Posted on 09/16/2006 6:08:06 PM PDT by NYer
NABLUS, West Bank --
Palestinians wielding guns and firebombs attacked five churches in the West Bank and Gaza on Saturday, following remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that angered many Muslims.
No injuries were reported in the attacks, which left church doors charred and walls pockmarked with bullet holes and scorched by firebombs. Churches of various denominations were targeted.
Relations between Palestinian Muslims and Christians are generally peaceful, and the attacks on the churches sparked concern that tensions would heighten.
``The atmosphere is charged already, and the wise should not accept such acts,'' Father Yousef Saada, a Greek Catholic priest in Nablus, said Saturday.
Ayman Daraghmeh, a legislator from the ruling Islamic militant Hamas group, denounced the attacks. Dozens of police took up position around churches in Nablus to protect the holy sites.
Firebombings left black scorch marks on the walls and windows of Nablus' Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches. At least five firebombs hit the Anglican church and its door was later set ablaze. Smoke billowed from the church as firefighters put out the flames
In a phone call to The Associated Press, a group calling itself the ``Lions of Monotheism'' claimed responsibility for those attacks, saying they were carried out to protest the pope's remarks in a speech this week in Germany linking Islam and violence.
Later Saturday, four masked gunmen doused the main doors of Nablus' Roman and Greek Catholic churches with lighter fluid, then set them afire. They also opened fire on the buildings, striking both with bullets.
In Gaza City, militants opened fire from a car at a Greek Orthodox church, striking the facade. A policeman at the scene said he saw a Mitsubishi escape with armed men inside. Explosive devices were set off at the same Gaza church on Friday, causing minor damage.
There were no claims of responsibility for the last three attacks Saturday.
``The people who did this are uneducated and ignorant,'' said the Gaza church's prelate, The Rev. Artinious Alexious. In his speech, Benedict cited an obscure Medieval text that characterizes some of the teachings of Islam's founder as ``evil and inhuman.'' The pope, spiritual leader of more than 1 billion Roman Catholics, did not explicitly agree with or repudiate the text.
The Vatican later said the pope did not intend the comments to be offensive. However, they have sparked worldwide protests by Muslims, and Muslim leaders have demanded an apology.
George Awad, a cleric at the Greek Orthodox church in Nablus, said he and other Catholics have apologized for the pope's remarks and urged Muslims to use restraint.
``There is no reason to burn our churches,'' he said.
On Friday, about 2,000 Palestinians protested against the pope in Gaza City, accusing him of leading a new Crusade against the Muslim world. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said the pope offended Muslims everywhere.
Christians make up a small _ and dwindling _ minority of several tens of thousands among the more than 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority has made considerable efforts to ensure the political representation of Christians.
Bishop Riah Abo El-Assal, the top Anglican clergyman in the Holy Land, said Saturday he expected his Muslim colleagues would swiftly denounce the attacks on the churches. He called them ``childish acts'' and said he was not increasing security at the Anglican churches in the area.
In Nablus, merchant Khaled Ramadan, who was dressed in traditional Islamic garb, said the pope's comments were unforgivable, but that Palestinians must not fight among themselves.
``We are one people and violent reactions like these should not happen here,'' he said.
Palestinian firefighters extinguish flames at the entrance to a Catholic church hit by a firebomb in the West Bank city of Nablus, Saturday Sept.16 2006. Palestinians wielding guns, firebombs and lighter fluid attacked four churches in the West Bank town of Nablus on Saturday, while gunmen opened fire at a fifth in Gaza, following remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that many Muslims view as disparaging. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
No doubt is was actually the Jews who did it.
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Paging Mehmet Ali Agha.
I suppose these idiots can't see that they're proving the Pope correct?
They are assuming that he won't make such statements in the future, though.
More peaceful protests from the Religion of Pieces.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
So, I guess the Pope was wrong... these Muslims are perfectly peaceful... harmless little Islamic fuzzballs...
In a wonderful display of Reconciliation, the Pope visited him in his jail cell and forgave him. How many Muslim clerics or Immams have done that?
But it's ok for the Muslims to say anything and back it up with bombings and beheadings...while we Non-Muslims fear insulting Islam...
And AP says that with a straight face. Sure, they're peaceful, except when the Muslims feel like throwing a few bombs or beheading a few Christians. But it's the Christians' fault for being so uppity, no doubt.
The are completely blind to the fact they are acting like spoiled little brats that whine when someone looks at them too long. This type of muslim is playing the offended card a little too much these days. In a few year they will have so complete desensitized the world to their whimpering that even if someone is attacking them for real, no one will care.
The religion of peace is at it again, just proving that what the Pope read was the absolute truth! These people...
They wouldn't be alive long enough for a Imman to visit them
Why oh why can't Muslims keep their crazies under control?
They generate their indignation internally and run off wildly in every direction.
Now if the Pope had responded to the nutcase in Iran by tellng him it was "Time to come to Jesus", some response on their part might be justified ~ I would, of course, suggest intense fear.
Not too late for the Pope to send that message.
These vermin are sub-human. There are way too many mosques in the world but doubt that any will be harmed unless the Pope is actually hurt.
He won't have to. They made his point!
Koranimals.
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