The day after

Even as the 13 Palestinian militants considered 8216;8216;highly dangerous8217;8217; by Israel, who spent five weeks cornered by tanks and snipers at Bethlehem8217;s Church of the Nativity, arrived in Cyprus on Saturday to start the first part of their exile at a sea-front hotel, they left one of Christianity8217;s holiest places behind in a shocking mess.

The overwhelming stench of urine was the first thing to hit visitors who entered the shrine in Bethlehem after the standoff between Palestinian militants and the Israeli Army came to an end.

Garbage bags, lemon peels, gas canisters, petrol cans and electric hotplates were scattered throughout the church off Manger Square. Altars, the sacred focus of Christian worship, covered with food scraps. 8216;8216;It8217;s not a church anymore, it8217;s a place filled with beds and trash,8217;8217; said Sandy Shahin, a local teenager who rushed into the church minutes after the end of the siege on Friday. 8216;8216;The smell is too bad. The floor is too bad. I8217;m filled with fear,8217;8217; Shahin, a Roman Catholic, said between sobs.