DATE=05/04/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT (CQ)

TITLE=ISRAEL/BETHLEHEM (S)

NUMBER=2-289430

BYLINE=IRRIS MAKLER

DATELINE=BETHLEHEM

VOICED AT:

///Resending to correct spelling of "siege" throughout. No other changes.///

INTRO: The mayor of Bethlehem says he is hoping for a quick resolution to the standoff at the Church of the Nativity, where about 150 people have been under siege for the past month. Irris Makler reports from Bethlehem.

TEXT: The mayor of Bethlehem, Hanna Nassar, says he expects the month-long siege to be resolved soon.

Israeli negotiators say they are also optimistic, as top-level talks continue.

American and European negotiators are understood to be involved, hoping that the lifting of the siege in Ramallah earlier this week -- which saw Yasser Arafat freed from his compound -- will be a model for this standoff.

Israeli tanks and troops surround the church, on the site where tradition has it Jesus was born.

Israel says it wants about 30 Palestinian militants who took refuge there to avoid capture.

More than 85 people have left the church over the month of the siege, and several Palestinian fighters have been killed, including one earlier Saturday. (Signed).

NEB/IM/RH/TW/RH