Posted on 11/16/2001 1:08:51 PM PST by veronica
JERUSALEM - Working under cover of darkness, Muslims in Jesus' boyhood town of Nazareth have begun constructing a mosque alongside the Basilica of the Annunciation, despite protests by the Vatican and Israeli authorities.
The Vatican, in a statement issued in Rome, called on the Israeli government to stop "Muslim extremists" from building the mosque next to the church marking the site where Christians believe the angel Gabriel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus.
"Building the mosque here will in effect put this holy place in a state of permanent siege and make its gate a gathering place for the most hostile elements," the statement said, according to the Vatican news service Fides.
Israeli authorities charged today that the work constituted a provocation and threatened to stop the construction by force, even as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins. Local Christians warned the work could re-ignite the interreligious violence that erupted at the site last year.
Construction on the mosque began Monday, without the necessary permits, but the Israeli Lands Authority ordered it halted. The Wakf, or Islamic Trust, stopped the work today but said it will start again if it does not get the necessary permits within a week.
Witnesses said crews were working at the site Monday and Tuesday nights in an apparent attempt to keep the construction secret.
A lawyer for the Muslims, Dan Shafrir, said the construction had been going on day and night. The Israeli Lands Authority promised to help the Islamic Trust obtain the permits for the Muslim-owned land if the construction was stopped, Shafrir said.
"We're not hiding anything from anyone," Shafrir said. "Whether or not we get the permits, we will continue construction in a week."
The construction was halted only temporarily, and steel beams arrived at the site today, said Ahmed Saleh Hamudeh, the head of the Islamic Trust in Nazareth.
Christians are a minority in Nazareth, and tensions over the mosque have been running high between the Christian community and the Muslim majority in the city of 70,000. Nazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel.
Under pressure from Christian leaders, including the Vatican, the previous Israeli government worked out a compromise in 1999 to defuse a tense situation in which Muslims were praying in a large tent a few meters from the church, as a planned millennium visit by Pope John Paul II neared. The Vatican had hinted the issue could force the cancellation of the pope's visit, which took place as scheduled in March 2000.
According to the agreement, the tent was removed, and a mosque would be built on one third of the 2,000-square-meter plot, but only after the millennium year.
Church leaders in the Holy Land complain that Israel made excessive concessions to the Muslims, while ignoring promises made to Christian leaders, including the pope.
Despite the pledges of the previous government, Israeli officials are indicating that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not allow construction of the mosque.
"A decision on the matter will be made by the government" due to the sensitivity of the issue, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said. "We are absolutely against the work going on at the moment."
Israel believes that starting construction days before the start of Ramadan is a cynical use of the holiday by the Muslims, with the hope authorities will not act to stop the work, a government official said on condition of anonymity.
The authorities will forcibly halt the work if necessary, the official said.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, himself a Muslim, sided with the Christians in the dispute, saying in December 1999 that the Muslims should not build the mosque so close to the church.
The Muslims say a Crusader-era sage is buried at the site, and they hoped to build a large mosque there. Church leaders wanted the plot for a plaza to accommodate millennium pilgrims.
After all, the Dome of the Rock is built upon the Foundation Stone, where Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac.
To set the record straight, the Indians may have saved the Puritans in Massachusetts from starvation that first winter, but the colonists were pretty much on their own. One of their major problems with the Indians was getting ambushed while they were working in their own fields they themselves had cleared and planted.
Journals from those times are replete with accounts of whole families and settlements being killed or kidnapped. Many were marched off to Canada in the dead of winter and held as hostages.
I would say that the Indians of those times were "terrorists" but we only hear one side of the story today. The reason tribes were decimated and driven further west was mostly a matter of self-preservation on the part of the settlers.
JERUSALEM (FIDES/CWNews.com) In the town of Nazareth, fundamentalist Muslims have stepped up pressure to intimidate Christians in the wake of an Israeli government decision allowing the construction of a mosque adjacent to the Basilica of the Annunciation. Now a leaflet is being circulated, threatening the life of Pope John Paul II.
The FIDES news agency reports that the leaflet-- which is written in Arabic, and unsigned--features harsh anti-Catholic slogans and threatens violence if the Pope "dares to make the 2000 visit."
The leaflet, which has been circulating in Nazareth for a week,warns Christians living there that if the Pope visits the town in March 2000, "We will burn down your homes with our own hands.The whole world will watch us and the press will write about us."
The leaflet announces that all of the religious sites of the Holy Land are rightfully the property of Islam, and "the cross must disappear,and Islam take its place."
Building on the controversy over the mosque near the Basilica of the Annunciation, the leaflet says: "the church of the Annunciation must be purified of the infidels who have sullied it." The unknown authors of the leaflet proclaim that they will turn the basilica itself into a mosque.
The Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land, Father Giovanni Battistelli, told FIDES that "there is great sadness and anxiety among the local Christians, despite words of reassurance" from several Israeli government ministries. "The leaflet," he explained,"hasincreased tension and already caused violence near the Basilica of the Annunciation."
The Franciscan priest related that several incidents have occurred near the basilica, which has been the focal point of tensions for almost a full year:
"On Friday a young Christian from Nazareth was stabbed, another,wearing a cross and chain around his neck, was slapped; a group of pilgrims were insulted. Days earlier, fundamentalists hurled stones and rocks at the Church of St Joseph, pilgrims had to take refuge inside, and one of our fathers was spat upon."
Father Battistelli also reported that, in direct violation of an agreement forged by the Israeli government, an Islamic fundamentalist group has set up a tent in the public square outside the Basilica of the Annunciation. The Islamic group had laid a claim on the property in the square, announcing plans to build a mosque there, and setting up a tent to proclaim squatters' rights. The Israeli government-ignoring repeated Christian pleas and protests- had allowed construction of the mosque, with the proviso that the Islamic group would clear the square. That proviso is now being ignored.
Father Battistelli said that Israeli authorities appear reluctant to become involved in the controversy, and even to safeguard the Christian community. He reported that when Church officials scheduled a meeting to go over security procedures for the Christmas celebrations in Nazareth, police failed to show up for that meeting.
Father David Jaeger, OFM,one of the architects of the diplomatic agreements between Israel and the Holy See, is now in Nazareth. He told Fides that the people there are worried. In their view,the decision by the Israeli government to allow the mosque construction showed the power of a small fundamentalist group. That group, buoyed by their success in obtaining permission to build the mosque,is now even more aggressive.
However, Father Jaeger has spoken with several more moderate Islamic leaders in Nazareth, all of whom have assured him that the fundamentalist group is non- representative of the Muslims in Nazareth,and that the threats contained in the controversial leaflet are embarrassing to other Muslims. Father Jaeger pointed out that many Islamic leaders--from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as the Palestinian Authority-- have opposed the building of a mosque on that particular site in Nazareth, on the grounds that the project will inflame tensions and divide the community.
Father Jaeger holds out the hope that the Israeli government might reconsider its approval for the mosque construction process, FIDES reported. From his perspective in Nazareth, Father Jaeger told the Vatican news agency that "a top-ranking personality--whose name I cannot reveal--confirmed to me that the government is seriously reconsidering the question."
He said that there are two reasons for the government's willingness to think twice about the controversy. First, Israeli government authorities are under pressure from Christian leaders, both in the country and around the world. Second, government officials are beginning to recognize the dangerous precedent that could be set by bowing to the will of a fundamentalist Muslim group.
You asked for proof, gosh, it's just so easy.
I don't know if they were persecuted under Queen Elizabeth I. I do know that they separated from the Anglican Church, because they didn't think it was reforming fast enough.
Sounds like I'm a victim of revisionist history. Thanks, for the clarification.
"We have the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch..."
The reason I know both sides is from having studied genealogy. One of my ancestors was killed while working in a field in PA and had his heart cut out and held in the air at knifepoint as a trophy. Another ancestor was hit with an arrow in CT in the 1600's near Fort Saybrook while burning off a field but he survived. He was wounded in the thigh. I could well not be here ;-) if the aim had been better!
There are several general newsgroups for New England genealogy at rootsweb where people have culled some of the accounts, mostly first-hand, from older publications. The archives can be searched.
Basically I believe it was a clash of civilizations and I concede that, at times, we treated them brutally, which I regret. I do resent the agendized presentation of history, however. My granddaughter learned the revisionist version in school. In choosing to refer to them as terrorists, they were certainly that in the eyes of many settlers although the phrase hadn't entered the English lexicon yet, at least in that context.
Really though, I understand this would not be such a big deal if Sept 11th had never happened.
I thought perhaps you were Anti-Christian, now I know you are just uniformed. Shouldn't make such silly statements as this. It's not true and as I said, it's been going on for years. The fanatics do not just want a mosque, the goal is to wipe out all traces of Judaism and Christianity there (and the world). Please see my post 123 for further clarification on this subject.
The right thing from whose point of view, Romulus? There are people who will beat up on Israel for doing what you call the "right thing". Israel is damned either way when there is a "disagreement" between Muslim and Christian. Of course, there have been plenty of times during Israel's short existence when the state has been damned by both groups. Ah well. At least you're happy today.
As if the right thing were a matter of subjective interpretation. Huh!
There are people who will beat up on Israel for doing what you call the "right thing". Israel is damned either way...
Then Israel had better decide: is it about doing the right thing, or is it about worldly success? Naturally, for those who worship the State as their new golden calf, there's no contradiction.
Either the State of Israel is self-justifying, self-interpreting, and self-authenticating or else it is not. If it is, it's your god. If it is not, you must direct your allegiance to a higher power. Make up your mind.
Evidently, it is. For example, our Secretary of State seems to have a subjective interpretation of what a terrorist is.
Then Israel had better decide: is it about doing the right thing, or is it about worldly success?
If Israel were to truly do the right thing, it would have both.
Naturally, for those who worship the State as their new golden calf, there's no contradiction.
Who might that be, Romulus?
Either the State of Israel is self-justifying, self-interpreting, and self-authenticating or else it is not. If it is, it's your god. If it is not, you must direct your allegiance to a higher power. Make up your mind.
My mind is made up, Romulus. Although I do not accept your definition of Israel being a "g-d" just because it is self-justifying, etc. My allegiance is to a higher authority. Pity the governments of Israel and the US don't feel the same way.
My third son is named after two such English martyrs: John Fisher and Edmund Campion (we named him John Campion.) Fisher was the only English bishop to remain loyal to the Faith under Henry VIII. Campion was imprisoned, tortured, drawn and quartered under the regime of "Bloody Bess" (Elizabeth I) for the crime of being a Catholic priest. Since the time of Elizabeth, the English have been among the chief persecutors of the Faith.
You cannot be serious. This comment and those of the others are simply ludicrous.
As a Christian, I must say that the only thing more disgraceful than our Church's behaviour during the Dark Ages is modern attempts to deny or justify them. (Protestants burned "witches, Catholics burned "heretics" - neither group are blameless.) Let's just admit it, repent, and go on.
Schmelvin and Stryker are right. Go learn your history. It is embarrassing to be so wrong, and gives fuel to those who would ridicule us.
By the way, in no way does this mitigate the continuous, habitual, and I believe worse, offenses of the Muslims now or in the past.
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