CHANUKAH DAY 7 TODAY
LEARN ABOUT CHANUKAH
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
CHANUKAH DAY 1-8 SCRIPTURES
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/hannuka-day-1-8-scriptures.html
MACCABEES STORY
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/7s-and-maccabees.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/maccabees-story.html
The Insiders: Architects of the New World Order (Part 1 of 9)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1grmqT_kOHQ&eurl=http://www.gcnlive.com/&feature=player_embedded
The Insiders: How and Why America is Being Betrayed Part 2
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BG_acaZHOEo
The Insiders: How and Why America is Being Betrayed Part 3
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GrO5objpI6c
The Insiders: How and Why America is Being Betrayed Part 4
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dNuA4dT0Z8I
The Insiders: How and Why America is Being Betrayed Part 5
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn8wqnq2Mdk
The Insiders: How and Why America is Being Betrayed Part 6
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GQx7RQPbz6g
The Insiders: How and Why America is Being Betrayed Part 7
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LlF9Z-Yk5D0
The Insiders: How and Why America is Being Betrayed Part 8
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=unx39gfdWI4
The Insiders: How and Why America is Being Betrayed Part 9
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FYNbkgl7rns
THAT 3RD TEMPLE MIGHT BE REBUILT SHORTLY IF RUSSIA WOULD TEAM UP WITH THE MUSLIMS AND MARCH TO ISRAEL FROM EZEKIEL 38+39,GOD WOULD DESTROY 5/6TH OF THEIR ARMIES AND THERE WOULD BE NO WAY TO STOP ISRAEL FROM REBUILDING THE THIRD TEMPLE BECAUSE THE MUSLIMS,RUSSIA COUNTRIES WOULD ALMOST BE ALL DESTROYED. ISRAEL IS FINALLY FIGHTING BACK AGAINST HAMAS KILLING AT LEAST 200. ALL THE MEDIA IS BLAMING ISRAEL JUST LIKE I FIGURED,MEANWHILE OVER THE LAST 8 YEARS THE ARABS SHOT 10,110 ROCKETS AND MORTARS INTO ISRAEL,THIS IS ISRAEL PROTECTING ITSELF.
Israel demolishes Hamas compounds, over 200 dead DEC 27,08
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of airstrikes Saturday, killing more than 200 people and wounding nearly 400 in the single bloodiest day of fighting in years.Most of those killed were security men, but an unknown number of civilians were also among the dead. Hamas said all of its security installations were hit, threatened to resume suicide attacks, and sent at least 70 rockets and mortar shells crashing into Israeli border communities, according to the Israeli military. One Israeli was killed and at least six people were hurt.With so many wounded, the Palestinian death toll was likely to rise.The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion in Gaza, as black clouds of smoke rose above the territory, ruled by Hamas for the past 18 months. Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely populated areas as children were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children.My son is gone, my son is gone, wailed Said Masri, a 57-year-old shopkeeper, as he sat in the middle of a Gaza City street, slapping his face and covering his head with dust from a bombed-out security compound nearby.He said he had sent his 9-year-old son out to purchase cigarettes minutes before the airstrikes began and now could not find him. May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn, Masri moaned.
The offensive began eight days after a six-month truce between Israel and the militants expired. The Israeli army says Palestinian militants have fired some 300 rockets and mortars at Israeli targets over the past week, and in recent days, Israeli leaders had threatened to launch a major offensive.There is a time for calm and there is a time for fighting, and now is the time for fighting, said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, vowing to expand the operation if necessary.Asked whether Hamas political leaders might be targeted, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni declared at a news conference: Hamas is a terrorist organization and nobody is immune.The first round of airstrikes on Gaza came just before noon. More than 100 attacks took place, continuing well into the evening.Hospitals crowded with people, civilians rushing in wounded people in cars, vans and ambulances. There are heads without bodies .... There's blood in the corridors. People are weeping, women are crying, doctors are shouting, said nurse Ahmed Abdel Salaam from Shifa Hospital, Gaza's main treatment center.The offensive sparked angry protests throughout the Arab world, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Vatican, the U.N. secretary-general and special Mideast envoy Tony Blair all called for an immediate restoration of calm. The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss the situation.In Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza.
In Gaza City's main security compound, bodies of more than a dozen uniformed Hamas police lay on the ground. One survivor raised his index finger in a show of Muslim faith, uttering a prayer. The Gaza police chief was among those killed. One man, his face bloodied, sat dazed on the ground as a fire raged nearby.By early evening, 205 Gazans were known to be dead and 388 wounded, Gaza health official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said. He did not provide figures on civilian deaths. But earlier in the day, police said about 140 Hamas security forces were killed. Some of the dead, rolled in blankets, were laid out on the floor of Gaza's main hospital for identification.Israeli military officials said more than 100 tons of bombs were dropped on Gaza by mid-afternoon. They spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines.Defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge. Hamas will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood, vowed spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.Israel told its civilians near Gaza to take cover, and in the West Bank, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a bitter rivalry with Hamas, condemned Israel. Egypt summoned the Israeli ambassador to express condemnation and opened its border with Gaza to allow ambulances to drive out some of the wounded. Despite the overwhelming show of force, it was not clear whether it would halt the rocket fire. Past operations have failed to stop the attacks. One rocket struck the Israeli town of Netivot, killing an Israeli man and wounding four people, rescue services said.
Dozens of stunned residents, some of them weeping, gathered around the house that took the deadly rocket hit. A hole gaped in one of the walls, which was pocked with shrapnel marks. The crowd broke up after an alert siren went off and everyone went running. Streets were nearly empty in Sderot, the Israeli border town that has been pummeled hardest by rockets. A few cars carried panicked residents leaving town. Dozens of people congregated on a hilltop to watch the Israeli aerial attacks. Protests against the campaign erupted in Arab Israeli villages, the Abbas-ruled West Bank and across the Arab world. The most violent West Bank response came in the city of Hebron, where dozens of youths, many of them masked, hurled rocks for hours at Israeli forces, who lobbed tear gas and stun grenades in response. Officials in Bethlehem, Jesus' traditional birthplace, turned off Christmas lights and traders shuttered shops to protest the Israeli attack. Anti-Israel protests also erupted in Amman, Jordan, and in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria. Israel has targeted Gaza in the past, but the number of simultaneous attacks was unprecedented.
Israel left Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation, but the withdrawal did not lead to better relations with Palestinians in the territory as Israeli officials had hoped. Instead, the evacuation was followed by a sharp rise in militant attacks on Israeli border communities that on several occasions provoked harsh Israeli military reprisals.
Israel kills 205 in air assault on Gaza Strip
By Nidal al-Mughrabi DEC 27,08
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes and helicopters pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 205 people in the bloodiest one-day death toll in 60 years of conflict with the Palestinians.Militants in the Gaza Strip, who have launched dozens of rocket attacks against Israel since a truce expired just over a week ago, fired more salvoes that killed one Israeli man and wounded several others.
Both sides said they were ready to stage wider assaults, threatening to plunge the region into a crisis that could leave stalled talks over Palestinian statehood in tatters.Black smoke billowed over Gaza City, where the dead and wounded lay scattered on the ground after Israel bombed more than 40 security compounds, including two where Hamas was hosting graduation ceremonies for new recruits.At the main Gaza City graduation ceremony, uniformed bodies lay in a pile and the wounded writhed in pain. Some rescue workers beat their heads and shouted God is greatest. One badly wounded man quietly recited verses from the Koran.More than 700 Palestinians were wounded in all, medics said.Israel said the operation, dubbed Solid Lead, targeted terrorist infrastructure following days of rocket attacks on southern Israel that caused damage but few injuries. An army spokeswoman said Hamas leaders could be targeted.There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.The rocket attacks increased pressure on Israeli political leaders to act as a February 10 election approaches.The army did not set a timeframe but the mayor of Ashkelon, an Israeli city in range of Hamas's rockets, said military planners saw the operation lasting more than a week.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a leading candidate to become Israel's next prime minister, called for international support against an extremist Islamist organization ... that is being supported by Iran, Israel's arch-foe.In line with the Jewish state, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, in its final weeks in office, appeared to put the onus on Hamas to prevent a further escalation.
REACTION
Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement that urged Israel to avoid civilian casualties but stopped short of calling for an end to the Israeli air strikes.The United Nations and the European Union, in contrast, called for an immediate halt to all violence.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Israeli air campaign was criminal and urged world powers to intervene.Egypt said it would keep trying to restore the truce between Israel and Gaza.Hamas threatened to unleash hell to avenge the dead, including possible suicide bombings inside Israel.Hamas estimated that at least 100 members of its security forces had been killed, including police chief Tawfiq Jabber and the head of Hamas's security and protection unit, along with at least 15 women and some children.Morgues across the Gaza Strip ran out of space for bodies.The Islamist group, which won a 2006 parliamentary election but was shunned by Western powers over its refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel, said all of its security compounds in the Gaza Strip were destroyed or seriously damaged.Aid groups said they feared the Israeli operation could fuel a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished coastal enclave, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, half of them dependent on food aid.Gaza hospitals said they were running out of medical supplies because of the Israeli-led blockade, increasing the chances that the death toll will rise.Palestinians staged protest rallies in Arab East Jerusalem, and in the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Hebron, leading to scuffles with Israeli forces.Israeli analyst Ron Ben-Yishai said the strike was shock treatment ... aimed at securing a long-term ceasefire between Hamas and Israel on terms that are favorable to Israel.Among the buildings destroyed in the Israeli bombardment was Gaza's presidential compound, which Hamas seized in June 2007 from Abbas's secular Fatah forces after a brief civil war.Witnesses also reported heavy Israeli bombing along Gaza's border with Egypt. Palestinians use hundreds of tunnels under the border to bring in everything from goods to weapons.
The campaign followed a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's security cabinet to widen reprisals for cross-border Palestinian rocket attacks following the collapse of a six-month-old, Egyptian-brokered ceasefire a week ago.A five-day Israeli offensive in March killed more than 120 people, but Saturday's death toll was the highest for a single day since 1948, when the Jewish state was established.
Olmert, who will leave office after the February election, has repeatedly said Israel does not want to retake control of the Gaza Strip. Israel pulled its ground forces and settlers out of the coastal territory in 2005.After a 2006 war in Lebanon that many Israelis viewed as a failure, military action in Gaza has become a political hot potato that could affect the outcome of the election.(Additional reporting by Dan Williams, Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Douglas Hamilton and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Peter Millership in London, Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Brown deeply concerned' by Gaza violence DEC 27,08
LONDON (AFP) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday said he was deeply concerned by rocket attacks into Israel and retaliatory air strikes by the Jewish state, and called for restraint from both sides.I am deeply concerned by continuing missile strikes from Gaza on Israel and by Israel's response today, Brown said, reiterating statements made by the Middle East Quartet -- the European Union, the United Nations, the United States and Russia -- that only peaceful means would provide a lasting solution.A spokeswoman for the British premier's Downing Street office said Brown had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and urged him to show restraint.I call on Gazan militants to cease all rocket attacks on Israel immediately. These attacks are designed to cause random destruction and to undermine the prospects of peace talks led by (Palestinian) president (Mahmud) Abbas.I understand the Israeli government's sense of obligation to its population.Israel needs to meet its humanitarian obligations, act in a way to further the long-term vision of a two-state solution, and do everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties.There is a pre-eminent need for renewal of a comprehensive settlement for the Israel-Palestine dispute in 2009.Israel blitzed Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday with a wave of air strikes in the besieged enclave in retaliation for ongoing rocket fire, killing more than 200 Palestinians, while Hamas swiftly responded by firing rockets into the Jewish state.
Egypt slams Israeli murder in Gaza, summons ambassador DEC 27,08
by Mona Salem Mona Salem
CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt condemned as murder Israel's Saturday air raids on Gaza that killed at least 205 Palestinians, opening its Rafah border crossing with the territory to allow the wounded through for treatment.We call for an immediate end to Israeli military operations. We cannot allow these attacks to continue. We cannot permit the murder of Palestinians, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on state television.Egypt, the only Arab state along with Jordan to have signed a peace deal with Israel, summoned Ambassador Shalom Cohen to demand an end to the bombardment that has also left hundreds wounded.We summoned the Israeli ambassador and we said we refuse this aggression and we demanded an immediate end to it, foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told AFP.Abul Gheit telephoned his US, Russian and French counterparts -- Condoleezza Rice, Sergei Lavrov and Bernard Kouchner -- and urged them to call for an end to Israeli operations that should be reciprocal with Hamas, a statement said.Earlier, President Hosni Mubarak condemned the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip and blames Israel, as an occupying force, for the victims and the wounded.He ordered the Rafah crossing -- the only one bypassing Israel -- to be opened so that the wounded could be treated in Egyptian hospitals.
Dozens of wounded have already passed through, with hundreds more expected, state media reported.A security official said helicopters were being sent to Rafah to fly some of the wounded to hospitals in Cairo.Abdel Fadil Shusha, governor of North Sinai province, which adjoins Gaza, said he has sent six ambulances to the Rafah crossing.Amr Mussa, secretary general of the Cairo-based Arab League, called an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers to discuss the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.League ambassadors will meet on Saturday, and Arab foreign ministers on Sunday, the league said.Mussa also asked Libya, as a member of the United National Security Council, to organise an emergency meeting on the subject of the Israeli raids.Qatar, meanwhile, called for a summit of Arab League leaders in the coming days to discuss the Israeli aggressions and savage raids on the Gaza Strip and to adopt an Arab position on the matter, a foreign ministry spokesman said.Egypt has reinforced security on its frontier with Gaza by deploying 500 anti-riot police, a security official told AFP.On Friday, Egypt had already stepped up border security in case Gazans broke through the boundary fence and entered Egypt in their thousands, as happened in January when activists opened breaches with explosives.
Egypt mediated a six-months truce between Israel and the Islamic Hamas movement which controls the Gaza strip.Since the truce expired on December 19, Egypt has been trying to broker its renewal and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni visited Cairo for talks on Thursday. While in Egypt, Livni vowed to strike back at Hamas as a sharp escalation of violence in Gaza dashed hopes of a new truce. The spiritual guide of Egypt's Islamist opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, condemned Saturday's raids as a crime without comparison in history, adding that the world looks on and does nothing.Countering criticism that Egypt might have told Hamas Israel was not about to launch an attack, Abul Gheit said Israel told the international community and its officials told the whole world of their intentions.Abul Gheit accused Hamas of having aborted Egyptian efforts to avoid an Israeli attack on Gaza. On Thursday, he had said the government was preparing to invite Hamas and its secular rival Fatah, which rules the occupied West Bank, to Cairo to resume dialogue. Hamas boycotted reconciliation talks that were due to take place in Cairo in November, to protest the political detentions of some of its members in the West Bank by Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
UN's Ban calls for halt to Gaza violence DEC 27,08
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Saturday called for an immediate halt to violence in Gaza following Israeli air strikes that killed more than 200 Palestinians in retaliation for ongoing rocket attacks against the Jewish state.Ban is deeply alarmed by today's heavy violence and bloodshed in Gaza, and the continuation of violence in southern Israel, a spokesman for the UN secretary general said in a statement.The UN leader appeals for an immediate halt to all violence.While recognizing Israel's security concerns regarding the continued firing of rockets from Gaza, read the statement, Ban firmly reiterates Israel's obligation to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law and condemns excessive use of force leading to the killing and injuring of civilians.The UN leader also condemns the ongoing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants and is deeply distressed that repeated calls on Hamas for these attacks to end have gone unheeded.
Ban also reiterated his previous calls for humanitarian supplies to be allowed into Gaza to aid the distressed civilian population.The UN leader is making immediate contact with regional and international leaders, including Quartet principals, in an effort to bring a swift end to the violence, the statement added.The Middle East Quartet, a group aimed at helping mediate the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, is made up of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.Israel hammered Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 205 people and wounding 300 in retaliation for ongoing rocket fire in one of the bloodiest days of the decades-long Middle East conflict.
Abbas in diplomatic offensive after Israel pounds Gaza DEC 27,08
RIYADH (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Saudi King Abdullah on Saturday called for an immediate halt to Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip that killed nearly 200 people, a Palestinian diplomatic source said.President Abbas and the Saudi sovereign discussed developments in the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and agreed to denounce it forcefully and urge an immediate halt to it, the source told AFP by telephone from Rawdat Kharim south of Riyadh after the two leaders met.
Abbas also urged the king to intercede urgently with active international parties, especially the United States, to exert pressure on Israel to end its aggression against Gaza, the source added.The Palestinian leader also briefed the king on recent efforts to relaunch the inter-Palestinian dialogue and efforts by Egypt to bring about a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation.Abbas's secular Fatah organisation holds sway only in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after his forces were ousted from Gaza in June 2007 by the Islamist Hamas.The head of emergency services in Gaza, Moawiya Hassanein, said at least 195 Palestinians were killed across the territory in Saturday's massive Israeli air strikes.Earlier Abbas said he was in urgent contact with several states over Saturday's deadly Israeli aerial blitz that also wounded more than 300 people.We have carried out urgent contacts with numerous Arab countries and other nations to stop the cowardly aggressions and massacres in the Gaza Strip, he told AFP by telephone from Saudi Arabia.We will also contact Egypt, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations with the aim of stopping the aggression and restoring the truce, he said.A six-month Egyptian-mediated truce between Israel and Hamas expired on December 19 amid continued violations.King Abdullah of Jordan also contacted Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to launch an Arab and international initiative aimed at ending the Israeli aggression, the palace in Amman said.
The king urged a return to negotiations which are the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it said in a statement.Abdullah called in the international community to accept its legal and moral responsibility towards the Palestinian people by demanding that Israel stops its aggression against the Gaza strip.Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad in a statement also vigorously condemned the Israeli aggression in Gaza and called for its immediate end.
Blair calls for end to rocket attacks, Gaza air strikes DEC 27,08
LONDON (AFP) – Middle East envoy Tony Blair on Saturday called for an end to both rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel and Israeli air strikes on the Hamas-controlled strip, saying a new strategy was needed for Gaza.The terrible events and tragic loss of life in Gaza require, in the immediate term, the introduction of a genuine calm in which the rocket attacks aimed at killing Israeli civilians and the Israeli attacks on Gaza cease so that the suffering of the people, which is severe, can be lifted, he said.Then, as I have said many times before, we need to devise a new strategy for Gaza, which brings that territory back under the legitimate rule of the Palestinian Authority in a manner which ends their suffering and fully protects the security of Israel.Blair's comments came after Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip, which killed 195 Palestinians, while Hamas swiftly responded by firing rockets into the Jewish state.The former British prime minister has served as Middle East envoy for the quartet of the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia for more than a year.The quartet has endorsed a roadmap that calls for a Palestinian state living in peace alongside a secure Israel. It has refused to deal with Hamas, which it sees as a terrorist group bent on Israel's destruction.
Israelis near Gaza call for more strikes on Hamas-run enclave by Mehdi Lebouachera DEC 27,08
NETIVOT, Israel (AFP) – In the impoverished Israeli town of Netivot where a Palestinian rocket killed a man on Saturday, residents want the military to keep hitting the nearby Hamas-run Gaza Strip, and hit it hard.The government does not do enough, but it has to do the job. They must keep bombing Gaza until the Qassams stop, said Motti Turdjman in reference to the home-made rockets fired at southern Israel by militants in the Palestinian enclave fire on an almost daily basis.If they want calm, the people of Gaza must also give us calm, he said, shortly after a rocket killed a man in this town of 25,000 on the edge of the Negev desert.More than 200 people were killed on Saturday as Israel blitzed Hamas targets in Gaza with a wave of air strikes it said were launched in response to rocket attacks.A charred hole gaped in the side of a four-storey cement building where a rocket fired by Hamas killed a man in his 50s and wounded two women.I saw my neighbours covered in blood, wounded by glass that shattered, said Gerard Koskas, one of the building's residents. People were very stressed. Despite that we're not going to be scared. We're going to stay here because we know the army is taking care of the situation, he said.The threat of more rockets hits from Gaza, just a few minutes drive away, has not deterred Netivot residents from their conviction that more strikes against the Palestinian territory are necessary.The best protection for us is to go inside Gaza and go after them without any feelings, said Motti Assuline. We must not give them the opportunity to attack us.
Another resident of the small town, Over Almalia, wants Israel to take drastic measures. The army should send an atomic bomb and get rid of the situation there, he said angrily. If we are scared, the people in Gaza should also be scared.The town of 25,000, 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Gaza, was spared for a long while by the rocket fire that regularly hits Sderot, a city located much closer to the Palestinian territory.But Hamas has in recent years acquired military-grade Grad rockets that have a longer-range than the Qassams mostly used by the Palestinian militants.
US urges Israel avoid civilian casualties in Gaza Sat Dec 27, 8:46 am ET
WACO, Texas (AFP) – The United States urged Israel Saturday to avoid civilian casualties as it pounded Hamas targets in Gaza, but warned the Islamist movement must halt its rocket attacks if the violence is to stop.The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza, US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Waco, as US President George W. Bush closed out 2008 on his Texas ranch.Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people, Johndroe said in a brief statement.Israel blitzed Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday with a wave of air strikes that killed at least 155 people in the besieged enclave in retaliation for ongoing rocket fire, officials said.An Israeli man died as Hamas swiftly responded to the air raids by firing rockets into the Jewish state.As Israel warned that the bombardment was just the beginning, Hamas told Israelis living near their Gaza stronghold to prepare the funeral shrouds.In Gaza, thick clouds of smoke billowed into the sky and mangled, bloody, charred corpses littered the pavement around Hamas security structures in the coastal strip where the bombardment sowed panic in the streets, television images showed.The deadly attacks came after days of escalating violence around the besieged coastal strip that the Islamist Hamas movement has run since June 2007, with militants firing rockets and Israel vowing a fiery response.
Hamas calls on fighters to hit back at Israel Sat Dec 27, 7:20 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas on Saturday called on its fighters to hit back at Israel after massive military air strikes killed at least 140 Palestinians in its Gaza Strip stronghold.We call on all units to avenge with force against the enemy, a Hamas spokesman said in a message broadcast on the Islamists' radio, even as militants launched a series of rockets against the Jewish state from the north of the coastal strip.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
ARABS KILL 2 OF THEIR OWN CHILDREN
Gaza rocket kills 2 girls, Israel lifts blockade By Nidal al-Mughrabi Nidal Al-mughrabi – Sat Dec 27, 1:18 am ET
GAZA (Reuters) – Israel eased a blockade of the Gaza Strip on Friday but militants there aimed rockets and mortars across the border, one of which misfired and killed two Palestinian girls.Israel said it was responding to numerous requests from the international community by reopening border crossings with Gaza to allow in vital truckloads of fuel and humanitarian aid.But renewed fire from Gaza-based militants --a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Islamist group Hamas to stop firing rockets or pay a heavy price -- ensured that the easing of tension was short-lived.About a dozen rockets and mortar bombs were fired from Gaza on Friday. One accidentally struck a northern Gaza house killing two Palestinian sisters, aged five and 13, and wounding a third, Palestinian medics said.No militant group claimed responsibility. Hamas police said they would investigate.An Israeli military spokesman said the Erez border crossing, the main passage for people between Israel and Gaza, was closed after two mortar bombs fell in that area.The earlier reopening was seen as potentially easing tensions that might have led to military action to end rocket attacks, though in the past Israel has allowed Gaza to resupply with vital goods before launching assaults.Palestinian workers at the crossings said fuel had arrived for Gaza's main power plant, where shortages mean periodic blackouts for many of the territory's 1.5 million residents.Raed Fattouh, coordinator of supplies, said about 100 trucks loaded with grain, humanitarian aid and goods for the private sector were due to come in to Gaza during the day, including a convoy from Egypt.
TRUCE EXPIRY
Israel also let a Palestinian man go to an Israeli hospital for treatment for an injury after a militant rocket struck his home in Gaza earlier this week, medics and officials said.Gaza, a largely impoverished coastal enclave, has been under a heightened Israeli blockade since Hamas seized control of the territory from Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement in 2007.In renewed fighting since a six-month truce expired last week, at least six militants have been killed by Israeli air strikes and dozens of rockets and mortar shells from Gaza have slammed into Israel, damaging homes and causing panic.Israel's cabinet plans on Sunday to debate a decision by a security panel to hit back at Gaza militants, beginning with air strikes on Hamas targets, political sources said.Israel withdrew its forces and settlers from Gaza in 2005 and Olmert has said he does not wish to re-occupy the coastal strip. A military offensive could involve ground combat likely to result in high casualties.Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni discussed the crisis on Thursday with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, which borders Gaza to the west and which brokered the truce in June. Mubarak urged restraint on both sides.At the same time, Olmert appeared on an Arabic television channel, urging Gazans to reject their Islamist rulers and stop the rocket attacks.He said it was a last-minute appeal and said he would not hesitate to use Israel's military might if they did not.(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Mark Trevelyan).
Iran to send aid ship to Gaza Fri Dec 26, 9:10 am ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran's Red Crescent is sending a shipment of aid to the Gaza Strip in the face of a blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory by Islamic republic's archfoe Israel, the state broadcaster reported on Friday.Despite the Zionist regime's opposition... this consignment will leave Bandar Abbas for Palestine on Saturday and will arrive in 12 days, a provincial Red Crescent director, Ahmad Navvab, was quoted as saying.The cargo contains over 2,000 tonnes of food, medicine and appliances and it will be accompanied by 12 Iranian doctors and relief workers, he said.Earlier this month, the Red Crescent said it aimed to send a 1,000-tonne shipment of grain, sugar, oil and medicine to the aid-dependent land, which has been subject to Israeli blockades and repeated raids since the Islamists of Hamas seized power in June 2007.
Violence in and around Gaza has flared since a six-month ceasefire ended on December 19 and there is widespread speculation Israeli forces are gearing up for large scale military action in the coastal strip.Israel responded to violence that erupted around Gaza in early November by tightening its blockade of the territory and blocking deliveries of humanitarian aid and other basic supplies.Tehran is a staunch supporter of Hamas but rejects allegations it is supplying arms to the movement, saying it only provides moral backing.Iran does not recognise the Jewish state and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map and called the Jewish Holocaust a myth.
UN steps up Lebanon border patrols after rockets found Fri Dec 26, 5:58 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops have stepped up patrols along the border with Israel after rockets were discovered aimed at the Jewish state and ready to fire, a UN spokeswoman said on Friday.The UN Interim Force in Lebanon and the Lebanese army have deployed additional troops and intensified patrols and security control of the area, said UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane.UNIFIL commander Major General Claudio Graziano of Italy, is in contact with senior Lebanese and Israeli military officials, Bouziane added.On Thursday, security forces found eight Katyusha rockets in the coastal region between Naqura and Tair Harfa.The rockets were aimed at Palestine (Israel) and connected to a timer, an officer said on Friday, adding that an investigation was under way and that the rockets had been dismantled.The area where the rockets were found is a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah group and lies less than five kilometres (three miles) from the border.Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war in 2006 that killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.During the war, Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 rockets at Israel.The group has been accused by the Jewish state of using the time since the end of the conflict to rearm. Last month, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told parliament that Hezbollah is now three times stronger than it was in 2006.
Report: Israel set to launch limited operation in Gaza Fri Dec 26, 4:00 am ET
Israel attacks Gaza, scores killed Reuters Israel is preparing a limited military strike against Hamas, according to a new report, even as it opens the border to allow much-needed supplies into Gaza.Haaretz reports that in the face of ongoing rocket and mortar attacks into Israel by Hamas, including some 22 shells fired Thursday and Friday, the Israeli cabinet has approved a limited operation ... that will combine an air attack with some ground operations in Gaza. In statements Thursday, senior security officials were unwavering. Anyone who harms Israeli citizens and soldiers will pay the price, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, speaking at the graduation of a pilots' training course at Hazerim Air Force Base, said, We will have to use all of our might against the terror infrastructure and create a different security reality around the Gaza Strip.
Israel is planning a relatively short operation that will cause maximum damage to Hamas assets. The defense establishment says the operation would not necessarily limit itself to stopping rocket launches and that during the operation, daily massive rocket launches can be expected. Hamas might fire rockets with a range beyond the 20 kilometers it has used so far.Haaretz adds their sources said an Israeli ground operation would result in many civilian casualties, especially in the Palestinian refugee camps.The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reports that both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who was in Cairo Thursday discussing Gaza with her Egyptian counterpart, warned Hamas that Israel was prepared to act to stop the Palestinian militants' ongoing rocket attacks.
Hamas needs to understand that our aspiration to live in peace doesn't mean that Israel is going to take this kind of situation any longer, Livni said at the end of the meeting.Enough is enough. And while we are working with the pragmatic leaders, trying to change the situation on the ground in the West Bank, we cannot tolerate a situation in which Hamas continues to target Israel, Israel's citizens, and this situation is going to be changed.Her sentiments were echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who called on the people of Gaza to turn against Hamas, the Islamist political and military organization that holds de facto control of the area.
I'm telling them now it may be the last minute. I'm telling them stop it, we are stronger, Olmert said in an interview with Arabic satellite television channel al-Arabiya.There will be more blood there. Who wants it? We don't want it.The increase in Israeli military rhetoric comes soon after a six-month-long truce between Israel and Hamas ended last week. Since then, Israel has suffered an increasing number of rocket attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the conflict is further complicated by the impending political contests in both Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israel is set for an election on Feb. 10, while the term of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas –a member of Fatah, Hamas's rival – is set to expire on Jan. 9.In an editorial, The Jerusalem Post argued that the time for Israeli negotiation with Hamas had passed, and that Israel must instead attempt the methodical elimination of Hamas's leadership.As a matter of grand strategy, Israel must not tolerate a hostile entity anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Hamas cannot be allowed to metastasize into a second Hizbullah.Israel's immediate objective must be to make it impossible for Hamas to govern in Gaza. Yet the choice is not between a massive land invasion and paralysis. The proper method of fighting Hamas is a methodical elimination of its political and military command and control. Concurrently, IDF artillery need to shoot back at the sources of enemy fire. ...
Any resort to force by the IDF raises the possibility of unintended consequences. Israel's home front could be hit hard. Hizbullah could launch diversionary attacks. The Arab street in non-belligerent countries could roil. If enemy non-combatants are killed, nasty media coverage is certain.We may express regret; but we must not apologize. Whatever happens, we must be resolute: Hamas must be stopped. Another article in the Post noted, however, that Hamas said it was prepared for Israeli attempts at assassinating its leadership. An aide to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told the Post that Hamas would quickly elevate new leadership to fill any vacuum, and that Hamas is a popular movement that doesn't center on this or that leader.... Almost every member of Hamas is fit to become a leader.Despite the signals of its willingness to attack Hamas, Israel also reopened its border with Gaza to allow supplies into the territory for the first time in 10 days, reports CNN. About 80 trucks filled with commodities were expected to cross into Gaza. Among the goods were 400,000 liters of fuel and 120 tons of cooking gas. The decision to open the crossings at Kerem Shalom, Karni and Nahal Oz came after requests from international aid groups and Egypt, said Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In addition, he said, Israel has no desire to hurt the civilian population in Gaza. Lerner said the decision to keep the crossings open would be made on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called for calm from both Hamas and Israel, reports Haaretz. Mr. Gheit also warned that renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas could imperil the process of freeing Cpl. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Gaza militants in 2006. The situation has slided again to a confrontation, Gheit said. We are hoping that both parties would restrain their actions. Hence they would allow us to build and to establish that situation where by we can bring an end to the tension, then to restore the quiet and then we would work on Gilad Shalit anew.Gheit said the security situation was linked to talks regarding a prisoner swap that would entail the release of Shalit. A military operation by the IDF would be hazardous to such a process, he said. He is part of a bigger and more general problem between Hamas and Israel, Gheit said, referring to Shalit. My understanding from our own intelligence is he is okay and well treated.
Calm brings record tourism to Bethlehem By Joshua Mitnick Joshua Mitnick – Fri Dec 26,3:00 am ET
Bethlehem, West Bank РAt the height of the Palestinian uprising six years ago, the only traffic in this holy city, believed to be Jesus' birthplace, were Israeli military jeeps enforcing curfew. Now, with record bus loads of Christian pilgrims filing through the Church of the Nativity and sleeping at local hotels, Bethlehem is abuzz.The revival of tourism in the West Bank is one of the few bright spots in the Palestinian economy, which was supposed to get a big boost from the Bush administration at its Middle East peace conference in the fall of 2007 in Annapolis, Md.After the Annapolis conference ... there was a relative relief in the political situation, says Palestinian tourism minister Khouloud Daibes-Abu Dayyeh. The pictures coming through the media showed at least part of Palestine as more safe and ... ready to receive tourists, he says.While tourists must pass through the Israeli security barrier at the main entrance to Bethlehem, West Bank visitors have doubled over the past year. The 1.3 million tourists expected for 2008 surpasses the pre-uprising peak nine years ago. The surge is filling hotels to capacity Рan encouraging sign as chains M̦venpick and Days Inn pursue plans to open in Ramallah.
Tourism contributed to a modest 2 percent growth rate in the overall Palestinian economy this year – a figure that would have been twice as high if it weren't for the flagging economy in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a yearlong Israeli blockade.In the Beit Sahour suburb of Bethlehem, hammers can be heard from hotel construction just up the road from Shepherds' Field, the hillside believed to be the site from where the biblical Star of Bethlehem was sighted. Builders are adding to the Sahara Hotel to nearly triple its capacity to 52 rooms.Owner Majed Banoura said he would open the hotel, closed for renovations, for Christmas to accommodate overflow from Bethlehem. There is security and a sense of calm, says Mr. Banoura, who says his family's souvenir business took in a record $1 million this year. We feel the rule of law. This is what we need.The construction sector is also getting a kick-start with housing projects in and around Ramallah. And the rollout of a new Palestinian cellphone company this year marked the largest single foreign investment ever. Yet the economy has a deep hole to climb out of. Hemmed in by hundreds of Israeli military checkpoints, Palestinians have been struggling, with international donors contributing $1.75 billion to keep the government running. The private sector has been in retreat. A recent World Bank report said that the economy won't fully recover unless Israel removes more restrictions on movement and allows West Bank residents access to agricultural land.These are wonderful sparks of potential, says one Western diplomat who requested anonymity. But now the Israelis have to enable it to explode.When the Bush administration convened Israelis, Palestinians, and Middle East allies in Annapolis a year ago, boosting prosperity in the West Bank was part of a plan to encourage support for peace negotiations and the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas – at the expense of Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Since then, negotiators failed to meet a deadline for a political accord set for the end of the year. The political vacuum opened up by change in Israeli and US governments has left progress on the economy in the West Bank as one of the sole bulwarks of the peace process. For Christmas Eve and morning, Israel's Tourism Ministry arranged a free shuttle to ferry pilgrims hourly between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. At the Bethlehem crossing point this week, a soldier hung a Tourism Ministry banner with holiday greetings for tourists. Israeli officials say they see Bethlehem and Jerusalem as part of the same package for tourists.In Manger Square, Montreal native Ryan Roe says he is vacationing in the region for the first time since moving to Abu Dhabi to work as an investment banker. The passage from Jerusalem to Bethlehem was unexpectedly hassle-free. We showed up at the wall and there was no one in line, he says. They didn't even check our passports. It was like zero security.Palestinians complain that they're getting only a fraction of tourism revenues because most of the visitors' time and cash is spent in Israel. And Israel has approved only about 40 of about 200 requests for entry permits for Palestinian tour guides.Moreover the tourism revival is concentrated in Bethlehem and Jericho. If in 1999 the industry was 10 percent of Palestinian gross domestic product, in 2008it accounted for only 4 percent, according to the World Bank.At a souvenir shop near Shepherds' Field, owner Linda Elias says that anywhere from 10 to 30 buses show up daily, but few tourists linger. We want this wall to go and we want our rights. But we don't want another war. We want peace, she said. I pray some people will come.
Lebanese army finds seven missiles pointed at Israel Thu Dec 25, 3:18 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese security forces found seven missiles directed at Israel in southern Lebanon on Thursday, an army official said.The army has found seven missiles in the coastal region between Naqqura and Tair Harfa directed toward Israel, the official told AFP, asking not to be named.We are investigating whether they were prepared for launching or for use at a later stage. The expert is dismantling them now,the official added.The area where the missiles were found is a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah militant group and lies less than five kilometers (three miles) from Lebanon's border with Israel.Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war in the summer of 2006 which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.During the war, Hezbollah fired over 4,000 missiles at Israel. The group has been accused by the Jewish state of using the time since the end of the conflict to rearm.Last month, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told parliament that the Shiite group is three times stronger now than it was in 2006.
Israel sentences PFLP leader to 30 years in prison by Hossam Ezzedine Hossam Ezzedine – Thu Dec 25, 2:02 pm ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – An Israeli military court on Thursday sentenced Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the leftist Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), to 30 years in prison for heading a terrorist organisation.Ahmed Saadat is guilty ... because of his position and activities within the (PFLP) terrorist movement, an Israeli army statement said.Given the status of the accused within this terrorist organisation, given the actions put in place to develop the movement's military structures and given that ... the fighters (of the organisation) were under his command, the court sentences him to 30 years in prison, the statement said.When Israeli forces seized Saadat in March 2006 in a controversial raid on a Jericho prison, he stood accused of planning the 2001 murder of far-right Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, which was carried out by four PFLP militants.Prosecutors later decided not to pursue this case against Saadat, instead pressing the charges against four PFLP gunmen who were seized along with him in Jericho.The PFLP slammed the verdict as political.When the Israelis arrested him, they accused him of having killed Zeevi, but this accusation did not appear in the sentencing which proves that his arrest was political and was not related to security issues, PFLP member Khalida Jarar told AFP.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in a statement released in Ramallah denounced the sentence as unjust and without legal foundation.We will continue unceasingly to demand his release and the release of all our heroes still held in Israeli prisons, Abbas said.Several dozen Palestinians, meanwhile, staged a demonstration in a refugee camp near Bethlehem to protest the court's decision.Zeevi, 75 at the time of his death, was shot at a hotel in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem on October 17, 2001.Saadat and the four militants convicted of Zeevi's killing were seized during a controversial raid on Jericho prison in the West Bank in March 2006 when Israeli troops stormed the jail shortly after British guards left their posts.The PFLP claimed the killing of Zeevi after its leader Abu Ali Mustafa was assassinated by Israeli troops.Zeevi was an ultra rightwinger and supported the ideology of transfer, which would see all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip expelled to neighbouring Arab countries.The 54-year-old Saadat is a father of four and a veteran of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada.The former university mathematics student was a popular leader in the first Palestinian uprising in 1987 and his election to the PFLP in October 2001 was seen as a boost to the leftist group's radical line.He gained a reputation as a man of the people who was much more charismatic and better tuned in to the situation on the ground than his PFLP predecessor, Abu Ali Mustafa.Mustafa was killed in an August 2001 helicopter strike on his offices in the West Bank town of Ramallah, triggering swift warnings of revenge from Saadat. Zeevi's death prompted the Palestinian Authority, under US and Israeli pressure, to arrest Saadat. Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that his Palestinian Authority arrested Saadat on January 15, 2002 to force him to surrender Zeevi's killers. Saadat's arrest was one of the conditions set by Israel for lifting the blockade which had stranded Arafat at his West Bank headquarters in the town of Ramallah in 2002, but was widely protested by Palestinians. While in prison, Saadat was elected to the Palestinian parliament in January 2006.
Israeli FM vows to strike back at Hamas by Samer al-Atrush Samer Al-atrush – Thu Dec 25, 11:08 am ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni vowed on Thursday to strike back at the Hamas rulers of Gaza after a sharp escalation of violence in the Palestinian territory dashed hopes of a new truce.Enough is enough. The situation is going to change, Livni said in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip since a truce expired six days ago.Unfortunately there is one address to the situation of the people in the Gaza Strip, this is Hamas, Hamas controls them, Hamas decided to target Israel, this is something that has to be stopped and this is what we're going to do, she said in English.Yesterday's escalation was unbearable, Livni said after Gaza militants hit Israel with their biggest rocket barrage in six months to avenge the killing of three fighters from the Islamist movement.Hamas needs to understand that our aspiration for peace does not mean that Israel will take this situation any longer, Livni said at a press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.
Hamas's control of the Gaza Strip is not only Israel's problem... but what we are doing is an expression of the needs of the region.The situation in the Gaza Strip has become an obstacle on the way of the Palestinians toward a state, added Livni, who has vowed to topple Hamas if her Kadima party wins a general election in February.Livni has been heading the Israeli negotiating team in peace talks with the Palestinians that resumed in November last year but have failed to make any visible headway since.Abul Gheit, whose government mediated the six-month truce that expired on Friday, called for restraint in the impoverished territory that has been ruled by Hamas since it routed the rival Fatah movement in June 2007.Egypt has made clear that there should be restraint and no escalation and an alleviation of the humanitarian situation, he said, saying Israel should refrain from collective punishment.He said Egypt would continue its mediation efforts, but expressed pessimism that a new truce could be achieved.Egypt won't stop its efforts as long as the parties agree. But I do not imagine that we can convince both parties to return to the truce as long as there is such a strong confrontation between them.Israel's Maariv newspaper said the security cabinet had given the army the go-ahead to conduct expanded operations in Gaza after a meeting on Wednesday and Defence Minister Ehud Barak warned that Israel would respond to the fire.Hamas... will pay a big price, he said. We will not allow this situation to last.Hamas has vowed to step up attacks if Israel strikes Gaza, a tiny enclave sandwiched between Egypt and Israel that is home to 1.5 million largely aid-dependent Palestinians.Since Friday's expiry of the truce, Israel has threatened to launch a major offensive on Gaza, with top leaders threatening to topple Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel and the West.
In turn, Hamas -- which is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state -- has warned it would retaliate by resuming suicide bombings inside Israel. The last such attack was in January 2005.A UN statement said UN chief Ban Ki-moon was gravely concerned" about the situation, that he condemned the rocket attacks and also called for an urgent easing of humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip. Pope Benedict XVI also urged an end to hatred and violence in the Middle East during his midnight mass Christmas homily ahead of a planned trip to the region. Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, called in an interview published on Thursday for residents of Gaza to stop Hamas militants from firing missiles into Israel. I say to you in a last-minute call, stop it, Olmert said in an interview with the Arab television station Al-Arabiya, according to quotes reprinted in the Israeli media.
Don't let Hamas, which is acting against the values of Islam, put you in danger, he said. Stop them. Stop your enemies and ours. Tell them to stop firing on innocent civilians.
Tourists, locals pray in Bethlehem on Christmas By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Thu Dec 25, 7:34 am ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Bethlehem marked Christmas on Thursday with crowds of tourists joining local Palestinian Christians in Jesus' traditional birthplace, as the West Bank town basked in its once-a-year appearance in the world spotlight.The mood was upbeat, with hotel rooms fully booked and merchants reporting good business for the first time in years, as a long period of Israeli-Palestinian violence that dampened moods and tourism seemed to be easing.Light rain fell on Bethlehem on Christmas morning. Crowds of worshippers and tourists carrying umbrellas walked briskly across the plaza in front of the Church of the Nativity, built atop the grotto where Jesus is believed to have been born.Inside the dimly lit Crusader-era church, hundreds of people lined up five abreast between two rows of columns on one side, quietly waiting their turn to descend a few stone steps to the grotto.Most of the people in the ancient church on Christmas morning were Asian, with a few Europeans and Americans joining them.After ducking through the low entrance into the church, Wayne Shandera, 57, a physician from Houston looked awed by the massive presence of the old stone church. You feel in continuity with all the pilgrims through the ages who have been here, he said.
Brad Shannon, 28, a mechanic from Atlanta, said he saved money all year to make the trip to Bethlehem with three friends.I came here to see the oldest church that is still in use, he said. It's not every Christmas that you're surrounded with people from all over the world.At the nearby Church of St. Catherine, the recently installed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, conducted his first Christmas morning service in his new role. For the Midnight Mass a few hours earlier, the church was filled on Christmas Eve with dignitaries, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and tourists who obtained tickets and passed through security checks.
Christmas morning services were more relaxed. Most of the congregants were local Palestinians, with some tourists standing in the back, listening to the Arabic-language liturgy.The outbreak of the Palestinian uprising against Israel in late 2000and the fighting that followed clouded Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem for years, battering the tourism industry that is the city's lifeline.Although holiday tourism numbers this year were still off from the tens of thousands who visited in the peak years of the late 1990s and the 2000 millennium, they were up from recent years, when just a few thousand visitors trickled in. Bethlehem officials said that over the course of the year, more than 1 million tourists visited their town, providing a much-needed boost to the local economy.Still, all is not well in Bethlehem, despite the diminished violence and the relaunch of peace talks last year between Israel and the government of Abbas.Bethlehem remains surrounded on three sides by a barrier of towering concrete slabs and electronic fences that Israel has erected. Israeli says the barrier is meant to keep out suicide attackers, but because it dips inside the West Bank, Palestinians see it as a thinly disguised land grab that strangles their economy.Emigration, meanwhile, has slashed the town's Christian population to an estimated 35 to 50 percent of its 40,000 people, down from 90 percent in the 1950s.The festivities in the West Bank town contrasted sharply with the mood in Hamas-run Gaza, 45 miles away. Militants there have been bombarding nearby Israeli communities with rockets and mortars since a truce expired a week ago, waiting to see whether Israel would act on its frequent threat to pummel them militarily.The tiny Christian community in Gaza — 400 out of a total population of 1.4 million — called off its Midnight Mass to protest Israel's blockade, imposed after the militant Islamic Hamas overran the territory last year and further tightened last month, when Gaza militants resumed rocket fire.Additional reporting by Associated Press writer Dalia Nammari in Bethlehem.
Bethlehem fills up with Christmas pilgrims By Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh – Wed Dec 24, 11:15pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) – Thousands of Christian pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem's Manger Square on Wednesday to celebrate Christmas under the protection of security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.About 500 security men arrived from the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho to provide security for the holiday. Similar deployments have taken place across the West Bank over the past year with U.S. backing.We expect about 40,000 visitors in Bethlehem this week, said Khouloud Daibes-Abu Dayyeh, the Palestinian Authority's minister of tourism.The estimate includes Christians from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Israel and the rest of the world. About 900 from Gaza applied for Israeli permission to go to the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, but only 300 got it.It's better to spend Christmas in Bethlehem because we are close to the church. It's important to visit where Jesus was born, said 58-year-old Italian tourist Messimo Silzestri beneath a giant Christmas tree and decorations in Manger Square.While Gaza teeters on the brink of a major crisis following the end of a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas Islamists in control of the strip, a decline in violence in the West Bank has tempted back tourists who no longer fear gunbattles in the streets.Israel attributes this partly to the barrier it is building in and around the occupied West Bank. For Bethlehem, the barrier takes the form of a daunting concrete wall 4 meters (13 feet) high with watchtowers.
MUCH-NEEDED REVENUE
Tourism collapsed here when a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in 2000. But this Christmas, the Palestinian tourism minister says, hotel occupancy is rising.The increase in security and easier movement means we have our largest numbers, and we are making great efforts to restore tourist activity, she told Reuters in Ramallah.The numbers themselves are not as important as the length of stay, she added. The direct contribution of tourism to the Palestinian economy is reckoned at about $480 million a year.Palestinians say the Israeli barrier is a major obstacle to peace that cripples trade and turns off foreign tourists.Many visitors see the wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem as an ugly scar defiling a Christian holy site.Going to the checkpoint and the barrier is really crazy. But being here, it is totally worth it, said 20-year-old Emma Serienni who was on her first visit from the United States.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Tuesday said the Jewish state must press on with plans to complete the barrier around key parts of Jerusalem, which could be divided in a future deal to create a Palestinian state.
There is little prospect of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the time Pope Benedict visits Bethlehem in mid-May 2009.(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta; Writing by Douglas Hamilton; editing by Jon Boyle)
Bethlehem sermon calls for peace in the Middle East by Patrick Moser – Wed Dec 24, 7:44 pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – The Catholic leader in the Holy Land Thursday prayed for Mideast peace, telling the faithful at the traditional birthplace of Jesus the silent night of Christmas overpowers the voice of guns.Peace to Bethlehem and all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal said in his sermon at midnight mass in Bethlehem, just a few meters from the grotto that marks the spot where Christians believe their Prince of Peace was born in a stable.On this night, the silence of the grotto will be even louder than the voice of the cannons and submachine guns, he told pilgrims from around the world who celebrated Christmas in this Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.His words rang out as violence escalated in the Gaza Strip where fighters of the Hamas movement that rules the besieged Palestinian enclave fired a barrage of rockets at Israel which responded with a deadly air raid.The silence of the grotto gives life to those whose voice has been suffocated by tears and who have sought refuge in silence and impotence, he told the crowd that packed the church, which included Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The cry of the widows and the children is mixed with the noise of cannons and submachine guns, said Twal who delivered his sermon in his native Arabic and then again in French.Peace, Twal said, is the solution for all conflicts and differences. War does not produce peace, prisons do not guarantee stability.The highest of walls do not assure security, he told the faithful, many of whom had driven through a gate at the eight-metre (26-feet) high concrete wall that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem and forms part of the projected 700-kilometer West Bank separation barrier Israel says is needed for security.It was heartbreaking to see that wall, it's a blot on Israel, said Jessica Kelly, 22.
She and her boyfriend Sean Wright, 30, both said they felt torn between the joy of Christmas and the sadness at the reality of the wall.The two students from Sydney were among thousands of Christians who flocked to Bethlehem.Throughout the day, pilgrims prayed in the Church of the Nativity and the adjoining St Catherine's Church where midnight mass was celebrated.Others milled in Manger Square just outside, where Boy Scout marching bands kicked off celebrations playing hymns on bagpipes and drums.It is really very special to be in Bethlehem on the day we celebrate Christmas, it is a very emotional moment, said Eduardo Robles Gil, a Mexican priest who was on a pilgrimage with his family.Souvenir stores were doing brisk business selling nativity scenes carved in olive wood, rosaries and religious trinkets.Elsa Marie Kierkegaard, a Dane who converted to Catholicism five years ago, was taken aback by what she felt was crass commercialism.It's like one big market, she said looking at the food stands, garlands of lights, synthetic pine trees and inflatable Santas.But the visitors, returning in the largest numbers yet since the 2000 start of the second Palestinian uprising, brought a strong dose of Christmas cheer. Bethlehem welcomed over one million tourists this year, twice as many as in 2007 and the highest number since 1999, Palestinian officials said. The tourist boom is a welcome respite for the Palestinian territory, whose economic growth has been severely hurt by hundreds of Israeli checkpoints and the separation barrier that restrict movement of goods and people. In Gaza City, Roman Catholic priest Manuel Musalem celebrated midnight mass six hours early in what he called a protest against the violence and the Israeli blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory. We pray for peace and that the blockade and the siege end in the Gaza Strip, and we ask the world to help Palestinians, he said in his sermon to about 200 faithful.
GAZA (Reuters) – Israel eased a blockade of the Gaza Strip on Friday but militants there aimed rockets and mortars across the border, one of which misfired and killed two Palestinian girls.Israel said it was responding to numerous requests from the international community by reopening border crossings with Gaza to allow in vital truckloads of fuel and humanitarian aid.But renewed fire from Gaza-based militants --a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Islamist group Hamas to stop firing rockets or pay a heavy price -- ensured that the easing of tension was short-lived.About a dozen rockets and mortar bombs were fired from Gaza on Friday. One accidentally struck a northern Gaza house killing two Palestinian sisters, aged five and 13, and wounding a third, Palestinian medics said.No militant group claimed responsibility. Hamas police said they would investigate.An Israeli military spokesman said the Erez border crossing, the main passage for people between Israel and Gaza, was closed after two mortar bombs fell in that area.The earlier reopening was seen as potentially easing tensions that might have led to military action to end rocket attacks, though in the past Israel has allowed Gaza to resupply with vital goods before launching assaults.Palestinian workers at the crossings said fuel had arrived for Gaza's main power plant, where shortages mean periodic blackouts for many of the territory's 1.5 million residents.Raed Fattouh, coordinator of supplies, said about 100 trucks loaded with grain, humanitarian aid and goods for the private sector were due to come in to Gaza during the day, including a convoy from Egypt.
TRUCE EXPIRY
Israel also let a Palestinian man go to an Israeli hospital for treatment for an injury after a militant rocket struck his home in Gaza earlier this week, medics and officials said.Gaza, a largely impoverished coastal enclave, has been under a heightened Israeli blockade since Hamas seized control of the territory from Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement in 2007.In renewed fighting since a six-month truce expired last week, at least six militants have been killed by Israeli air strikes and dozens of rockets and mortar shells from Gaza have slammed into Israel, damaging homes and causing panic.Israel's cabinet plans on Sunday to debate a decision by a security panel to hit back at Gaza militants, beginning with air strikes on Hamas targets, political sources said.Israel withdrew its forces and settlers from Gaza in 2005 and Olmert has said he does not wish to re-occupy the coastal strip. A military offensive could involve ground combat likely to result in high casualties.Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni discussed the crisis on Thursday with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, which borders Gaza to the west and which brokered the truce in June. Mubarak urged restraint on both sides.At the same time, Olmert appeared on an Arabic television channel, urging Gazans to reject their Islamist rulers and stop the rocket attacks.He said it was a last-minute appeal and said he would not hesitate to use Israel's military might if they did not.(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Mark Trevelyan).
Iran to send aid ship to Gaza Fri Dec 26, 9:10 am ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran's Red Crescent is sending a shipment of aid to the Gaza Strip in the face of a blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory by Islamic republic's archfoe Israel, the state broadcaster reported on Friday.Despite the Zionist regime's opposition... this consignment will leave Bandar Abbas for Palestine on Saturday and will arrive in 12 days, a provincial Red Crescent director, Ahmad Navvab, was quoted as saying.The cargo contains over 2,000 tonnes of food, medicine and appliances and it will be accompanied by 12 Iranian doctors and relief workers, he said.Earlier this month, the Red Crescent said it aimed to send a 1,000-tonne shipment of grain, sugar, oil and medicine to the aid-dependent land, which has been subject to Israeli blockades and repeated raids since the Islamists of Hamas seized power in June 2007.
Violence in and around Gaza has flared since a six-month ceasefire ended on December 19 and there is widespread speculation Israeli forces are gearing up for large scale military action in the coastal strip.Israel responded to violence that erupted around Gaza in early November by tightening its blockade of the territory and blocking deliveries of humanitarian aid and other basic supplies.Tehran is a staunch supporter of Hamas but rejects allegations it is supplying arms to the movement, saying it only provides moral backing.Iran does not recognise the Jewish state and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map and called the Jewish Holocaust a myth.
UN steps up Lebanon border patrols after rockets found Fri Dec 26, 5:58 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops have stepped up patrols along the border with Israel after rockets were discovered aimed at the Jewish state and ready to fire, a UN spokeswoman said on Friday.The UN Interim Force in Lebanon and the Lebanese army have deployed additional troops and intensified patrols and security control of the area, said UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane.UNIFIL commander Major General Claudio Graziano of Italy, is in contact with senior Lebanese and Israeli military officials, Bouziane added.On Thursday, security forces found eight Katyusha rockets in the coastal region between Naqura and Tair Harfa.The rockets were aimed at Palestine (Israel) and connected to a timer, an officer said on Friday, adding that an investigation was under way and that the rockets had been dismantled.The area where the rockets were found is a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah group and lies less than five kilometres (three miles) from the border.Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war in 2006 that killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.During the war, Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 rockets at Israel.The group has been accused by the Jewish state of using the time since the end of the conflict to rearm. Last month, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told parliament that Hezbollah is now three times stronger than it was in 2006.
Report: Israel set to launch limited operation in Gaza Fri Dec 26, 4:00 am ET
Israel attacks Gaza, scores killed Reuters Israel is preparing a limited military strike against Hamas, according to a new report, even as it opens the border to allow much-needed supplies into Gaza.Haaretz reports that in the face of ongoing rocket and mortar attacks into Israel by Hamas, including some 22 shells fired Thursday and Friday, the Israeli cabinet has approved a limited operation ... that will combine an air attack with some ground operations in Gaza. In statements Thursday, senior security officials were unwavering. Anyone who harms Israeli citizens and soldiers will pay the price, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, speaking at the graduation of a pilots' training course at Hazerim Air Force Base, said, We will have to use all of our might against the terror infrastructure and create a different security reality around the Gaza Strip.
Israel is planning a relatively short operation that will cause maximum damage to Hamas assets. The defense establishment says the operation would not necessarily limit itself to stopping rocket launches and that during the operation, daily massive rocket launches can be expected. Hamas might fire rockets with a range beyond the 20 kilometers it has used so far.Haaretz adds their sources said an Israeli ground operation would result in many civilian casualties, especially in the Palestinian refugee camps.The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reports that both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who was in Cairo Thursday discussing Gaza with her Egyptian counterpart, warned Hamas that Israel was prepared to act to stop the Palestinian militants' ongoing rocket attacks.
Hamas needs to understand that our aspiration to live in peace doesn't mean that Israel is going to take this kind of situation any longer, Livni said at the end of the meeting.Enough is enough. And while we are working with the pragmatic leaders, trying to change the situation on the ground in the West Bank, we cannot tolerate a situation in which Hamas continues to target Israel, Israel's citizens, and this situation is going to be changed.Her sentiments were echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who called on the people of Gaza to turn against Hamas, the Islamist political and military organization that holds de facto control of the area.
I'm telling them now it may be the last minute. I'm telling them stop it, we are stronger, Olmert said in an interview with Arabic satellite television channel al-Arabiya.There will be more blood there. Who wants it? We don't want it.The increase in Israeli military rhetoric comes soon after a six-month-long truce between Israel and Hamas ended last week. Since then, Israel has suffered an increasing number of rocket attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the conflict is further complicated by the impending political contests in both Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israel is set for an election on Feb. 10, while the term of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas –a member of Fatah, Hamas's rival – is set to expire on Jan. 9.In an editorial, The Jerusalem Post argued that the time for Israeli negotiation with Hamas had passed, and that Israel must instead attempt the methodical elimination of Hamas's leadership.As a matter of grand strategy, Israel must not tolerate a hostile entity anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Hamas cannot be allowed to metastasize into a second Hizbullah.Israel's immediate objective must be to make it impossible for Hamas to govern in Gaza. Yet the choice is not between a massive land invasion and paralysis. The proper method of fighting Hamas is a methodical elimination of its political and military command and control. Concurrently, IDF artillery need to shoot back at the sources of enemy fire. ...
Any resort to force by the IDF raises the possibility of unintended consequences. Israel's home front could be hit hard. Hizbullah could launch diversionary attacks. The Arab street in non-belligerent countries could roil. If enemy non-combatants are killed, nasty media coverage is certain.We may express regret; but we must not apologize. Whatever happens, we must be resolute: Hamas must be stopped. Another article in the Post noted, however, that Hamas said it was prepared for Israeli attempts at assassinating its leadership. An aide to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told the Post that Hamas would quickly elevate new leadership to fill any vacuum, and that Hamas is a popular movement that doesn't center on this or that leader.... Almost every member of Hamas is fit to become a leader.Despite the signals of its willingness to attack Hamas, Israel also reopened its border with Gaza to allow supplies into the territory for the first time in 10 days, reports CNN. About 80 trucks filled with commodities were expected to cross into Gaza. Among the goods were 400,000 liters of fuel and 120 tons of cooking gas. The decision to open the crossings at Kerem Shalom, Karni and Nahal Oz came after requests from international aid groups and Egypt, said Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In addition, he said, Israel has no desire to hurt the civilian population in Gaza. Lerner said the decision to keep the crossings open would be made on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called for calm from both Hamas and Israel, reports Haaretz. Mr. Gheit also warned that renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas could imperil the process of freeing Cpl. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Gaza militants in 2006. The situation has slided again to a confrontation, Gheit said. We are hoping that both parties would restrain their actions. Hence they would allow us to build and to establish that situation where by we can bring an end to the tension, then to restore the quiet and then we would work on Gilad Shalit anew.Gheit said the security situation was linked to talks regarding a prisoner swap that would entail the release of Shalit. A military operation by the IDF would be hazardous to such a process, he said. He is part of a bigger and more general problem between Hamas and Israel, Gheit said, referring to Shalit. My understanding from our own intelligence is he is okay and well treated.
Calm brings record tourism to Bethlehem By Joshua Mitnick Joshua Mitnick – Fri Dec 26,3:00 am ET
Bethlehem, West Bank РAt the height of the Palestinian uprising six years ago, the only traffic in this holy city, believed to be Jesus' birthplace, were Israeli military jeeps enforcing curfew. Now, with record bus loads of Christian pilgrims filing through the Church of the Nativity and sleeping at local hotels, Bethlehem is abuzz.The revival of tourism in the West Bank is one of the few bright spots in the Palestinian economy, which was supposed to get a big boost from the Bush administration at its Middle East peace conference in the fall of 2007 in Annapolis, Md.After the Annapolis conference ... there was a relative relief in the political situation, says Palestinian tourism minister Khouloud Daibes-Abu Dayyeh. The pictures coming through the media showed at least part of Palestine as more safe and ... ready to receive tourists, he says.While tourists must pass through the Israeli security barrier at the main entrance to Bethlehem, West Bank visitors have doubled over the past year. The 1.3 million tourists expected for 2008 surpasses the pre-uprising peak nine years ago. The surge is filling hotels to capacity Рan encouraging sign as chains M̦venpick and Days Inn pursue plans to open in Ramallah.
Tourism contributed to a modest 2 percent growth rate in the overall Palestinian economy this year – a figure that would have been twice as high if it weren't for the flagging economy in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a yearlong Israeli blockade.In the Beit Sahour suburb of Bethlehem, hammers can be heard from hotel construction just up the road from Shepherds' Field, the hillside believed to be the site from where the biblical Star of Bethlehem was sighted. Builders are adding to the Sahara Hotel to nearly triple its capacity to 52 rooms.Owner Majed Banoura said he would open the hotel, closed for renovations, for Christmas to accommodate overflow from Bethlehem. There is security and a sense of calm, says Mr. Banoura, who says his family's souvenir business took in a record $1 million this year. We feel the rule of law. This is what we need.The construction sector is also getting a kick-start with housing projects in and around Ramallah. And the rollout of a new Palestinian cellphone company this year marked the largest single foreign investment ever. Yet the economy has a deep hole to climb out of. Hemmed in by hundreds of Israeli military checkpoints, Palestinians have been struggling, with international donors contributing $1.75 billion to keep the government running. The private sector has been in retreat. A recent World Bank report said that the economy won't fully recover unless Israel removes more restrictions on movement and allows West Bank residents access to agricultural land.These are wonderful sparks of potential, says one Western diplomat who requested anonymity. But now the Israelis have to enable it to explode.When the Bush administration convened Israelis, Palestinians, and Middle East allies in Annapolis a year ago, boosting prosperity in the West Bank was part of a plan to encourage support for peace negotiations and the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas – at the expense of Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Since then, negotiators failed to meet a deadline for a political accord set for the end of the year. The political vacuum opened up by change in Israeli and US governments has left progress on the economy in the West Bank as one of the sole bulwarks of the peace process. For Christmas Eve and morning, Israel's Tourism Ministry arranged a free shuttle to ferry pilgrims hourly between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. At the Bethlehem crossing point this week, a soldier hung a Tourism Ministry banner with holiday greetings for tourists. Israeli officials say they see Bethlehem and Jerusalem as part of the same package for tourists.In Manger Square, Montreal native Ryan Roe says he is vacationing in the region for the first time since moving to Abu Dhabi to work as an investment banker. The passage from Jerusalem to Bethlehem was unexpectedly hassle-free. We showed up at the wall and there was no one in line, he says. They didn't even check our passports. It was like zero security.Palestinians complain that they're getting only a fraction of tourism revenues because most of the visitors' time and cash is spent in Israel. And Israel has approved only about 40 of about 200 requests for entry permits for Palestinian tour guides.Moreover the tourism revival is concentrated in Bethlehem and Jericho. If in 1999 the industry was 10 percent of Palestinian gross domestic product, in 2008it accounted for only 4 percent, according to the World Bank.At a souvenir shop near Shepherds' Field, owner Linda Elias says that anywhere from 10 to 30 buses show up daily, but few tourists linger. We want this wall to go and we want our rights. But we don't want another war. We want peace, she said. I pray some people will come.
Lebanese army finds seven missiles pointed at Israel Thu Dec 25, 3:18 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese security forces found seven missiles directed at Israel in southern Lebanon on Thursday, an army official said.The army has found seven missiles in the coastal region between Naqqura and Tair Harfa directed toward Israel, the official told AFP, asking not to be named.We are investigating whether they were prepared for launching or for use at a later stage. The expert is dismantling them now,the official added.The area where the missiles were found is a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah militant group and lies less than five kilometers (three miles) from Lebanon's border with Israel.Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war in the summer of 2006 which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.During the war, Hezbollah fired over 4,000 missiles at Israel. The group has been accused by the Jewish state of using the time since the end of the conflict to rearm.Last month, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told parliament that the Shiite group is three times stronger now than it was in 2006.
Israel sentences PFLP leader to 30 years in prison by Hossam Ezzedine Hossam Ezzedine – Thu Dec 25, 2:02 pm ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – An Israeli military court on Thursday sentenced Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the leftist Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), to 30 years in prison for heading a terrorist organisation.Ahmed Saadat is guilty ... because of his position and activities within the (PFLP) terrorist movement, an Israeli army statement said.Given the status of the accused within this terrorist organisation, given the actions put in place to develop the movement's military structures and given that ... the fighters (of the organisation) were under his command, the court sentences him to 30 years in prison, the statement said.When Israeli forces seized Saadat in March 2006 in a controversial raid on a Jericho prison, he stood accused of planning the 2001 murder of far-right Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, which was carried out by four PFLP militants.Prosecutors later decided not to pursue this case against Saadat, instead pressing the charges against four PFLP gunmen who were seized along with him in Jericho.The PFLP slammed the verdict as political.When the Israelis arrested him, they accused him of having killed Zeevi, but this accusation did not appear in the sentencing which proves that his arrest was political and was not related to security issues, PFLP member Khalida Jarar told AFP.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in a statement released in Ramallah denounced the sentence as unjust and without legal foundation.We will continue unceasingly to demand his release and the release of all our heroes still held in Israeli prisons, Abbas said.Several dozen Palestinians, meanwhile, staged a demonstration in a refugee camp near Bethlehem to protest the court's decision.Zeevi, 75 at the time of his death, was shot at a hotel in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem on October 17, 2001.Saadat and the four militants convicted of Zeevi's killing were seized during a controversial raid on Jericho prison in the West Bank in March 2006 when Israeli troops stormed the jail shortly after British guards left their posts.The PFLP claimed the killing of Zeevi after its leader Abu Ali Mustafa was assassinated by Israeli troops.Zeevi was an ultra rightwinger and supported the ideology of transfer, which would see all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip expelled to neighbouring Arab countries.The 54-year-old Saadat is a father of four and a veteran of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada.The former university mathematics student was a popular leader in the first Palestinian uprising in 1987 and his election to the PFLP in October 2001 was seen as a boost to the leftist group's radical line.He gained a reputation as a man of the people who was much more charismatic and better tuned in to the situation on the ground than his PFLP predecessor, Abu Ali Mustafa.Mustafa was killed in an August 2001 helicopter strike on his offices in the West Bank town of Ramallah, triggering swift warnings of revenge from Saadat. Zeevi's death prompted the Palestinian Authority, under US and Israeli pressure, to arrest Saadat. Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that his Palestinian Authority arrested Saadat on January 15, 2002 to force him to surrender Zeevi's killers. Saadat's arrest was one of the conditions set by Israel for lifting the blockade which had stranded Arafat at his West Bank headquarters in the town of Ramallah in 2002, but was widely protested by Palestinians. While in prison, Saadat was elected to the Palestinian parliament in January 2006.
Israeli FM vows to strike back at Hamas by Samer al-Atrush Samer Al-atrush – Thu Dec 25, 11:08 am ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni vowed on Thursday to strike back at the Hamas rulers of Gaza after a sharp escalation of violence in the Palestinian territory dashed hopes of a new truce.Enough is enough. The situation is going to change, Livni said in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip since a truce expired six days ago.Unfortunately there is one address to the situation of the people in the Gaza Strip, this is Hamas, Hamas controls them, Hamas decided to target Israel, this is something that has to be stopped and this is what we're going to do, she said in English.Yesterday's escalation was unbearable, Livni said after Gaza militants hit Israel with their biggest rocket barrage in six months to avenge the killing of three fighters from the Islamist movement.Hamas needs to understand that our aspiration for peace does not mean that Israel will take this situation any longer, Livni said at a press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.
Hamas's control of the Gaza Strip is not only Israel's problem... but what we are doing is an expression of the needs of the region.The situation in the Gaza Strip has become an obstacle on the way of the Palestinians toward a state, added Livni, who has vowed to topple Hamas if her Kadima party wins a general election in February.Livni has been heading the Israeli negotiating team in peace talks with the Palestinians that resumed in November last year but have failed to make any visible headway since.Abul Gheit, whose government mediated the six-month truce that expired on Friday, called for restraint in the impoverished territory that has been ruled by Hamas since it routed the rival Fatah movement in June 2007.Egypt has made clear that there should be restraint and no escalation and an alleviation of the humanitarian situation, he said, saying Israel should refrain from collective punishment.He said Egypt would continue its mediation efforts, but expressed pessimism that a new truce could be achieved.Egypt won't stop its efforts as long as the parties agree. But I do not imagine that we can convince both parties to return to the truce as long as there is such a strong confrontation between them.Israel's Maariv newspaper said the security cabinet had given the army the go-ahead to conduct expanded operations in Gaza after a meeting on Wednesday and Defence Minister Ehud Barak warned that Israel would respond to the fire.Hamas... will pay a big price, he said. We will not allow this situation to last.Hamas has vowed to step up attacks if Israel strikes Gaza, a tiny enclave sandwiched between Egypt and Israel that is home to 1.5 million largely aid-dependent Palestinians.Since Friday's expiry of the truce, Israel has threatened to launch a major offensive on Gaza, with top leaders threatening to topple Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel and the West.
In turn, Hamas -- which is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state -- has warned it would retaliate by resuming suicide bombings inside Israel. The last such attack was in January 2005.A UN statement said UN chief Ban Ki-moon was gravely concerned" about the situation, that he condemned the rocket attacks and also called for an urgent easing of humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip. Pope Benedict XVI also urged an end to hatred and violence in the Middle East during his midnight mass Christmas homily ahead of a planned trip to the region. Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, called in an interview published on Thursday for residents of Gaza to stop Hamas militants from firing missiles into Israel. I say to you in a last-minute call, stop it, Olmert said in an interview with the Arab television station Al-Arabiya, according to quotes reprinted in the Israeli media.
Don't let Hamas, which is acting against the values of Islam, put you in danger, he said. Stop them. Stop your enemies and ours. Tell them to stop firing on innocent civilians.
Tourists, locals pray in Bethlehem on Christmas By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Thu Dec 25, 7:34 am ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Bethlehem marked Christmas on Thursday with crowds of tourists joining local Palestinian Christians in Jesus' traditional birthplace, as the West Bank town basked in its once-a-year appearance in the world spotlight.The mood was upbeat, with hotel rooms fully booked and merchants reporting good business for the first time in years, as a long period of Israeli-Palestinian violence that dampened moods and tourism seemed to be easing.Light rain fell on Bethlehem on Christmas morning. Crowds of worshippers and tourists carrying umbrellas walked briskly across the plaza in front of the Church of the Nativity, built atop the grotto where Jesus is believed to have been born.Inside the dimly lit Crusader-era church, hundreds of people lined up five abreast between two rows of columns on one side, quietly waiting their turn to descend a few stone steps to the grotto.Most of the people in the ancient church on Christmas morning were Asian, with a few Europeans and Americans joining them.After ducking through the low entrance into the church, Wayne Shandera, 57, a physician from Houston looked awed by the massive presence of the old stone church. You feel in continuity with all the pilgrims through the ages who have been here, he said.
Brad Shannon, 28, a mechanic from Atlanta, said he saved money all year to make the trip to Bethlehem with three friends.I came here to see the oldest church that is still in use, he said. It's not every Christmas that you're surrounded with people from all over the world.At the nearby Church of St. Catherine, the recently installed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, conducted his first Christmas morning service in his new role. For the Midnight Mass a few hours earlier, the church was filled on Christmas Eve with dignitaries, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and tourists who obtained tickets and passed through security checks.
Christmas morning services were more relaxed. Most of the congregants were local Palestinians, with some tourists standing in the back, listening to the Arabic-language liturgy.The outbreak of the Palestinian uprising against Israel in late 2000and the fighting that followed clouded Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem for years, battering the tourism industry that is the city's lifeline.Although holiday tourism numbers this year were still off from the tens of thousands who visited in the peak years of the late 1990s and the 2000 millennium, they were up from recent years, when just a few thousand visitors trickled in. Bethlehem officials said that over the course of the year, more than 1 million tourists visited their town, providing a much-needed boost to the local economy.Still, all is not well in Bethlehem, despite the diminished violence and the relaunch of peace talks last year between Israel and the government of Abbas.Bethlehem remains surrounded on three sides by a barrier of towering concrete slabs and electronic fences that Israel has erected. Israeli says the barrier is meant to keep out suicide attackers, but because it dips inside the West Bank, Palestinians see it as a thinly disguised land grab that strangles their economy.Emigration, meanwhile, has slashed the town's Christian population to an estimated 35 to 50 percent of its 40,000 people, down from 90 percent in the 1950s.The festivities in the West Bank town contrasted sharply with the mood in Hamas-run Gaza, 45 miles away. Militants there have been bombarding nearby Israeli communities with rockets and mortars since a truce expired a week ago, waiting to see whether Israel would act on its frequent threat to pummel them militarily.The tiny Christian community in Gaza — 400 out of a total population of 1.4 million — called off its Midnight Mass to protest Israel's blockade, imposed after the militant Islamic Hamas overran the territory last year and further tightened last month, when Gaza militants resumed rocket fire.Additional reporting by Associated Press writer Dalia Nammari in Bethlehem.
Bethlehem fills up with Christmas pilgrims By Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh – Wed Dec 24, 11:15pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) – Thousands of Christian pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem's Manger Square on Wednesday to celebrate Christmas under the protection of security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.About 500 security men arrived from the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho to provide security for the holiday. Similar deployments have taken place across the West Bank over the past year with U.S. backing.We expect about 40,000 visitors in Bethlehem this week, said Khouloud Daibes-Abu Dayyeh, the Palestinian Authority's minister of tourism.The estimate includes Christians from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Israel and the rest of the world. About 900 from Gaza applied for Israeli permission to go to the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, but only 300 got it.It's better to spend Christmas in Bethlehem because we are close to the church. It's important to visit where Jesus was born, said 58-year-old Italian tourist Messimo Silzestri beneath a giant Christmas tree and decorations in Manger Square.While Gaza teeters on the brink of a major crisis following the end of a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas Islamists in control of the strip, a decline in violence in the West Bank has tempted back tourists who no longer fear gunbattles in the streets.Israel attributes this partly to the barrier it is building in and around the occupied West Bank. For Bethlehem, the barrier takes the form of a daunting concrete wall 4 meters (13 feet) high with watchtowers.
MUCH-NEEDED REVENUE
Tourism collapsed here when a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in 2000. But this Christmas, the Palestinian tourism minister says, hotel occupancy is rising.The increase in security and easier movement means we have our largest numbers, and we are making great efforts to restore tourist activity, she told Reuters in Ramallah.The numbers themselves are not as important as the length of stay, she added. The direct contribution of tourism to the Palestinian economy is reckoned at about $480 million a year.Palestinians say the Israeli barrier is a major obstacle to peace that cripples trade and turns off foreign tourists.Many visitors see the wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem as an ugly scar defiling a Christian holy site.Going to the checkpoint and the barrier is really crazy. But being here, it is totally worth it, said 20-year-old Emma Serienni who was on her first visit from the United States.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Tuesday said the Jewish state must press on with plans to complete the barrier around key parts of Jerusalem, which could be divided in a future deal to create a Palestinian state.
There is little prospect of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the time Pope Benedict visits Bethlehem in mid-May 2009.(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta; Writing by Douglas Hamilton; editing by Jon Boyle)
Bethlehem sermon calls for peace in the Middle East by Patrick Moser – Wed Dec 24, 7:44 pm ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – The Catholic leader in the Holy Land Thursday prayed for Mideast peace, telling the faithful at the traditional birthplace of Jesus the silent night of Christmas overpowers the voice of guns.Peace to Bethlehem and all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal said in his sermon at midnight mass in Bethlehem, just a few meters from the grotto that marks the spot where Christians believe their Prince of Peace was born in a stable.On this night, the silence of the grotto will be even louder than the voice of the cannons and submachine guns, he told pilgrims from around the world who celebrated Christmas in this Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.His words rang out as violence escalated in the Gaza Strip where fighters of the Hamas movement that rules the besieged Palestinian enclave fired a barrage of rockets at Israel which responded with a deadly air raid.The silence of the grotto gives life to those whose voice has been suffocated by tears and who have sought refuge in silence and impotence, he told the crowd that packed the church, which included Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The cry of the widows and the children is mixed with the noise of cannons and submachine guns, said Twal who delivered his sermon in his native Arabic and then again in French.Peace, Twal said, is the solution for all conflicts and differences. War does not produce peace, prisons do not guarantee stability.The highest of walls do not assure security, he told the faithful, many of whom had driven through a gate at the eight-metre (26-feet) high concrete wall that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem and forms part of the projected 700-kilometer West Bank separation barrier Israel says is needed for security.It was heartbreaking to see that wall, it's a blot on Israel, said Jessica Kelly, 22.
She and her boyfriend Sean Wright, 30, both said they felt torn between the joy of Christmas and the sadness at the reality of the wall.The two students from Sydney were among thousands of Christians who flocked to Bethlehem.Throughout the day, pilgrims prayed in the Church of the Nativity and the adjoining St Catherine's Church where midnight mass was celebrated.Others milled in Manger Square just outside, where Boy Scout marching bands kicked off celebrations playing hymns on bagpipes and drums.It is really very special to be in Bethlehem on the day we celebrate Christmas, it is a very emotional moment, said Eduardo Robles Gil, a Mexican priest who was on a pilgrimage with his family.Souvenir stores were doing brisk business selling nativity scenes carved in olive wood, rosaries and religious trinkets.Elsa Marie Kierkegaard, a Dane who converted to Catholicism five years ago, was taken aback by what she felt was crass commercialism.It's like one big market, she said looking at the food stands, garlands of lights, synthetic pine trees and inflatable Santas.But the visitors, returning in the largest numbers yet since the 2000 start of the second Palestinian uprising, brought a strong dose of Christmas cheer. Bethlehem welcomed over one million tourists this year, twice as many as in 2007 and the highest number since 1999, Palestinian officials said. The tourist boom is a welcome respite for the Palestinian territory, whose economic growth has been severely hurt by hundreds of Israeli checkpoints and the separation barrier that restrict movement of goods and people. In Gaza City, Roman Catholic priest Manuel Musalem celebrated midnight mass six hours early in what he called a protest against the violence and the Israeli blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory. We pray for peace and that the blockade and the siege end in the Gaza Strip, and we ask the world to help Palestinians, he said in his sermon to about 200 faithful.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
ISRAELS TRUE MESSIAH KING JESUS
CHANUKAH DAY 5 TODAY
LEARN ABOUT CHANUKAH
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
CHANUKAH DAY 1-8 SCRIPTURES
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/hannuka-day-1-8-scriptures.html
MACCABEES STORY
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/7s-and-maccabees.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/maccabees-story.html
LUKE 2:25-35
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout,(MESSIANIC JEW)waiting for the consolation (MESSIAH) of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.(GODS SON MESSIAH)
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,(NOTICE THEIR IN THE TEMPLE HERE)
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,(THE MESSIAH)
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten (REVELATION)the Gentiles, and the glory (SHEKANIAH)of thy people Israel.(INTERESTING,PROPHECY FOR THE GENTILES,AND THE CLOUD OF GOD THAT LEAD ISRAEL AS WELL AS THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE TEMPLE). THIS SHOULD BE PR0OF TO ISRAEL THAT JESUS IS THE TRUE MESSIAH.
33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
CHRISTMAS SCRIPTURES
ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.(DANIELS 70TH WEEK)(DANIEL 9:24)
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF OUR KING AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS. JESUS IS THE ULTIMATE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE. LET US PRAISE THE GOD OF ISRAEL EVERY DAY AND THANK HIM FOR SENDING HIS SON TO EARTH THAT ALL CAN BE SAVED AND LIVE ON EARTH FOREVER WITH HIM ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM.
FOR THOSE CHRISTIANS THAT FORGET JESUS WAS JEWISH THATS WHY WE ARE GRAFTED INTO ISRAEL AND THE GOD OF ISRAEL IS OUR GOD ALSO. ONE AWESOME GOD THREE DIFFERENT OFFICES: FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT. I STRESS ONCE AGAIN ONE GOD AND SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.
MICAH 5:2-4
2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
ISAIAH 7:14
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.(GOD WITH US)
ISAIAH 9:6-7
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:(1ST COMING) and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.(2ND COMING AS RULING KING FOREVER)
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
MATTHEW 1:16-25
16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
MATTHEW 2:1-23
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.
21 And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
LUKE 1:26-80
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;
40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. 41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.
57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
LUKE 2:1-52
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
23 (As it is written in the law of the LORD, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;
37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
39 And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. 40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
LEARN ABOUT CHANUKAH
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
CHANUKAH DAY 1-8 SCRIPTURES
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/hannuka-day-1-8-scriptures.html
MACCABEES STORY
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/7s-and-maccabees.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/maccabees-story.html
LUKE 2:25-35
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout,(MESSIANIC JEW)waiting for the consolation (MESSIAH) of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.(GODS SON MESSIAH)
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,(NOTICE THEIR IN THE TEMPLE HERE)
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,(THE MESSIAH)
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten (REVELATION)the Gentiles, and the glory (SHEKANIAH)of thy people Israel.(INTERESTING,PROPHECY FOR THE GENTILES,AND THE CLOUD OF GOD THAT LEAD ISRAEL AS WELL AS THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE TEMPLE). THIS SHOULD BE PR0OF TO ISRAEL THAT JESUS IS THE TRUE MESSIAH.
33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
CHRISTMAS SCRIPTURES
ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.(DANIELS 70TH WEEK)(DANIEL 9:24)
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF OUR KING AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS. JESUS IS THE ULTIMATE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE. LET US PRAISE THE GOD OF ISRAEL EVERY DAY AND THANK HIM FOR SENDING HIS SON TO EARTH THAT ALL CAN BE SAVED AND LIVE ON EARTH FOREVER WITH HIM ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM.
FOR THOSE CHRISTIANS THAT FORGET JESUS WAS JEWISH THATS WHY WE ARE GRAFTED INTO ISRAEL AND THE GOD OF ISRAEL IS OUR GOD ALSO. ONE AWESOME GOD THREE DIFFERENT OFFICES: FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT. I STRESS ONCE AGAIN ONE GOD AND SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.
MICAH 5:2-4
2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
ISAIAH 7:14
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.(GOD WITH US)
ISAIAH 9:6-7
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:(1ST COMING) and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.(2ND COMING AS RULING KING FOREVER)
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
MATTHEW 1:16-25
16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
MATTHEW 2:1-23
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.
21 And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
LUKE 1:26-80
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;
40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. 41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.
57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
LUKE 2:1-52
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
23 (As it is written in the law of the LORD, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;
37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
39 And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. 40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
SERMON CALLS FOR MIDEAST PEACE
Bethlehem sermon calls for peace in the Middle East DEC 24,08 by Patrick Moser
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – The Catholic leader in the Holy Land Thursday prayed for Mideast peace, telling the faithful at the traditional birthplace of Jesus the silent night of Christmas overpowers the voice of guns.Peace to Bethlehem and all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal said in his sermon at midnight mass in Bethlehem, just a few meters from the grotto that marks the spot where Christians believe their Prince of Peace was born in a stable.On this night, the silence of the grotto will be even louder than the voice of the cannons and submachine guns, he told pilgrims from around the world who celebrated Christmas in this Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.His words rang out as violence escalated in the Gaza Strip where fighters of the Hamas movement that rules the besieged Palestinian enclave fired a barrage of rockets at Israel which responded with a deadly air raid.The silence of the grotto gives life to those whose voice has been suffocated by tears and who have sought refuge in silence and impotence, he told the crowd that packed the church, which included Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The cry of the widows and the children is mixed with the noise of cannons and submachine guns, said Twal who delivered his sermon in his native Arabic and then again in French.
Peace, Twal said, is the solution for all conflicts and differences. War does not produce peace, prisons do not guarantee stability.The highest of walls do not assure security, he told the faithful, many of whom had driven through a gate at the eight-metre (26-feet) high concrete wall that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem and forms part of the projected 700-kilometer West Bank separation barrier Israel says is needed for security.It was heartbreaking to see that wall, it's a blot on Israel, said Jessica Kelly, 22.She and her boyfriend Sean Wright, 30, both said they felt torn between the joy of Christmas and the sadness at the reality of the wall.The two students from Sydney were among thousands of Christians who flocked to Bethlehem.
Throughout the day, pilgrims prayed in the Church of the Nativity and the adjoining St Catherine's Church where midnight mass was celebrated.Others milled in Manger Square just outside, where Boy Scout marching bands kicked off celebrations playing hymns on bagpipes and drums.It is really very special to be in Bethlehem on the day we celebrate Christmas, it is a very emotional moment, said Eduardo Robles Gil, a Mexican priest who was on a pilgrimage with his family.Souvenir stores were doing brisk business selling nativity scenes carved in olive wood, rosaries and religious trinkets.Elsa Marie Kierkegaard, a Dane who converted to Catholicism five years ago, was taken aback by what she felt was crass commercialism.It's like one big market, she said looking at the food stands, garlands of lights, synthetic pine trees and inflatable Santas.But the visitors, returning in the largest numbers yet since the 2000 start of the second Palestinian uprising, brought a strong dose of Christmas cheer. Bethlehem welcomed over one million tourists this year, twice as many as in 2007 and the highest number since 1999, Palestinian officials said. The tourist boom is a welcome respite for the Palestinian territory, whose economic growth has been severely hurt by hundreds of Israeli checkpoints and the separation barrier that restrict movement of goods and people. In Gaza City, Roman Catholic priest Manuel Musalem celebrated midnight mass six hours early in what he called a protest against the violence and the Israeli blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory. We pray for peace and that the blockade and the siege end in the Gaza Strip, and we ask the world to help Palestinians, he said in his sermon to about 200 faithful.
Christians celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem DEC 24,08 By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Writer
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Christians celebrated Bethlehem's merriest Christmas in eight years Wednesday, with hotels booked solid, Manger Square bustling with families and Israeli and Palestinian forces cooperating to make things run smoothly.The festivities in the West Bank town contrasted sharply with Hamas-run Gaza. While revelers in Bethlehem launched pink fireworks from a rooftop, militants fired more than 80 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and villages, sending people scrambling for bomb shelters.The latest attacks, and an Israeli air strike on rocket-firers that killed one person and wounded two, appeared to have buried an unwieldy six-month cease-fire that expired last week.But 45 miles away, outside the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, good-natured crowds of pilgrims and townspeople gathered for the midnight Catholic mass that is the holiday's highlight.Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal said in an address during the late-night service that true security comes from God.War does not produce peace, prisons do not guarantee stability. The highest of walls do not assure security, said Twal, the Catholic Church's top cleric in the Holy Land. Peace is a gift of God, and only God can give that peace.Pope Benedict XVI also celebrated Midnight Mass at the Vatican. In his Christmas address, the pontiff spoke of peace in Bethlehem, the land in which Jesus lived, and which he loved so deeply. And let us pray that peace will be established there, that hatred and violence will cease.Earlier, a dozen pilgrims from India, Canada, Britain, the U.S. and other countries sang impromptu renditions of Christmas carols. David Bogenrief, 57, of Sioux City, Iowa, played the trumpet.
Jesus was the prince of peace, and he can bring that peace to you. We pray for you, Bogenrief told a gaggle of children who gathered to listen.In Manger Square, vendors hawked roasted peanuts and Santa hats. Many in the square were Muslims out to enjoy their town's annual moment at the center of world attention.Bethlehem is like the soul of the universe, and it's like an explosion of love here, said Stefano Croce, 46, a fashion photographer from Rome, Italy.Bethlehem has suffered from the Israeli-Palestinian fighting of recent years, and is now surrounded on three sides by concrete slabs and fences — part of a barrier Israel has built against Palestinian suicide attackers, some of whom came from Bethlehem. The Palestinians see the barrier as a land grab and say it has strangled the town's economy.Emigration has cut the town's Christian population to an estimated 35 to 50 percent of its 40,000 people, compared with 90 percent in the 1950s.Israel has held peace talks over the past year with the moderate West Bank government of President Mahmoud Abbas, and the spirit of cooperation has allowed Palestinian forces a limited measure of independence in places like Bethlehem, under Israel's overall security control.
Eyad Sirhan, the Israeli military officer responsible for coordination in Bethlehem, said this week that he can talk to his Palestinian counterpart any time, 24 hours a day, about everything from police patrols to garbage collection. Every detail of the holiday preparations was meticulously discussed by the sides, Sirhan said.Safer times mean the Palestinians have counted more than 1 million visitors to Bethlehem so far this year, a rise of more than 20,000 from 2007.The situation is dramatically different in Gaza, controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas which seized the territory by force in June last year. An Israeli blockade prevents Gazans from leaving the territory and causes shortages of fuel and basic supplies.The missiles fired from Gaza are inaccurate and Israelis are well drilled in taking cover, so no one was injured Wednesday, though dozens were treated for shock. One target was Ashkelon, a Mediterranean city of 120,000. We demand the government take action, Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin told Israel's Channel 1 TV. People are hiding in bomb shelters and our children are taking cover under desks at school. This cannot continue.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, running for prime minister in February elections, said in a speech Wednesday: There is a point where every country and every leadership says — and this is what we say tonight as well — enough is enough.
Security officials said a big military campaign against Gaza militants had already been approved but was being delayed by bad winter weather. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Israel's military plans. Meanwhile, the military said, it has decided to hook up an improved warning system against missiles — an indication of mounting concern that Gaza militants have dramatically expanded their range. To protest Israel's blockade, the head of Gaza's tiny Roman Catholic community — 300 in a population of 1.4 million — canceled Christmas midnight Mass. Father Manuel Musallem said the parish would instead hold an evening mass. Associated Press Writers Anna Johnson in Bethlehem and Associated Press Writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City contributed to this report.
Hamas rockets pound Israel as truce hopes fade by Sakher Abu El Oun Sakher Abu El Oun – Wed Dec 24, 4:57 pm ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas fighters fired off a barrage of rockets on Wednesday against Israel, which retaliated with a deadly air raid in an escalation of Gaza violence that is dimming prospects of a new truce.Israel warned it would strike back if it continued to be hit from the impoverished Palestinian enclave, which has been under an increasingly tight Israeli blockade since the Islamists violently seized power in June 2007.Hamas is responsible for these rocket attacks, and it will pay a big price, said Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Israeli television Wednesday night.We will not allow this situation to last.Hamas gunmen launched more than 70 projectiles, the largest barrage since before an Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect in and around Gaza in June but expired five days ago.UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm about the violence and issued an urgent appeal for calm.But Hamas -- which said Wednesday's rocket fire was in retaliation for the killing of three militants the day before -- vowed to step up attacks if Israel responded with strikes against Gaza.(Israel) should know that any decision to attack the Gaza Strip will open the gates of hell and we will make you regret your stupidity with tears of blood, the group's armed wing the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said.Israel's stupidity will push us to expand (operations) and put in our line of fire thousands of new Zionists to defend the Palestinian people.Israel in turn warned it would hit back, although analysts said it was likely to be wary of major action ahead of a February election.
President Shimon Peres, on a visit to the town of Sderot which has borne the brunt of rocket attacks, said Israel's response must be measured, responsible and efficient.Israel's security cabinet met for five hours to discuss possible action, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert imposed a black-out.Late on Wednesday, Hamas fighter Yahi al-Shaaher, 23, was killed and four other Palestinians wounded when an Israeli helicopter fired three missiles near the southern town of Rafah, medics and witnesses said.An Israeli army spokesman said the raid targeted rocket-firing terrorists.Wednesday's rocket barrage did not cause injuries but sowed panic among Israelis living near Gaza. An alert system has been set up to warn towns and villages near the border of any imminent strike.Two of the rockets were longer-range Grads, which struck 13 kilometres (eight miles) north of Gaza, hitting a house and an amusement park in the city of Ashkelon, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
Grads are not fired often by Gaza militants, who usually launch home-made projectiles dubbed Qassams, which have a shorter range and are less accurate.A UN statement said Ban was gravely concerned about the situation and that he condemned the rocket attacks, while also calling for an urgent easing of humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip. Since Friday's expiry of the Egyptian-mediated truce, Israel has threatened to launch a major offensive on Gaza and Hamas warned it would retaliate by resuming suicide attacks inside the Jewish state. Israel, which considers Hamas a terrorist group as it is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state, kept Gaza sealed on Wednesday. Aid groups have warned of a deteriorating humanitarian situation in the tiny enclave, virtually cut off from the outside world since Hamas violently ousted its rivals from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction. They have repeatedly appealed to Israel to ease its blockade and allow shipments into Gaza, where most of the 1.5 million population depends on foreign aid. Mahmud Zahar, a hardline Hamas leader, said on Tuesday that the group was ready to renew the truce if Israel lifted its blockade and stopped raids.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was due to travel to Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the ceasefire. Both Israel and Hamas face delicate balancing acts in dealing with the escalation. Ahead of the election, the Israeli leadership is maintaining a tough line in public, but is wary of launching a large-scale offensive for fear it does not score a decisive victory against Hamas, analysts say. And Hamas, despite its bellicose public statements, does not want an all-out Israeli assault that could threaten its position, they say.
The Two-State Solution Now a Three-Way Stalemate By TONY KARON Tony Karon – Wed Dec 24, 2:30 pm ET
VP-Elect Bidens Brings Holiday Cheer To Wilmington CBS 3 Philadelphia President Bush had hoped to leave office with Israelis and Palestinians having agreed on a two-state peace solution. Instead, he'll leave behind a situation more akin to a three-state standoff primed to explode in a new bout of violence. And the embattled Palestinian leader upon whom the Bush administration has been depending in its peace efforts looks likely to see his role diminish even further.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who made a valedictory visit to the White House on Friday, has seen his political authority steadily enfeebled since Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections almost three years ago, and then seized military control over Gaza 18 months later. Today, it is with Hamas that Israel has to deal - via Egyptian intermediaries - when it seeks to stop Palestinian rocket fire onto its territory. Abbas may enjoy the good offices of a lame-duck U.S. President, but he has been reduced once again to a powerless spectator as Israel and Hamas tussle over whether the tahdiyah truce, declared dead after six months by the militant group last week, will be revived.And there may be worse to come for Abbas. Although Hamas has continued to recognize Abbas as the legitimate President of the Palestinian Authority, that may be about to change. Abbas' presidential term expires on January 9. Although his own Fatah party makes a case that the term could legitimately be extended by another year, Hamas is having none of it. In the second week of 2009, it will no longer recognize Abbas as President, thereby formalizing the political divorce between the two Palestinian entities. Abbas has long since withdrawn recognition of the duly-elected Hamas government in the West Bank, which is controlled by his security forces in concert with the Israelis; now Hamas will formalize its de facto denial of Abbas' authority in Gaza.
As long as that duality persists, Israel will be able to argue that it has no Palestinian interlocutor capable of enforcing a peace agreement, even if it were in a mood to negotiate one - and it is unlikely to be if, as polls predict, February's Israeli election is won by hawkish Likud leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And both Fatah and Hamas believe that they will gain more politically at the expense of the other if there is no progress toward peace. (See images of Gaza border tension)Meanwhile, the dynamic between Israel and Hamas remains one of low-key violence that could erupt into a full-blown confrontation at any moment. Hamas last week announced that it would not renew the truce brokered by Egypt last summer, arguing that Israel had failed to restore the normal flow of commercial traffic into Gaza that the movement had been expecting. Israel claims it had reached no such understanding, and cites ongoing rocket fire from Gaza onto towns in southern Israel, which has dramatically escalated since an Israeli raid on November 5. Diplomatic efforts continue, however, and Hamas on Monday announced a 24-hour truce, at Egypt's request, to allow for further negotiations. Israeli politicians, in the thick of an election campaign, are under pressure to respond forcefully to the ongoing rocket fire from Gaza. But the Israeli military is reluctant to launch a full-blown invasion of Gaza because of the cost in civilian and military casualties, and because Israel lacks a plausible exit strategy and wants to avoid resuming responsibility for the territory. Hamas also wants to prevent a full-blown Israeli invasion, which would eliminate its capacity to govern even if it remained the premier resistance organization. But while both sides have an interest in containing their low-key war, the problem is that the rockets fired from Gaza are hardly precision-guided. The moment a missile hits a school or a bus, Israel's leaders will be compelled to launch a more robust military response. That, of course, may be what President Abbas - and others in the Arab world hostile to Hamas - are counting on, as the only plausible scenario for restoring Fatah's control over Gaza. Abbas has threatened to call new presidential and parliamentary elections if Hamas won't recognize him as president after January 9, but that's an empty threat. Hamas controls Gaza, and it rejects holding new parliamentary elections there ahead of schedule. And Abbas is hardly assured of winning a solid mandate even in the West Bank, where the Fatah party's retains control but is beset by an image of corruption. Calling an election on the West Bank would risk seeing a turnout so low as to make a mockery of the poll. With such dubious prospects for an election, the most likely scenario for changing the balance of power in Gaza remains Israeli military intervention.
The Palestinian Authority is expecting the Israeli Defense Force to go into Gaza and defeat Hamas, and then restore the control of Abu Mazen [Abbas], an Israeli security official tells TIME. But the Israeli security establishment is skeptical of Abbas' ability to maintain control in Gaza, and continues to see risk outweighing reward from an invasion - although that calculation could change very quickly if a rocket fired from Gaza inflicted mass casualties in Israel. Last week, the U.N. Security Council characterized as irreversible the Israeli-Palestinian talks that have been held at the behest of the Bush Administration over the past year. But they have simply been conversations that have resulted in no actual movement forward on the ground. The grim reality confronting all three sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the Obama Administration, in the New Year, is that the situation remains deadlocked, and that the stalemate will more likely be broken by a new round of violence than it is by any peace talks. With reporting by Aaron J. Klein/Jerusalem and Jamil Hamad/Bethlehem,View this article on Time.com
Pope to visit Holy Land in May by Patrick Moser Patrick Moser – Tue Dec 23, 7:44 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Holy Land in May on his first trip to the region as pontiff, Jerusalem's Latin patriach said on Monday.With joy we would like to announce to you the desire of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Holy Land as a pilgrim next May, Fuad Twal, the Catholic leader in the Holy Land, told reporters.It was the first official confirmation of Benedict's widely mooted trip to the region -- his first since being elected pope in 2005.The supreme pontiff wishes to pray with us and for us, and to acquire a first-hand knowledge of the hard conditions of our region, Twal said in his Christmas message.We are confident in the Lord that this pontifical pilgrimage and pastoral visit will be a blessing for all of us as well as a substantial contribution to better understanding among the various nations of the region, lifting the barriers and helping solve the problems, removing distress and consolidating good relations among people, religions and denominations, Twal said.He did not give specific dates. We are studying the programme with the local authorities, he said. Last week the Italian newspaper Il Foglio said the pope would travel to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories from May 8 to 15.
According to Il Foglio, the pope will celebrate mass in Jerusalem and again in Nazareth and Bethlehem where he will meet Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas.No meeting is planned with representatives of the radical Islamist group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, the report said.Earlier in December, Israeli President Shimon Peres said he met a Vatican delegation to discuss preparations for a possible visit by Benedict to Israel next year.During a visit to Italy in September 2007, Peres invited the pope to Israel. The pope responded that he would be happy to accept the invitation, but no date was set.Already uneasy relations between the Vatican and Israel have been further strained by the prospect that Nazi-era Pope Pius XII will be declared a saint, despite widespread criticism of his inaction during the Holocaust.The controversy, which has lingered for decades, resurfaced in October as the pontiff defended the memory of his wartime predecessor and said he hope his beatification -- the first step towards sainthood -- would go forward quickly.But, citing Jewish sensitivities, the Vatican later indicated that Benedict was holding off the beatification process.Peres has stressed that the row should not affect plans for the proposed papal trip.Benedict's visit will come at a time when Church leaders bemoan a shrinking Roman Catholic population in the Holy Land over recent years.Churches suffer from the ongoing emigration of the Christians due to the lack of peace and the deterioration of the political situation, Twal said.
He also railed against the greed, injustice, violence and persecution that he said beset the Holy City, as well as the building of settlements that strangle it.All this makes us anxious for the future of the Christian community in the Homeland of Christ, Twal said. Pope Paul VI was the first pontiff to visit Israel, in 1964, and Pope John Paul II visited in 2000.
Olmert in Turkey for indirect Israel-Syria peace talks Mon Dec 22, 7:51 pm ET
ANKARA (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Monday to discuss the indirect talks that Turkey is mediating between the Jewish state and Syria.On his short visit to the Turkish capital, Olmert was expected to thank Turkey for its efforts to work out an eventual peace between the two neighbouring nations, which have been in a state of war since 1948, according to a diplomatic source.In a related development Erdogan told Hamas on Monday he would ask Olmert to lift the blockade of Gaza, a spokesman for the Islamist movement said.Ismail Haniya, the prime minister in the Hamas government of Gaza, had a telephone conversation with Erdogan who told him of his intention to ask Olmert to end aggressions and the siege of Gaza, spokesman Taher al-Nunu said.
Israeli and Syrian negotiators have met four times since May with Turkish diplomats in Istanbul, but so far without any evident results.However, the indirect talks are a sign that Turkey, a Muslim but secular state, wants to play a significant role in resolving the conflicts in the Middle East.Erdogan's chief adviser, Ahmed Davutoglu, an academic who holds the rank of ambassador, has visited Israel and Syria several times, as well as the Palestinian territories and the capitals of Arab states, to put out feelers if conditions are ripe for negotiating an accord.Olmert, who is resigning under the cloud of a corruption probe, said on Thursday that a peace accord with Syria was within the realm of possibility.He will remain in office until a new government is formed following Israel's legislative elections set for February 10.But the leading challenger to succeed him, opposition hardliner Benjamin Netanyahu, has dismissed Olmert's peace efforts, saying Friday any concessions he might make do not and will not obligate a government that I shall head.In exchange for peace, the Syrians want the return of all of the Golan Heights which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981, a move never recognised by the international community.Israel for its part is calling on Damascus to sever its ties with the current regime in Iran and stop its support for militants, namely the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas movements.Olmert also met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and held a working dinner with Erdogan. No press conference had been announced.
Lebanon leaders put off reconciliation talks to New Year Mon Dec 22, 11:27 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon's feuding leaders on Monday postponed until the New Year talks about the arsenal of Shiite militant group Hezbollah -- the single most contentious issue in the country's fractious politics.On January 22, faction chiefs will hold a fourth round of talks on the issue which plunged Lebanon into devastating conflict with Israel in summer 2006, a statement from President Michel Sleiman's office said.It added the third round focused on the issue of the national defence strategy... and plans to form a committee of experts to find the conclusions and common denominators between the various proposals that were submitted.Three of the dialogue participants -- former president Amin Gemeyel, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Syrian-backed Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun -- submitted defense proposals at the meeting.Hezbollah put forward its own plan, one participant who requested anonymity told AFP.Mohamed Raad said during the meeting that Hezbollah also has a defence strategy it will submit on paper, the participant said.Hezbollah has faced sustained allegations of rearming illegally from Syria in breach of a 2006 UN Security Council resolution that brought the conflict to a close.Monday's session follows two rounds of talks in September and November and is being attended by 14 leaders representing each of the main parliamentary blocs.Lebanon endured a damaging 18-month political crisis that brought the country close to civil war earlier this year before a Qatari-brokered deal between the rival groups.
Hamas agrees to 24-hour truce in Gaza Mon Dec 22, 7:27 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions in Gaza agreed on Monday to hold rocket and mortar fire against Israel for 24 hours at the request of Egyptian mediators, a leader of the Islamist group said.The militants in the Gaza Strip have accepted a calm for a 24-hour period following Egyptian mediation in excahnge for the delivery of aid from Egypt, Ayman Taha told AFP.
Israel tells UN it will respond to Gaza rocket fire Mon Dec 22, 3:12 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel notified UN chief Ban Ki-moon that it will respond to continuing rocket fire from Gaza following the expiry of a truce with Hamas, a foreign ministry official said Monday.Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev sent the letter to Ban on Sunday as part of a diplomatic campaign to garner international support for any offensive against the territory, the senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.(Israel) will not hesitate to react militarily if necessary to rockets fired by militants from the Gaza Strip, Shalev said in her letter, according to public radio.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leader of the governing Kadima party, is due to soon meet with foreign ambassadors to Israel and to speak with her counterparts abroad, the official said.Violence around the impoverished Gaza Strip has steadily escalated since Friday, when Hamas said it would not renew a six-month truce with Israel.Since then, the army has carried out several air strikes, killing one militant, and Palestinians have launched several dozen rockets into the Jewish state, wounding a handful of people.On Sunday, Israeli officials threatened to launch a major offensive against the territory, which has been ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement since June 2007.
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – The Catholic leader in the Holy Land Thursday prayed for Mideast peace, telling the faithful at the traditional birthplace of Jesus the silent night of Christmas overpowers the voice of guns.Peace to Bethlehem and all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal said in his sermon at midnight mass in Bethlehem, just a few meters from the grotto that marks the spot where Christians believe their Prince of Peace was born in a stable.On this night, the silence of the grotto will be even louder than the voice of the cannons and submachine guns, he told pilgrims from around the world who celebrated Christmas in this Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.His words rang out as violence escalated in the Gaza Strip where fighters of the Hamas movement that rules the besieged Palestinian enclave fired a barrage of rockets at Israel which responded with a deadly air raid.The silence of the grotto gives life to those whose voice has been suffocated by tears and who have sought refuge in silence and impotence, he told the crowd that packed the church, which included Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The cry of the widows and the children is mixed with the noise of cannons and submachine guns, said Twal who delivered his sermon in his native Arabic and then again in French.
Peace, Twal said, is the solution for all conflicts and differences. War does not produce peace, prisons do not guarantee stability.The highest of walls do not assure security, he told the faithful, many of whom had driven through a gate at the eight-metre (26-feet) high concrete wall that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem and forms part of the projected 700-kilometer West Bank separation barrier Israel says is needed for security.It was heartbreaking to see that wall, it's a blot on Israel, said Jessica Kelly, 22.She and her boyfriend Sean Wright, 30, both said they felt torn between the joy of Christmas and the sadness at the reality of the wall.The two students from Sydney were among thousands of Christians who flocked to Bethlehem.
Throughout the day, pilgrims prayed in the Church of the Nativity and the adjoining St Catherine's Church where midnight mass was celebrated.Others milled in Manger Square just outside, where Boy Scout marching bands kicked off celebrations playing hymns on bagpipes and drums.It is really very special to be in Bethlehem on the day we celebrate Christmas, it is a very emotional moment, said Eduardo Robles Gil, a Mexican priest who was on a pilgrimage with his family.Souvenir stores were doing brisk business selling nativity scenes carved in olive wood, rosaries and religious trinkets.Elsa Marie Kierkegaard, a Dane who converted to Catholicism five years ago, was taken aback by what she felt was crass commercialism.It's like one big market, she said looking at the food stands, garlands of lights, synthetic pine trees and inflatable Santas.But the visitors, returning in the largest numbers yet since the 2000 start of the second Palestinian uprising, brought a strong dose of Christmas cheer. Bethlehem welcomed over one million tourists this year, twice as many as in 2007 and the highest number since 1999, Palestinian officials said. The tourist boom is a welcome respite for the Palestinian territory, whose economic growth has been severely hurt by hundreds of Israeli checkpoints and the separation barrier that restrict movement of goods and people. In Gaza City, Roman Catholic priest Manuel Musalem celebrated midnight mass six hours early in what he called a protest against the violence and the Israeli blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory. We pray for peace and that the blockade and the siege end in the Gaza Strip, and we ask the world to help Palestinians, he said in his sermon to about 200 faithful.
Christians celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem DEC 24,08 By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Writer
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Christians celebrated Bethlehem's merriest Christmas in eight years Wednesday, with hotels booked solid, Manger Square bustling with families and Israeli and Palestinian forces cooperating to make things run smoothly.The festivities in the West Bank town contrasted sharply with Hamas-run Gaza. While revelers in Bethlehem launched pink fireworks from a rooftop, militants fired more than 80 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and villages, sending people scrambling for bomb shelters.The latest attacks, and an Israeli air strike on rocket-firers that killed one person and wounded two, appeared to have buried an unwieldy six-month cease-fire that expired last week.But 45 miles away, outside the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, good-natured crowds of pilgrims and townspeople gathered for the midnight Catholic mass that is the holiday's highlight.Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal said in an address during the late-night service that true security comes from God.War does not produce peace, prisons do not guarantee stability. The highest of walls do not assure security, said Twal, the Catholic Church's top cleric in the Holy Land. Peace is a gift of God, and only God can give that peace.Pope Benedict XVI also celebrated Midnight Mass at the Vatican. In his Christmas address, the pontiff spoke of peace in Bethlehem, the land in which Jesus lived, and which he loved so deeply. And let us pray that peace will be established there, that hatred and violence will cease.Earlier, a dozen pilgrims from India, Canada, Britain, the U.S. and other countries sang impromptu renditions of Christmas carols. David Bogenrief, 57, of Sioux City, Iowa, played the trumpet.
Jesus was the prince of peace, and he can bring that peace to you. We pray for you, Bogenrief told a gaggle of children who gathered to listen.In Manger Square, vendors hawked roasted peanuts and Santa hats. Many in the square were Muslims out to enjoy their town's annual moment at the center of world attention.Bethlehem is like the soul of the universe, and it's like an explosion of love here, said Stefano Croce, 46, a fashion photographer from Rome, Italy.Bethlehem has suffered from the Israeli-Palestinian fighting of recent years, and is now surrounded on three sides by concrete slabs and fences — part of a barrier Israel has built against Palestinian suicide attackers, some of whom came from Bethlehem. The Palestinians see the barrier as a land grab and say it has strangled the town's economy.Emigration has cut the town's Christian population to an estimated 35 to 50 percent of its 40,000 people, compared with 90 percent in the 1950s.Israel has held peace talks over the past year with the moderate West Bank government of President Mahmoud Abbas, and the spirit of cooperation has allowed Palestinian forces a limited measure of independence in places like Bethlehem, under Israel's overall security control.
Eyad Sirhan, the Israeli military officer responsible for coordination in Bethlehem, said this week that he can talk to his Palestinian counterpart any time, 24 hours a day, about everything from police patrols to garbage collection. Every detail of the holiday preparations was meticulously discussed by the sides, Sirhan said.Safer times mean the Palestinians have counted more than 1 million visitors to Bethlehem so far this year, a rise of more than 20,000 from 2007.The situation is dramatically different in Gaza, controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas which seized the territory by force in June last year. An Israeli blockade prevents Gazans from leaving the territory and causes shortages of fuel and basic supplies.The missiles fired from Gaza are inaccurate and Israelis are well drilled in taking cover, so no one was injured Wednesday, though dozens were treated for shock. One target was Ashkelon, a Mediterranean city of 120,000. We demand the government take action, Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin told Israel's Channel 1 TV. People are hiding in bomb shelters and our children are taking cover under desks at school. This cannot continue.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, running for prime minister in February elections, said in a speech Wednesday: There is a point where every country and every leadership says — and this is what we say tonight as well — enough is enough.
Security officials said a big military campaign against Gaza militants had already been approved but was being delayed by bad winter weather. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Israel's military plans. Meanwhile, the military said, it has decided to hook up an improved warning system against missiles — an indication of mounting concern that Gaza militants have dramatically expanded their range. To protest Israel's blockade, the head of Gaza's tiny Roman Catholic community — 300 in a population of 1.4 million — canceled Christmas midnight Mass. Father Manuel Musallem said the parish would instead hold an evening mass. Associated Press Writers Anna Johnson in Bethlehem and Associated Press Writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City contributed to this report.
Hamas rockets pound Israel as truce hopes fade by Sakher Abu El Oun Sakher Abu El Oun – Wed Dec 24, 4:57 pm ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas fighters fired off a barrage of rockets on Wednesday against Israel, which retaliated with a deadly air raid in an escalation of Gaza violence that is dimming prospects of a new truce.Israel warned it would strike back if it continued to be hit from the impoverished Palestinian enclave, which has been under an increasingly tight Israeli blockade since the Islamists violently seized power in June 2007.Hamas is responsible for these rocket attacks, and it will pay a big price, said Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Israeli television Wednesday night.We will not allow this situation to last.Hamas gunmen launched more than 70 projectiles, the largest barrage since before an Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect in and around Gaza in June but expired five days ago.UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm about the violence and issued an urgent appeal for calm.But Hamas -- which said Wednesday's rocket fire was in retaliation for the killing of three militants the day before -- vowed to step up attacks if Israel responded with strikes against Gaza.(Israel) should know that any decision to attack the Gaza Strip will open the gates of hell and we will make you regret your stupidity with tears of blood, the group's armed wing the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said.Israel's stupidity will push us to expand (operations) and put in our line of fire thousands of new Zionists to defend the Palestinian people.Israel in turn warned it would hit back, although analysts said it was likely to be wary of major action ahead of a February election.
President Shimon Peres, on a visit to the town of Sderot which has borne the brunt of rocket attacks, said Israel's response must be measured, responsible and efficient.Israel's security cabinet met for five hours to discuss possible action, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert imposed a black-out.Late on Wednesday, Hamas fighter Yahi al-Shaaher, 23, was killed and four other Palestinians wounded when an Israeli helicopter fired three missiles near the southern town of Rafah, medics and witnesses said.An Israeli army spokesman said the raid targeted rocket-firing terrorists.Wednesday's rocket barrage did not cause injuries but sowed panic among Israelis living near Gaza. An alert system has been set up to warn towns and villages near the border of any imminent strike.Two of the rockets were longer-range Grads, which struck 13 kilometres (eight miles) north of Gaza, hitting a house and an amusement park in the city of Ashkelon, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
Grads are not fired often by Gaza militants, who usually launch home-made projectiles dubbed Qassams, which have a shorter range and are less accurate.A UN statement said Ban was gravely concerned about the situation and that he condemned the rocket attacks, while also calling for an urgent easing of humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip. Since Friday's expiry of the Egyptian-mediated truce, Israel has threatened to launch a major offensive on Gaza and Hamas warned it would retaliate by resuming suicide attacks inside the Jewish state. Israel, which considers Hamas a terrorist group as it is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state, kept Gaza sealed on Wednesday. Aid groups have warned of a deteriorating humanitarian situation in the tiny enclave, virtually cut off from the outside world since Hamas violently ousted its rivals from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction. They have repeatedly appealed to Israel to ease its blockade and allow shipments into Gaza, where most of the 1.5 million population depends on foreign aid. Mahmud Zahar, a hardline Hamas leader, said on Tuesday that the group was ready to renew the truce if Israel lifted its blockade and stopped raids.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was due to travel to Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the ceasefire. Both Israel and Hamas face delicate balancing acts in dealing with the escalation. Ahead of the election, the Israeli leadership is maintaining a tough line in public, but is wary of launching a large-scale offensive for fear it does not score a decisive victory against Hamas, analysts say. And Hamas, despite its bellicose public statements, does not want an all-out Israeli assault that could threaten its position, they say.
The Two-State Solution Now a Three-Way Stalemate By TONY KARON Tony Karon – Wed Dec 24, 2:30 pm ET
VP-Elect Bidens Brings Holiday Cheer To Wilmington CBS 3 Philadelphia President Bush had hoped to leave office with Israelis and Palestinians having agreed on a two-state peace solution. Instead, he'll leave behind a situation more akin to a three-state standoff primed to explode in a new bout of violence. And the embattled Palestinian leader upon whom the Bush administration has been depending in its peace efforts looks likely to see his role diminish even further.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who made a valedictory visit to the White House on Friday, has seen his political authority steadily enfeebled since Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections almost three years ago, and then seized military control over Gaza 18 months later. Today, it is with Hamas that Israel has to deal - via Egyptian intermediaries - when it seeks to stop Palestinian rocket fire onto its territory. Abbas may enjoy the good offices of a lame-duck U.S. President, but he has been reduced once again to a powerless spectator as Israel and Hamas tussle over whether the tahdiyah truce, declared dead after six months by the militant group last week, will be revived.And there may be worse to come for Abbas. Although Hamas has continued to recognize Abbas as the legitimate President of the Palestinian Authority, that may be about to change. Abbas' presidential term expires on January 9. Although his own Fatah party makes a case that the term could legitimately be extended by another year, Hamas is having none of it. In the second week of 2009, it will no longer recognize Abbas as President, thereby formalizing the political divorce between the two Palestinian entities. Abbas has long since withdrawn recognition of the duly-elected Hamas government in the West Bank, which is controlled by his security forces in concert with the Israelis; now Hamas will formalize its de facto denial of Abbas' authority in Gaza.
As long as that duality persists, Israel will be able to argue that it has no Palestinian interlocutor capable of enforcing a peace agreement, even if it were in a mood to negotiate one - and it is unlikely to be if, as polls predict, February's Israeli election is won by hawkish Likud leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And both Fatah and Hamas believe that they will gain more politically at the expense of the other if there is no progress toward peace. (See images of Gaza border tension)Meanwhile, the dynamic between Israel and Hamas remains one of low-key violence that could erupt into a full-blown confrontation at any moment. Hamas last week announced that it would not renew the truce brokered by Egypt last summer, arguing that Israel had failed to restore the normal flow of commercial traffic into Gaza that the movement had been expecting. Israel claims it had reached no such understanding, and cites ongoing rocket fire from Gaza onto towns in southern Israel, which has dramatically escalated since an Israeli raid on November 5. Diplomatic efforts continue, however, and Hamas on Monday announced a 24-hour truce, at Egypt's request, to allow for further negotiations. Israeli politicians, in the thick of an election campaign, are under pressure to respond forcefully to the ongoing rocket fire from Gaza. But the Israeli military is reluctant to launch a full-blown invasion of Gaza because of the cost in civilian and military casualties, and because Israel lacks a plausible exit strategy and wants to avoid resuming responsibility for the territory. Hamas also wants to prevent a full-blown Israeli invasion, which would eliminate its capacity to govern even if it remained the premier resistance organization. But while both sides have an interest in containing their low-key war, the problem is that the rockets fired from Gaza are hardly precision-guided. The moment a missile hits a school or a bus, Israel's leaders will be compelled to launch a more robust military response. That, of course, may be what President Abbas - and others in the Arab world hostile to Hamas - are counting on, as the only plausible scenario for restoring Fatah's control over Gaza. Abbas has threatened to call new presidential and parliamentary elections if Hamas won't recognize him as president after January 9, but that's an empty threat. Hamas controls Gaza, and it rejects holding new parliamentary elections there ahead of schedule. And Abbas is hardly assured of winning a solid mandate even in the West Bank, where the Fatah party's retains control but is beset by an image of corruption. Calling an election on the West Bank would risk seeing a turnout so low as to make a mockery of the poll. With such dubious prospects for an election, the most likely scenario for changing the balance of power in Gaza remains Israeli military intervention.
The Palestinian Authority is expecting the Israeli Defense Force to go into Gaza and defeat Hamas, and then restore the control of Abu Mazen [Abbas], an Israeli security official tells TIME. But the Israeli security establishment is skeptical of Abbas' ability to maintain control in Gaza, and continues to see risk outweighing reward from an invasion - although that calculation could change very quickly if a rocket fired from Gaza inflicted mass casualties in Israel. Last week, the U.N. Security Council characterized as irreversible the Israeli-Palestinian talks that have been held at the behest of the Bush Administration over the past year. But they have simply been conversations that have resulted in no actual movement forward on the ground. The grim reality confronting all three sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the Obama Administration, in the New Year, is that the situation remains deadlocked, and that the stalemate will more likely be broken by a new round of violence than it is by any peace talks. With reporting by Aaron J. Klein/Jerusalem and Jamil Hamad/Bethlehem,View this article on Time.com
Pope to visit Holy Land in May by Patrick Moser Patrick Moser – Tue Dec 23, 7:44 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Holy Land in May on his first trip to the region as pontiff, Jerusalem's Latin patriach said on Monday.With joy we would like to announce to you the desire of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Holy Land as a pilgrim next May, Fuad Twal, the Catholic leader in the Holy Land, told reporters.It was the first official confirmation of Benedict's widely mooted trip to the region -- his first since being elected pope in 2005.The supreme pontiff wishes to pray with us and for us, and to acquire a first-hand knowledge of the hard conditions of our region, Twal said in his Christmas message.We are confident in the Lord that this pontifical pilgrimage and pastoral visit will be a blessing for all of us as well as a substantial contribution to better understanding among the various nations of the region, lifting the barriers and helping solve the problems, removing distress and consolidating good relations among people, religions and denominations, Twal said.He did not give specific dates. We are studying the programme with the local authorities, he said. Last week the Italian newspaper Il Foglio said the pope would travel to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories from May 8 to 15.
According to Il Foglio, the pope will celebrate mass in Jerusalem and again in Nazareth and Bethlehem where he will meet Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas.No meeting is planned with representatives of the radical Islamist group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, the report said.Earlier in December, Israeli President Shimon Peres said he met a Vatican delegation to discuss preparations for a possible visit by Benedict to Israel next year.During a visit to Italy in September 2007, Peres invited the pope to Israel. The pope responded that he would be happy to accept the invitation, but no date was set.Already uneasy relations between the Vatican and Israel have been further strained by the prospect that Nazi-era Pope Pius XII will be declared a saint, despite widespread criticism of his inaction during the Holocaust.The controversy, which has lingered for decades, resurfaced in October as the pontiff defended the memory of his wartime predecessor and said he hope his beatification -- the first step towards sainthood -- would go forward quickly.But, citing Jewish sensitivities, the Vatican later indicated that Benedict was holding off the beatification process.Peres has stressed that the row should not affect plans for the proposed papal trip.Benedict's visit will come at a time when Church leaders bemoan a shrinking Roman Catholic population in the Holy Land over recent years.Churches suffer from the ongoing emigration of the Christians due to the lack of peace and the deterioration of the political situation, Twal said.
He also railed against the greed, injustice, violence and persecution that he said beset the Holy City, as well as the building of settlements that strangle it.All this makes us anxious for the future of the Christian community in the Homeland of Christ, Twal said. Pope Paul VI was the first pontiff to visit Israel, in 1964, and Pope John Paul II visited in 2000.
Olmert in Turkey for indirect Israel-Syria peace talks Mon Dec 22, 7:51 pm ET
ANKARA (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Monday to discuss the indirect talks that Turkey is mediating between the Jewish state and Syria.On his short visit to the Turkish capital, Olmert was expected to thank Turkey for its efforts to work out an eventual peace between the two neighbouring nations, which have been in a state of war since 1948, according to a diplomatic source.In a related development Erdogan told Hamas on Monday he would ask Olmert to lift the blockade of Gaza, a spokesman for the Islamist movement said.Ismail Haniya, the prime minister in the Hamas government of Gaza, had a telephone conversation with Erdogan who told him of his intention to ask Olmert to end aggressions and the siege of Gaza, spokesman Taher al-Nunu said.
Israeli and Syrian negotiators have met four times since May with Turkish diplomats in Istanbul, but so far without any evident results.However, the indirect talks are a sign that Turkey, a Muslim but secular state, wants to play a significant role in resolving the conflicts in the Middle East.Erdogan's chief adviser, Ahmed Davutoglu, an academic who holds the rank of ambassador, has visited Israel and Syria several times, as well as the Palestinian territories and the capitals of Arab states, to put out feelers if conditions are ripe for negotiating an accord.Olmert, who is resigning under the cloud of a corruption probe, said on Thursday that a peace accord with Syria was within the realm of possibility.He will remain in office until a new government is formed following Israel's legislative elections set for February 10.But the leading challenger to succeed him, opposition hardliner Benjamin Netanyahu, has dismissed Olmert's peace efforts, saying Friday any concessions he might make do not and will not obligate a government that I shall head.In exchange for peace, the Syrians want the return of all of the Golan Heights which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981, a move never recognised by the international community.Israel for its part is calling on Damascus to sever its ties with the current regime in Iran and stop its support for militants, namely the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas movements.Olmert also met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and held a working dinner with Erdogan. No press conference had been announced.
Lebanon leaders put off reconciliation talks to New Year Mon Dec 22, 11:27 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon's feuding leaders on Monday postponed until the New Year talks about the arsenal of Shiite militant group Hezbollah -- the single most contentious issue in the country's fractious politics.On January 22, faction chiefs will hold a fourth round of talks on the issue which plunged Lebanon into devastating conflict with Israel in summer 2006, a statement from President Michel Sleiman's office said.It added the third round focused on the issue of the national defence strategy... and plans to form a committee of experts to find the conclusions and common denominators between the various proposals that were submitted.Three of the dialogue participants -- former president Amin Gemeyel, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Syrian-backed Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun -- submitted defense proposals at the meeting.Hezbollah put forward its own plan, one participant who requested anonymity told AFP.Mohamed Raad said during the meeting that Hezbollah also has a defence strategy it will submit on paper, the participant said.Hezbollah has faced sustained allegations of rearming illegally from Syria in breach of a 2006 UN Security Council resolution that brought the conflict to a close.Monday's session follows two rounds of talks in September and November and is being attended by 14 leaders representing each of the main parliamentary blocs.Lebanon endured a damaging 18-month political crisis that brought the country close to civil war earlier this year before a Qatari-brokered deal between the rival groups.
Hamas agrees to 24-hour truce in Gaza Mon Dec 22, 7:27 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions in Gaza agreed on Monday to hold rocket and mortar fire against Israel for 24 hours at the request of Egyptian mediators, a leader of the Islamist group said.The militants in the Gaza Strip have accepted a calm for a 24-hour period following Egyptian mediation in excahnge for the delivery of aid from Egypt, Ayman Taha told AFP.
Israel tells UN it will respond to Gaza rocket fire Mon Dec 22, 3:12 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel notified UN chief Ban Ki-moon that it will respond to continuing rocket fire from Gaza following the expiry of a truce with Hamas, a foreign ministry official said Monday.Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev sent the letter to Ban on Sunday as part of a diplomatic campaign to garner international support for any offensive against the territory, the senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.(Israel) will not hesitate to react militarily if necessary to rockets fired by militants from the Gaza Strip, Shalev said in her letter, according to public radio.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leader of the governing Kadima party, is due to soon meet with foreign ambassadors to Israel and to speak with her counterparts abroad, the official said.Violence around the impoverished Gaza Strip has steadily escalated since Friday, when Hamas said it would not renew a six-month truce with Israel.Since then, the army has carried out several air strikes, killing one militant, and Palestinians have launched several dozen rockets into the Jewish state, wounding a handful of people.On Sunday, Israeli officials threatened to launch a major offensive against the territory, which has been ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement since June 2007.
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