All together now, folks…. say it with me: “It is all George Bush’s fault!”
Christmas Cheer Returns to Bethlehem – Associated Press
Hundreds of Christian pilgrims celebrated Jesus’ birth on Tuesday in the West Bank town where he was born, in an atmosphere made markedly cheerier by the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after years of bloody conflict.
By midday, the ancient Church of the Nativity was packed with tourists waiting in line to see the grotto that marks the traditional birthplace of Jesus.
The visit to Bethlehem was a first for Kiel Tilley, 23, a science teacher from Charlevoix, Mich.
“It’s very powerful and meaningful to me,” Tilley said. “It’s very moving to visit a place which I always read about in the Bible.”
The relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at a U.S.-sponsored conference last month reassured him before his trip, he said.
“I’m always in fear something would happen,” Tilley said. “But the peace process made me feel safer.”
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
In the Wall Street Journal, a Newsweek editor blamed Israel for the exodus of Christian Arabs from Bethlehem
It’s the most silly thing I’ve read in a while.
They actually published a comment of mine.. something I’ve been trying to do for a while because they only publish very few.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/responses.html?article_id=110011037
It’s the 3rd one. On two of these comments it seems they messed up the editing … all of the text is mine dispite appearing as if it’s the editors
Vince, congratulation on getting your comment printed!
Before Israel “occupied” Bethlehem 40 years ago, there were very few Christian tourists to either Bethlehem or Jerusalem. The Jews take over, and suddenly Christians from all over the world feel comfortable going to their holy sites. The Radical muslims take over in the late 1990s with the Oslo accords, and the number of tourists and Christian residents drops – who’s to blame!! The Jooos!
America is an amazing place, I recently moved to a new house, and my next door neighbor is a lovely Armenian woman. Turns out she was born in Jerusalem. She happened to get married and move to Lebanon the year my family moved to Israel. She would still be living happily in Lebanon to this day, if it weren’t for the fact that when King Hussain of Jordan kicked the PLO out of Jordan, they went to Lebanon and proceeded to destroy that country.
During her years in Lebanon she visited Israel a number of times and remembers it very fondly. All those years she was growing up under Jordanian rule where chaotic and miserable. She is in her late 50s, but when she was born, right before the creation of the state of Israel, her parents felt much better going to the Hospital in West Jerusalem, rather than the hospitals in East Jerusalem. her birth certificate is entirely in Hebrew.
But oh yeah, if there are any problems in the middle east, it has nothing to do with the muslims. It’s all because of the Jews.
Leah: I did a little research on the author of the article… He’s been Newsweek’s Religion Editor for like 30 years!!!
I am not surprised by the bias and outright deception.
The adversary never slumbers… he’s always at work , engaging in his war against the Jewish people.
I’m heartened that all the responses to the article were to set the record straight.
I’m proud of the normal American’s support of Israel. If only our deranged govt would stop betraying Israel or harming its self-defense.
Have you read Brigette Gabriel’s book about growing up during the Lebanese Civil War?
And for today’s it-must-be-read-to-be-believed mis-assigned blame for what’s wrong in the Middle East:
A female grad student at Hebrew U, named Tal Nitzan, has faulted Israeli Defense Forces for not (repeat NOT) raping Palestinian women:
Hat tip Jawa Report, who hat tips Phyllis Chesler. As the latter wryly puts it,
“Bethlehem Returns to Peace at Christmas”
Really? Tell that to the priests from various factions who were phsyically attacking each other 2 days after Christmas in the church. Apparently, Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian apostolic priests got into a bloody battle over who would clean the church pst-Christmas.
I think both sides in the Israel/Palestine conflict can accept blame, but it was palestinian forces who broke up the fight this time around.
>I think both sides in the Israel/Palestine conflict can accept blame, but it was palestinian forces who broke up the fight this time around.
Well gee.. woudn’t that be because Israel forces dont patrol inside the city… who else would do it?