Posted on 02/01/2004 6:44:24 PM PST by SJackson
A new book has been published in Jerusalem entitled Witness in the Holy Land by Dr. Maria C. Khoury author of the popular book "Christina Goes to Church." Dr. Khoury, the author of seven church books, has made efforts in the last decade to produce children’s Orthodox literature that preserves and documents precious traditions, values and the rich symbolism of the Chrsitian faith. This new book is the first book geared for adult readers, especially young adults that might have an interest in knowing more about the dwindling Christian community in the Holy Land and what life is like under military occupation since September 2000 when the Second Palestinian Uprising was sparked. The author reveals the truth of the current tragic bloodshed and violence in the Middle East.
Witness in the Holy Land is a collection of over seventy articles written from a human interest perspective describing daily life in the Holy Land. These stories were published in the Olive Branch, the internet newsletter from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and were printed in various newspapers around the world. They focus on the Christian presence in the Holy Land and the Palestinian struggle for independence and freedom. Many articles have been translated to Greek, French, Italian and other languages to bring awareness of the Christian presence in the Holy Land. The articles have appeared world wide including the international Catholic Herald and the Challenge Weekly in Australia as well as Greek-American newspapers and numerous websites.
The new book was especially printed to bring awareness to the Housing Project in the village of Taybeh, the only Christian village remaining today in Palestine. For the last few years Maria Khoury has been a volunteer for the St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Taybeh and has made efforts to raise money to build homes for parish members that do not own their own home. The Orthodox Housing Project would help improve the living conditions of thirty families and help sustain the Orthodox Christian community in Taybeh for years to come.
The author is seeking to sell her rights to print the book in any language to any organization, foundation, church or individual that would directly support the Taybeh O.C. Housing Project to help build at least one home for a needy family. The project is aimed at helping Christians now less than 2% of the total three million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza stay in the land of their forefathers. Most Christians in the Holy Land are Orthodox Christians and their roots date back to the early church under the Greek Orthodox Patriarch. The terrible wars, poor economy, lack of educational opportunities and the Israeli occupation have forced many Christians out of the sacred land of Christ’s Holy birth and resurrection.
Maria (Kouremenou) Khoury holds a Doctor of Education degree, Boston University (l993); Master of Liberal Arts, Harvard University (l985) and a Bachelor of Arts, Hellenic College (l982). She has also worked for the Latin Patriarchate Schools of Jerusalem where she helped English teachers learn new methods in education and modern teaching strategies for the classroom.
As a Greek-American, Maria moved to Palestine following the Oslo Peace agreement when her husband David C. Khoury, also an lecturer at Birzeit Uniersity invested in his home village of Taybeh to help boost the Palestinian economy by producing the first and only micro-brewed beer in the Middle East. Taybeh Beer was founded and established by the Khoury family and is the first Palestinian product to receive franchise and be produced in Germany under the Taybeh Beer license from Palestine. The last three years the Holy Land has been devastated by the Israeli military occupation and the constant bloodshed and violence so the brewery operates less than 20% of its capacity. The Khourys have three children Elena (l8), Canaan (17) and Constantine (15).
Light and Life Publishing (www.Light-N-Life.com) will be the major distributor of this new publication in the United States. The book can be found in Jerusalem at the American Colony Bookstore, Sharbain, and Educational Bookstore. In Ramallah it is available at Sharbain and Al Sharook Bookshop. Witness in the Holy Land is available on line with www.paltime.com which features a variety of products produced in Palestine. The publisher recommends the book especially for senior students in church school, Christian reading groups and supplemental reading for Bible study groups because the articles are enriched with the message of witness for Christ and keeping the faith under harsh and unbearable circumstances.
The Rev. Dr. Stanley S. Harakas, Professor Emeritus, Holy Cross School of Theology comments: “I read your articles and my heart breaks. The Evangelicals in this country, who influence our public policy, misreading the Scriptures, think that present day Israel is the precursor of the Second Coming. There is almost no thought about the Palestinian Christians. The Palestinian Muslims are always the “bad guys” and the Israelis are always the “good guys” in their thought. It is an outrage…”
In an article entitled "Preparing for War in the Holy Land," Maria Khoury writes: "No reason to write stories anymore because the world has forgotten that Israel continues to deny Palestinians their human rights for over 55 years and not only refuse to give them independence but the Israeli army makes their daily life so miserable, so awful and full of struggle and agony that possibly they could flee over the bridge into Jordan. Thereby Israel could rejoice at this ethnic cleansing and claim a 100% Jewish homeland.
Where is our voice as Christians in this land? Our roots were established by Christ Himself with the Mother Church in Jerusalem. This is the sacred land that Christ chose to be born in and to create His Holy Church. Why should the American money and weapons destroy the most significant heritage and legacy of Christianity? It is the "living stones," the local Christians that have kept the torch of faith burning for over two thousand years. Palestine has Christians and Muslims living in the Holy Land and peaceful solutions need to be found to coexist with Jews. However, the unjust policies of the United States in the Middle East are affecting the dwindling Christian community in Palestine. It is time that Christians in the West questions their leadership. Blind support to Israel must stop sooner or later. It is totally out of control."
Okay, nothing "mild" about the anti-Israel bent to this article.
I've got a friend who is the daughter of missionaries to Iran. She's surprisingly "sympathetic" toward "palestinians," always pretty much telling me that Israel pressures "palestinians" so much and that their only options are to do what they're doing. Hm. I really bristle against that, that there's even a bit of sympathy toward demonized murderers.
That said, the Israeli government has been somewhat unkind toward Christian broadcasters....
Why is it that so many Christians in that area seem jaded against Israel? Puzzle....
It's not mild. The Jerusalem Times is essentially a PA house organ.
Considering the "Jerusalem Times" is more or less an "official" PA media source and subject to their censors, I don't think he would have dared.
And there you have it, the spokesmen for the terrorists ...
You've got to be kidding.
Show us what you are made of.
Fly to any other Arab Middle Eastern state and commence street preaching.
1. Tactical:
The Muslim world is horrified by Israel as it is a group of former Dhimmi reataking their land from Muslim rule. This is an affront to Islam in the middle of the Islamic world. As Dhimmi, Christians in the Islamic world must be pro-Israel to ensure that they are not seen as a threat or as legitimate victims. This also applies to Christian missionaries in the Muslim world, who cannot be seen as pro-Israel.
2. Some have internalized Islamic-Arab views through an inter-generational stockholm syndrom. Others will take this and try to one-up the Muslims. Christian Lebanese changed the mode of conflict from Muslim-Christian to Arab-colonizer. The Christians could then define themselves as Arabs (even though they are not) and then become part of the new order as Arab nationalists. This was the founding of the Phalangist movement. (It is no coincidence that the Ba'athist Arab trans-nationalist movements are dominated by other minorities like Alawites in Syria)
The Christians of Israel have another set of reasons to be anti-Israel. As I noted earlier, they are not Arabs. They are the decendants of Hellenistic Syrians, Romans, Byzantine Greeks, Jews and Samaritans who converted, and later Christian settlers. (If you will note, the author of the book has a Greek name) As such, the only way to justify their right to be on the land is to deny that of Jews. These Christian almost universally believe that God's covenant with the Israelites is over and that Christians are the new Israel(Replacement theology). A sovereign Jewish state, therefor causes major theological difficulties for them.
It is easier for them to be ruled by Muslims than have civil rightsin a Jewish state.
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