Next stop: the Flamingo Beach

It wasn't quite what the guests had in mind when they booked into the Flamingo beach hotel on Cyprus's sunkissed southern shore. But yesterday, at approximately 1pm, they were sharing the three-star accommodation with 12 Palestinian militants deemed by Israel to be "senior terrorists".

After 38 days holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, the deportees were "ravenous", said Antonis Iosifides, the hotel's manager. "The Flamingo might be rated three-star but it offers excellent service," he told the Guardian. "Our new guests are very polite gentlemen, some of them even speak English."

Less than an hour after landing at Larnaca airport in an RAF carrier, the 12 were tucking into the hotel's fresh fish, seasoned salads and chicken.

It was, said Mr Iosifides, a leisurely lunch even if monitored by heavily armed policemen and held in one of the five-floor, 64-room hotel's quieter corners. The 13th member of the group was taken to Larnaca hospital with a gun wound to his knee.

By Cypriot standards, the Flamingo, which boasts a swimming pool, live music, air conditioning and radios in every room, is reasonable at £30 for a single room and £44 for a double. "I hope that the Cyprus republic is picking up the bill because nobody has informed us yet," said the manager.

Other guests, including package tourists from France, Belgium and Russia, were not particularly fazed by the stringent security, he said. There were, the manager confided, armed police milling around but "they were being discreet".

The hotel is under strict orders to keep the Palestinians confined. "They're booked in until Monday," said Mr Iosifides "and as we'll be seeing quite a bit of them we hope they enjoy their stay."