The European Union is to decide tomorrow how to disperse 13 exiled Palestinian fighters among member states as part of a deal that ended the Israeli siege of one of Christianity’s holiest sites in Bethlehem.
The Palestinians were initially flown to Cyprus on Friday after spending more than five weeks surrounded by Israeli forces in the Church of the Nativity. The EU now has the tricky task of placing the militants and deciding on their legal status.
EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels are likely to agree the men’s acceptance in some member countries.
Cyprus has said it wants the men, currently guests in a seaside hotel in Larnaca, to leave by Wednesday at the latest.
The EU's Middle East envoy, Miguel Moratinos, has said the militants would be free men once in their host country.
Questions remain over whether they would have the right to travel inside or outside the EU, whether they could expect protection from the state and whether they would be subject to any Israeli extradition request.
Only Greece and Portugal have so far said they would accept some of the militants, but Spain and Italy are also seen as frontrunners to grant residency. Ireland, Austria and Luxembourg have been mentioned as other possibilities.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the EU-brokered deal which ended the siege gave Israel the right to seek the men's extradition under certain circumstances - one being if they were set free in a European state which would accept them.
"You have to remember these are people whose hands are stained with blood and every country that agrees to take them should keep an eye on them," Peres told a new conference.
An EU diplomat said the conditions under which the men are granted residency would depend on their history.
A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said despite the thorny issue of where to place the exiles, the deal had created an opportunity to move towards a Middle East peace conference proposed for the summer.
The ministers are also expected to endorse negotiations with Iran on a trade and cooperation deal designed to boost economic ties with the bloc and encourage democratic reforms.
Rejecting the United States' view that Iran is part of an axis of evil , the 15 ministers are set to approve a mandate for talks on an agreement that diplomats say would give the EU a lever to press Tehran on human rights and arms control.
Thousands of exiled opponents of Iran's Islamic government are planning to demonstrate outside the meeting in protest at an EU decision on May 3 to put the Iraq-based People's Mujahideen Organisation (MKO) on its list of terrorist groups .
New French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin will make his Brussels debut, and EU defence ministers will also attend part of the session to review progress towards establishing a European rapid reaction force for crisis management.