HIGHLIGHTS: More Than a Dozen Palestinians Killed at Church Siege Since April, 2, 2002 - Talks Between Two Sides Come to Standstill - Living Conditions Inside Church Appalling. (Read photo caption within).

STORY: A Palestinian Resistance man holed up in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was shot and killed by Israeli occupation troops Monday after negotiations to end a standoff at the church foundered. Palestinians identified the man as Nidal Aweiba, 30, a member of the militant Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Israeli tanks moved into Bethlehem April 2 and pursued Resistance men to the holy site. Israeli snipers surrounding the church occasionally shoot at Palestinians inside. More than a dozen Palestinians - some of them civilians - have been killed in or around the church by Israeli occupation troops.

Monday's shooting came as talks between Palestinian and Israeli officials came to a standstill, with no new talks planned.
Palestinians were trying to get the Americans to intervene to help solve the dispute.

Food stores are low and sanitary conditions are appalling, according to those who have left.

PHOTO CAPTION

Four Palestinan negotiators have a discussion on Manger Square as Tony Salman re-enters Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity at the end of afternoon talks with Israel Sunday April 28, 2002. Salman, a fellow negotiator, has been holed up inside the church along with Palestinian gunmen for twenty six days. The four chief negotiators, from left, are Imad Nasheh, Mitri Abu Aita, Salah Tamri, and Bethlehem mayor Hanna Nasser. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
- Apr 28 4:19 PM