Church Of The Nativity: Palestinian Terrorist Refuge AND Palestinian World Heritage Site!

Give the Palestinian Arabs credit for creativity--and not a small amount of chutzpah.

The Palestinians want the church where terrorists took refuge in 2002 to be made into a world heritage site:

The Palestinian Authority has asked the UN’s cultural agency to designate the church built at the traditional birth site of Jesus as the first world heritage site in the Palestinian territories.

The Palestinians say they asked UNESCO in January to place the Church of the Nativity on its list of the world’s most important cultural sites.

No sites under Palestinian control are on the list because Palestinians do not have a state recognized by the UN

Palestinian officials say they hope the site’s overwhelming cultural significance will sway member states to approve the request. A decision is expected in mid-2012.

Tourism Minister Khouloud Daibes said Monday that the request is part of the Palestinian campaign to build their state.

Who knew the Palestinians were such lovers of culture!?
After all, back in 2002 the Palestinians used the Church of the Nativity as a terrorist refuge:

Taking clergy hostage at gunpoint in a church is a war crime and violation of international law. This is exactly what Palestinian terrorists have done at the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, one of Christianity's holiest sites. Over 50 gunmen took 200 hostages and locked them up, half-starving, in the sprawling church complex. Instead of decrying this act of barbarity, church representatives and spokesmen from a number of foreign ministries around the world blamed Israel.

On April 2, leaders of Palestinian terrorist organizations, which are on the U.S. Department of State "wanted" list, fought their way into the Church of the Nativity. Hamas leaders include Ibrahim Abayat, a senior operative and recruiter; Aziz Jubran, a notorious bomb builder; and Jihad Jaara, a weapons dealer. All of these terrorists have murdered innocent civilians.

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)'s Tanzim militia leaders also inside the church include another Ibrahim Abayat, this one nicknamed Abu Galif; Abdalah Tirawi, the head of the Palestinian "general intelligence service" in Bethlehem; Kamel Hassan Hamid, Fatah general secretary for Bethlehem, a weapons dealer and a "money bag" for terrorist operations. These are all Arafat's men, all involved in recent suicide bombings in Israeli neighborhoods, including in Beit Israel, Kiryat Yovel, and Gilo.

After the siege was over, the church was a mess:

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem reeked of urine and was strewn with dirty pots and pans, leftover food and mattresses Friday afternoon, but emerged with little permanent damage as the 39-day siege ended with Israel pulling its forces out of the city.

Journalists touring the basilica, one of Christianity's holiest shrines, saw two wooden altars in the Armenian section and a marble baptismal covered with leftover food and dirty dishes.

The stone floor was strewn with dirty blankets and mattresses, lighters, sunglasses, a toothpaste tube, a bottle of aftershave, plastic bags, cigarette butts, a comb and large cooking pots. A stove and gas canisters for cooking stood to one side of the central aisle.

No one is going to bring up the abuse of that church at the hands of the Palestinian Arabs, are they?
But will they be given control of the Church of the Nativity now?

Don't expect the Vatican to object.

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