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EmailPosted on 09/19/2006 1:24:01 AM PDT by Traianus
Gaza’s Christians fear for safety
Print EmailGAZA CITY, Sept 18: Attacks on an ancient church in the Gaza Strip following the Pope Benedict XVI’s comments about Islam have shaken the area’s tiny Christian minority, bringing to the surface long-simmering tensions and raising new questions about how long the community can survive.
Gaza Christians say recent outbursts of violence have left them worried about their fragile status in this conservative Muslim society.
Fearing for their safety, few worshippers attended Sunday services at one of the main churches, which was repeatedly attacked with homemade explosives on Friday, and some parents kept their children home from school. In a reflection of the sensitive situation, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land criticised the pope’s comments as hurtful—a rare criticism of the Vatican.
Violence has also hit the West Bank, which has a larger Christian population. Two churches were attacked on Sunday, including a 170-year-old stone structure inTulkarem whose entire inside was destroyed. A day earlier, attackers hurled firebombs and opened fire at five churches in the West Bank and Gaza.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of the Islamic Hamas group, called on Palestinians on Sunday to refrain from sectarian strife. “All Palestinian citizens must prevent all harm to all Christian churches on Palestinian land. Our Christian brothers are citizens of Palestine. They are Palestinians,” he said.
Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the top Catholic official in the region, travelled to the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday to try to calm tensions. In a rare criticism of the Vatican by a church official, Sabbah said he wished the Pope had used different language.
“Making this remark was hurtful to Islam and to the Prophet. I wish he had not said it but he did,” Sabbah told a crowd of about 250 Muslims and Christians in a damaged Catholic church.
DIAA HADID
Saudi mufti on jihad
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia’s leading religious figure, the Grand Mufti, today defended the spirit of jihad, or holy war, as a God-given right, weighing in on the controversy over the Pope’s remarks on Islam.
“God authorised the faithful to defend themselves and to fight those fighting them,” said Sheikh Abdelaziz al-Sheikh.
“The order to fight did not start with Prophet Mohammed. Other prophets fought their enemies, including those of Israel such as Moses and David,” said the mufti. —AFP
editor@expressindia.com
If I were a christian living in Gaza...I would have left a long time ago.
Christians in Gaza have always had reason to worry. The angst toward them is nothing new it was just brought to a boil by the Popes remarks.
By the way the remark he made just goes to show how long the Muslims have been a cancer to this world.
Certainly the Christian in Gaza are in danger, in fact any religion, Christian, Jew, Hindu, we are all in danger at various levels, from a cult that threatens to destroy us all and makes no secret of that fact.
Joseph's Tomb under attack by Muslims
After being reduced to rubble and desecrated with urine and feces on the floor.
May God bless and protect Christians in the ME and worldwide.
Michel Sabbah is very left-wing and very pro-Muslim. I guess there's not much the Pope can do about it, but it's unfortunate that Sabbah has the job he does. As you say, he's in the wrong job - or working for the wrong employer.
Just read on another web-site that Oct. 1 is the national day of prayer for the peace of Jerusalem.
Yom Kippur begins at sundown on Oct. 1.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.
also Keywords 2006israelwar or WOT [War on Terror]
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Doesn't Dean look like the little fuhrer!
Thanks for the information, I searched Yom Kippur to refresh my memory about this feast.
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MikeFromFR ~
There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Warnings ~
"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Holocaust Chronicle ~
" ... It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world."—FReeper Retief
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~
Gee...I hate to suggest anything that would escalate tensions...but....(and no, I have never been one to 'turn the other cheek')....
for every Christian church that the Muslim/Islamic extremists bomb....
there should be TEN mosques that are bombed/destroyed.
We might as well get this 'Amageddon' thingy over with. It's only going to get better for us (after it's over) and worse for 'them'....since they'll all be having supper with Satan/Lucifer (their 'true Allah') and his minions. Ooops...scratch/edit that...and make that..."They'll all BE supper for Satan/Lucifer and his OTHER minions."
Let's roll.
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