Posted on 04/24/2002 5:11:13 AM PDT by lepraerea
What Is The Real Story Around The Church Of Nativity? 22-Apr-02 Ghassan Andoni
It is amazing how much one can twist facts. But more amazing is how much people can be influenced by twisted facts. In relation to the Church of Nativity, two stories are being widely circulated.
The Israeli story: a large group of armed "terrorists" entered the Church of Nativity. They took dozens of civilians including Christian priests and monks as hostages and are using them as human shields to launch attacks on the Israeli army, which is surrounding the place. Therefore, Israel is attempting to rescue the hostages and capture the "terrorists".
The Palestinian story: As the Israeli army invaded Bethlehem and Israeli tanks approached Manger Square, around 240 Palestinians including some armed Palestinians entered the Church seeking a safe shelter. Armed Palestinians laid down their arms and are seeking the protection of the Christian clergy inside the church.
Who are the people inside the church?
All resources from inside the church including Father Ibrahim Faltas, Christian Lawyer Tony Salman, and the governor of Bethlehem Mohammad Almadani confirmed repeatedly that: the vast majority of the people inside are innocent civilians who ran into the church to save their lives. The armed Palestinians who entered the church were mostly members of Palestinian Authority tourism Police, policemen from the adjacent Palestinian police station, and some Palestinians who decided to fight against the Israeli invasion of their city.
The Vatican repeatedly announced that all people inside the church are non-engaged and only seeking a shelter that the church is welling to provide. The Vatican repeatedly affirmed that there is no hostage-taking situation.
As the siege of the church continued, Israel employed a continued pressure to force the people inside the church to surrender. Some methods used are:
Preventing any supplies of food. Currently people inside the church are starving.
Prevent evacuate dead bodies from inside the church. (Two bodies are still inside)
Prevent any medical help for scores of injured people (nuns are dealing with the situation with primitive first aid means)
Positioning snipers all over the place and shooting at any moving target. So far two people were killed inside the church and two more wounded including an Armenian Priest.
Shooting randomly inside the church. This random shooting resulted in a fire that destroyed three rooms inside the church. A Palestinian was shoot dead by a sniper while attempting to extinguish the fire.
Throwing rounds of sound grenades into and around the church. This is going on all daytime and especially at night.
Transmitting, through loudspeakers, sounds that are beyond the threshold of pain into the church.
Attempted twice to burst into the church from its eastern entrance. In one attempt they destroyed one of the church gates using explosives.
So far, and aside from the suffering of people inside the church, considerable damage have been done to the church itself. With the little protest and concern from the side of the Christians all over the world and from the side of the international community, it is likely that Israel will upgrade its assault and might cause more substantial damage.
All attempts to negotiate a settlement to this situation failed. Israel insists on either complete surrender without conditions or a deportation outside the country. They are refusing the involvement of any third party in such efforts.
It is extremely worrying that with the increased pressure on Israel to leave the PA areas, Israel might attack the church in an attempt to kill or arrest people inside. It can happen, it might result in a massacre taking place inside the church, and it might destroy the Church. Something urgent must be done to prevent this from happening.
Ghassan Andoni (a Christian who lives 100 meters away from the Church of Nativity)
Three Armenian monks, who had been held hostage by the Palestinian gunmen inside the Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, managed to flee the church area via a side gate yesterday morning. They immediately thanked the soldiers for rescuing them.
They told army officers the gunmen had stolen gold and other property, including crucifixes and prayer books, and had caused damage.
The three elderly monks were assisted by soldiers. One of them held a white cloth banner with the words "Please help."
One of the monks, Narkiss Korasian, later told reporters: "They stole everything, they opened the doors one by one and stole everything... they stole our prayer books and four crosses... they didn't leave anything. Thank you for your help, we will never forget it."
Israeli officials said the monks said the gunmen had also begun beating and attacking clergymen.
Chances of a breakthrough in the three-week standoff between the IDF and the gunmen holding clergymen and Palestinian civilians hostage inside the church took a more optimistic turn last night, following two meetings between Palestinian Authority and Israeli officials.
Officials are expected to meet for the third time today, an Israeli security official said last night, adding that the talks were conducted in a good atmosphere.
"The Palestinians insist Israel allow the gunmen to be transferred directly to Gaza with an international escort; we insist they lay down their arms and those found to be involved in terrorist activities go on trial in Israel or be deported," he said.
PA officials who participated in the meetings included Imad Natshe, the district coordinating officer; PA Minister of Tourism Mitre Abu Aita, Bethlehem Mayor Hana Nasser, and Salah Ta'amri. Col. Marcel Aviv leads the IDF negotiating team.
Last night, Nasser told The Jerusalem Post a third meeting would take place this afternoon. The atmosphere in which the talks took place was good, he said, but "frankly, there has been no progress. The Israelis are adamant that the gunmen be deported. They don't know the exact number of the gunmen and neither do we. However we insist that the gunmen be taken to Gaza accompanied by a third party.
"If there are accusations against any of them, they can be formally made to the PA court. We cannot agree to their being deported, as it violates the Oslo Accords and sets a terrible precedent.
"We also asked Israel to improve the hygienic situation inside and restore the power and water and food supplies," he said.
Yesterday was the first time that both sides met for direct talks on the issue.
Of the scores of gunmen inside the church, security officials estimate there are at least 20 fugitives affiliated with the Fatah Tanzim and Hamas.
Among them are Ibrahim Abayat, who has planned and organized terrorist activities in the area, and Jihad Ja'ara who, according to witnesses, was shot in the leg when he and the other gunmen commandeered the church.
Israel has stressed that all those who leave the church and are proven not to have been involved in terrorism will be free to return to their homes.
According to reports from those who fled the compound in recent days, there is growing dissent among the gunmen. Food and water supplies are dwindling, and the pressure is mounting, Israeli officials said. Throughout the past weeks, the IDF has given food and medication to the clergy held hostage inside; the other Palestinians held hostage by the gunmen receive water and medication.
Finally, this jihad and response to it should be a severe jolt to the western world - looks like anti-semitism really DOES still exist out here despite tons of data that quite clearly tells us that OUR enemies are the same as Israel's enemies.
Good lord Cracker, they're even breaking down and admitting that the IRA are terrorists after years of looking the other way as Americans funded their bombers.
Things changed on 9/11 and you are blind to limit the opposition to one group, in one small state, far from any of your other prejudices.
This infromation makes me fairly suspicious of the Holyland Christian Ecumenical Foundation.
Hey, dude, don't you watch the news. Didn't you see the escaped monk yesterday? He was claiming that the PA inside the church were terrorizing everyone and stealing everything in sight.
Acknowledge if you actually understand the sentence above.
He visited where, with whom? He went to the holiest of Jewish sites--The Temple Mount--with body guards made necessary by terrorist islamobots bent on destruction of themselves and anyone who doesn't conform to their way of thinking. He visited the site of Solomon's temple. Built long before some wandering vagrant decided to call himself a muslim or a palestinian. Jerusalem--all of it--has always been part of Israel and always will be.
That other building currently atop the Temple Mount is an abomination in the eyes of God, of Jews and of Christians. It should have never been allowed to be built. Allowing that it was built, it should have been buldozed into the Jordan River long ago. It will never be allowed to stay. It is a temporary eyesore that will be destroyed and replaced in that holiest of places with the true God's temple, as it is written.
As for this "real story" about the siege, it's total nonsense. Just yesterday, several escaped monks told the real story--that the Christians are being beaten, abused, and kept prisoner, and the church desecrated and robbed.
You're not too informed about their customs. Use and even possession of arms violates the tradition of sanctuary. See the intervierw with Archbishop Tauran above.
The Franciscans do not consider themselves hostages because they would not abandon the church under any circumstances, no matter who had set up camp inside. I'm not Catholic either but have been told by many on these threads that the Franciscans consider the protection of holy sites to be part of their traditional vocation.
But they're not all Franciscans in there. The Armenian monks who escaped yesterday DO consider themselves to have been held hostage. They were saying so on television yesterday.
And there are other noncombatant people there besides clergy. It doesn't matter if they all went in voluntarily at the beginning; they have been prevented from leaving since then (as stated by the five men who got out with the help of the IDF on Sunday or Monday). If you're prevented from leaving, you're a hostage. It's that simple.
I, too, had never heard of this group. I remember, however, that one of the US groups whose assets were frozen recently because of their terrorist connections was a so-called "Holyland Foundation."
You should be banned from FR and arrested. Freedom of speech doesn't extend to intentionally decieving people with flagrant lies in order to incite them to hate and attack another group.
For your information, Sharon never visited a Muslim holy site. For those of you who don't know, the temple mount is divided into sections.
Sharon visited the 'temple mount' as you call it, but did not, i repeat, DID NOT, enter the Mosque, or its sourrounding grounds, which is Islams 3rd holiest site.
The Israelis has soverignty over the entire area (so legally he could walk right into the Mosque) but turned control over the administration of the Muslim section to the Waqf.
Sharon coordinated his visit with the Waqf (Muslim trusteeship in charge of that area) and never STEPPED ONE FOOT INTO THE MOSQUE, or its sourrounding grounds.
The media portrayed it as if he walked into the Mosque and had a BBQ with some pork chops.
FlordiaCracker, you have no place here, in America, or in civilized society. Why don't you crawl back into that god-forsaken jew hating hole you came out of and go back to your buddies in Europe or the Arab/Islamic world.
Anything the Israelis do now, would be fully warranted by the ordinary laws of war. They have been reluctant to storm the church, but I am increasingly of the opinion that they are going to have to.
And any Christian who blames THEM, not the Arabs, should be sent to a monastery until he comes to repentance for his siding with the heathen against his fellow children of God.
But I still have to be suspicious of any organization that publishes stuff from a guy who founded one of the darling organizations of indymedia, and publishes it as the truth.
I think it likely that both the account given by Rome and Antioch and the Armenian monks tale are true: the Armenians are regarded as monophysite heretics by both of the larger Christian groups in the Holy Land--the Orthodox and the Latins--although relations with their church are generally good. The PA needs the support of it Christian minority, their Muslim gunmen would not pick in the Orthodox or Latins, but might attack the Armenians.
I agree with you. Some men become "reverends" for greedy reasons, such as to make money. You can see plenty of them on TV telling the poor that they will become rich if they send in their money to the address at the bottom of the screen.
In the last few decades the Muslims seem to be "breaking new ground," diplomatically speaking. First they upset tradition by storming an embassy and taking people hostage. Then they break tradition by storming a protected church and taking some people hostage.
Good post Billybob. If there are ONLY innocent non-coms inside, why then did IDF attempts to enter fail ?? Have they been sitting around outside for 2 weeks because they have nothing better to do ?? This qualifies as blatent bullshit I think.
UNLESS they say something that is critical of Palis?
I get the image of a child with their fingers in their ears so they wont have to hear their mother tell them to go to bed.
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