HIGHLIGHTS: Palestinian Resistance Men Leave Church Waving V-Signs|| Arduous Negotiations Characterized the Effort to Defuse the Standoff||Amongst the 13 Exiles is Bethlehem Intelligence Chief Abdullah Daoud,||Hamas & FATAH Criticize Arafat for Accepting Deal||STORY: Palestinian Resistance men, walked out of the Church of the Nativity on Friday, marking the end of a 39-day standoff with Israeli occupation troops at the Church of Nativity at Bethlehem. (Read photo caption)

The men emerged one by one from the basilica's main door, into Manger Square. Two were brought out on stretchers, and one man briefly dropped to the ground, kneeling in a Muslim thanks-giving prayer pose.

In a deal reached Thursday with European negotiators, the 13 Palestinians were being expelled to European countries and another 26 were being transferred to the Gaza Strip. Eighty-five Palestinian civilians and policemen were to be released, while 10 pro-Palestinian activists who slipped into the church were also being expelled.

The arrangement cleared the way for Israeli occupation forces to withdraw from the last West Bank city they occupy, but did not spell an end to Palestinian-Israeli bloodshed. Even as the evacuation took place, Israeli tanks stood poised outside the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected retaliatory attack for a Resistance bombing that killed 15 Israelis.

ARDOUS NEGOTIATIONS

The crisis began April 2, when more than 200 people fled into the church ahead of Israeli troops invading the biblical town. At first Israel insisted that the Resistance men among them must surrender, but dropped that demand when the Palestinians agreed that 13 of the senior militants would be expelled and others sent to Gaza.

Arduous negotiations characterized the effort to defuse the standoff until a breakthrough came Thursday.

Early Friday the first Palestinian emerged - Bethlehem intelligence chief Abdullah Daoud, the most senior in the group and slated for exile. Militiaman Jihad Jaara followed, carried out on a stretcher with a bandage on his right leg.

Others followed in a slow but steady stream, some waving to Palestinian civilians watching the scene from nearby rooftops. Several women shouted to them.

Among the 13 to be expelled are nine members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, and nine members of the Islamic militant Hamas group. The 13th is Daoud, the intelligence chief.

HAMAS & (FATAH) CRITICAL OF ARAFAT

Arafat came under scathing criticism from Fatah and Hamas for approving the deportations - a first in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel has expelled hundreds of Palestinian activists since the 1967 Mideast war, but always in a unilateral move.

Eighty minutes after the first Resistance men came out, all 39 had emerged from the church, and were driven away in three buses.

The Palestinians were to be taken to an Israeli military base, where their identities were to be verified. From there, the group of 13 was to be taken to an airport, where a plane was to fly them to Cyprus. The second group was to be bused to Gaza and the civilians were to be released in Palestinian areas.

From Cyprus, the 13 are to be sent to final destinations among Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece, Luxembourg and Ireland.

There was no indication that the Palestinians would face confinement in the host countries. An Italian Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity from Rome, said the details of the exile would be worked out at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

INTERNATIONAL CLIFFHANGER

Israel's siege over Christ's reputed birthplace was one of the focal points of its much criticized brutal West Bank invasion, and ending it became an international cliffhanger of on-again, off-again breakthroughs.

A major obstacle in resolving the standoff was locating a country willing to take the militants, whom Israel had linked to terrorism. Finally, Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides said Thursday that his country would temporarily take in the 13 Palestinians before they were flown to their final destinations.

The United States has been heavily involved in trying to end the standoff. Before the latest agreement was reached Thursday, Secretary of State Colin Powell held telephone conversations on the subject with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, a senior U.S. State Dept. official said, adding that "we are hopeful" for a resolution.

The Vatican had pressed for a quick solution, criticizing Israel for surrounding the church and the Palestinians for taking weapons inside.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian, of the group of 13 to be deported to Cyprus, walks towards Israeli occupation forces, unseen, to be checked after he exited the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem Friday, May 10, 2002. Palestinian Resistance men wanted by Israel emerged from the church, marking the end of a tense 39-day standoff with Israeli occupation troops at the Church with a deal, which calls for 13 militants to be expelled and another 26 to be transferred to the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
- May 10 2:14 AM