|
|
Blog Feeds
Anti-Empire
The Saker Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Lockdown Skeptics
Voltaire NetworkVoltaire, international edition
|
Life for Christians under the PA national |
miscellaneous |
news report
 Monday September 16, 2002 12:44 by Joseph Farah - Arab American Journalist
 Do you want to know what life will be like for Christians in the new state of Palestine? We get some clues from the way they are being treated today with Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. Perhaps no town has more symbolic meaning to Christians worldwide than Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. When Palestinian terrorists took over the Church of the Nativity, using it as a fortress from which to fire upon Israeli troops while holding nuns, priests and monks hostage, they also stole or destroyed virtually everything of value inside the building. And they got away with it. Those terrorists, including some wanted for the murders of Israeli civilians, were permitted to leave the country unscathed and unmolested – all in an effort to avoid further destruction at the holy site. A document captured by the Israelis in Bethlehem during Operation Defensive Wall shows that Arafat's Fatah/Al Aqsa Martyrs, the same criminals who broke into the church, demanded of Bethlehem municipal officials monetary support for its "military" campaign. This demand is just an extension of a larger extortion racket being perpetrated on the remnant of Christians, who represent a dwindling and tiny minority among the burgeoning Muslim population in Arafat's territory. Men of the Bedouin Taamra tribe, based near Bethlehem, are used by Arafat's forces to shake down Christian businessmen. They take from the Christians and give to the terrorists – keeping some for themselves and terrorizing civilians with impunity under the corrupt Arafat regime. When senior Fatah terrorist Atef Abayat was killed in a car explosion, he was found to be wearing gold rings on his fingers that had been stolen from Christian businessman George Nissan. It's a routine matter for Fatah members to extort money from businessmen who operate souvenir shops, real estate offices and gas stations in Bethlehem. This campaign is carried out in cooperation with the Palestinian security apparatus, according to captured documents. Last spring, a Bethlehem woman named Saadah Hamidan was raped and murdered by a senior Fatah/Tanzim official, Iman Ali Azmi al-Kadi, a close friend of Abdallah al-Nu'ura (Abu Hadid) one of Tanzim's leaders in Bethlehem. Al Kadi was brought to trial. But, according to local Christian sources, the judge was bribed and the rapist was acquitted. The Palestinian Authority appropriated lands of the Greek Orthodox Church in Bethlehem through a combination of violence, forged documents and bribes. In some cases, elements within the church cooperated with Arafat's forces. Mosques are often built on the formerly Christian land. The PA's thoroughly corrupt "judicial system" adds to the persecution of the Christians in Bethlehem by simply lifting all protection. As an example, a Christian family owned a plot of land with a business center on it. When a Muslim family took possession of the building and began using it without permission, the Christian family filed a claim. After long and arduous court hearings, the Christian family's claim was upheld. But the verdict was never enforced by police and later a new court verdict appeared, signed by the same judge, that canceled the previous verdict and ratified the Muslim's claim to the land. Information is difficult to gather because Christians live in a constant state of terror. But the statistics speak for themselves. From October 2000, when Arafat's uprising began, to November 2001 nearly 3,000 Christians fled the West Bank. Arafat has Islamicized Bethlehem and the nearby towns of Beitjalla and Beit Sakhur. An additional 30,000 Muslims have been incorporated into the area. Bethlehem, once a Christian town, now has a Christian population of 30,000 – dominated by 120,000 Muslims. As you've been reading in the WorldNetDaily dispatches by William Murray from the West Bank, the terrorists' favorite game is placing the Christians in the crossfire – firing at Israelis from within and behind churches and Christian businesses that are then destroyed by tanks and rocket fire. All this goes on while the Christian world remains silent. A months-old letter to the Vatican from Bethlehem's Christians pleading for help against the onslaught of rape, murder and plunder at the hands of Arafat and the Muslim majority has not even been answered. Such is life for Christians now in Bethlehem and other formerly Christian towns in the West Bank. Just imagine what it will be like when Palestine becomes a real state.
|
printable version
Digg this
del.icio.us
Furl
Reddit
Technorati
Facebook
Gab
Twitter
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (5 of 5)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5and not even new.
This column is from July 22nd.
If you must post these out of date and irrelevant articles, the very least you can do is post a summary and link instead of the entire article.
The nuns, priests and monks in the church of the nativity were *not* held hostage by the PA. They, along with the palistinians seeking santuary, were jointly held hostage by IDF stormtroopers. If you don't believe me, then just ask them (they have email and telephones!).
Israel is now evil to its very core. Face it. This is obvious despite the spending of billions of dollars on propaganda in an attempt to influence world public opinion.
Stop stealing land.
Stop the propaganda.
Stop smearing judaism with evil.
Good to know that the Palestinians have been able to take time out from being ethnically cleansed in order to be able to oppress others.
Jesus!!!
Joseph Farah's defence of non-Jewish religions in Israel is sweet. Particularly repugnant to him is the fact that 3000 Christians have fled the West Bank. Actually, far more than 3000 have fled. Ethnically cleansed is the word. Alongside about 80.000 Muslims who have fled the Occupied Territories since the beginning of this year. These figures come from the right-wing Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem Post.
It's clear that Israel's ethnic cleansing (or 'transfer' as they call it) is moving onto a new phase. In this, it's true, they don't distinguish between Christians and Muslims. So long as you're not Jewish, you're not wanted.
On the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, shelled, starved and partially destroyed by the Israeli army, I'd refer people to the Palestine Chronicle site - Palestinechronicle.com - for the true story.
David