The Church of the Nativity siege
On May 10th 2002, one of the most dramatic sieges of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, finally came to an end. For almost six weeks, Palestinian gunmen and civilians had been holed up in the church, on the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born. Witness talks to Father Amjad Sabbara, a Franciscan friar who lived in the compound, and to Carolyn Cole, an American photojournalist who managed to get inside the church in the last days of the siege. Photo: an Israeli soldier keeps his rifle trained on the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem as the siege enters its second month (Credit: Getty Images)