Posts Tagged palestine
Archeology and Politics at the Western Wall
Posted by Joel in Religion and Politics on November 25, 2010
- Image by michalska1 via Flickr
An official Palestinian report claiming that a key Jewish holy site – Jerusalem’s Western Wall – has no religious significance to Jews evoked an angry response from Israelis Wednesday, threatening to further inflame tensions over the disputed city.
Decades of archaeology have shown that the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, was a retaining wall of the compound where the two biblical Jewish Temples stood 20 centuries ago. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, is built atop the ruins.
The latest claim about the Temples, echoing positions taken in the past by Palestinian leaders including the late Yasser Arafat, underlined the deeply held, conflicting beliefs that must be untangled if a peace accord is to be reached between Israel and the Palestinians.
via Palestinian official: Western Wall not Jewish.
Ahh…. politics.
Related articles
- Western Wall Not Jewish Says Palestinian Official (huffingtonpost.com)
- Palestinian official: Western Wall not Jewish (foxnews.com)
- Jerusalem Western Wall development plan opposed by Palestinians as ‘illegal’ (guardian.co.uk)
- When did the ‘Western Wall’ Become Sacred to Jews? 1520 (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
- Abbas: No talks without East Jerusalem building freeze (reuters.com)
A Report from Palestine – There is Still Hope
Posted by Joel in Religion and Politics on July 31, 2010
There are few things that Mitchell and I agree on – we both love God, love the Scriptures…. and that one of us is generally wrong on politics all the time. And we both believe that the truth should be objective. One of his friends shared a first hand account of the peace process in Israel and it is one which we should all pay a little more attention too. It involves several Israeli organization, Families Forum, Israeli Commission Against Home Demolition, Women in Black, and Negev Coexistence Forum for civil equality, which believe it or not, feel much the same way about the Israeli government’s actions against the Palestinians as some of us do. There are always several sides to the issues. His report shows one often overlooked.
I pray for Jonathan, and find much solace in his report and his closing remarks,
There is still hope.
Please read the first hand account here:
a report from palestine.
IDF, Justice, Town Planning and the Palestinians
Posted by Joel in Religion and Politics on July 21, 2010
The IDF’s Civil Administration destroyed a Palestinian village Monday morning that had earlier been cleared out when its water supply was cut off.
The IDF demolished about 55 structures in the West Bank village of Farasiya, including tents, tin shacks, plastic and straw huts, clay ovens, sheep pens and bathrooms. These structures served the 120 farmers, hired workers and their families who lived in the Jordan Valley village.
…..
Since 1967, Israel has prevented Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley from growing, whether by cutting off their water supply, declaring large areas as live fire zones or banning all construction.
About a year ago the IDF set up hundreds of warning signs near Palestinian farming communities, marking them closed military areas. Such a sign was set up at the entrance to Farasiya.
The families had recently been forced to leave the village when the Israeli authorities cut it off from its water sources, said the popular committees’ coordinator in the valley, Fathi Hadirat. The villagers were forbidden to use the water wells the Mekorot Water Company had dug in the area.
Read more, the rest, here:
Note that not all Israeli’s support this type of action by their Government.
American Tax Dodgers and Israel
Posted by Joel in Religion and Politics on July 6, 2010
Jim is just having a field day over this one:
Twice a year, American evangelicals show up at a winery in this Jewish settlement in the hills of ancient Samaria to play a direct role in biblical prophecy, picking grapes and pruning vines.
…
HaYovel is one of many groups in the United States using tax-exempt donations to help Jews establish permanence in the Israeli-occupied territories — effectively obstructing the creation of a Palestinian state, widely seen as a necessary condition for Middle East peace.
The result is a surprising juxtaposition: As the American government seeks to end the four-decade Jewish settlement enterprise and foster a Palestinian state in the West Bank, the American Treasury helps sustain the settlements through tax breaks on donations to support them.
A New York Times examination of public records in the United States and Israel identified at least 40 American groups that have collected more than $200 million in tax-deductible gifts for Jewish settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the last decade. The money goes mostly to schools, synagogues, recreation centers and the like, legitimate expenditures under the tax law. But it has also paid for more legally questionable commodities: housing as well as guard dogs, bulletproof vests, rifle scopes and vehicles to secure outposts deep in occupied areas.
Yes, because you know, biblical prophecy is always interpreted the same way, and we can just do our best to aid it along.
Read the rest here:
Tax-Exempt Funds Aiding West Bank Settlements – NYTimes.com.
And read the comments:
Exodus 1947. Is history now being repeated?
Posted by Newtaste in Other Posts on June 5, 2010
The Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound aid ships may be a case of history repeating it’s self. A history that led, in part, to the founding of modern Israel.
Initially sold as scrap for slightly more than $8,000, the ship [“President Warfield”] was acquired by the Hagana (an underground Jewish military organization). Hagana personnel arranged to dock the ship in Europe in order to transport Jews who sought to illegally immigrate into Palestine. The plight of the ship’s passengers would capture the world’s attention. In July 1947, the “President Warfield” left Sete, France, for Palestine with over 4,500 Jewish men, women, and children, all displaced persons (DPs) or survivors of the Holocaust. Even before the ship (by then renamed the “Exodus 1947″) reached Palestine’s territorial waters, British destroyers surrounded it. A struggle followed in which a Jewish crew member and two passengers were killed. Dozens suffered bullet wounds and other injuries.
Continue reading
Israel Kills Two Aid Workers – Don’t Feed the Palestinians
Posted by Joel in Religion and Politics on May 31, 2010
You know, some of those Palestinians are Christians.
Regardless of your nationality, there is such a thing as human rights, and it is high time that we level the same expectations on Israel that we do the Palestinians.
HT for the video.
Israel is defending herself to the UN and blaming the aid workers.
To be fair, there are videos which show the aid workers attacking the well-armed men who board their boat:
Considering they were being invaded….
So, do we give Israel a free pass, or do we demand accountability? Can we step back and look at Israel’s actions without the blinders of religion and recent theology on? Can we see that starving a people is a heinous act and must be account for? Do we not see how Israel’s actions put more American soldiers in harm’s way?
Final thought – U.S.S. Liberty
Petraeus: Israeli Ties Hurting U.S. Soldiers
Posted by Joel in Religion and Politics on March 17, 2010
U.S. General David Petraeus said on Wednesday that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was fomenting anti-American sentiment due to the perception of U.S. favoritism towards Israel.
