THE MIDDLE EAST: The 13 Palestinian militants, hosted by the Cypriot government after their siege in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem ended, should leave Cyprus by Wednesday, a Cypriot government spokesman said yesterday.
"According to the agreed arrangement which ended the siege of the Church of Nativity, the 13 Palestinians we are playing host to temporarily should leave Cyprus in the first days of this week, specifically Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest," the spokesman, Mr Michalis Papapetrou, said.
The 13 militants, whom Israel considers "dangerous terrorists", were sent into exile as part of an agreement brokered by the EU, and arrived in Cyprus from Israel on Friday morning aboard a British military aircraft.
Twelve of the militants are confined under tight security to the fourth floor of a hotel in the southern resort of Larnaca. A thirteenth militant shot by snipers during the five-week siege, Mr Jihad Jawara, was transferred to hospital on arrival.
The EU is expected to decide today how to disperse 13 exiled Palestinians among member-states, which face dilemmas over accepting them. The 13 were initially flown to Cyprus, which is an applicant for EU membership, and the EU foreign ministers now face the task of placing the militants and deciding on their legal status.
The foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels today is likely to agree on the share-out among some member-states, but the ministers will have a tougher time deciding the status of the militants. "There will hopefully be a decision tomorrow on who goes where," an EU official said yesterday, adding that the list of host states was not yet finalised.
"There is no ready-made package." But the ministers are less likely to agree definitively on the men's status, he said. "I think it will be a decision of each country."
The EU's Middle East envoy, Mr Miguel Moratinos, has said the militants would be "free men" once in their host country. But questions remain over whether they would have the right to travel inside or outside the EU, whether they could expect state protection and whether they would be subject to any Israeli extradition request.
Only Greece and Portugal have so far said they would accept some of the militants, but Spain and Italy are also seen as front-runners to grant residency. European diplomatic sources have mentioned Austria and Luxembourg as other possibilities.
The Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, said the deal which ended the siege gave Israel the right to seek the men's extradition under certain circumstances - one being if they were set free in a European state which would accept them.
An EU diplomat said the conditions under which the men are granted residency would depend on their history. "The 13 men have different backgrounds - some are accused by Israel of murders and assassinations, others are not," the diplomat said.
A spokeswoman for the EU foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, said despite the thorny issue of where to place the exiles, the agreement that ended the siege had created an opportunity to move towards a Middle East peace conference proposed for the summer. "We solved a major stumbling block that was preventing a ceasefire and a conference," Ms Christina Gallach said.
Today's agenda will include the possible peace conference and ways to help rebuild the Palestinian authority, she added.