Thick smoke billowing out of a compound near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Monday.
Posted on 04/22/2002 7:19:12 PM PDT by Democrats are liars
| Gun battle at Church of the Nativity |
Heavy gunfire has broken out between Israeli forces and armed Palestinians holed up inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Stun grenades were heard around the church and a puff of white smoke rose up from the compound.
A Palestinian policeman inside the compound said Israeli fire was hitting the church walls.
Israel's army said Palestinians opened fire from several positions in the church compound and soldiers returned fire.
Bethlehem Governor Mohammed Mdani, who is inside the church, said the Israelis fired first, and armed Palestinians shot back. There were no reports of injuries in the 15-minute exchange.
Mr Mdani said fires set by the stun grenades damaged two rooms of Greek Orthodox monks and were put out.
A courtyard statue of the Virgin Mary near St. Catherine's church also was damaged by gunfire but the extent cannot yet be determined.
Palestinian policemen inside the church said Israeli soldiers were leaning ladders against compound walls.
The army has leaned up ladders before to throw in leaflets urging surrender and to allow people interested in leaving the church to get out. Israel has promised Christian leaders it would not storm the church.
On Sunday, five people used the ladders to get out, two civilians, two Palestinian police and one member of Yasser Arafat's guard.
Shrine ? Whom-ever has Christ in his heart needs nothing more.
Jews and Moslem are tearing it down. We need to rescue this Holy place!
No; "we" don't.
BANG!(double tap)
Thick smoke billowing out of a compound near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Monday.
I am sure you have something important to say.
You would be so much more effective if you spent more time on improving your level of education.
I am not making fun of you, I am saying that you are using an environment (the internet) where proper use of the language is the most important part to effective communication.
When you make statements like "Westerns are dying, they are bunch of idiots control by morans", then you have explicitly shown who is the idiot.
Kcrack, are you on crack?
So what would you have "us" do? Rant and rave and drool all over our keyboards? Seems you have that angle pretty well covered. Now, since you are criticizing what it seems you are saying is non-activity on the part of Christians, let me ask a simple question, as others have: What exactly are YOU doing about the standoff that is destroying YOUR shrine?
Only people who have little faith in God put such great store in buildings. That building is of the earth, not of God. Frankly, we don't need a crutch, that's why there has been so little excitement over this. That and the fact that we have faith that the Israelis won't deliberately damage the church. If the church is damaged, it will be damaged by the Palestinians who ran in there with guns.
You should lay off the AOL Instant Messaging. It rots your brain and compromises your spelling.
Say, I have an idea on that Bethlehem problem. Why don't you go tell them to stop? Be sure to bring a change of underwear and some Band-Aids (tm).
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