Israeli Arabs attend a demonstration against cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad, published in several European newspapers, in the northern Israeli-Arab town of Nazareth February 4, 2006. Dozens of Palestinian youths tried to storm the office of the European Union in Gaza on Saturday in protest over European newspapers that printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, witnesses and police said. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
father Amjad Sabbara was putting on a brave face as he greeted the congregation at the doors of the church which was the scene of an infamous 38-day Israeli army siege in April 2002."It's the result of the democratic process. There is nothing to worry about. We're waiting to see their projects," he told AFP.
"We have relations with Hamas: They tell us that they are going to respect all the religions.
"In Bethlehem, we are a good number, half of the population. We have a special status: the Christ is born here. I'm sure they are going to respect that."
I'm sure they will Father, best of luck. But you know better than to spout that respect all the religions garbage.
I read recently that some Chaldaean chr*stian activist in Detroit is working for the moslems. Biblical Fundamentalism doesn't exist among the chr*stians of the Middle East.
*snort!*
Sure. Sure they will.
"Give visas to America or Europe, and you'll see how fast Bethlehem Christians are going to leave."
Unfortunately, this guy has the right idea. A lot of others have taken that path of refuge. Pretty soon they will turn the Church of the nativity into a mosque - or a latrine, as they did when they took hostages there a few years ago.
What's the percentage of Christians down to now? Still in the double digit or did rape and murder get it down to single digits?
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"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~
This story is a huge distortion in that it fails to mention this critical fact -- Bethlehem's Mayor is a Christian who ran on the Hamas ticket.
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"The collaborative municipal effort captures the unusual position that mayor Victor Batarseh finds himself in these days. Elected in May, he is the top public official in one of the holiest cities in the Christian religion. Yet he runs Bethlehem through a coalition dominated by Hamas, a group blacklisted by the U.S. and Europe as a terrorist organization.
"It's time we open our hearts and minds to Hamas," says the 71-year-old mayor.
'snip'
Mr. Batarseh ran into problems with the U.S. shortly after taking office when he invited a group of foreign diplomats to come to Bethlehem to meet the new city government. His goal, he says, was to reassure them that Bethlehem would retain its Christian character, and to seek financial help with infrastructure projects. A $3 million solid-waste project was at the top of his list.
The U.S. turned down his invitation. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem says it has no official contact with Mr. Batarseh, citing his political affiliations. Says Mr. Batarseh: "Soon every Palestinian city will have members of Hamas in their government, so I guess the U.S. will boycott all of us."
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB113530381960630149.html