Posted on 11/06/2004 7:37:29 PM PST by Alouette
CLAMART, France
At a solemn vigil outside the hospital treating Yasser Arafat, an unusual interfaith moment: A haredi rabbi from New York leaving flowers for the ailing Palestinian leader.
Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, a spokesman for Natorei Karta, arrived from the United States last week to show solidarity with Arafat and the Palestinians.
Another member of Natorei Karta, who traveled from Vienna, Austria, shook hands with a Muslim prayer leader at a makeshift shrine set up outside the main gate of the Percy military hospital near Paris.
Natorei Karta steadfastly opposes Israel's right to exist. Its members stage demonstrations against the Jewish state in which they burn Israeli flags, collaborate with anti-Israel organizations, and are represented in Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
More typical, perhaps, of those attending the vigil was Kamel Titouhi, imam of the Clamart mosque, who said, "Yasser Arafat is an example to us."
On Saturday afternoon, some 150 supporters of the Palestinian cause gathered outside the Percy hospital, and shouted "Arafat is not dead." A banner read, "Palestine defeated Rome, it will defeat Washington. Arafat opened for us the gates of Jerusalem. Arafat = Jesus, Sharon = Barrabas [fictional crime leader], thief, and criminal, Bush = Pilate, coward, assassin, and idiot."
Some demonstrators said they would stay overnight with candles and pictures of Arafat. Many shouldered Palestinian flags.
A forest of television cameras faced the main gate of the sprawling concrete, metal, and glass hospital. TV trucks, their generators humming and their satellite dishes pointing to the sky, ran the length of the street.
Dozens of French police kept guard outside the gates, corralling reporters behind metal barriers.
Supporters hung a large, bedsheet-sized Palestinian flag on the hospital's perimeter wall alongside messages of support.
"The intifada will win," said one poster. "A resister never dies," declared another. The sidewalk was gummed up with melted candle wax, and roses had been placed at the foot of a poster of Arafat.
One of the posters expressed "a thousand thanks to France." President Jacques Chirac had come in a convoy of official cars on Thursday to visit the Palestinian leader.
A Moroccan woman who said her father fought for the French army against the Nazis in World War II said she had rushed to the hospital Thursday after reports that Arafat's condition had dramatically deteriorated.
"I heard Arafat was dead. I was sad. I cried," said the woman, who would only give her first name, Yamina. "If he dies, there will be others... The Palestinian cause will never die."
Moishe Arye Friedmann, from Vienna, said he felt "very ashamed of the barbarity being done against the Palestinian people."
"We are here to express our solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters," said Friedmann, who wore a wide-brimmed black hat and a black-and-white keffyieh.
Nearby, Linda Salm, a 40-year-old Frenchwoman of Tunisian descent, muttered a prayer as she kissed a portrait of Arafat: "Great Allah, keep him alive to bring peace to Palestine," she said, kissing a portrait of Arafat. "I hope he's alive," she said.
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
This is unbelievable. What is wrong with them, do they have Stockholm Syndrome?
At least I can say they are a tiny minority of the ultra-Orthodox community. Most PLO-supporting selfhating Jews are from the leftist non-religious camp.
Do they understand that they are equally despised by the PLO and that the terrorists would joyfully cut their children's throats? This makes me sick to my stomach. Reminds me of the America-hating left here, except that the Jews' survival is at stake.
Moshiach is on the way...
It's been a long time since I had a good flame war with a Naturei Karta member. I don't think one of them would last long on this forum, but they are fun to laugh at.
I hadn't realized they'd discovered electricity.
Two orthodox jews of an anti-Zionist faction at the makeshift candle-lit shrine to Palastinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) outside the Percy Military Hospital, Clamart near Paris, France, Friday Nov. 5, 2004. Yasser Arafat is in the hospital, in a critical condition suffering from an undiagnosed ailment. The placard reads 'Stop the Massacre of Palestinians.' (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Suspicions grow that Arafat is dying of AIDS
Very funny! (stupid idiots)
Do you know what the Twelfth Article of Faith is ?
Do you?
If you have a point to make, then make it. I'm sure the "Master of the Universe" doesn't like game playing.
Wow self-hating jews siding with the palestinians-Go Figure!
Revelations 2:9
I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Hmm, any guess as to which side of the fence these guys sit on?
The Democratic Party plank, re: Israel, 2004.
Your "multiple choice" test contains multiple correct answers. Because I choose "e" doesn't mean there are other legitimate rabbinical opinions that choose "f" or "c".
(a) Is the Rebbe OB"M still the Moshiach?
(b) The Rebbe had the capacity to be Moshiach but did not achieve it because of his death.
(c) If a deceased person can still be the Moshiach then why not the original King David?
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