HHMI Newsgroup Archives

              Jerusalem Post: Internet Edition

                             March 22, 2000

                           From the website:

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/22/News/News.4428.html

               Papal visit spurs 'battle of the flags'
               By Tamar Hausman and Lamia Lahoud

               (March 22) - Jerusalem police yesterday detained eight
Palestinians, including two Orient House security
guards, accused of taking down Israeli flags flying
next to Vatican flags in east Jerusalem and raising
Palestinian flags in their place. In some cases,
posters featuring Pope John Paul II alongside
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have replaced the
Israel and Vatican flags.

               As punishment, the eight agreed to a temporary
banishment from the city during the pope's visit.

               Attorney Juwad Boulos, speaking for Orient House,
called the detentions "illegal and illogical."

               In response to the Palestinian flag and posters
displayed at Orient House earlier that day, Minister
Haim Ramon said Monday that "this is not the time" for
the Palestinians to express their political demands."

               Boulos said the Israelis "are trying to prohibit any
kind of activity taken by the Palestinian side to
express the Palestinian attitude of how to accept the
pope in Jerusalem and to show in artificial and
unjustified terms that Israel is ruling both sides of
the city. [The detentions] are good proof that this an
occupied city." Among the detained were Nihad Abu
Ghosh, Manuel Abu Kheder, and Nasser Abu Kheder.

               Palestinian officials have said publicly that they will
use the opportunity offered by the pope's visit to ask
him to support Palestinian claims to Jerusalem. A
petition signed by dozens of Palestinian organizations
and officials, to be handed to the pope when he visits
the Temple Mount on Sunday, states: "For the sake of
peace, it is necessary that your Holiness issue a
statement in support of Palestinian rights to Jerusalem
so that Jerusalem will become a free city and the
capital of the Palestinian independent state. May the
Holy See carry our message to all the countries of the
world so that all may intervene to bring justice to
this city."

               Palestinians were encouraged by a Vatican accord with
the PLO last month, which said the Vatican considered
unilateral Israeli acts in Jerusalem "morally and
legally unacceptable," and which supported the
Palestinian's right to statehood.

               "The agreement supports our right... to Jerusalem," Abu
Rudaineh said. "His visit to our land and Christian and
Moslem shrines.... [represents] a de facto recognition
of a Palestinian state by the Vatican."

               Although the pope has stated his pilgrimage is purely
religious, PA officials admit they will use it to
gather international support for their demand for a
state with Jerusalem as its capital.

               Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat also wants
to use the pope's visit as an opportunity to promote
his idea of creating a Vatican-type sovereign capital
for the Palestinians in Jerusalem's Old City, PA
officials said. However, the Vatican still favors
internationalizing the Old City.

               "Let us start by ending the occupation... then we can
discuss the best solution for the Old City," said PA
Minister for Jerusalem Faisal Husseini. "At least no
one [in the international community] considers east
Jerusalem an Israeli city," Abu Rudaineh added.


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                              YAHOO! News

                           Wednesday March 22

                             From the website:

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000322/wl/pope_holyland_20.html

                      Pope Pleads for Palestinian Homeland, Peace

                      By Barry Moody

                      BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - Pope John Paul
prayed at the birthplace of Jesus Wednesday and
used the powerful pulpit to issue an emotional
endorsement of a Palestinian homeland.

         Visiting Bethlehem, one of the most emotive of
all Christian shrines, the Pope pleaded for a
Palestinian homeland despite having said he
would stick to religious themes during his
week-long Holy Land pilgrimage in the footsteps
of Jesus.

     ``No one can ignore how much the Palestinian
people have had to suffer in recent decades.
Your torment is in the eyes of the world. And it
has gone on too long,'' the  Pope said at a
welcoming ceremony with Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat.

        In a day of gestures of support that left Arafat beaming with joy,
 the Pontiff said the Vatican had always recognized that the
 Palestinians ``have the natural right to a homeland and the right to
 live in peace and tranquillity with the other peoples of this area.''

      Israel played down the remarks, saying they only echoed
long-standing Vatican policy. Israeli officials said they were
negotiating on what shape a Palestinian homeland would take.

     After the arrival ceremony, the Pontiff celebrated a mass in Manger
 Square and later spent several minutes in silent prayer at the manger
 in a grotto under the adjacent Church of the Nativity where Jesus is
 believed to have been born.

   He then went to the squalid neighboring Dheisheh refugee camp, seen
 as a symbol of Palestinian suffering and hopes for statehood. The
 camp, set up in 1949, is still home to 9,600 people, almost all of
 them Muslim.

 The frail Pope entered the camp held by the hand and supported by
 Arafat, who was clearly buoyed by the visit.

 The fate of around four million Palestinian refugees is among key
 issues that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators aim to resolve by
 September in a final peace deal being negotiated this week at
 U.S.-brokered talks in Washington.

 Speaking at a boys' school in the camp, which was decorated with
 Vatican and Palestinian flags, the Pope said there was an urgent need
 for a just solution to the underlying causes of the refugees'
 degrading conditions over many years.

 ``I appeal to political leaders to implement agreements already
 arrived at, and to go forward toward the peace for which all
 reasonable men and women yearn,'' the Pope said.

 Assad Abdul-Rahman, a Palestinian leader, said in an impassioned
 address to the Pontiff: ``The Promised Land will never be a promising
 land until the rights of our refugees, their right of return, is
 fully implemented.''

 At his arrival in Bethlehem, under Palestinian rule since 1995, the
 Pontiff kissed a bowl of earth offered by a local boy and girl in a
 gesture seen by Palestinians as a papal seal on their demands for an
 independent state.

 Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the gesture did not
 imply recognition of a state because independence had not yet been
 declared. ``It would have been very strange if the Pope had not
 kissed the earth at the place where Christ was born.''

                     Speaking firmly despite his frail health, the
                     Pontiff said in Bethlehem: ``Only with a just and
                     lasting peace -- not imposed but secured through
                     negotiation -- will legitimate Palestinian
                     aspirations be fulfilled.''

                     Arafat Insists On Independent State

 Arafat has vowed to declare a state in the West Bank and Gaza this
 year, with or without a deal. Israel captured the lands in the 1967
 Middle East war and has gradually handed parts over to Palestinian
 rule under peace deals since 1993.

 Arafat told the Pope: ``The Palestinian people value highly your
 principled positions in support of their cause and their rightful
 presence in their homeland as a sovereign and independent people.''
 He welcomed the Pontiff to ``Palestine and its eternal capital
 Jerusalem.''

 This appeared a rejoinder to a welcoming speech Tuesday by Israeli
 President Ezer Weizman, who told the Pope that Jerusalem was Israel's
 ``eternal capital.''

 The Palestinians want Arab East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in
 the 1967 war, as capital of a future state.

 The Pope arrived in Jerusalem Tuesday from Jordan on the second leg
 of his pilgrimage, only the second visit in history to the Holy Land
 by a head of the Roman Catholic Church.

 He stopped on the way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem at Qasr el Yahud,
 the mine-infested, Israeli-occupied site on the west bank of the
 Jordan river where Israel says Jesus was baptized. The Pope visited
 the rival Jordanian site Tuesday.

 In Bethlehem, fewer than 10,000 pilgrims, waving yellow and white
 Vatican flags and chanting ``John Paul II, we love you,'' attended
 the mass, well below the expected 15,000. Others were apparently
 prevented from arriving by draconian Palestinian and Israeli security
 measures.

 Najah Saf, a Muslim woman from the Palestinian-ruled city of Ramallah
 who attended the Mass said: ``A couple of years ago we were known as
 terrorists, but today by the visit of the Pope it is really good for
 us, it shows the world that we are not what they may think we are.''

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                Jerusalem Post: Internet Edition
 
                          Thursday, March 23 2000

                              From the website:

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/23/News/News.4458.html


               PA buoyed by pope's visit
               By Lamia Lahoud and News Agencies

               BETHLEHEM (March 23) - Pope John Paul II was
warmly received by Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat in Bethlehem yesterday, on an historic
visit that Palestinians hoped would give a significant
boost to their drive toward statehood.

               "No one can ignore how much the Palestinian people has
had to suffer in recent decades," said the pontiff.
"Your torment is before the eyes of the world. And it
has gone on too long. The Holy See has always
recognized that the Palestinian people has the natural
right to a homeland, and the right to be able to live
in peace and tranquillity with the other peoples of
this area."

               "There would be no end to the conflict without stable
guarantees for the rights of all peoples involved, on
the basis of ... the RELEVANT UN RESOLUTIONS," he
added.

               From Manger Square, where his mass was interrupted by
the call to prayer from an adjacent mosque, the pope
made his way to the Dehaishe refugee camp, where Assad
Abdul-Rahman, a member of the Executive Committee of
the Palestine Liberation Organization responsible for
refugee issues, lashed out at Israel.

               In a speech welcoming the pope to the camp,
Abdul-Rahman accused Israel of confiscating "both our
rights and property with the intention of creating an
entity closed to all but Jews; a pure Jewish state,
full of contradictions which can only result in more
violence and more bloodshed and sadness to all."

               The 79-year-old pope then asked "all political leaders
to implement agreements already arrived at," an
apparent reference to the Israeli-Palestinian peace
accords.

               As soon as John Paul left the camp, however, hundreds
of camp residents rioted when Palestinian Authority
policemen, trying to push back curious crowds, beat
three young men with clubs, witnesses said. The
policemen then used their clubs to fight back the angry
crowd. At least two school children suffered injuries,
including one who was struck in the head. There were
also reports of injuries among policemen.

               However, there also appeared to be a political aspect
to the clashes, reflecting tension between activists of
Arafat's Fatah faction of the PLO and supporters of the
dissident Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP). The PFLP has strong support among the 9,600
residents of Dehaishe.

               Running battles broke out on the main road outside the
camp, with stones and chunks of concrete raining down
on riot police from the warren of alleys inside the
camp. Refugees also marched to a police station near
the camp and stoned police, witnesses said.

               Security sources said tensions had arisen before the
pope's arrival, when police took down many posters of
Damascus-based PFLP leader George Habash pasted
alongside and over pictures of Arafat.

               The afternoon began on a more hopeful note, when the
pope in Bethlehem called for a just and lasting peace,
through negotiations. "The promise of peace made at
Bethlehem will become a reality.... only when the
dignity and rights of all human beings made in God's
image are acknowledged," he added.

               Stepping down from his helicopter in Bethlehem, John
Paul was presented with a golden bowl of soil, which he
grazed with his lips. Many Palestinians interpreted the
gesture as a recognition of their right to statehood,
but Vatican officials played down the significance,
saying it would have been strange for the pope not to
kiss the soil of Jesus's birthplace.

               Suha Arafat, the wife of the Palestinian leader, said
the pope's words were a clear recognition of the
Palestinian right to statehood. Her husband thanked the
pope for his support of the Palestinians' right to a
homeland, as a "sovereign and independent people."

               After meeting with Arafat, the pope traveled in his
bulletproof popemobile to Manger Square for an ecstatic
welcome at the traditional site of Jesus's birth.

               Along the route, Palestinian girls hurled flowers,
festooning the hood of the popemobile.

               In the square, draped with Palestinian and Vatican
flags, there were shouts of "Viva Baba!" - the Arabic
adaptation of the word pope.

               "We skipped school today to come and see the pope,"
said Same Ayed, a schoolteacher from Bir Zeit who came
with her three children and husband to attend the mass
in Manger Square.

               "I came here because my father is very sick and we wish
to live here in peace," Ayed said.

               Although Christians came from all over the West Bank
and pilgrims from all over the world attended the mass,
the square did not fill up with people.

               Policemen and security agents took positions on
rooftops to assure the pope's safety. Electronic gates
were put up at the entrances to the square and only
those with invitations were allowed to enter, at first.
Later, security was relaxed and Moslems from the city
and neighboring villages dropped in on the mass to
catch a glimpse of the pope.

               Clad in gold-and-white robes, John Paul waved his hand
in greeting and blessed the crowd by saying "Salaam
aleikum" - Arabic for "Peace be upon you." During the
two-hour mass, he leaned heavily on his silver scepter,
often bowing his head in prayer.

               The pope said Bethlehem lay at the heart of the
pilgrimage he had long dreamed of making in this
millennial year. "I praise God for bringing me in this
year of the great Jubilee to the place of the Savior's
birth," he said in a slow but steady voice.

               Just as John Paul finished his speech, the Moslem call
to prayer rang out from a mosque in the square, and the
crowd and the pontiff alike waited silently for the
muezzin's wail of "God is Great, and Mohammed is his
prophet" to end.

               Christian Palestinians shook their heads and quietly
complained that the nearby mosque keeps interrupting
their services and special events. An American pilgrim
woman was outraged. "Had the tables been reversed, they
would have almost shot us for interrupting one of their
sermons," she said.

               However, the crowd applauded when Jerusalem Latin
Patriarch Michel Sabbah spoke of the muezzin's call as
symbolizing Moslem and Christian unity here. Vatican
spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls later said the
overlapping of prayers was "mutual and respectful."

               After a break to rest, the pontiff returned to Manger
Square for a quieter visit to the Church of the
Nativity, the spot revered by many Christians as the
place where Mary gave birth to Jesus.

               Arafat called the pope "an esteemed guest in holy
Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine." Arafat's
translator, speaking in English, used the phrase
"occupied Jerusalem," but Arafat himself, speaking in
Arabic, did not.

               At the start of the Dehaishe ceremony, the pope and
Arafat walked up to the stage hand-in-hand, to strong
applause from the crowd.

               The camp residents received the pope with high hopes.
"I have seen the pope many times on TV before, and I
would like to talk to him... I hope he will improve our
lives; we need water, sewerage, electricity, and we
want Israel to release all the prisoners from jail,"
said Isrin Said, 12, from Dehaishe.

               Children wearing T-shirts with the slogan "We have a
dream" printed on them, carrying small Vatican and PLO
flags, received the pope at the entrance of the camp.

               (Danna Harman contributed to this report.)

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               Jerusalem Post: Internet Edition
                  Thursday, March 23 2000

                              From the website:

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/23/News/News.4463.html

               Experts diverge on politics and the pope
               By Haim Shapiro

               JERUSALEM (March 23) - Although both Pope John
Paul II and Vatican officials have stressed that his
visit to the Holy Land is spiritual and not political,
the visit is actually very political in nature and
one-sided at that, according to Dr. Yitzhak Minerbi.

               Minerbi, the author of a book on the Vatican and the
Jews, said this politicization was especially evident
yesterday during the pope's visit to Bethlehem.

               It was inherent, Minerbi said, in a sentence repeated
by the pope on arriving in Bethlehem: "No one can
ignore how much the Palestinian people have had to
suffer in recent decades." In the pope's message,
Minerbi said, only the Palestinians suffered.
Terrorism, Minerbi noted, doesn't exist in the papal
rhetoric.

               Minerbi noted that the call for a Palestinian homeland,
included in the papal message, was not a new one.
However, when it was linked, as it was in John Paul's
speech, with the words "international law and the
relevant United Nations resolutions," this was a clear
reference to the many anti-Israel UN resolutions passed
by a General Assembly in which political factors
weighed against Israel. It was, Minerbi said, also the
line of the PLO.

               However, Minerbi pointed out that John Paul also called
for and emphasized the words, "stable guarantees for
the rights of all the peoples involved." This, he said,
could be a reference to the recent agreement between
the Holy See and the PLO, which called for guaranteeing
the rights of religious minorities.

               Even in a series of passages which were ostensibly
purely religious in nature, Minerbi detected a
political note. Referring to a call by the pope linking
the birth of Jesus with the events of today, Minerbi
saw an attempt to link the suffering of Jesus with that
of the Palestinians.

               "This is a place that has known 'the yoke' and 'the
rod' of oppression. How often has the cry of innocents
been heard in these streets?" the pope asked.

               "We all know who he is talking about," Minerbi
commented.

               In a later message, the pope thanked the officials of
the Palestinian Authority "who are taking part in our
celebration and joining us in praying for the
well-being of the Palestinian people." It will be
interesting, Minerbi said, to see whether the pope
issues such a message of gratitude to Israeli
officials.

               In that same homily, the pope said that only with a
just and lasting peace, "not imposed, but secured
through negotiation," would legitimate Palestinian
aspirations be achieved. However, Minerbi said, since
it is Israel which holds the power, it was clearly to
Israel that the pope referred when speaking of imposing
a peace.

               Finally, in his address at the Dehaishe refugee camp,
the pope spoke of the suffering of the refugees, but
made no reference to the fact that it was the
Palestinian Authority which is now responsible for the
refugees. There was no call to the Palestinian
Authority to improve their condition, but rather a
reference to "the sad memory of what you were forced to
leave."

               However, Minerbi noted, it is a moot point as to
whether the refugees were forced to leave at all.

               Although the messages in Bethlehem were one-sided,
there was an instance in which the pope was apparently
even-handed, Minerbi said. That was at his arrival at
Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday, when he called on both
Christians and Jews to make courageous efforts to
remove all forms of prejudice. But the symmetry here is
mistaken, said Minerbi, because there had been repeated
persecution of Jews by Christians throughout the
centuries, but not the contrary.

               For centuries, Minerbi said, Christians have accused
Jews of having killed Jesus, their messiah, but Jews
have made no counteraccusation," he noted.

               "For most Jews, the attitude toward Christianity is one
of indifference, because we don't claim that our roots
are in Christianity, as Christians do of Judaism,"
Minerbi said.

               In response to Minerbi's analysis, Rabbi David Rosen,
director of the Israel office of the Anti-Defamation
League, said that identifying with the pain of the
Palestinians should not be seen as bad for Israel.

               "It is time for those with a zero-sum mentality to get
beyond that and adopt a win-win mentality," Rosen said.
              

               He said Minerbi should have taken to heart the comments
of Minister Haim Ramon, who is responsible for the
pope's visit. When Ramon was asked about the pope's
message in Bethlehem, he answered that the pontiff had
gone no further in his statements than the Israeli
government, which had recognized the legitimate rights
of the Palestinians in 1982.

               Rosen said that what was important in the political
comments of John Paul was that he did not point an
accusing finger at Israel regarding the Palestinian
refugees, but rather called upon the leaders of the
Middle East to find a solution to their plight. He
added that the pope had not gotten caught up in the
trap of referring to specific UN resolutions, nor had
he become involved in the question of Jerusalem,
despite a cue in this direction from Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

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TO: Friends (and friends of friends) of Bridges for Peace
FROM: Clarence H. Wagner, Jr., International Director - Jerusalem
DATE: March 24, 2000

POPE & CHIEF RABBI MAKE PEACE; MOSLEM CLERIC SPEAKS WAR

    Since I heard the news that Pope John Paul Ii was coming to
Israel, I looked forward to the Interfaith event where he would
address the religious leaders residing in Israel. After all of the
good things he has said about Israel, the Jewish people, Judaism and
reconciliation, I wanted to hear what he would say in Israel ... When
the Pope arrived, he was escorted by Israel's Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir
Lau and Moslem cleric Sheik Taisir Tamimi, who heads the religious
courts system in the Palestinian Authority ...  Rabbi Lau spoke first
and made some very gracious statements and seemed genuinely happy to
see the Pope again. Then, the Moslem cleric spoke, but instead of
speaking of peace, brotherhood, and love of one's fellow man, he
delivered a fiery political speech in which he leveled accusations at
Israel, which he referred to as "The occupier," calling for an end of
Israel's strangulation and abuse of Jerusalem residents ... He was
effectively calling upon the Christian community to join the Muslims
in a Holy War to oust the Jews from "occupied Palestine."

Then, the Pope got up to speak ... The Pope's speech was followed by
what was supposed to be the three religious leaders planting a OLIVE
TREE of peace together.  However, just before this, Sheik Tamimi, the
Moslem cleric, walked out, leaving only Rabbi Lau and Pope John Paul
II on the stage.  In any case, Rabbi Lau and Pope John Paul II did
plant the tree to warm affirmations from the audience, including the
Moslem participants who were seemingly embarrassed by the fact that
Sheik Tamimi walked out ...

*************************************************************************

Thoughts from Eddie:

         The POPE arrives in Israel during PURIM.

          PURIM is about the enemies of the Jewish people rising up
against them to destroy them (HAMAN).

         The POPE embraces Arafat, a PLO and Jerusalem as an
international city in accordance with UN resolutions 242 and 338 upon
which the peace process is based on his visit to Israel.

         Is this a WHOREDOM (Haman) ALLIANCE (Arafat, UN Resolutions
242 and 338 upon which the peace process is based and the Catholic
church via  the POPE) who embrace a PLO state and Jerusalem
being an international city?  Is this the woman (Catholic church)
riding the beast  (Revelation 17) (embracing the UN resolutions 242
and 338 upon which the peace process is based rather than God's
covemant with Abraham) ???

        Let us remember the ISHMAEL  / ISAAC principle that ISHMAEL
(a picture of the flesh and the worldly system) comes FIRST and ISAAC
(a picture of the spirit and the Will and heart of God) FOLLOWS the
birth of ISHMAEL.

        Are we witnessing the birth of ISHMAEL (a FALSE peace being
made with a murderer and terrorist (Arafat) based upon UN Resolutions
242 and 338 which is being endorsed by the Pope and the Catholic
church)  whereby a PLO state (ISHMAEL) is to be  established on the
WEST BANK rather then embracing God's covenenat with Abraham and the
restoration of both houses of Israel (Ezekiel 37:15-28) (ISAAC) ??

        By following the Torah and Haftorah readings, it
seems that God is giving us SPIRITUAL INSIGHT to the birthing of
ISAAC following this birth of ISHMAEL. The Haftorah reading this week
was Ezekiel 36 which is a prophecy to the MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL which
continues in thought in Ezekiel 37:15-28 with the restoration of both houses
of
Israel to the MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL (West Bank) which is God's ISAAC
solution (which the Orthodox Jews call the MESSIANIC redemption and
the INGATHERING OF THE EXILES from BOTH HOUSES) in the end of days.

         Furthermore, the Chief Rabbi of Israel and the Pope planted
an OLIVE TREE this week during the Pope's visit. This is an ISHMAEL
OLIVE TREE planting as genuine peace and reconciliation between
Judaism and Christianity will not result between the Catholic church
and Orthodox Judaism.

        The Hatorah reading of Ezekiel 36 (which is linked to Ezekiel
37 in the book of Ezekiel) is a reference to the ISAAC OLIVE TREE
(the restoration of both houses of Israel ... Ezekiel 36 - Ezekiel
37:15-28) upon the MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL (West Bank) according to God's
covenant with Abraham. Paul spoke about the coming together of the
ISAAC OLIVE TREE in Romans 9-11.

        Who is wise and can understand these things?

        BLOW THE SHOFAR IN ZION !!!!

         Eddie Chumney

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