As Islamist groups rage and riot and declare holy war over Newsweek’s now-retracted “Quran desecration” story, it may be helpful, for the sake of clarity, to remember what happened in April 2002 when Palestinian terrorists took over Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and held priests and nuns hostage for weeks.

On April 24, the Jerusalem Post reported on the damage that the PA forces were causing:

Three Armenian monks, who had been held hostage by the Palestinian gunmen inside Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, managed to flee the church area via a side gate yesterday morning. They immediately thanked the soldiers for rescuing them.
   
They told army officers the gunmen had stolen gold and other property, including crucifixes and prayer books, and had caused damage….
   
One of the monks, Narkiss Korasian, later told reporters: “They stole everything, they opened the doors one by one and stole everything….They stole our prayer books and four crosses…they didn’t leave anything. Thank you for your help, we will never forget it.”
   
Israeli officials said the monks said the gunmen had also begun beating and attacking clergymen.41

When the siege finally ended, the PA soldiers left the church in terrible condition:

The Palestinian gunmen holed up in the Church of the Nativity seized church stockpiles of food and “ate like greedy monsters” until the food ran out, while more than 150 civilians went hungry. They also guzzled beer, wine, and Johnnie Walker scotch that they found in priests’ quarters, undeterred by the Islamic ban on drinking alcohol. The indulgence lasted for about two weeks into the 39-day siege, when the food and drink ran out, according to an account by four Greek Orthodox priests who were trapped inside for the entire ordeal….
   
The Orthodox priests and a number of civilians have said the gunmen created a regime of fear.
   
Even in the Roman Catholic areas of the complex there was evidence of disregard for religious norms. Catholic priests said that some Bibles were torn up for toilet paper, and many valuable sacramental objects were removed. “Palestinians took candelabra, icons and anything that looked like gold,” said a Franciscan, the Rev. Nicholas Marquez from Mexico.42

A problem that arose during the siege again shows Christian fear of Muslim domination. Two Palestinian gunmen in the church were killed, and the PA wanted to bury them in the basilica. “With two Muslim bodies inside the Church of the Nativity, Christianity could be facing an absolute disaster in Bethlehem,” said Canon Andrew White, the special representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Middle East. “It would be catastrophic if two Muslim martyrs were buried in the church. It could lead to a situation like that in Nazareth,” he said.43 Only after intensive mediation efforts were plans to bury the bodies inside abandoned.