Rodgers: Church of the Nativity deal imminent

CNN Correspondent Walter Rogers

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNN) -- After weeks of a tense stalemate and several days of intense negotiations, sources reported a breakthrough Wednesday regarding the 123 people inside the Church of the Nativity. CNN Correspondent Walter Rodgers said that all but 13 of those inside could walk free from the Christian holy site within moments, the rest remaining inside the church until another country offers to take them. Rodgers discussed the apparent deal with anchor Kyra Phillips.

RODGERS: In the absence of the Italians saying, yes, definitely, they will take the 13 hard-core Palestinians inside the church, we have a compromise. Within the next hour, perhaps two or three hours, 110 people will emerge from the church. Again, some last minute details need to be worked out.

But 13 hard-core fighters -- the ones the Israelis call senior terrorists -- will remain in there because they have no place to go yet. They are apparently going to spend another night inside the Church of the Nativity.

Thirty members of the clergy -- 26 priests and four nuns -- will be coming out. Also, many Palestinian policemen who got swept up in the initial rush to refuge inside the Church of the Nativity will emerge. There are some peace advocates in there who will be coming out as well.

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Additionally, there are 26 other Palestinians in there. The Israelis say these are wanted men, but not so badly wanted that the Israelis haven't agreed to let them go to Gaza.

The problem continues to be that no one apparently wants the 13 most seriously wanted men inside the church, at least not yet. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian president, said Italy is not yet prepared to accept these 13, and certainly not all 13 of them.

The Spanish are involved. The Spanish hold the rotating presidency of the European Union. They say they are participating in the negotiations. But the Spanish say at this point they are not yet ready to accept any of the 13 hard-core, most-wanted Palestinians inside the Church of the Nativity.

All of that can and will be resolved. As I said, 84 people inside the church plus 26 semi-wanted Palestinian fugitives will be coming out fairly quickly.

The Israelis have been preparing Manger Square in Bethlehem, lighting it with floodlights. There is one armored personnel carrier.

But the Israelis have moved their big Merkava-3 tank out of there. That was a rather sore eyesore, if you will, standing in front of one of the holiest signs in Christendom. The Israelis are sensitive to public relations at this point.

You can see white privacy screens just in front of the door of the church. That's called the Door of Humility. It has a very low overhead and consequently, humility -- you have to bow down as you exit the church.

When the people inside the church come out, they will pass through two metal detectors and along the blue police barricades. When they get to the nearest portion of the barricade, they will turn right and then they will be transported on busses.

Many of them will be allowed to go home. Again, 13 ... are going to spend yet another night there until the Americans and the British want them or can decide what country will take them.

There are two other glitches. The 13 hard-core fighters inside the church are saying they don't want to come out and surrender just to the Israelis. They want a third party present.

The Americans are not willing to do that at this point, because the CIA representatives don't want to be that closely involved. It is possible a British diplomat may be there.

One final glitch: Who gets the guns of the 13 fighters inside the church? Yasser Arafat insists they belong to the Palestinian Authority. The Israelis, so far at least, have been reluctant to return them to the Palestinians.