Posted on 04/02/2004 5:27:11 AM PST by truthandlife
Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of the Christ" is all the rage among Palestinians, curious about complaints by Jews that it is anti-Semitic.
Meanwhile, local distributors in Israel are shunning the film, which Jewish groups say demonises Jews by depicting them as pressuring the Romans into crucifying Jesus.
The film has banked more than $315 million since its release in February.
Only one percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are Christians while the other 99% are Muslims, who revere Jesus as a prophet but do not believe he was crucified.
The portrayal of a prophet in a film is forbidden under Islam.
Pirated copies
"People are calling me from everywhere in the West Bank from Bethlehem, Hebron, Ram Allah and Nablus- to ask for copies of the movie," said the owner of a Gaza city video shop, which sells pirated copies of new release movies.
"The Passion of the Christ" has outsold other Hollywood blockbusters in Gaza and the West Bank's pirated video market, including "Matrix Revolutions" and "The Last Samurai."
Israel cold
In Israel, the local agent for the film's international distributor Icon Entertainment said it passed on its option to show "The Passion of the Christ," but declined to specify its reasons other than to say the movie was "sensitive."
Industry insiders in Israel say local distributors are not interested in the film because of allegations it is anti-Semitic and for expected lukewarm audience response.
Jewish groups and some Roman Catholic clerics have expressed concern the film could foment anti-Jewish attacks.
Palestinian President Yasir Arafat watched a preview of the film at his West Bank headquarters earlier this month. Aides said he found the film "moving."
1 percent?! That can't be right! I know the percentage of Arab Christians on the West Bank has been on the decline, but I can't imagine that it has been reduced that far.
Anybody know the current breakdown?
No Problemo.....since JESUS IS NOT A PROPHET...in FACT
Jesus Christ is God the Son....The Word Made Flesh.....
JESUS WROTE THE BIBLE both old and new Testaments....
He is the one who gave the prophecies to the prophets..
He is the author and finisher of our faith....
This seems a rather convoluted argument to me. There were no Americans, Canadians or Mexicans in North America, either. Does that negate our claims? In fact, there were no French, no British, no Italians in Europe.
Land claims derive from victory at war, period. The Israelis and Palestinians are at war to settle the matter. We can hope for, even subsidize, Israeli success, but the idea that somehow they are entitled because they were there 2000 years ago is ludicrous.
There were indigenous peoples in the Middle East prior to the Israelis. They were ethnically-cleansed by the Jews. Read the Old Testament. If we are to listen to the Muslims, their claims should prevail.
If history has taught us anything it is that land, and sovereignty over it, is ultimately purchased with blood.
Excerpt: The name Palestine refers to a region of the eastern Mediterranean coast from the sea to the Jordan valley and from the southern Negev desert to the Galilee lake region in the north. The word itself derives from "Plesheth", a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into English as "Philistine". Plesheth, (root palash) was a general term meaning rolling or migratory. This referred to the Philistine's invasion and conquest of the coast from the sea. The Philistines were not Arabs nor even Semites, they were most closely related to the Greeks originating from Asia Minor and Greek localities. They did not speak Arabic. They had no connection, ethnic, linguistic or historical with Arabia or Arabs. The Philistines reached the southern coast of Israel in several waves. One group arrived in the pre-patriarchal period and settled south of Beersheba in Gerar where they came into conflict with Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Another group, coming from Crete after being repulsed from an attempted invasion of Egypt by Rameses III in 1194 BCE, seized the southern coastal area, where they founded five settlements (Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gat). In the Persian and Greek periods, foreign settlers - chiefly from the Mediterranean islands - overran the Philistine districts. From the fifth century BC, following the historian Herodotus, Greeks called the eastern coast of the Mediterranean "the Philistine Syria" using the Greek language form of the name. In AD 135, after putting down the Bar Kochba revolt, the second major Jewish revolt against Rome, the Emperor Hadrian wanted to blot out the name of the Roman "Provincia Judaea" and so renamed it "Provincia Syria Palaestina", the Latin version of the Greek name and the first use of the name as an administrative unit. The name "Provincia Syria Palaestina" was later shortened to Palaestina, from which the modern, anglicized "Palestine" is derived.....
Where do you get that? I have stamps from Palestine.
There were no Americans, Canadians or Mexicans in North America, either. Does that negate our claims? In fact, there were no French, no British, no Italians in Europe.Entirely different matter altogether. The Palestinians themselves wouldn't agree with your argument. Because what they are saying is that the Palestinian state goes way back and that the Jews are the newcomers. So the original point --- that there were in fact no Palestinians in Palestine during the Roman era (except for the Jews themselves, the true Palestinians) is an important point and does matter greatly.
Let the PEOPLE decide!!
But, it appears you are open-minded about it....
Don't forget that St. Paul got HIS start by killing Jews......
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