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The Beleaguered Christians in Bethlehem

Posted on 06/27/2009 2:47:22 PM PDT by Eleutheria5

Christian families have long been complaining of intimidation and land theft by Muslims, especially those working for the Palestinian Authority.

Many Christians in Bethlehem and the nearby [Christian] towns of Bet Sahour and Bet Jalla have repeatedly complained that Muslims have been seizing their lands either by force or through forged documents.

In recent years, not only has the number of Christians continued to dwindle, but Bethlehem and its surroundings also became hotbeds for Hamas and Islamic Jihad supporters and members.

Moreover, several Christian women living in these areas have complained about verbal and sexual assaults by Muslim men. .....


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bethlehem; bethlehemchristians; christians; holyland; israel; middleeast; palestinians
Nothing's changed in five years, I see.
1 posted on 06/27/2009 2:47:22 PM PDT by Eleutheria5
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To: Eleutheria5

Forgot to include link or say that this was an excerpt. Sorry. I’ll repost this.


2 posted on 06/27/2009 2:49:56 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (www.publishedauthors.net/benmaxwell/index.html. Donate to members.tripod.com/tva_israel/HOME.HTM)
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To: Eleutheria5

This is what Muslims have in store for non-Muslims worldwide. The world needs to face this.


3 posted on 06/27/2009 2:52:14 PM PDT by Islaminaction
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To: Eleutheria5

Eleutheria - it sounds like you are there and are aware of the dangers to Christians.

Are they all treated alike? From my own POV - thank God for Israel prtecting the Christians.

Not all feel that way —


4 posted on 06/27/2009 2:53:50 PM PDT by eleni121 (The New Byzantium - resurrect it!)
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To: eleni121

I’m in a suburb of Kiryat Arba, which is a suburb of Hebron. I have no first hand knowledge of the plights of Christians in Bethlehem or elsewhere, but read articles about their plight five years ago, and it was going on then, too. The IDF ought to go right in there and protect the Christian community, but instead they are diminishing their presence even further.

I was just in Hebron today. My host for the Sabbath gave us a guided tour of the area, including the Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Kazbah (marketplace). As for the Tomb, I only got to see a little bit of it. In the Kazbah there was a Hebrew Language guide relating the history of different areas that we passed through. Since my six year old son was making himself difficult, I couldn’t really follow the narratives.

But one thing was loud and clear to me. We were followed throughout by a bunch of European human rights monitors, who were worried lest the many Jews gathered for the tour might obstruct the ingress and egress of Palestinians going about their business in the Kazbah. IDF troops had to clear passageways for the Palis, and at the same time be on the constant lookout with their guns loaded and ready. I don’t think any of the Pali merchants, shoppers and residents were obstructed in any way so egregious that it constituted a human rights violation. Every one took those Europeans in their blue-grayish uniforms and arm bands as a ridiculous joke, directing traffic, or recording instances of bottlenecking, or whatever it is that they did.

But if they are so concerned about monitoring human rights, why aren’t they in Bethlehem, where an indigenous minority is being persecuted into oblivion? If Bethlehem isn’t a human rights violation, what is?


5 posted on 06/27/2009 3:07:31 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (www.publishedauthors.net/benmaxwell/index.html. Donate to members.tripod.com/tva_israel/HOME.HTM)
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To: Eleutheria5

This is getting problematic. Here’s the link to the thread with the link that I forgot to include in this thread, so that you can see the full article. Here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280873/posts


6 posted on 06/27/2009 3:11:45 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (www.publishedauthors.net/benmaxwell/index.html. Donate to members.tripod.com/tva_israel/HOME.HTM)
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To: eleni121

“Not all feel that way —”

No, indeed. We recently had a visit from a presbytera from over there, a Greek American girl, whose take on the situation was quite different from that usually presented here.


7 posted on 06/27/2009 3:29:26 PM PDT by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: Eleutheria5; AdmSmith; Berosus; bigheadfred; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...

Thanks Eleutheria5. Mods can fix the header info. :’)


8 posted on 06/27/2009 6:15:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: Kolokotronis

“No, indeed. We recently had a visit from a presbytera from over there, a Greek American girl, whose take on the situation was quite different from that usually presented here.”

What was her take, then?


9 posted on 06/28/2009 1:57:21 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (www.publishedauthors.net/benmaxwell/index.html. Donate to members.tripod.com/tva_israel/HOME.HTM)
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To: Eleutheria5

“What was her take, then?”

At base that it was more the activities of the Israeli authorities and settlers in the West Bank and the erection of the wall that has lead to the pretty much final collapse of the native Christian community rather than the actions of the Mohammedans. I’ve heard the same thing from priests and monks from there and the exact opposite from hierarchs of the Church of Jerusalem.


10 posted on 06/28/2009 2:06:24 PM PDT by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

11 posted on 06/28/2009 2:14:55 PM PDT by SJackson (G-d da*n America, Jeremiah Wright---Don't tell me words don't matter!, Barack Hussein Obama)
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