Israel "Completely Destroyes" Ramallah Church

Saturday, June 01 2002 @ 03:53 PM GMT

RAMALLAH, West Bank: The Israeli army said it had "mistakenly" destroyed the gates of a disused orthodox church near the West Bank town of Ramallah before dawn Saturday, while Palestinians accused the army of destroying the church.

"It was very dark and the soldiers couldn't see anything identifying the structure, there was no sign showing it was a religious place," an army spokeswoman said.

She added that the troops had been looking for Palestinian "suspects" seen earlier carrying flags of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The soldiers only realised the place was a religious site after blowing up the gate and entering the grounds, the spokeswoman claimed, adding that it was not marked as a religious site on the army's maps.

However, residents of Abud village and Palestinian officials told AFP the church had been destroyed by the army's explosives.

Village resident Bilad Barghuti said he had been awoken by the blast.

"All the people of Abud were woken up by the sound of the explosion which completely destroyed the church," he told AFP.

They said the building was an orthodox medieval church called St Barbara's, which was restored a few years ago but not currently in use for religious services.

A statement from the Palestinian ministry of tourism said the church was one of four in and around the village near Ramallah which had historical and religious significance.

The church, which is located on a hill less than a mile outside the village, was used every year by monks for a religious festival, the ministry said.

Archimandrite Attalah Hannah, spokesman for the Orthodox Church in Jerusalem condemned "the aggression against a holy place with historical importance".AFP