ROME (Reuters) - Franciscans working for a peaceful solution to a standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity condemned an Israeli assault on Monday as an act of ''indescribable barbarity'' with long-term consequences.
Father David Jaeger, spokesman for custodians of Catholic sites in the Holy Land, who is currently in Rome, accused the Israelis of perfidy for apparently going back on a promise not to attack the shrine where Christians believe Christ was born.
``This is an act of indescribable barbarity. It is a violation of every law of humanity and civilisation. It is a violation of the explicit and repeated public and diplomatic guarantees of the State of Israel with consequences that will be long-term and incalculable,'' he said.
``We put our trust in God and we appeal to the whole world to condemn this act and stop this behavior from continuing,'' he said.
Some 200 Palestinian gunmen and civilians took refuge in the Bethlehem church complex on Tuesday and have remained holed up inside along with 40 Franciscan monks and four nuns.
Later in a separate interview with Reuters Television in Rome, Jaeger said the Franciscans had reported that parts of the church had been damaged in the fighting. They had also seen evidence that the Israelis had entered the building.
``We have found evidence of damage after when the firing stopped temporarily, we found evidence in the church and in sacred spaces, evidence of damage from firing,'' he said.
``Just now, moments ago I am informed that the Franciscan friars found evidence of the presence of Israeli troops inside the monastery. They found documents, identity documents and other bits of equipment belonging to Israeli troops which had been there,'' he said.
Jaeger criticized Israel for apparently going back on its promise never to assault holy places.
He called it ``a deliberate deception, a strategy of perfidy, or (else) in Israeli the army has finally slipped off its moorings and is no longer taking orders from the civilian government. I don't know which hypothesis is the more alarming.''
ATTACK WAS FEARED
Franciscans, who run many of the Holy Land's religious sites for the Catholic Church, had been fearing an Israeli assault.
Speaking to Reuters on Sunday night in Rome, Jaeger accused Israel of putting pressure on Franciscan monks to leave, fearing this was a prelude to an attack on Palestinians inside.
Israel had accused the Palestinians of using the church as a sanctuary and using the clergy inside as virtual hostages, but says its troops are under orders not to fire at holy places.
Palestinians said it was the troops surrounding the church who had effectively taken those inside hostage.
In his address on Sunday, Pope John Paul said he felt close to those who are ``living through difficult hours'' in the Bethlehem church.
Vatican diplomats and Church officials in the Holy Land had put forward a proposal to Israelis and Palestinians to end the Bethlehem standoff.
Catholic sources said that under the proposal, which Vatican diplomats and Church officials had been working out with the help of other diplomats, the Palestinians in the basilica would be given safe passage to the Gaza Strip, leaving their weapons behind.
The Israel army is in its 11th day of a massive offensive on the West Bank following a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings.