イスラエルは必ず報復攻撃します。
これまでも、イスラエル軍がオリーブ引き抜き、住宅を破壊し、学校や病院を、また、救急車ﾜで攻撃すると報道されていますが、これらは誇大に喧伝されていることもありますが、事実です。それは、その地形を利用して爆弾テロを、それらの建造物に立てこもりイスラエル住民や軍を銃撃するからです。最近、救急車を使って移動していた最重要テロ容疑者を逮捕したニュースがありました。
ベトレヘムの私たちの修道院に銃を持ったまま、立て籠もると言うことは修道院を占拠し、イスラエル軍との攻防に利用することなのですが、テロリストにとっては目的遂行のために許されることなのです。
負傷者のより適切な治療のため、避難した住民の保護のため、それに、もっとも神聖な聖所の保全のため、彼らが武器を捨てて、自発的に投降することを願います。イスラエル軍は投降者には身の安全を保障しています。
日本では、「有事法制法」が問題になっているようですが、これまでのような戦争を想定しているとしたら、時代遅れではないでしょうか。迫り来る敵は「特定の国」ではなく、姿を見せないテロリストです。人間が世紀をかけて獲得し、確立した個人の基本的権利を互いに認め合う現代の豊かな市民社会に潜み、保護されながら、攻撃してくる敵だと思うのですが。
4月4日のCNNからのもので、修道院で一夜過ごした住民とのインタヴューを添付します。
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Man details situation in Church of the Nativity
April 3, 2002 Posted: 4:37 PM EST (2137 GMT)
Smoke billows over Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity on Tuesday.
Editor's Note: CNN Access is a regular feature on CNN.com providing interviews with newsmakers from around the world.
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNN) -- As many as 200 Palestinians, mostly men, are holed up inside the Church of the Nativity here, with Israeli tanks perched outside and Christian clergy blocked from getting in. The church is one of the holiest sites in Christendom; it is built over a cave that some believe was the manger where Jesus was born. One of those in the church, Anton Salman, a member of the Antonius Society, a humanitarian group in Bethlehem, talked with CNN anchor Daryn Kagan about the situation Wednesday.
SALMAN: I have been inside the Church of the Nativity since [Tuesday] night.
KAGAN: How did you end up inside the church?
SALMAN: In the afternoon, when the people entered the church, there were many rumors around Bethlehem that ... there were problems inside the church. The governor asked me to come with him to the church to see what is going on ... to solve the problem, if there were any problems.
KAGAN: How many people are inside the church?
SALMAN: It's around 200.
KAGAN: Are we talking men, women, children?
SALMAN: Yes, mostly men.
KAGAN: Are they Palestinian gunmen?
SALMAN: They are from the Palestinian police and ... mostly from the Palestinian Authority police, who ran away to the Church of the Nativity to implore protection inside the church after [unintelligible] was bombed and shot at by Israeli tanks and soldiers.
And they saw their mosque, Umar, which is across from the Church of the Nativity, bombed. They were afraid, and they looked for a place to be secure. So they found the only way; they ran to the church and found a place to stay.
KAGAN: They not only picked a secure place, they picked one of most holy places in the world to Christians and put that in peril. Do they realize that?
SALMAN: We here understand our history, and that the Church of the Nativity [has been a sacred] place to the people during all wars. ... So from this point, they thought that the Church of the Nativity was a safer place to enter and ... entered the church looking for protection. They are still inside the church.
KAGAN: What are the conditions inside the church right now, in terms of supplies or if people are wounded?
SALMAN: The situation is very bad. It's very bad from all forms. ... The food that is in the convent in the church is going very, very quickly. ... Second, there are 10 injured people who are inside the church. One of them has very a serious injury and he ... has been bleeding since yesterday. They gave him first aid, but that's not enough. The Red Cross did not agree to come to the church to help or to take out injured people.
KAGAN: It sounds like you are ... going to have to leave.
SALMAN: The wounded people, they need to be hospitalized.
KAGAN: But what about the others?
SALMAN: I think [the situation here] must be [discussed] on the level of the high Palestinian political leader[ship] and the negotiators of the Israelis. The Israelis must come to negotiate for all that's going on in Palestine. And one of the [biggest] problems is what's going in Bethlehem.
KAGAN: But as far as the people holed up inside this very holy Christian site, do you know if talks are going on to try to get these people out?
SALMAN: Concerning what's going on in the church, yes. It's the most holy place in the world.
And I am Christian. I am, myself, a Christian and I am a believer. It's very difficult for me to accept that one day people would be inside the Church of the Nativity [like this]. It is something that I can't accept, and I will not be ready to accept these disasters, and especially inside the church -- a place like the Church of the Nativity.
KAGAN: And so as a Christian, you understand the significance of the site and that in a way you are holding this holy site hostage?
SALMAN: I have nothing do with all of these [problems]. I entered [the church] to solve the problem here. I am a civilian looking to solve a problem -- a humanitarian problem of the people are sitting here. I am not one of the persons who entered the church, [who were] running from the fire, but I entered after that -- maybe two hours after that.
KAGAN: And then, you went in trying to help. Why did you go in?
SALMAN: I think there is a responsibility of any civilian in any community. When you see somebody planning to attack your church, I don't think that you would say to me what is going on. [This is something] I believe in. You must find a solution for that, and the way to solve this is to help them.
KAGAN: As we talk, we hear some kind of guns or some kind of explosions in the background. Do you know what that is?
SALMAN: No.
KAGAN: You can't. OK. And just one more time in terms of conditions there, how long do you think that the people who are holed up there can stay without additional supplies and medical help?
SALMAN: I can't [comment] about [those] things.
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