Bethlehem standoff negotiators to confer with leaders

Nine young Palestinians are released from the Church of the Nativity on Thursday.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNN) -- Israeli and Palestinian negotiators seeking an end to the three-week standoff at the Church of the Nativity reached no breakthrough Thursday, but officials are hopeful that a solution is closer.

The two sides agreed to a fifth meeting, possibly as early as Friday, in hopes of ending the standoff between Israeli forces and Palestinians inside the church.

The negotiators left Bethlehem on Thursday night to confer with their respective leaderships. Palestinian officials said there was some talk that some of the Palestinian delegates may request a face-to-face meeting with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

About 200 Palestinians -- mostly civilians but including about 30 people wanted by Israeli authorities -- are inside the Church of the Nativity, which Christians believe marks the birthplace of Jesus. Israel contends the people inside are being held hostage, while Palestinians say the civilians fled to the church to escape the fighting outside.

Nine Palestinian children under the age of 18 caught in the impasse were released Thursday.

The agreement to release the children -- and another to remove the bodies of two Palestinians -- came during a four-hour meeting Wednesday between Palestinians and Israelis, and it has raised hopes of a breakthrough in the standoff that has garnered international attention and prompted a public prayer from Pope John Paul II "for a solution to this inhumane situation."

Saudi prince warns Bush

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah delivered a stern warning Thursday to President Bush about the risks the United States faces if it continues with a Middle East policy the Arab world widely perceives as biased toward Israel.

Abdullah met with Bush at the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch. (Full story)

"The crown prince speaks directly, he is sincere and he doesn't mince words -- just like the president," said Adel Al-Jubeir, a foreign policy adviser to the Saudi government. "The message is, if the violence does not diminish there will be grave consequences for the U.S. and its interests in the region."

The prince has advanced a Middle East peace plan which has been endorsed by the Arab League. It calls for Arab states to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal to borders which existed before the 1967 Six-Day War, in which Israel gained control of the Palestinian territories.

"Our two nations share a vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," he said. "I reiterated that all parties have the responsibility to help achieve that vision. The Palestinian Authority must do more to stop terror. Israel must finish its withdrawal, including resolution of standoffs in Ramallah and Bethlehem, in a nonviolent way."

U.S. officials said Bush called upon the Saudis to be a "constructive" part of the solution.

Israel rejects Palestinian court action

Meanwhile, Israeli officials rejected the actions of a makeshift Palestinian court that sentenced four Palestinian militants to prison terms ranging from one to 18 years in the assassination last year of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

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"The Palestinians must be extradited to Israel," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yaffa Ben-Ari. "The killers must be brought to justice in a proper Israeli legal system court."

The improvised Palestinian military court met Thursday in Arafat's headquarters compound in Ramallah. It sentenced one man convicted of killing Ze'evi to an 18-year prison term, while a driver and a lookout were sentenced to 12 and eight years.

The fourth defendant, a Palestinian who knew about the plot but took no active role in the killing, received a one-year sentence, a top Palestinian security official said.

Ben-Ari questioned the validity of the Palestinian proceedings. "We haven't seen any trial," she said. "It's only information disseminated by press communiqué."

Before the convictions, Arafat had offered to put Ze'evi's accused killers on trial. Under the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians have the authority to put the men on trial and are not required to extradite them to Israel, he said.

But Israel said it does not accept the Palestinian Authority's jurisdiction in this case because Ze'evi was killed in east Jerusalem. Palestinians consider east Jerusalem to be occupied territory; Israel considers it part of Israel.

Other developments

-- CNN Producer Tristan Smith and Correspondent John Vause contributed to this report.