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While in Amman, Jordan, on his apostolic journey to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Holy Mass for the faithful on Sunday 10 May 2009 and gave the following homily.Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,I rejoice that we are able to celebrate this Eucharist together at the beginning of my Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Yesterday, from the heights of Mount Nebo, I stood and looked out upon this great land, the land of Moses, Elijah, and John the Baptist, the land where God’s ancient promises were fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus our Lord. This land...

AMMAN, Jordan, May 9 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI prayed Saturday at the King Hussein Mosque in the Jordanian capital Amman, Vatican officials said. The trip to the mosque, the largest in Jordan, marked the second day of the pope's visit to the Middle East, the BBC reported. Afterwards, Benedict addressed local Muslim leaders, observers said. Earlier in the day he visited Mount Nebo, which, according to the Bible, is where Moses saw the Promised Land before he died. Vatican analysts said the pope is anxious to mend relations with Muslims and Jews on his eight-day sojourn to Israel and...

On Saturday 9 May 2009, during his apostolic journey to the Holy Land, the Holy Father celebrated Vespers at the Greek-Melkite Cathedral of St. George in Amman, with the clergy, religious, seminarians and members of ecclesial movements. Dear Brothers and Sisters, It is a great joy for me to celebrate Vespers with you this evening in the Greek-Melkite Cathedral of Saint George. I warmly greet His Beatitude Gregorios III Laham, the Greek Melkite Patriarch, who has joined us from Damascus, Emeritus Archbishop Georges El-Murr and His Excellency Yaser Ayyach, Archbishop of Petra and Philadelphia, whom I thank for his kind...

AMMAN, Jordan, MAY 8, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is in the Holy Land as a self-defined "pilgrim of peace," but he hopes to bring the region more than an absence of conflict, says a Vatican aide following the weeklong pilgrimage.Father Caesar Atuire, the delegate administrator of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, spoke with ZENIT about the Pope's trip, which began today in Jordan.The Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi is the Vatican institution whose mission is to evangelize through pastoral tourism and the ministry of pilgrimage.This trip is important, Father Atuire said, "because he is arriving in a moment in which this land is trying...

Near noon on Saturday, 9 May 2009, the Holy Father met with Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammed Bin Talal , Muslim Leaders, and other dignitaries, at Amman's largest house of worship, the Mosque of al-Hussein bin Talal. The Pope responded to the charge, common today, that religion is a cause of division rather than of unity and peace. Your Royal Highness, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a source of great joy for me to meet with you this morning in this magnificent setting. I wish to thank Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammed Bin Talal for his kind words of...

Rome, Italy, May 9, 2009 / 12:33 am (CNA).- During the Papal Mass on May 10 in Amman, Jordan, Pope Benedict XVI will give First Communion to 40 Iraqi children, according to the Secretary of the Chaldean Diocese of Jordan, Msgr. Raymond Moussalli. The SIR news agency reports that Msgr. Moussalli, who is in charge of welcoming Iraqi refugees in Amman, said Jordan children would be among the group as well. "Their desire is to pray with the Pope for reconciliation and peace in Iraq. It will be an important moment for us faithful not only in Jordan but also...

Amman, Jordan, May 8, 2009 / 12:03 pm (CNA).- Earlier today Pope Benedict stopped at a social rehabilitation center for people with disabilities in the Jordanian capital city of Amman. Here he acknowledged the trials of the young people gathered and encouraged them to draw “strength from God.” Benedict was greeted by His Beatitude Fouad Twal, Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins, and met the Comboni Sisters and lay staff that worked at the rehabilitation center. He praised their work and commitment to the people they serve."Like countless pilgrims before me," he said, "it is now my turn to satisfy...

Jordan's King Abdullah II welcomed Pope Benedict XVI in Amman on Friday and urged the kind to open reopen dialogue between the Muslim and Christian worlds.

Pope Benedict walks across the tarmac with King Abdullah II Amman, Jordan, May 8, 2009 / 09:21 am (CNA).- Shepherd One touched down at Queen Alia airport on Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. as Pope Benedict XVI began his visit to the Holy Land. The Holy Father emphasized that he is coming as a pilgrim and that a downward spiral into violence is not the inevitable outcome for the region.  King Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania met Pope Benedict on the tarmac accompanied by a smartly dressed honor guard and a military band.After receiving the Pontiff, the king...

Pope Benedict XVI arrived Friday in Jordan's capital city of Amman, embarking on a weeklong tour of the Middle East that will take him to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. His Alitalia flight taxied down the runway with the Vatican and Jordanian flags flying on either side of the cockpit window. Jordan's King Abdullah and Queen Rania led the welcoming ceremony, which included members of the royal family, political and religious leaders. Several cannons were fired as the pontiff walked down the red carpet and greeted members of the welcoming committee. Pope Benedict XVI will deliver a speech at...

Vatican City, May 4, 2009 / 10:27 am (CNA).- Members of the Papal Foundation met with Pope Benedict on Saturday and heard him speak about his trip to the Holy Land later this week. He told the foundation that he will go as "a pilgrim of peace" to a land that has been marred by violence and injustice for 60 years.Pope Benedict began the audience by greeting Cardinal William Keeler, the other cardinals and bishops present and the lay members of the foundation with St. Paul’s words-- "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus...

SNIPPET: "A Black September terrorist who served only about half his 30-year sentence for planting three car bombs in New York City in 1973 was released Thursday into the custody of immigration officials to be deported. Khalid Al-Jawary, 63, was released from the Supermax maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado, said Carl Rusnok, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. Rusnok said a federal immigration judge had signed a deportation order for Al-Jawary."

It is a strange situation when Egypt and Jordan feel it necessary to defend Israel against American criticism. But this is the situation in which we find ourselves today. Last Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee that Arab support for Israel's bid to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is contingent on its agreeing to support the rapid establishment of a Palestinian state. In her words, "For Israel to get the kind of strong support it's looking for vis-a-vis Iran, it can't stay on the sidelines with respect to the Palestinians and...

The title of this article might have been more to the point if we substitute ‘Pieces” for ‘Peace,” as the breaking up of Israel is seemingly looming just over the horizon. With President Obama promising to take whatever steps are necessary to not only avoid any war or conflict, but to actually force a peace settlement establishing a Palestinian State upon Israel and the “occupied territories”, the Arab World has seen this as an opening to finally defeat Israel, a goal unattainable by their past aggressions. Now they have the magic formula, threaten a possibility of war, then sit back,...

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday repeatedly blamed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the Islamist threat--from Iran to Pakistan. It all comes back to the Palestinian issue and Jerusalem, he said several times in an interview on NBC-TV's Meet the Press program. His host, David Gregory, did not ask the Jordanian King the obvious questions: Assuming Israel were to return the disputed West Bank territories, including East Jerusalem, which Jordan lost when it attacked Israel in the Six-Day War of June 1967, to Jordan or to a new Palestinian state, would that stop the Taliban and Al Qaeda from continuing their...

AMMAN, Jordan – Jordan's king urged President Barack Obama Sunday to take a more forceful role in the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, warning of a new Mideast war if there is no significant progress in the next 18 months. Speaking to NBC's "Meet the Press," King Abdullah described the Israeli-Palestinian dispute as the core problem of the region and solving it would help the U.S. in dealing with Iran and combatting the appeal of radical Islamic groups like Al-Qaida. "In the next 18 months, if we don't move the process forward, and bring people to the negotiation table,...

America wants to see actions: The US administration hopes to see Israeli-Palestinian goodwill gestures within months, President Barack Obama said Tuesday following his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah. "We can't talk forever; at some point, steps have to be taken, so that people can see progress on the ground," the president said. Obama reiterated his support for the two-state solution, saying that "there are a lot of Israelis who also believe in a two-state solution." "Unfortunately right now what we've seen, not just in Israel but within the Palestinian territories, among the Arab states, worldwide, is a profound cynicism about...

Amman, Jordan - At a critical juncture in the Arab-Israeli peace process, President Obama on Tuesday underscored his commitment to a two-state solution in his first private meeting with an Arab leader since taking office. King Abdullah II of Jordan, who arrived at the White House on Tuesday morning, in many ways represented the agenda of his allies in the Middle East. While many Arabs are hopeful that Mr. Obama's administration will turn a new page in the region, they have been waiting for the new president to clarify to what extent he will depart from his predecessor's policies. Top...

U.S. President Barack Obama launched his personal 'New Middle East" initiative Tuesday by hosting Jordanian King Abdullah II, who separately met with Christian, Muslim and Reform Jewish leaders for support for a Palestinian Authority state. President Obama told King Abdullah that Israel and the PA “cannot talk forever” and demanded that both sides show “goodwill” but did not specify want he expected from the PA.

U.S. President Barack Obama launched his personal Middle East initiative Tuesday by hosting Jordanian King Abdullah II, who separately met with Christian, Muslim and Reform Jewish leaders for support for a Palestinian Authority state. President Obama told King Abdullah that Israel and the PA “cannot talk forever” and demanded that both sides show “goodwill.” He specifically said that Netanyahu government leaders are “going to have to solidify their position."

The Ancient World's Longest Underground Aqueduct Roman engineers chipped an aqueduct through more than 100 kilometers of stone to connect water to cities in the ancient province of Syria. The monumental effort took more than a century, says the German researcher who discovered it. When the Romans weren't busy conquering their enemies, they loved to waste massive quantities of water, which gurgled and bubbled throughout their cities. The engineers of the empire invented standardized lead pipes, aqueducts as high as fortresses, and water mains with 15 bars (217 pounds per square inch) of pressure. PHOTO GALLERY: ROME'S LONGEST PIPE In...

Uneasy Lies the Head was the perhaps inevitable title of the autobiography of the late King Hussein of Jordan, the West’s favourite benign Arab despot. He was the improbable survivor of innumerable plots, coups and uprisings, of three Arab-Israeli wars, two Gulf wars and a civil war with the Palestinians, as well as around a dozen assassination attempts in the 46 years he wore the heavy crown of his improbable desert kingdom. The Hashemite monarch, descended from the family of the Prophet Mohammed and the Sharifs of Mecca, exuded total confidence in his legitimacy. Yet, this most open of Arab...

No city ever made a more dramatic entrance. Petra, the capital of the ancient Nabataeans, in present-day Jordan, is accessible only by a chasm called the Siq, nearly a mile long. Its sandstone walls, gorgeously marbled in every vivid and delicate shade of red, pink and rose, occasionally veined in cobalt blue, rise more than 600 feet high. All monumental architecture, from the pyramids of Giza to the Empire State Building, acquires some of its power to inspire awe by making the visitor feel small; walking through the Siq leaves one feeling antlike. The chasm abruptly terminates in a small...

“The ‘foot’ structures that we found in the Jordan valley are the first sites that the People of Israel built upon entering Canaan and they testify to the biblical concept of ownership of the land with the foot,” said archaeologist Prof. Adam Zertal of the University of Haifa, who headed the excavating team that exposed five compounds in the shape of an enormous “foot”, that it were likely to have been used at that time to mark ownership of territory. On the eve of the Passover holiday, researchers from the University of Haifa reveal an exceptional and exciting archaeological discovery...

Over dinner at the Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem, I talked with Danny Seidemann, a Jewish man from upstate New York who moved to Israel as a youth more than 30 years ago. Danny is recognized worldwide as an expert on the religious and cultural differences that divide, and potentially unite, Jerusalem. "The Christian community of Jerusalem is the canary in the coal mine," he told me. "When it starts dying, we know all of us are going to die."   Seidemann, himself a Zionist, believes preserving the Christian presence in the Holy Land is crucial to its future....

Jordan's King Abdullah II said Monday that an Arab peace initiative offers a solution for peace in the Middle East, adding that Israel should seize the opportunity or risk ongoing conflict in the region. "Israel must decide whether they want to observe this opportunity and become integrated in the region or whether they want to remain a fortress ... and keep the Middle East hostage in conflict," Abdullah said in Bucharest, during an official visit. The king met Romanian President Traian Basescu Monday and discussed bilateral issues and the need for peace in the Middle East.

AMMAN - The Islamist movement has suspended humanitarian aid collection for Gaza as donations have slowed down to a trickle, an official from the Muslim Brotherhood said today. "Regrettably, we decided this week to stop receiving donations from the public after we noticed that a very small number of people are contributing to our campaign across the Kingdom," said Kathem Ayesh, who is responsible for the Palestine file at the Muslim Brotherhood. "It is no longer practical to keep our tents open since we are receiving very little amounts of donations," said Ayesh, who blamed lack of participation on faltering...

A traditional Jordanian art may die out when the Abu Mohaisen family close down their shop in downtown Amman next week. For over one-hundred years, the family has produced daggers, or shibriyas, decorative knives in traditional bedouin and Hashemite styles, a longstanding Jordanian symbol of power, grace and resilience. “Back in the day, you weren’t a man if you weren’t wearing one. It is a symbol for all of Jordan,” said Abed Abu Mohaisen, who along with his five brothers spent their entire lives making the blades. The 44-year-old said the trade is more than a family business, rather a...

After falling seriously ill during IDF offensive in Gaza, Jordanian royal family's pet secretly rushed to Jewish state for medical treatment at Beit Dagan veterinary hospital. Doctors regretfully fail to save beloved pet's life The Jordanian royal family's dog was secretly rushed to Israel for treatment in the midst of Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday. Relations between the royal palace in Amman and the Beit Dagan veterinary hospital have been good for many years now. The Israeli medical team's expertise has served Jordan a number of times, almost always under a heavy veil of secrecy, as...

Just watched an interview with Congressman Jordan on Fox Business News. Really seemed like a true conservative and standup guy, not like all the RINOs that have overrun Washington. Anyone have an opinion on Jordan? Seems like a real good list of accomplishments during his short tenure.

Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was joined by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, in announcing the arrest of MOHAMMED T. ALKARAMLA, age 24, of 6029 North Artesian in Chicago. ALKARAMLA was arrested earlier today at his residence, without incident, by members of the Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). ALKARAMLA, who is a Jordanian national, was charged in a criminal complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one (1) count of sending an Interstate Threatening Communication, which is...

Roman engineers chipped an aqueduct through more than 100 kilometers of stone to connect water to cities in the ancient province of Syria. The monumental effort took more than a century, says the German researcher who discovered it... The tunnel begins in Syria and runs 64 kiometers above ground before going below the surface in three lengths of one, 11 and 94 kilometers... The tunnel was discovered by Mathias Döring, a hydromechanics professor in Darmstadt, Germany... Qanat Firaun, "Canal of the Pharaohs," is what the locals call the weathered old pipeline. There are even rumors that gold is hidden in...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John Kerry said Wednesday that Syrian President Basher Assad told him last month in Damascus that Syria is prepared to resume peace negotiations with Israel and embrace a 2000 Arab initiative offering peace in exchange for territory captured from the Arabs in the 1967 Mideast war. "Syria would like direct American participation in these peace talks," said Kerry, D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Reversing the Bush administration's dismissive stance on Syria, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Tuesday during a visit to Israel she would send two senior officials to Damascus...

Gems, al-Qaida and murder. Mystery over killing of Osama Bin Laden's friend · Saudi man's death was political, say his family· US secret service was monitoring his activities Nick Fielding Friday March 2, 2007 The Guardian (UK) Pallbearers carry the coffin of Muhammad Jamal Khalifa at Ivato airport in Antananarivo, in Madagascar. Photograph: Jasleen Sethi/Reuters When Muhammad Jamal Khalifa was found dead at a remote gemstone mine in south-eastern Madagascar at the end of January, local police quickly put the murder down to a business deal gone wrong. The Saudi businessman, 49, had had to call in local police to...

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles on Wednesday indicted a Jordanian businessman with connections to the Florida Republican Party on charges of funneling illegal contributions to three former presidential candidates and Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida. The indictment of the businessman, Ala’a al-Ali, 37, shines a spotlight on the role of a business associate who the complaint asserts helped collect the donations. The associate, Harry Sargeant III, is a major Republican fund-raiser who owns an oil company with government contracts in Iraq and who recently resigned as finance chairman of the Florida Republican Party. Mr. Sargeant raised more than...

Under the threat of legal proceedings against Israel in the International Criminal Court in The Hague following the war in Gaza Strip, a top Israeli minister made stern statements against Jordan. Israel's Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter on Tuesday commented on reports that Jordanian MPs planned to file a lawsuit against himself and other Israeli officials for alleged war crime carried out during the Gaza offensive. "There is no greater hypocrisy than a country that just 39 years ago, during Black September in 1970, murdered 10,000 of its Palestinian residents – dealing with international crimes today," Dichter was quoted as...

Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna, reporting from Jerusalem, said... there had been a "certain bleeding of support from Likud to the Yisrael Beiteinu party" which looked likely to win the third-largest amount of seats... "This is the reason there has to be a coalition. No single party will be able to get the 61 plus votes needed to have an absolute majority in the 120-seat Knesset." ...Livni has distanced herself from promises made by Ehud Olmert, the former Kadima leader, to remove 60,000 West Bank settlers, reflecting the hardening mood in Israel, subsequent to the Gaza conflict. More than 1,300 Palestinians...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0902/090205boston.htm February 5, 2009 Two German nationals and a German company indicted for conspiring to export U.S. origin goods to Iran BOSTON - Two nationals of the Federal Republic of Germany and a German company were charged today in U.S. District Court with conspiring to unlawfully procure from the United States, and export to the Islamic Republic of Iran, 26 pump parts, worth more than $200,000, for use in centrifugal sulphuric acid pumps and sulphur pumps, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Iranian Transaction Regulations and the Smuggling Statute....

A new Palestinian militant group whose members have been trained to carry out rocket-launching and bombing operations was reportedly formed in the southern refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh to carry out among others an attack on the Egyptian embassy. Al-Balad daily reported on Sunday that a Palestinian named Jamal Hamad formed the organization, which he named "Jihad movement for the victory of Gaza" with the assistance of Ghandi Sahmarani, a Lebanese wanted from the authorities on several terrorist charges. The newspaper said several militants from Jund al-Sham and Osbat al-Ansar have joined the new group. The militants have received training...

Arab states invest their oil fortunes in the craziest things, from the proposed Mile-High Tower in Jiddah to the indoor ski resort in dry-as-dust Dubai. Perhaps the craziest idea yet is Saudi Arabian wheat. Some 30 years ago, the lake- and river-less kingdom decided it should be self-sufficient in wheat. It worked. But the subsidies to farmers at times approached $1,000 a ton. Last year, the Saudis finally concluded that desert wheat made no more sense than Nunavut pineapples. The farms will disappear within a few years, after which the country will be entirely dependent on imports. But from where?...

Note: Photos included. A Jordanian Wedding Turns into a Massive Show of Support for Al-Qaeda; Al-Zarqawi's Circle Identified TO VIEW THIS CLIP AND OTHERS YOU MUST LOG IN/REGISTER FOR MEMRI TV, AT http://subscriptions.memri.org/content/en/member_registr_tv.htm. REGISTRATION IS FREE OF CHARGE. To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1988.htm.

Fruit growers in Israel reported delays and reductions in orders from abroad due to various boycotts against Israeli produce Jordanian Islamist and leftist activists staged last week a sit-in at the country's wholesale food market to protest against exotic Israeli fruits and vegetables being sold. The protesters, holding anti-Israeli banners, urged merchants to suspend imports from Israel of a variety of exotic fruits such as avocado, kiwi along with carrots and tomatoes sold in groceries and supermarkets. In the UK a boycott of Israeli products and leisure tourism (not pilgrimages) was launched at the House of Commons on Wednesday night....

Jordanian authorities revealed a link between the attack on Lebanese musicians performing in downtown Amman last July and the terrorist group al-Qaida. Twelve Jordanians of Palestinian origin went on trial Tuesday on charges that included shooting members of Saint-Esprit University's (USEK) choir in downtown Amman last July. Six tourists, including four Lebanese musicians, were wounded after a gunman opened fire on their bus. The 12 men stood quietly in the dock to hear the charges against them. In addition to shooting Lebanese musicians, the men faced charges of carrying out what the Jordanian military court described as terrorist attacks on...

A Jordanian soldier opened fire Tuesday at a Border Police patrol along the border near Eilat. Border Police forces returned fire, and defense officials said the soldier had likely shot at the force in protest against the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip. The IDF contacted the Jordanian military, which launched an investigation. There were no casualties in the incident, which took place near the Yitzhak Rabin Border Terminal in Eilat. The patrol jeep sustained minor damage. Israel and Jordan signed a peace agreement in 1994, and the border is usually quiet. However, tensions have been high in the region...

"HAMAS MISSILES FOR ISRAELI FOOD" (Added January 12, 2009) VIDEO DESCRIPTION - QUOTE: IsraelMFA January 12, 2009 Israel gives food, medicine and electricity to Gaza citizens and gets rockets in return. Category: News & Politics Tags: Israel Hamas war rockets missile humanitarian aid children shield Gaza

For eight years, the president of the United States — the ex-officio socialite in chief — has turned up his nose at the slightest whiff of social aspiration. Now a new generation of Washington socialites has a dream. They see a dashing, young, brilliant president and his equally brilliant wife ushering in an era of inclusive entertaining. Gone is the white-gloved, debutante-loving, Pilgrim-pedigreed culture that still mattered in Kennedy’s Camelot and Reagan’s Hollywood East. Starting Jan. 20, when President Barack Obama and Michelle move into the White House, the “in crowd” will include just about everyone who, since the dawn...

Sometimes its nice to know that Israel has so many "moderate" Muslim neighbors. Especially the "holy" men that live in those "moderate" states. Below is a transcript of a sermon given on Al-Jazeera by Jordanian MP and Muslim Cleric Abd Al-Qader. Were he calls for sacrificing your blood by committing Jihad to with the aim to KILL the Jews, read the transcript or watch it on video below:

Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited a Beersheba school hit by a Grad rocket. During the visit, Barak said that "we delivered a serious blow to Hamas, and it continues to be hit – but it's also responding, as we can see." (Ilana Curiel)

In the summer of 2006, after Iran’s surrogate, Hezbollah, had repeatedly rained missiles into Israel from Lebanon – and then killed and kidnapped some Israeli soldiers, the world condemned Israel for retaliating to stop the missile attacks and recover her soldiers. Now again, after continuous provocation by the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, who sneak into Israel to plant bombs and kill people and who also hurl missiles daily into Israel, Israel is again being condemned by the anti-Semites of the world for defending herself. If a country on our border, like Mexico, were to launch missiles into the United States,...

RESIDENTS at certain addresses in the Gaza Strip have been receiving unusual phone calls since the Israeli air assault began on Saturday - a request that they and their families leave their homes as soon as possible for their own safety.