9 may 2014
An Israeli policeman walks past graffiti on the wall of a church near an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem, on May 9, 2014. The graffiti reads "King David for the Jews...Jesus is garbage"
Vandals sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on a Jerusalem church on Friday, despite Israeli police stepping up security around religious sites ahead of a visit by Pope Francis later this month.
"Price tag... King David for the Jews... Jesus is garbage" was spray-painted in Hebrew on the wall of St George's, a Romanian Orthodox church near an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Israeli police said that "Death to Arabs" was found written on a house in the Old City in East Jerusalem, and swastikas were scrawled on the wall of a west Jerusalem apartment.
The Roman Catholic church has demanded Israeli action after Hebrew graffiti reading "Death to Arabs and Christians and to everyone who hates Israel" was daubed on its Notre Dame complex in Jerusalem on Monday.
"The bishops are very concerned about the lack of security and lack of responsiveness from the political sector, and fear an escalation of violence," the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
The attacks on Christian property come amid a rise in anti-Palestinian hate crimes. Israeli ministers held an emergency meeting on Wednesday, pledging to enforce harsh measures against perpetrators.
The US State Department's 2013 Country Reports on Terrorism included "price tag" attacks for the first time, citing UN figures of some "399 attacks by extremist Israeli settlers that resulted in Palestinian injuries or property damage."
Such attacks were "largely prosecuted," it said.
Israeli media on Friday reported that police and Shin Bet feared Jewish right-wing extremists would try to attract media attention by attacking Christian sites ahead of the Pope's visit to the region, scheduled to begin on May 24 in Jordan.
He is then due to spend two days in the Holy Land from May 25.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld highlighted a boosted security presence around sensitive Christian sites.
"We've already stepped up security in different sites, in different areas, and obviously will continue to do so," he said.
Rosenfeld said police did not connect the increase in attacks on Christian sites with the upcoming papal visit.
The perpetrators of violence against Palestinian communities are rarely prosecuted. There are hundreds of racist attacks against Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank every year.
Vandals sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on a Jerusalem church on Friday, despite Israeli police stepping up security around religious sites ahead of a visit by Pope Francis later this month.
"Price tag... King David for the Jews... Jesus is garbage" was spray-painted in Hebrew on the wall of St George's, a Romanian Orthodox church near an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Israeli police said that "Death to Arabs" was found written on a house in the Old City in East Jerusalem, and swastikas were scrawled on the wall of a west Jerusalem apartment.
The Roman Catholic church has demanded Israeli action after Hebrew graffiti reading "Death to Arabs and Christians and to everyone who hates Israel" was daubed on its Notre Dame complex in Jerusalem on Monday.
"The bishops are very concerned about the lack of security and lack of responsiveness from the political sector, and fear an escalation of violence," the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
The attacks on Christian property come amid a rise in anti-Palestinian hate crimes. Israeli ministers held an emergency meeting on Wednesday, pledging to enforce harsh measures against perpetrators.
The US State Department's 2013 Country Reports on Terrorism included "price tag" attacks for the first time, citing UN figures of some "399 attacks by extremist Israeli settlers that resulted in Palestinian injuries or property damage."
Such attacks were "largely prosecuted," it said.
Israeli media on Friday reported that police and Shin Bet feared Jewish right-wing extremists would try to attract media attention by attacking Christian sites ahead of the Pope's visit to the region, scheduled to begin on May 24 in Jordan.
He is then due to spend two days in the Holy Land from May 25.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld highlighted a boosted security presence around sensitive Christian sites.
"We've already stepped up security in different sites, in different areas, and obviously will continue to do so," he said.
Rosenfeld said police did not connect the increase in attacks on Christian sites with the upcoming papal visit.
The perpetrators of violence against Palestinian communities are rarely prosecuted. There are hundreds of racist attacks against Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank every year.
Fanatic Jewish settlers believed to be from the price tag gang at dawn Friday spray-painted racist slurs on walls against Palestinian Muslims and Christians in occupied Jerusalem. The Hebrew radio reported that unidentified settlers defaced a house door and a power cabinet on Asilsila street in the Old City of Jerusalem with anti-Arab graffiti.
Hate slogans against Arab Christians and the signature "price tag" also defaced a wall near the Romanian Church in central Jerusalem.
The Price tag gang is a group of Jewish extremists who launch hate attacks against Palestinian and Arab-Israeli property.
Hate slogans against Arab Christians and the signature "price tag" also defaced a wall near the Romanian Church in central Jerusalem.
The Price tag gang is a group of Jewish extremists who launch hate attacks against Palestinian and Arab-Israeli property.
The Greek Orthodox church in the Holy Land has dismissed a Palestinian priest who publicly voiced support for Christians serving in Israel's army, a church spokesman said Thursday.
Spokesman Issa Musleh said that ecclesiastical authorities decided Tuesday to fire Father Gabriel Nadaf from his post in Nazareth, but were only now making their decision public.
"We warned him before to keep to his priestly duties and not to interfere in matters of the army," Musleh said.
"When he did not heed our warning, we held a meeting of the church court which decided to sack him."
He said no written notification had been given to Nadaf. "We announce this now," he said.
Nadaf said he had received no official notification of the sacking and dismissed reports that he had been fired as media speculation.
"The procedure for sacking anyone as a priest is to invite him to the patriarch's office where he will be presented with a letter of dismissal by the patriarch's secretary," he said.
"I have not received any call or letter from the patriarch's office."
Last month, Israel said it would start sending enlistment papers to all Christian Arabs of military service age, angering Palestinian MPs who accused the government of seeking to divide Christians from Muslims.
Service would not be compulsory for the 130,000 Christian Palestinians who are Israeli citizens as it is for Jews, an army spokesman said.
At present, about 100 Christian Palestinians who are citizens volunteer for military service each year.
The more than 1.3 million Muslim Palestinians who are citizens would not be sent papers at all, the spokesman added.
Nadaf welcomed the move by the military.
"Young people in the Christian community need to understand the importance of serving and getting involved in the country in which they live and which protects them, and in which we are full citizens," he said last month.
He was also pictured in Israeli media sharing a stage with an army officer and Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, a hawkish member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, during a recruiting drive.
Bassel Ghattas, a member of the Israeli parliament for the communist Hadash party, urged Christians who received call-up papers to "send them back or publicly burn them, because the next step could be compulsory military or community service."
Israel's Palestinian minority, which makes up some 20 percent of the population, are the descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained on their land when Israel was founded in 1948.
They complain of routine discrimination, particularly in housing, land access and employment.
Spokesman Issa Musleh said that ecclesiastical authorities decided Tuesday to fire Father Gabriel Nadaf from his post in Nazareth, but were only now making their decision public.
"We warned him before to keep to his priestly duties and not to interfere in matters of the army," Musleh said.
"When he did not heed our warning, we held a meeting of the church court which decided to sack him."
He said no written notification had been given to Nadaf. "We announce this now," he said.
Nadaf said he had received no official notification of the sacking and dismissed reports that he had been fired as media speculation.
"The procedure for sacking anyone as a priest is to invite him to the patriarch's office where he will be presented with a letter of dismissal by the patriarch's secretary," he said.
"I have not received any call or letter from the patriarch's office."
Last month, Israel said it would start sending enlistment papers to all Christian Arabs of military service age, angering Palestinian MPs who accused the government of seeking to divide Christians from Muslims.
Service would not be compulsory for the 130,000 Christian Palestinians who are Israeli citizens as it is for Jews, an army spokesman said.
At present, about 100 Christian Palestinians who are citizens volunteer for military service each year.
The more than 1.3 million Muslim Palestinians who are citizens would not be sent papers at all, the spokesman added.
Nadaf welcomed the move by the military.
"Young people in the Christian community need to understand the importance of serving and getting involved in the country in which they live and which protects them, and in which we are full citizens," he said last month.
He was also pictured in Israeli media sharing a stage with an army officer and Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, a hawkish member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, during a recruiting drive.
Bassel Ghattas, a member of the Israeli parliament for the communist Hadash party, urged Christians who received call-up papers to "send them back or publicly burn them, because the next step could be compulsory military or community service."
Israel's Palestinian minority, which makes up some 20 percent of the population, are the descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained on their land when Israel was founded in 1948.
They complain of routine discrimination, particularly in housing, land access and employment.
8 may 2014
Graffiti on church: Death to Christianity
The Roman Catholic church demanded Israeli action Wednesday after suspected Jewish extremists daubed hate graffiti on Vatican-owned offices in annexed East Jerusalem just two weeks before a papal visit.
Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said the government planned to use detention without trial against the suspected extremists as it comes under mounting pressure over its failure to secure a single prosecution in an intensifying wave of hate crime.
Hebrew-language graffiti reading "Death to Arabs and Christians and those who hate Israel" was daubed over offices of the Assembly of Bishops at the Notre Dame center, a Vatican-owned complex opposite the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, on Monday, the Roman Catholic church said.
"The Notre Dame center is the property of the Holy See and this provocation comes two weeks before Pope Francis' visit to the Holy Land and Jerusalem," the Latin patriarchate said on its website.
"Heads of the Churches in the Holy Land are preparing a series of actions aimed at informing local and international public opinion, and to make the authorities and law officials aware of their responsibilities."
Israeli police confirmed there had also been fresh hate attacks on Palestinian Muslim targets in northern Israel on Wednesday, the latest in a spate of such attacks mainly targeting Palestinian residential property but also targeting churches and mosques.
Israeli police caught a man as he punctured the tires of Palestinian-owned vehicles in the town of Yokneam, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
Investigators were seeking to establish if he was also responsible for vandalizing a Druze dentist's practice earlier in the day.
"Death to Arabs" and "Price Tag" were sprayed on his clinic windows, media said.
"Price tag" is a euphemism for the hate attacks by Jewish extremists.
The internal security minister said the government was preparing to allow the use of detention without charge against those suspected of such crimes, powers previously used almost exclusively against Palestinians.
"It is the government's intention to use administrative detention against those carrying out so-called 'price tag' attacks," Aharonovitch told army radio.
Administrative detention allows for suspects to be held without trial for up to six months. Such orders can be renewed indefinitely by court decision.
The US State Department's 2013 Country Reports on Terrorism included "price tag" attacks for the first time, citing UN figures of some "399 attacks by extremist Israeli settlers that resulted in Palestinian injuries or property damage."
Such attacks were "largely prosecuted," it said.
Although police have made scores of arrests, there have been no successful prosecutions for price tag attacks and the government has come up under mounting pressure to authorize the Shin Bet internal security agency to step in.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday she would back the idea of defining such crimes as "terrorism" after the US State Department for the first time included mention of price tag attacks in its global report on terror.
Livni and Aharonovitch held an emergency meeting on Wednesday with the attorney general and security chiefs to discuss the wave of attacks and how to combat them, a statement from Livni's office said.
It said that the ministers would brief the security cabinet on events in the past six months since the price tag phenomenon was officially outlawed and consider declaring those responsible as a terror group.
It said it would also mull increased use of restraining orders removing known suspects from their usual surroundings and arresting them if such orders were breached.
The Roman Catholic church demanded Israeli action Wednesday after suspected Jewish extremists daubed hate graffiti on Vatican-owned offices in annexed East Jerusalem just two weeks before a papal visit.
Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said the government planned to use detention without trial against the suspected extremists as it comes under mounting pressure over its failure to secure a single prosecution in an intensifying wave of hate crime.
Hebrew-language graffiti reading "Death to Arabs and Christians and those who hate Israel" was daubed over offices of the Assembly of Bishops at the Notre Dame center, a Vatican-owned complex opposite the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, on Monday, the Roman Catholic church said.
"The Notre Dame center is the property of the Holy See and this provocation comes two weeks before Pope Francis' visit to the Holy Land and Jerusalem," the Latin patriarchate said on its website.
"Heads of the Churches in the Holy Land are preparing a series of actions aimed at informing local and international public opinion, and to make the authorities and law officials aware of their responsibilities."
Israeli police confirmed there had also been fresh hate attacks on Palestinian Muslim targets in northern Israel on Wednesday, the latest in a spate of such attacks mainly targeting Palestinian residential property but also targeting churches and mosques.
Israeli police caught a man as he punctured the tires of Palestinian-owned vehicles in the town of Yokneam, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
Investigators were seeking to establish if he was also responsible for vandalizing a Druze dentist's practice earlier in the day.
"Death to Arabs" and "Price Tag" were sprayed on his clinic windows, media said.
"Price tag" is a euphemism for the hate attacks by Jewish extremists.
The internal security minister said the government was preparing to allow the use of detention without charge against those suspected of such crimes, powers previously used almost exclusively against Palestinians.
"It is the government's intention to use administrative detention against those carrying out so-called 'price tag' attacks," Aharonovitch told army radio.
Administrative detention allows for suspects to be held without trial for up to six months. Such orders can be renewed indefinitely by court decision.
The US State Department's 2013 Country Reports on Terrorism included "price tag" attacks for the first time, citing UN figures of some "399 attacks by extremist Israeli settlers that resulted in Palestinian injuries or property damage."
Such attacks were "largely prosecuted," it said.
Although police have made scores of arrests, there have been no successful prosecutions for price tag attacks and the government has come up under mounting pressure to authorize the Shin Bet internal security agency to step in.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday she would back the idea of defining such crimes as "terrorism" after the US State Department for the first time included mention of price tag attacks in its global report on terror.
Livni and Aharonovitch held an emergency meeting on Wednesday with the attorney general and security chiefs to discuss the wave of attacks and how to combat them, a statement from Livni's office said.
It said that the ministers would brief the security cabinet on events in the past six months since the price tag phenomenon was officially outlawed and consider declaring those responsible as a terror group.
It said it would also mull increased use of restraining orders removing known suspects from their usual surroundings and arresting them if such orders were breached.
7 may 2014
The Maronite Patriarch, Mar Beshara al-Raʻi, reiterated Tuesday that his upcoming visit to the Holy Land is intended to support the Palestinian cause.
Al-Raʻi announced his intention to visit the Holy Land, primarily Jerusalem, as part of the delegation accompanying Pope Francis, the first in his first visit to the Holy land during this month. While it has been the habit of a newly-elected pontiff to visit the Holy Land, it is the first time that a Lebanese patriarch accompanies him and steps foot on it.
Though his intention sparked a lot of criticism among those who perceive it as normalization with Israel, al-Raʻi underscored his support for the Palestinian cause.
“I intend to visit the Holy Land not in recognition of the Israeli occupation but to declare that this is our land. I am going there to emphasize that this land does not belong to the Jews. I intend to tell the Palestinians that we stand by them and support them,” al-Raʻi was quoted Tuesday by the Lebanese Al-Nahar daily.
(Source: WAFA)
Al-Raʻi announced his intention to visit the Holy Land, primarily Jerusalem, as part of the delegation accompanying Pope Francis, the first in his first visit to the Holy land during this month. While it has been the habit of a newly-elected pontiff to visit the Holy Land, it is the first time that a Lebanese patriarch accompanies him and steps foot on it.
Though his intention sparked a lot of criticism among those who perceive it as normalization with Israel, al-Raʻi underscored his support for the Palestinian cause.
“I intend to visit the Holy Land not in recognition of the Israeli occupation but to declare that this is our land. I am going there to emphasize that this land does not belong to the Jews. I intend to tell the Palestinians that we stand by them and support them,” al-Raʻi was quoted Tuesday by the Lebanese Al-Nahar daily.
(Source: WAFA)
3 may 2014
A visit to Jerusalem by the patriarch of the Lebanon-based Maronite church to greet Pope Francis would be a "historic sin", a leading newspaper close to Hezbollah said Saturday.
Patriarch Beshara Rai, whose church is the largest Christian denomination in Lebanon, told AFP on Friday he would travel to the Holy Land to welcome the pontiff during his brief May 24-26 visit.
In doing so, he would be the first patriarch to do so since the creation in 1948 of Israel, with which Lebanon is technically at war.
In response, the leading Arab nationalist daily As-Safir ran a critical piece headlined "Historic sin: Rai goes to Israel".
Calling it a "dangerous precedent", the daily argued that the trip would "not serve the interests of Lebanon and the Lebanese, nor those of Palestine and the Palestinians nor Christians and Christianity".
It speculated on whether the patriarch, who is also a Roman Catholic cardinal, "would shake hands with Israeli leaders who will be in the front row to welcome Pope Francis to Jerusalem".
Even if he does not, he would still have to coordinate his trip with Israeli officials, the paper added, claiming that the visit "is part of the normalisation between the head of the Catholic church and the occupier".
Al-Akhbar, another newspaper close to Hezbollah, said a group of Lebanese politicians will try to dissuade Rai "from visiting Jerusalem as long as it is under Israeli occupation, which would signify a normalisation with the occupier."
Lebanese citizens are banned from entering Israel, but Maronite clergy may to travel to the Holy Land to minister to the estimated 10,000 faithful there.
Rai insisted that the trip will be strictly religious and has no political significance.
The Maronite church has its roots in the Fertile Crescent of the early 5th century. It is named after St Maron, a hermit whose holiness and miracles attracted many followers.
Following a bloody persecution a century later, the Maronites fled to the mountains of what is now Lebanon to seek refuge.
They have their own distinct theology, spirituality, liturgy and code of canon law, but are in full communion with Rome.
Patriarch Beshara Rai, whose church is the largest Christian denomination in Lebanon, told AFP on Friday he would travel to the Holy Land to welcome the pontiff during his brief May 24-26 visit.
In doing so, he would be the first patriarch to do so since the creation in 1948 of Israel, with which Lebanon is technically at war.
In response, the leading Arab nationalist daily As-Safir ran a critical piece headlined "Historic sin: Rai goes to Israel".
Calling it a "dangerous precedent", the daily argued that the trip would "not serve the interests of Lebanon and the Lebanese, nor those of Palestine and the Palestinians nor Christians and Christianity".
It speculated on whether the patriarch, who is also a Roman Catholic cardinal, "would shake hands with Israeli leaders who will be in the front row to welcome Pope Francis to Jerusalem".
Even if he does not, he would still have to coordinate his trip with Israeli officials, the paper added, claiming that the visit "is part of the normalisation between the head of the Catholic church and the occupier".
Al-Akhbar, another newspaper close to Hezbollah, said a group of Lebanese politicians will try to dissuade Rai "from visiting Jerusalem as long as it is under Israeli occupation, which would signify a normalisation with the occupier."
Lebanese citizens are banned from entering Israel, but Maronite clergy may to travel to the Holy Land to minister to the estimated 10,000 faithful there.
Rai insisted that the trip will be strictly religious and has no political significance.
The Maronite church has its roots in the Fertile Crescent of the early 5th century. It is named after St Maron, a hermit whose holiness and miracles attracted many followers.
Following a bloody persecution a century later, the Maronites fled to the mountains of what is now Lebanon to seek refuge.
They have their own distinct theology, spirituality, liturgy and code of canon law, but are in full communion with Rome.
2 may 2014
The patriarch of the Maronite church will travel to Jerusalem next month to greet Pope Francis, the first head of his Lebanon-based denomination to visit since Israel's creation in 1948, he said Friday.
"The pope is going to the Holy Land and Jerusalem. He is going to the diocese of the patriarch, so it's normal that the patriarch should welcome him," Beshara Rai told AFP by telephone from France.
Rai's visit is diplomatically noteworthy because Lebanon remains technically at war with Israel and bans its citizens from entering the country.
Maronite clergy are able to travel to the Holy Land to minister to the estimated 10,000 faithful, but all other Lebanese are banned.
Rai insisted that the trip will be strictly religious and has no political significance.
"It is a religious visit and in no way a political one."
Rai's deputy Boulos Sayyah, who will accompany him, said the patriarch would not participate in any political meetings in Israel but will meet with President Mahmoud Abbas.
He explained that Maronite Christian officials have special permission to visit Israel despite the tensions.
"Since the armistice in 1949, there has been an agreement that the Maronite bishop for the Holy Land can travel from Lebanon to Palestine through the crossing at Naqoura," in southern Lebanon, Sayyeh said.
"A tacit agreement exists to allow other Maronite men and women of religion to go on missions to the Holy Land whether via land crossings or through the Tel Aviv airport because there are faithful there and they need to carry out their missions," he said.
Pope Francis is scheduled to make his first trip to the Holy Land from May 24-26.
The Maronite church has its roots in the Fertile Crescent of the early 5th century. It is named after St Maron, a hermit whose holiness and miracles attracted many followers.
Following a bloody persecution a century later, the Maronites fled to the mountains of what is now Lebanon to seek refuge.
They have their own distinct theology, spirituality, liturgy and code of canon law but are in full communion with Rome.
"The pope is going to the Holy Land and Jerusalem. He is going to the diocese of the patriarch, so it's normal that the patriarch should welcome him," Beshara Rai told AFP by telephone from France.
Rai's visit is diplomatically noteworthy because Lebanon remains technically at war with Israel and bans its citizens from entering the country.
Maronite clergy are able to travel to the Holy Land to minister to the estimated 10,000 faithful, but all other Lebanese are banned.
Rai insisted that the trip will be strictly religious and has no political significance.
"It is a religious visit and in no way a political one."
Rai's deputy Boulos Sayyah, who will accompany him, said the patriarch would not participate in any political meetings in Israel but will meet with President Mahmoud Abbas.
He explained that Maronite Christian officials have special permission to visit Israel despite the tensions.
"Since the armistice in 1949, there has been an agreement that the Maronite bishop for the Holy Land can travel from Lebanon to Palestine through the crossing at Naqoura," in southern Lebanon, Sayyeh said.
"A tacit agreement exists to allow other Maronite men and women of religion to go on missions to the Holy Land whether via land crossings or through the Tel Aviv airport because there are faithful there and they need to carry out their missions," he said.
Pope Francis is scheduled to make his first trip to the Holy Land from May 24-26.
The Maronite church has its roots in the Fertile Crescent of the early 5th century. It is named after St Maron, a hermit whose holiness and miracles attracted many followers.
Following a bloody persecution a century later, the Maronites fled to the mountains of what is now Lebanon to seek refuge.
They have their own distinct theology, spirituality, liturgy and code of canon law but are in full communion with Rome.
29 apr 2014
of the police attacking the Arab students, and expressed support with the police targeting the Arab-Palestinian students at the Hebrew University.
On Monday, a group known as “I will Not Serve In Your Army” issued a statement calling for mass protests, stressing on the importance of countering all Israeli attempts to enlist Arabs in the army that occupies their land and their people.
Qusai Abufool, coordinator of the Students Movement at the National Democratic Alliance, stated that the students will protest again, on Wednesday, at the Tel Aviv University and the Technion College.
He added that protests were held, Tuesday, at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University in the Negev, in protest of enlistment in the Israeli army.
“This attack is an attack against protesters practicing their legitimate right,” he said. “This is a racist attack against Arab-Palestinian students, university police and administration are responsible for this assault.”
Abufool further stated that the students will continue their protest, and called on all Arab students at the Tel Aviv University, and the Technion College to protest again on Wednesday.
Israel decided to call on Arab Christian young men to “voluntarily serve in the Israeli army”, while head of the coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said, a few weeks ago, that “Israel wants to create a new identity for Christians, similar to the Druze identity.”
Last week, the Higher Follow-up Committee in historic Palestine issued a release affirming the rejection to any sort of enlistment in the Israeli army, as the army is an army of occupation and oppression against the Palestinians, regardless of their faith.
In August of last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting with Father Jubrael Naddaf, known for his stances encouraging enlistment in the Israeli military, despite massive objections from the Palestinian Christian community in the country.
Back then, the Palestinian Christian Initiative (Kairos Palestine) issued a statement strongly denouncing the Israel attempts to recruit Arab Palestinian Christians, in historic Palestine, to the Israeli military which occupies their people.
“Those who call for recruiting Christians to the occupation army do not represent us, do not represent our Churches, and do not represent the Christians,” Kairos said. “It seems that some of those who have been deceived chose a wrong path that does not serve our interests and faith as Arab Christians.”
It added that trying to recruit the Christians is immoral, and harms the Palestinian Christian identity in the Holy Land.
“We need to be united, we need to protect our national identity, only our Arab, Palestinian identity will be able to protect us, and protect our interests,” Kairos said. “Our choice will not be sectarian, but will only be national unity between all Palestinians regardless of their belief and faith.”
On Monday, a group known as “I will Not Serve In Your Army” issued a statement calling for mass protests, stressing on the importance of countering all Israeli attempts to enlist Arabs in the army that occupies their land and their people.
Qusai Abufool, coordinator of the Students Movement at the National Democratic Alliance, stated that the students will protest again, on Wednesday, at the Tel Aviv University and the Technion College.
He added that protests were held, Tuesday, at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University in the Negev, in protest of enlistment in the Israeli army.
“This attack is an attack against protesters practicing their legitimate right,” he said. “This is a racist attack against Arab-Palestinian students, university police and administration are responsible for this assault.”
Abufool further stated that the students will continue their protest, and called on all Arab students at the Tel Aviv University, and the Technion College to protest again on Wednesday.
Israel decided to call on Arab Christian young men to “voluntarily serve in the Israeli army”, while head of the coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said, a few weeks ago, that “Israel wants to create a new identity for Christians, similar to the Druze identity.”
Last week, the Higher Follow-up Committee in historic Palestine issued a release affirming the rejection to any sort of enlistment in the Israeli army, as the army is an army of occupation and oppression against the Palestinians, regardless of their faith.
In August of last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting with Father Jubrael Naddaf, known for his stances encouraging enlistment in the Israeli military, despite massive objections from the Palestinian Christian community in the country.
Back then, the Palestinian Christian Initiative (Kairos Palestine) issued a statement strongly denouncing the Israel attempts to recruit Arab Palestinian Christians, in historic Palestine, to the Israeli military which occupies their people.
“Those who call for recruiting Christians to the occupation army do not represent us, do not represent our Churches, and do not represent the Christians,” Kairos said. “It seems that some of those who have been deceived chose a wrong path that does not serve our interests and faith as Arab Christians.”
It added that trying to recruit the Christians is immoral, and harms the Palestinian Christian identity in the Holy Land.
“We need to be united, we need to protect our national identity, only our Arab, Palestinian identity will be able to protect us, and protect our interests,” Kairos said. “Our choice will not be sectarian, but will only be national unity between all Palestinians regardless of their belief and faith.”
Israeli extremists vowed death to Palestinian Christians if they do not depart from 1948 occupied Palestine within a week’s time. Palestinian sources in Nazareth city, north of 1948 occupied Palestine, said on Tuesday that Jewish extremists delivered a threatening message targeting Palestinian Christians and ordering them to leave the country within the prescribed deadline.
The sources said that an Israeli extremist delivered the threatening letter at the home of a Christian bishop in Nazareth last night targeting the bishop and all other Christians.
The lady, who received the letter, said that it was addressed to Bishop Boulos Marcuzzo, Latin Patriarchal Vicar General in the country, and read verbatim as follows: “You still have time to get out of the land of "Israel" before it is too late!”
“Adherents of the Christian religious faith, from top to bottom, have until 05 May 2014 to leave the country. The deadline is non-negotiable and every single hour of delay will cost you the lives of 100 Christians,” the letter scrawls. It singled out, however, the followers of the Protestant and Anglican churches.
Israeli police claimed they had arrested an extremist Jewish settler, in his 40s, from Safed and averred investigations are going on with the suspect, who was described as one among a group of settlers that sent the letter.
The sources said that an Israeli extremist delivered the threatening letter at the home of a Christian bishop in Nazareth last night targeting the bishop and all other Christians.
The lady, who received the letter, said that it was addressed to Bishop Boulos Marcuzzo, Latin Patriarchal Vicar General in the country, and read verbatim as follows: “You still have time to get out of the land of "Israel" before it is too late!”
“Adherents of the Christian religious faith, from top to bottom, have until 05 May 2014 to leave the country. The deadline is non-negotiable and every single hour of delay will cost you the lives of 100 Christians,” the letter scrawls. It singled out, however, the followers of the Protestant and Anglican churches.
Israeli police claimed they had arrested an extremist Jewish settler, in his 40s, from Safed and averred investigations are going on with the suspect, who was described as one among a group of settlers that sent the letter.
Illegal structures raised in Bethlehem and Tulkarm
Groups of Jewish Israeli settlers vandalized, on Tuesday, a church in the Galilee region and a mosque in the Haifa district. Also on Tuesday, settlers built illegal structures on Palestinian lands in both Tulkarm and Bethlehem.
Tabgha church is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Tiberias, in the Galilee, where settlers smashed the cross and vandalized the church pews.
On Monday night, a written threat was given to the housemaid of Catholic bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, by a militant from Safed, stating that they have until May 5th to evacuate the so-called ‘land of Israel’, or pay dearly in lives.
Arab members of Knesset denounced the attack and hold Israel fully responsible, WAFA reports:
Mohammad Barakeh stated “Threatening the Latin Bishop of Nazareth demonstrates the historical fact that all Arabs, Christians and Muslims alike, are targeted. Our battle has never been sectarian or religious but national.”
Talab Abu ‘Arar stated that such attacks are “acts of terrorism that are perpetrated against the Palestinian people in general and are motivated by the Israeli ministers’ incitement against the Arabs.”
Furthermore, Massʻoud Ghanayem called for organizing district demonstrations in either Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, in protest of the Israeli government’s inaction in deterring attackers.
At daw, in Fureidis village of the 1948 occupied lands, Israeli settlers from the Price Tag gang spray-painted racist slogans against Arabs and Muslims on the walls of Al-Rahman Mosque.
The graffiti called for turning mosques into holy places for Jews. Also found painted was the six-pointed Magen David star.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, "The tires of several cars parked nearby were slashed," adding that "crimes committed for nationalist motives are extremely serious."
Israeli police claim they initiated an investigation, saying that they would work towards arresting the vandals and bringing them to justice.
Fureidis is a Palestinian village located at the foot of Mount Carmel in Haifa district. It is one of the few Arab villages on the Israeli coast which remains intact after the 1948 war.
Less than two weeks ago, suspected Jewish vandals set fire to a mosque and tagged walls with racist graffiti in Umm al-Fahm.
A week earlier, vandals sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on the walls of a convent, just west of Jerusalem, where they also damaged vehicles in the area. "Mary is a cow," "price tag," and "America (is) Nazi Germany" were found sprayed in Hebrew on the walls of the sanctuary.
Vandals slashed the tires of more than 40 cars in East Jerusalem, in March, spraying: "Gentiles in the land are enemies."
The perpetrators of violence against Palestinian communities are rarely prosecuted, according to Ma'an. There are hundreds of racist attacks against Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank every single year.
In related news, Israeli settlers began the construction of a shed, on Tuesday, on Palestinian land to the south of Bethlehem, as a prelude to a new land grab, according to Hassan Burejeyah, coordinator of the anti-settlement committee in Bethlehem.
He said that settlers from the illegal settlement of Avrat, under army protection, stormed a private-owned ranch in Khallat An-Nahlah, near Bethlehem, and began constructing a small room out of wood and tin.
The owner of the ranch, one 55-year-old Mohammad Ayesh, tried to prevent the settlers from invading hos propery, but soldiers took his identity card and kept him there for hours, said Burejeyah.
He said that the escalated attacks by settlers against Ayesh's land continues for the third day in a row, now, with the aim of expanding the nearby settlement.
Also on Tuesday, settlers from Avnei Hefets and Einav erected a tent at the entrance of Jubarah village, to the south of Tulkarm, where they raised the Israeli flag over the structure, witnesses reported.
Groups of Jewish Israeli settlers vandalized, on Tuesday, a church in the Galilee region and a mosque in the Haifa district. Also on Tuesday, settlers built illegal structures on Palestinian lands in both Tulkarm and Bethlehem.
Tabgha church is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Tiberias, in the Galilee, where settlers smashed the cross and vandalized the church pews.
On Monday night, a written threat was given to the housemaid of Catholic bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, by a militant from Safed, stating that they have until May 5th to evacuate the so-called ‘land of Israel’, or pay dearly in lives.
Arab members of Knesset denounced the attack and hold Israel fully responsible, WAFA reports:
Mohammad Barakeh stated “Threatening the Latin Bishop of Nazareth demonstrates the historical fact that all Arabs, Christians and Muslims alike, are targeted. Our battle has never been sectarian or religious but national.”
Talab Abu ‘Arar stated that such attacks are “acts of terrorism that are perpetrated against the Palestinian people in general and are motivated by the Israeli ministers’ incitement against the Arabs.”
Furthermore, Massʻoud Ghanayem called for organizing district demonstrations in either Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, in protest of the Israeli government’s inaction in deterring attackers.
At daw, in Fureidis village of the 1948 occupied lands, Israeli settlers from the Price Tag gang spray-painted racist slogans against Arabs and Muslims on the walls of Al-Rahman Mosque.
The graffiti called for turning mosques into holy places for Jews. Also found painted was the six-pointed Magen David star.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, "The tires of several cars parked nearby were slashed," adding that "crimes committed for nationalist motives are extremely serious."
Israeli police claim they initiated an investigation, saying that they would work towards arresting the vandals and bringing them to justice.
Fureidis is a Palestinian village located at the foot of Mount Carmel in Haifa district. It is one of the few Arab villages on the Israeli coast which remains intact after the 1948 war.
Less than two weeks ago, suspected Jewish vandals set fire to a mosque and tagged walls with racist graffiti in Umm al-Fahm.
A week earlier, vandals sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on the walls of a convent, just west of Jerusalem, where they also damaged vehicles in the area. "Mary is a cow," "price tag," and "America (is) Nazi Germany" were found sprayed in Hebrew on the walls of the sanctuary.
Vandals slashed the tires of more than 40 cars in East Jerusalem, in March, spraying: "Gentiles in the land are enemies."
The perpetrators of violence against Palestinian communities are rarely prosecuted, according to Ma'an. There are hundreds of racist attacks against Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank every single year.
In related news, Israeli settlers began the construction of a shed, on Tuesday, on Palestinian land to the south of Bethlehem, as a prelude to a new land grab, according to Hassan Burejeyah, coordinator of the anti-settlement committee in Bethlehem.
He said that settlers from the illegal settlement of Avrat, under army protection, stormed a private-owned ranch in Khallat An-Nahlah, near Bethlehem, and began constructing a small room out of wood and tin.
The owner of the ranch, one 55-year-old Mohammad Ayesh, tried to prevent the settlers from invading hos propery, but soldiers took his identity card and kept him there for hours, said Burejeyah.
He said that the escalated attacks by settlers against Ayesh's land continues for the third day in a row, now, with the aim of expanding the nearby settlement.
Also on Tuesday, settlers from Avnei Hefets and Einav erected a tent at the entrance of Jubarah village, to the south of Tulkarm, where they raised the Israeli flag over the structure, witnesses reported.
25 apr 2014
Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna and former Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah on Friday urged Christian youth not to enlist in the Israeli military and to ignore Israeli "propaganda" encouraging them to do so.
The statement came after a meeting between the two religious figures on Friday, which followed reports on Tuesday that Israeli authorities would distribute military enlistment papers to Palestinian Christian youth who are citizens of Israel in order to encourage them to voluntarily sign up for military service.
The leaders called upon Christian youth who have received the enrollment papers to "tear them up and throw them away and not to engage with them in any way."
The leaders also stressed the "firm national position of the Christians in refusing to join a military that exercises violence against the rights of the Palestinian people."
The forms to be sent to Christian youth resemble the mandatory enlistment forms distributed to Jewish and Druze Israelis, and the army hopes that by sending these papers more youth will voluntarily sign up to enlist.
Although Christian Palestinian citizens of Israel are currently exempt from military service along with Muslims, a government decision made in February to re-classify Christians as a separate ethnicity distinct from "Arab" raised fears that mandatory enrollment would follow, as it did for Palestinians of the Druze religion in the 1950s.
About 10 percent of Palestinian citizens of Israel, also called "Arab-Israelis," are Christians, while the majority of the remaining are Muslims and Druze.
Although the majority of Palestinians were expelled from their homes inside Israel during the 1948 conflict that led to the creation of the state of Israel, some managed to remain and their descendants today make up around 20 percent of Israel's population.
The statement came after a meeting between the two religious figures on Friday, which followed reports on Tuesday that Israeli authorities would distribute military enlistment papers to Palestinian Christian youth who are citizens of Israel in order to encourage them to voluntarily sign up for military service.
The leaders called upon Christian youth who have received the enrollment papers to "tear them up and throw them away and not to engage with them in any way."
The leaders also stressed the "firm national position of the Christians in refusing to join a military that exercises violence against the rights of the Palestinian people."
The forms to be sent to Christian youth resemble the mandatory enlistment forms distributed to Jewish and Druze Israelis, and the army hopes that by sending these papers more youth will voluntarily sign up to enlist.
Although Christian Palestinian citizens of Israel are currently exempt from military service along with Muslims, a government decision made in February to re-classify Christians as a separate ethnicity distinct from "Arab" raised fears that mandatory enrollment would follow, as it did for Palestinians of the Druze religion in the 1950s.
About 10 percent of Palestinian citizens of Israel, also called "Arab-Israelis," are Christians, while the majority of the remaining are Muslims and Druze.
Although the majority of Palestinians were expelled from their homes inside Israel during the 1948 conflict that led to the creation of the state of Israel, some managed to remain and their descendants today make up around 20 percent of Israel's population.
23 apr 2014
Several Israel-based organizations on Wednesday condemned a new campaign to recruit Palestinian Christian citizens of the country to serve in the military.
In a joint statement, more than 15 Palestinian youth movements and community organizations said the Israeli move was an effort to divide Palestinian citizens of Israel from their own people.
The groups said they would "struggle against (the campaign for) enlistment in the Israeli army" to ensure that such divisions would not occur.
"We are confident that young Arabs will reject all recruitment plans. This dangerous escalation by the Israeli institution will only make young Arabs more loyal to their people and their national identity."
The groups urged all Palestinian organizations of influence, in addition to the leadership of Palestinian towns within Israel, to play an active role in raising awareness about "plans for Israelization" of Palestinians by recruiting them to join the military.
The statement comes a day after army radio reported that Israel would adopt a new policy of actively recruiting Christians.
In February, parliament approved a law giving Muslim and Christian Palestinians separate representation on a national employment commission, drawing fire from Palestinian MKs.
"The measure was to be expected following the campaign by the Israel right to divide Christians from their own people by encouraging them to think that they are not Arabs," said Bassel Ghattas, a member of parliament for the communist Hadash party.
He urged Christians who received call-up papers to "send them back or publicly burn them, because the next step could be compulsory military or community service."
Israel's Palestinian community, which makes up some 20 percent of the population, are the descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained on their land after the majority of the Palestinian population was forcibly displaced by Jewish militias during the creation of Israel in 1948.
They complain of routine discrimination, particularly in housing, land access, and employment.
In a joint statement, more than 15 Palestinian youth movements and community organizations said the Israeli move was an effort to divide Palestinian citizens of Israel from their own people.
The groups said they would "struggle against (the campaign for) enlistment in the Israeli army" to ensure that such divisions would not occur.
"We are confident that young Arabs will reject all recruitment plans. This dangerous escalation by the Israeli institution will only make young Arabs more loyal to their people and their national identity."
The groups urged all Palestinian organizations of influence, in addition to the leadership of Palestinian towns within Israel, to play an active role in raising awareness about "plans for Israelization" of Palestinians by recruiting them to join the military.
The statement comes a day after army radio reported that Israel would adopt a new policy of actively recruiting Christians.
In February, parliament approved a law giving Muslim and Christian Palestinians separate representation on a national employment commission, drawing fire from Palestinian MKs.
"The measure was to be expected following the campaign by the Israel right to divide Christians from their own people by encouraging them to think that they are not Arabs," said Bassel Ghattas, a member of parliament for the communist Hadash party.
He urged Christians who received call-up papers to "send them back or publicly burn them, because the next step could be compulsory military or community service."
Israel's Palestinian community, which makes up some 20 percent of the population, are the descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained on their land after the majority of the Palestinian population was forcibly displaced by Jewish militias during the creation of Israel in 1948.
They complain of routine discrimination, particularly in housing, land access, and employment.