Posted on 05/10/2002 1:01:06 PM PDT by Cinnamon Girl
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - The overwhelming stench of urine was the first thing to hit visitors who entered the shrine in Bethlehem revered as the birthplace of Jesus.
The standoff between Palestinian militants and the Israeli army at the Church of the Nativity, which came to an end on Friday after nearly 40 days and nights of high drama, had left one of Christianity's holiest places in a shocking mess.
Garbage bags, lemon peels, gas canisters, petrol cans and electric hotplates were scattered throughout the church off Manger Square. A Reuters correspondent saw altars, the sacred focus of Christian worship, covered with food scraps.
"It's not a church any more, it's a place filled with beds and trash," said Sandy Shahin, a local teenager who rushed into the church minutes after the end of the siege on Friday.
"The smell is too bad. The floor is too bad. I'm filled with fear," Shahin, a Roman Catholic, said between sobs.
It seemed almost a small miracle that the Grotto of the Nativity, where a silver star installed by the Catholics in 1717 is set in white marble over the exact spot where Christians believe Jesus was born, was immaculate.
A Reuters correspondent saw dusty mattresses, flak jackets and helmets, left behind by the Palestinian militants holed up in the church and scattered across the floor.
Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian denominations share the fourth-century shrine, where areas of worship appeared to have escaped major damage in the standoff that included exchanges of gunfire between Israeli troops and the gunmen.
But the second floor of the Franciscan order's parish building in the complex looked like a war zone. Walls were pockmarked by bullet holes and scarred by smoke stains.
"I couldn't imagine something like this," said Manal Deik, a local banker, standing next to a bullet-riddled church wall which was also marked with graffiti scrawled in Arabic.
"We will repair it because the damage is not outside, it's inside and we can do something about that," said the 25-year-old Catholic.
Greek Orthodox priest Father Kariton, standing in the basilica near a pile of discarded gasmasks, added: "The most important things are okay, but the museum is a little damaged."
BICKERING
Soon after the militants left, priests from the often bickering denominations argued over whether to allow Israeli army bomb disposal experts in to make sure no explosives were left behind. The clergymen decided in favor of a sweep.
"We have found 40 explosive devices and five rifles hidden there and the IDF is dismantling them now," an army spokeswoman said.
Earlier, 13 men on Israel's most-wanted list left the church and were quickly flown on a British aircraft to Cyprus, the first stop in an exile abroad which will take them to third countries under a European Union-brokered deal.
Twenty-six others considered less serious offenders by Israel were expelled from the West Bank and taken to Gaza.
Some 200 people -- Palestinian militants, police, civilians, priests and nuns took refuge in the sanctuary to evade Israeli troops and tanks that swept into Bethlehem on April 2 in a West Bank offensive triggered by suicide bombings.
CROWD CHEERS
Outside the church on Friday, crowds of Palestinians cheered after Israeli armored personnel carriers pulled out of Manger Square. Church bells rang and cries of "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Greater" rang out from the loudspeakers of mosques.
Some of the 85 civilians, who returned to normal life in Bethlehem after undergoing an Israeli security check in a nearby army compound, were overjoyed at the prospect of simply taking a shower and eating a full meal for the first time in weeks.
After hugging and kissing emotional relatives who greeted them at Beit Jala Hospital near Bethlehem, the men said they asked themselves difficult questions during the standoff -- such as when Israeli snipers would fire next or food would run out.
"The Israelis had this tower with a remote control electronic device that fired on us whenever we were exposed. When we went outside we had to run away from it," said Naji Abu Obeid, a 19-year-old Palestinian policeman.
"We each had a safe spot in the church where we would hide such as behind columns," added Obeid, who said he used his AK-47 assault rifle to defend himself and others.
Israel, which engaged in lengthy negotiations with the Vatican and other interested parties over the church, strenuously denied firing into the shrine and said it did all it could to avoid damaging the Church of the Nativity.
Two Palestinian men were killed by gunfire in the church compound last month and another was later wounded.
NO STRANGER TO CONFLICT
A lemon tree stood in the Franciscan compound, its branches bare after those who had been holed up inside the shrine ate its leaves.
The church is no stranger to conflict. Samaritans destroyed much of the original church during a revolt in 529. Christian Crusader and Muslim armies fought over it for many years.
The church was rebuilt during the reign of the Roman Emperor Justinian in about 530 AD. Crusaders redecorated it and over the centuries it has been renovated and expanded with the addition of other chapels and monasteries around it.
But the second floor of the Franciscan order's parish building in the complex looked like a war zone. Walls were pockmarked by bullet holes and scarred by smoke stains.
Greek Orthodox priest Father Kariton, standing in the basilica near a pile of discarded gasmasks, added: "The most important things are okay, but the museum is a little damaged."
Phil·is·tine Pronunciation Key (fl-stn, f-lstn, -tn) n. A member of an Aegean people who settled ancient Philistia around the 12th century B.C.
A smug, ignorant, especially middle-class person who is regarded as being indifferent or antagonistic to artistic and cultural values.
One who lacks knowledge in a specific area. adj.
Of or relating to ancient Philistia.
often philistine Boorish; barbarous: “our plastic, violent culture, with its philistine tastes and hunger for novelty” (Lloyd Rose).
[From Middle English Philistines, Philistines, from Late Latin Philistn, from Greek Philistnoi, from Hebrew Plitîm, from Pleet Philistia.]
Word History: It has never been good to be a Philistine.
In the Bible Samson, Saul, and David helped bring the Philistines into prominence because they were such prominent opponents.
Though the Philistines have long since disappeared, their name has lived on in the Hebrew Scriptures. The English name for them, Philistines, which goes back through Late Latin and Greek to Hebrew, is first found in Middle English, where Philistiens, the ancestor of our word, is recorded in a work composed before 1325.
Beginning in the 17th century philistine was used as a common noun, usually in the plural, to refer to various groups considered the enemy, such as literary critics.
In Germany in the same century it is said that in a memorial at Jena for a student killed in a town-gown quarrel, the minister preached a sermon from the text “Philister über dir Simson! [The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!],” the words of Delilah to Samson after she attempted to render him powerless before his Philistine enemies.
From this usage it is said that German students came to use Philister, the German equivalent of Philistine, to denote nonstudents and hence uncultured or materialistic people. Both usages were picked up in English in the early 19th century
For the unenlightened, Philistine is the precursor of Palestinian. Aparently our ancestors had a better handle on this bunch than we do.
Deport Church of Nativity fighters, Greek Orthodox bishop suggests
By Haim Shapiro
JERUSALEM (April 10) - To solve the impasse over the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a senior Christian leader has suggested Israel deport - not detain or try - the Palestinian gunmen taking refuge in the historic church.
Bishop Aristorchus, the representative of the Greek Orthodox Church, submitted the proposal at a meeting of Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Roman Catholic leaders with Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior and Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin Pelesoff. He suggested the fighters give up their weapons and Israel not imprison them or put them on trial, but allow them to leave the country instead.
A Christian source said yesterday that Armenian clergy and civilians took refuge in the monasteries surrounding the Church of the Nativity, which marks the birthplace of Jesus, when the fighting broke out. The door connecting the church with the Armenian monastery is closed.
There are also our monks in the Greek Orthodox monastery adjoining the basilica, but the Palestinian fighters have occupied some of the rooms there.
There are about 35 Franciscan monks in the their monastery, which adjoins St. Catherine's Roman Catholic Parish Church, adjacent to the basilica. Apparently some of the Palestinian fighters are living in this monastery as well, and have received humanitarian aid from the monks.
Christian leaders have said the sanctity of the ancient church must be respected by both Israelis and Palestinians, that there must be a peaceful and bloodless solution to the problem, and that the Christians non-combatants are unwilling to abandon the church.
5.56mm
06 Apr 2002 18:11
Greek Orthodox monks escape Bethlehem church siege --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BETHLEHEM, West Bank, April 6 (Reuters) - The Israeli army said on Saturday it had helped three Greek Orthodox clergymen and two Palestinian women slip out of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, where dozens of Palestinian gunmen have been holed up.
Reuters Television filmed the five emerging from an Israeli armoured personnel carrier that brought them from Bethlehem where Israeli tanks and troops have been deployed. Four other clerics secretly fled on Friday from the church.
Israeli army spokesman Olivier Rafowicz said the army was negotiating with the gunmen to surrender and free the "hostages" he said they had taken among clergymen and civilians -- most of them apparently church workers -- confined to the church since the standoff began on Tuesday.
"We know there are between 150 and 200 armed men inside the church. We are trying hard to find a peaceful solution," he said. (snipping here)
The Roman Catholic, Armenian and Greek Orthodox churches share custody of the church.(snip here)
Do they ever stop bickering and arguing over there?
Think about this sentence from the Reuters report. Then think about the sheer volumn of trash now in the church, and non-trash like mattresses. How could they have gotten all that stuff into the church and yet have neglected food?
Answer: They didn't. There was food in the church to begin with, and then, just like the Israelis say, the Israelis allowed in lots more food. The Israelis almost had to feed these people because otherwise the church folk would starved too, plus, when the people left the church this morning, some would have looked like emaciated holocaust victims and many would have been strecher cases. They didn't and they weren't. If anyone tore the leaves off that tree, it was because they like the taste of those leaves, or, much more likely, they were helping build the story that the Israelis were starving those in the church. Reuters buys this.
Abusing Church tradition, the PLO has transformed a Greek Orthodox monastery, located next to the Church of Nativity, into Arafat's official residence in Bethlehem.
I am betting the Orthodox did not want the soldiers near anything holy in our faith. We have an old tradition that women and non-Orthodox are not allowed in certain places.
May 10, 2002
Nativity Terrorists Murdered Americans
Question: What’s scarier than having your young son stoned to death?
Answer: Having your President negotiate for his murderers’ freedom.
That’s the insult added to injury that the families of three American citizens experienced, Thursday, as 26 Palestinian terrorists were led to freedom from their captivity inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
One of those families was the American Mandell family. American citizen Koby Mandell was barely thirteen years old, a year ago, when he and his friend Yosef Ish-Ran, also thirteen, were stoned to death in a cave in what was supposed to be a friendly hike in the hills for two young boys.
In Judaism, thirteen is the age of Bar Mitzvah—becoming a man. Barely men, these two young kids were tortured for almost two hours by Mahmoud Hamdan--one of the terrorists holed up, until Thursday, in Jesus’ church. Koby and Yosef will never get to experience manhood, unlike the cowardly scum who murdered them and are now roaming free, thanks to President Bush.
When Israeli authorities found Mandell’s and Ish-Ran’s bodies, they were so badly smashed and bloodied against the walls of the cave that they were identifiable only through dental records. The entire cave was red, as these terrorist murderers smeared anti-Semitic graffiti all over the walls with the two young boys’ blood. This was a cave formed by centuries of rainwater and the carvings of 6th Century monks who made it a place of prayer and holiness.
Now it is a holy grave of two peaceful, innocent young boys.
Imagine being the mother of Mandell, a cute, vivacious all-American kid, last photographed wearing the baseball hat of his favorite team—the New York Yankees. Imagine having to identify—and forever remember the image of—the lifeless, smashed skeleton and organs of what was once that smiling son in a Yankees hat.
Now imagine your President—George W. Bush—negotiating your son’s depraved, inhuman killers’ freedom—freedom that your son will never again have.
If you are American Sherri Mandell, from Silver Spring, Maryland, you do not have to imagine this. It is the nightmare that will never end. Jewish law dictates that the anniversary of a person’s death is his or her “yahrtzeit.” A special candle is lit to commemorate the death and remember the departed. Mrs. Mandell has barely completed a year of painful mourning for her dead, adorable, peaceful son who never hurt anyone. Now, she must experience this pain all over again, because she must mourn the death of common sense and justice in her and our President.
While Sherri Mandell was lighting the yahrtzeit candle for her son, President Bush was partying with the Saudi Crown Prince, Abdullah, who sponsors terrorists like the ones who killed her son. While she was visiting the grave of her forever-13 son, President Bush was bowing to Abdullah’s threat that America will face “grave consequences” if it does not change its position toward Mrs. Mandell’s American son’s murderers. And while she was trying to remember the cute American son that once was--rather than the gruesome pile of bones, guts, tissue, and blood into which he was transformed--President Bush pressured Israel into giving Sherri Mandell’s child’s murderers their freedom—all to appease the rotund, brazen Saudi royal.
Our Commander-in-Chief negotiating the freedom of killers of our citizens is nauseating. So much for being the Chief Executive enforcer of laws. I guess he forgot about those laws against murder.
Then there are Avi Boaz and Sara Blaustein—also Americans, also murdered in cold blood by the terrorists President Bush helped set free from the Church of the Nativity. Never to be brought to trial, never to face justice.
Ibrahim Moussa Salem Abayat and Ismail Hamdan, both freed from the Church and prominent members of Arafat’s Fatah Tanzim, were involved in numerous terrorist attacks, including the murder of 72-year-old Boaz. Boaz, a building contractor, had close personal relationships with many Palestinian Arabs and traveled to Bethlehem on the morning of January 15, 2002, on business. As he entered the city, he was stopped at a Palestinian Authority roadblock, where he showed the PA policemen his U.S. passport. The PA police then allowed Fatah terrorists to abduct him to Beit Sahur, where they murdered him.
American citizen Sara Blaustein, of Lawrence, New York, was murdered in a drive-by shooting by Abayat, now freed from the Church of the Nativity. At Blaustein’s funeral, her family dealt with the outrage that the U.S. Embassy refused to send a representative, in order not to make "a political statement." Yet, its Consul-General, Ed Abington (later paid millions as Arafat’s Washington lobbyist) routinely attended funerals of Palestinians who, unlike Blaustein, weren’t even Americans.
These American citizens did not die in vain. Their relatives are promoting legislation, the Koby Mandell Act, to create a Justice Department office to pursue Palestinian Arab terrorists who kill or injure Americans and bring them to trial in the U.S.
But, legislation or not, President Bush should be demanding the extradition of these murderers of Americans to the U.S. to face justice—not negotiating for their freedom.
If you are speaking of the prophecy in Revelation, referenced to the Book of Daniel, I think you are right.
We are truly witnessing an "abomination, standing in the holy place", as prophecied.
Yikes, what's next....the appearance of the AntiChrist? Oh well, at least we're ready for the sumbitch....
Last time it happened was in 2 BC and it is thought to be the sign of Christ's birth the magi saw. Apparently for those in the know, this planet thingie portends a great, as in huge, world-changing, event. It has not happened for over 2000 years now.
Info about it is on the Harvard Smithsonian astronomy site and I can find the link again if anyone is interested. I'm just wondering if it means anything.
"Earlier, on May 5, something even more spectacular will happen. The bright planets Mars, Saturn and Venus will group together to form a perfect equilateral triangle in the western sky. This dazzling configuration will be visible almost everywhere on Earth. In the Middle East, this pyramid-shaped specter will hang directly above Bethlehem.
Oddly enough, more than 2,000 years ago, this same grouping of planets may have caught the attention of the Biblical Magi. On April 1, 2 B.C., the planets Mars, Saturn and Venus came together to form a perfect equilateral triangle over the city of Bethlehem."
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