In recent developments in the Middle East, Palestinian terrorists have stopped blowing up Jews and Christians long enough to force them at gunpoint to give them sanctuary in the Church of the Nativity.
The armed men, some of them Palestinian policemen, forced their way into the church after running battles with Israeli troops firing from helicopter gunships and from tank-mounted machine guns.
At nightfall, the bodies of four dead gunmen lay sprawled just off Manger Square, where the church is located.
It marked the first time fighting had spilled over into the Church of the Nativity, one of Christianity’s holiest shrines.
Israeli forces have entered Bethlehem several times during the past 18 months, but they are under orders not to harm holy places, and have kept their distance from the church. That, however, makes it an attractive sanctuary for Palestinian gunmen.
Just in case you were keeping track, that makes them terrorists, hypocrites, liars, and now, cowards.