Posted on 11/16/2001 1:08:51 PM PST by veronica
JERUSALEM - Working under cover of darkness, Muslims in Jesus' boyhood town of Nazareth have begun constructing a mosque alongside the Basilica of the Annunciation, despite protests by the Vatican and Israeli authorities.
The Vatican, in a statement issued in Rome, called on the Israeli government to stop "Muslim extremists" from building the mosque next to the church marking the site where Christians believe the angel Gabriel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus.
"Building the mosque here will in effect put this holy place in a state of permanent siege and make its gate a gathering place for the most hostile elements," the statement said, according to the Vatican news service Fides.
Israeli authorities charged today that the work constituted a provocation and threatened to stop the construction by force, even as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins. Local Christians warned the work could re-ignite the interreligious violence that erupted at the site last year.
Construction on the mosque began Monday, without the necessary permits, but the Israeli Lands Authority ordered it halted. The Wakf, or Islamic Trust, stopped the work today but said it will start again if it does not get the necessary permits within a week.
Witnesses said crews were working at the site Monday and Tuesday nights in an apparent attempt to keep the construction secret.
A lawyer for the Muslims, Dan Shafrir, said the construction had been going on day and night. The Israeli Lands Authority promised to help the Islamic Trust obtain the permits for the Muslim-owned land if the construction was stopped, Shafrir said.
"We're not hiding anything from anyone," Shafrir said. "Whether or not we get the permits, we will continue construction in a week."
The construction was halted only temporarily, and steel beams arrived at the site today, said Ahmed Saleh Hamudeh, the head of the Islamic Trust in Nazareth.
Christians are a minority in Nazareth, and tensions over the mosque have been running high between the Christian community and the Muslim majority in the city of 70,000. Nazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel.
Under pressure from Christian leaders, including the Vatican, the previous Israeli government worked out a compromise in 1999 to defuse a tense situation in which Muslims were praying in a large tent a few meters from the church, as a planned millennium visit by Pope John Paul II neared. The Vatican had hinted the issue could force the cancellation of the pope's visit, which took place as scheduled in March 2000.
According to the agreement, the tent was removed, and a mosque would be built on one third of the 2,000-square-meter plot, but only after the millennium year.
Church leaders in the Holy Land complain that Israel made excessive concessions to the Muslims, while ignoring promises made to Christian leaders, including the pope.
Despite the pledges of the previous government, Israeli officials are indicating that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not allow construction of the mosque.
"A decision on the matter will be made by the government" due to the sensitivity of the issue, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said. "We are absolutely against the work going on at the moment."
Israel believes that starting construction days before the start of Ramadan is a cynical use of the holiday by the Muslims, with the hope authorities will not act to stop the work, a government official said on condition of anonymity.
The authorities will forcibly halt the work if necessary, the official said.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, himself a Muslim, sided with the Christians in the dispute, saying in December 1999 that the Muslims should not build the mosque so close to the church.
The Muslims say a Crusader-era sage is buried at the site, and they hoped to build a large mosque there. Church leaders wanted the plot for a plaza to accommodate millennium pilgrims.
The moslems have no more business throwing up one of their infernal 'mosques' at that location than they'd have building an adult book store, or other similarly unwholesome establishment.
Bulldoze it and pee on the rubble.
Fertilize the ground with hog manure.
AB
I get in as much trouble at Catechism as I do here for speaking 'incorrectly' according to the Sages. In the midst of making a point on the that profound moment of suffering at which most men (well, the bullheaded ones like me, anyway) finally find God, I mentioned Christ's crying "My God My God why hast thou forsaken me" on the cross.
Got in trouble immediately, of course, by those who wanted to ruin my "true man" picture of His supreme suffering on our behalf by someone who pointed out that -- as a faithful Jew -- Christ knew only too well what words would be supplied to finish his statement by other faithful Jews.
So what does this have to do with those heretic Muslims? It's my understanding they cite this as grounds for believing Christ couldn't possibly be true God (from true God).
Oh thee of little faith in The Book of the Jews. Sad it's come to this ridiculous, petty "Oh, did we start the day before Ramadan" bs.
And afterward, a ten-megatonner over Mecca ought to clean that place up to no end.
Nice to see that the Israeli government has finally recoved its sanity, in this matter anyway. It's a little late, unfortunately, since it sets a precedent for the wholesale retraction of commitments made by previous governments. Hell of a way to run a railroad.
That is why the land must be totally annexed and taken from them. They cannot be trusted with anyone else's property or religious shrine. They will only do this again and again.
There are plenty of other places more suitable to build a mosque. This was a kick in the teeth for those few Christians still living in Israel.
Good Idea!
It'd be like treating the ground for termites...
I'll bet those pesky bastards wouldn't come back to rebuild their brothel after that was done to the ground!
But first, send a squad of Rangers in there to snag that silly-ass meteor they worship...
That way we can tease the moslems and play 'keep-away' with it after Mecca is no more.
You are 100% correct.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.