News, articles and documents from
the Holy Land
Issue No. 138 - Tuesday, 19 March 2002
Dear Friends, Brothers and Sisters,
Our Patriarch returned
back yesterday morning from Rome after a meeting of the group of Alexandria with
the Pope and with other officials in the Vatican, it seems that they wanted to
put the Catholic Church in the image of these meeting which are continuing
regularly here in Jerusalem every month, after tomorrow will be held a meeting
in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. George Carey. I hope that
the religious leaders will help the political leaders to find a way out of the
in going conflict between our two peoples. I am sure that religion should play
a positive and reconciling role in this region where all the three monotheistic
religions were born.
We just returned
back from a pastoral visit to one of our small parishes nearby Jifna where we
celebrated the feast of St Joseph the patron of that church. We experienced how
difficult life when each village is almost closed like a big prison and separated
from the other villages and cities. The new policy of the Israeli army is
simply to remove the soldiers from the most of the checkpoints but to simply
closed all the surrounding entrances of each village with huge cement blocks or
digging deep trenches. This new policy complicates more and more the freedom of
movement and increase the dangers of accidental shootings by the soldiers who
might doubt of the walkers from their high hidden control and watch points.
This danger is doubled if you have to travel after the sunset as we did today,
because you risk to be stopped by tanks in the middle of the roads where
soldiers are hidden inside it because they are afraid to stand on checkpoint, this
a new measure for their safety but they don’t care on your safety and you will
risk your life if you move one meter ahead because all the guns are pointed at
you while they are checking your documents and your car… We passed safely
tonight but our dear friend Dr. Sari Nusseibah’s car was shot at Qalandia
Checkpoint but thanks God he was not harmed. You see our life?! Many people
lost their lives with cold blood because they simply had to pass through the
daily humiliation of these checkpoints.
Everybody is
speaking about the chances for a cease-fire after the interventions of the USA
with it’s envoy Gen. Zinni and the visit of Vice President Dick Chenny. I am optimistic
because there is a real chance but I am afraid that this will take long time
because they will be lost in tinny unessential details instead of dealing straight
with the main issues of ending occupation and reaching a final and
comprehensive peace agreement. This will be impossible with the actual Sharon government,
therefore, we still have to wait until a new generation will come to power
hoping that it will be different.
You find in
today’s Olive Branch several important documents and articles:
1) Lent Message of the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, + The Rt. Rev. Riah Abu El-Assal.
2)
Sister Mary in her Jerusalem Journal # 50
informs us about Amnesty International
report about human rights in the region.
3) “FAST FOR PEACE” is a new call for Non-violence promoted by Palestinians and Israelis next Monday. I am working with them since the beginning and we will fast (See details and support the idea).
4)
Prof. Sami Adwan from Bethlehem University writes us From
under Curfew in Biet Jala: Freedom is the Freedom of Other.
5) Just
courageous Israeli writers dare to say the truth, therefore, I send you “An
Apology” from Uri Avnery and the article of my dear friend Israel Shamir about “OUR LADY OF SORROW”.
There are signs of hope… Therefore we will never lose hope. Fr. Raed
Abusahlia
Lent
Message of the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem
March 19, 2002
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Salaam and grace in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ and blessed greetings to you from Jerusalem.
We in the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem are desperately concerned as the situation in the Land of the Holy One continues to deteriorate almost by the hour, bringing with it tragic loss of life, innumerable injustices and the damage and destruction of infrastructure, hospitals, schools and the homes of innocent people, among them our own people. We call upon all our partners and friends to do all that is in their power, to bringing an end to this pain and suffering in our homeland. The recent hostilities as well as the reoccupation of liberated Palestinian towns and villages has proved catastrophic and tragic for both parties. No one with common sense believes that a whole nation can be controlled with the power of the gun. Justice is the only possible way. The root cause of all of this is the occupation and the Israeli occupation must come to an end.
At present we are faced with a total disregard for the suffering of so many of our people. The recent incursion of tanks and military personnel into many of the Palestinian towns and cities has caused an enormous amount of suffering. In Bethlehem, 3000 people recently gathered in Manger Square from neighboring refugee camps. Local organizations were being asked to help feed them. A Lutheran school was occupied and missiles hit Bethlehem University, which is a Roman Catholic institution, causing its closure. All electrical power was cut to two Ramallah hospitals during the height of fighting, leading many to great harm from lack of emergency health care.
I have just returned from visiting Ramallah, shortly after the Israeli tanks pulled out of the city center. One of my priests, The Rev. George Al-Kopti, who is in charge of the parish of St. Andrew’s in Ramallah, reported to me about the situation in the city in the aftermath of the Israeli incursion. He said: “About 150 tanks entered the city, occupying every corner and preventing movement, even movement of the injured to the hospitals and clinics in town. They occupied houses and apartment buildings, asking families to congregate in one house with no regard to their age or their health. Cars that belong to families of the parish were destroyed by tanks.” He adds: “The children of the Evangelical Home lived for a few days of fear and trauma. We had three days of severe imprisonment, without the ability to move or even provide ourselves with food.”
It was chilling to see the apartments that the occupying soldiers had marked with a large spray painted X, reminiscent of the markings the Nazi forces used to identify Jewish families. One of the apartment buildings that was taken over included the flat of Mrs. Patricia Rantisi, the widow of the late Rev. Audeh Rantisi. She is a 70-year-old British citizen. Kent Wilkens, a Canadian friend staying with Mrs. Rantisi reports on the situation after the invasion of the building by soldiers. He says: “We have adequate food supplies. The Ramallah water has been cut so we will run out of water in this flat in a day or so. We still have electricity. We are not allowed to set foot in the hall. We are 13 adults, including two elderly, and 10 children from 18 months old to 10 years. Two of the adults are physicians who work at Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem. They are denied the ability to reach their hospitals, and cannot telephone their patients, or have their patients telephone them.” He concludes, “The soldiers have no need to hold 4 families as hostages to accomplish their so called security.”
The ongoing conflict has had a dramatic effect on the work of the Church in the Land of the Holy One. Every one of our institutions and parishes has felt the crushing economic repercussions of the situation. When the new century began we looked towards an increase in our joy. Unfortunately this has not been the case and we watch as the quality of the lives of our friends and colleagues spirals downward into increasingly more difficult circumstances.
Our ministry would not be possible without the support and prayers of our countless friends throughout the world. Knowing that you stand with us makes an immense difference in our lives and our ministries. We are greatly encouraged by the number of people who have written us, to express their solidarity and offer their players. Let us all come together, and join hands and efforts. I challenge you to speak out on behalf of the people of this Land; to your families, your friends, your coworkers and neighbors, your politicians and your government leaders. We pray for peace with justice, justice with truth and truth with righteousness, as well as for the safety and protection of all people. Peace is the only alternative left. This can only be a peace established in truth and justice, in accordance with the United Nations resolutions 242, 338 and 194. The best security comes from reconciled neighbors.
Know that this comes with our prayers and our gratitude for all you have been doing to help us stand firm in our commitment to His calling. May you be richly blessed.
In Christ,
+ The Rt. Rev. Riah Abu El-Assal
Jerusalem
Journal # 50
Sister Mary
10 March 2002
Tuesday, March
19, Curt Goering, Elizabeth Hodgkin and David Holling of Amnesty
International held a press conference here in Jerusalem. They had come
to this land to investigate first-hand the escalating human rights abuses in the
context of the recent Israeli incursions into Palestinian towns, villages and
refugee camps. They were not only disturbed by what they saw but equally
disturbed by the U.S. Vice-President Cheney and U.S. Envoy Zinni's speechs
(their visits coincided). Neither American leaders acknowledged "the
link between human rights, justice and peace" despite what was
happening to people here and now under the illegal occupation of Palestine.
Amnesty International clearly understood the centrality of human rights for
security and lasting peace between the Palestinians and Israelis. They stated, "If
General Zinni does not put human rights squarely on the table with both
Israelis and Palestinians he may as well pack his bags now. Without human
rights at the heart of a peace process, his efforts will be doomed to fail, and
the downward spiral will degenerate even further out of control. And once
again Israelis and Palestinians will pay the price for this negligence."
I believe that most internationals living here will wholeheartedly agree with
this statement.
The alarming evidence witnessed by these three Amnesty International members revealed serious human rights violations committed during the March incursion of the Israeli Occupation Forces into Palestinian areas. The members noted that dozens of Palestinian civilians were needlessly killed as were six medical personnel, including two doctors. Last week medical personnel came to the conclusion that transport by taxi was safer than by ambulance since the Israeli Occupation Forces were targeting medical personnel and vehicles. During the two-week invasion over 2000 Palestinians between the ages of 14 and 45 were arrested and kept without food for the first 24 hours under deplorable conditions. Many males still remain imprisoned. The number of traumatized civilians, especially children, was deeply troubling.
While the Israeli Occupation Force was systematically sowing destruction and Amnesty International was recording the violations of human rights, I was traveling on a Palestinian bus from St. John's Eye hospital -- this hospital continues to serve the Palestinian people in East Jerusalem. Suddenly the bus was stopped by the Israeli Occupation Force and two soldiers entered it, demanding to see I.D. cards from the men. The soldiers then exited the bus with the cards and the bus could not continue when so many passengers could now be arrested for lack of I.D cards. We waited. Finally the soldiers called one Palestinian man from the bus and the rest of us braced ourselves for what might be an unpleasant scenario. In a matter of minutes the Palestinian re-entered the front door of the bus, stood in the aisle and hawked, "Identity cards for ten shekels." His sense of humor was still intact and all of us laughed. But the bus driver insisted on not driving on until he was assured that each man had received his I.D. card. As we continued our ride toward the Old City, I couldn't help but reflect on how resilient my travel companions were -- abuses and fears had been released for the moment into laughter.
A Call for Non-violence
FAST FOR PEACE
Tsom l'maan
Ha-Shalom - Siam min ajil Al-Salam.
There is considerable pressure from abroad
for a settlement to the Middle-East conflict. Unfortunately local pressure is
generally ineffective, overcome by the sounds of hatred and violence. We can,
however, change the course of events by taking a dramatic new direction.
This is a call
to those who advocate peace – Palestinians, Israelis, Christians, Muslims and
Jews – to support a Fast for Peace.
The goal: Implementation of the Mitchell Plan, which is the first step towards
ending the violence and returning to negotiations. It is a realistic goal that
puts pressure on Israeli, Palestinian and foreign governments, especially the
U.S.
When: March 25 until the Mitchell Plan is implemented.
Where: Near the Bethlehem checkpoint in a place accessible to both
Palestinians and Israelis. The Bethlehem checkpoint will be very attractive to
foreign media, especially as Easter approaches. A simultaneous
strike/demonstration should also take place opposite the US Consulate in West
Jerusalem. A simultaneous Fast for Peace is being
planned to take place in various U.S. cities including Washington, D.C.
If you cannot come to Jerusalem or Bethlehem, local demonstrations will help us
reach our goal.
We need a lot of
support from hundreds of people on both sides of the border including some
prominent figures. If we don’t do it
together than we shall fail. A locally organized, dramatic, demonstration
will help end the violence, restore hope and vision, and change direction so
that we will, finally, reach the reality of peace.
What does supporting the
Fast for Peace mean?
A few
Palestinians and Israelis must commit themselves to a continued fast, but there
are many other ways of supporting the Fast for Peace:
·
Help us
find people and groups to join and to spread the word. We need names, numbers,
emails.
·
Help with
actual organization of the Fast for Peace.
·
Financial
assistance
·
Visit the
Bethlehem checkpoint, or the U.S. Consulate.
·
Fast for a
day or a weekend to demonstrate solidarity.
This
initiative is promoted and signed by:
Prof.
Sami Adwan, Bethlehem University
Linda
Livni, Writer from Jerusalem
Dr.
Philip Veerman, Defense for Children International
Prof.
Dan Bar-On, Ben-Gurion University
Prof.
Avraham Sela’, Hebrew University
Sami
Taha, Jerusalem
For more details or support, please contact:
forpeace@netvision.net.il
From under Curfew in
Biet Jala:
Freedom is the Freedom
of Other
By Prof. Sami Adwan
Faculty of Education - Bethlehem
University
I was among
almost a hundred Palestinian and Israeli people at a peace forum at the Sonesta
Hotel in west Jerusalem in 1992. The issue of the forum was the role of
education in building peace. Mr. Faisal Al-Huseini (may God rest his soul) was
there too. I remember vividly that Mr. Fouad Bin Eliezer was there pushing a
carriage with a small baby who might have been his son or grandson. Mr. Eliezer
visited the tables before, during and after the dinner and shook hands with
almost everyone.
I was proud to
meet him then, even though I remembered when he had tried to enter Bethlehem
University with tanks. I thought for a moment he had changed.
I remember his
speech - so promising, full of hope and peace and love. The baby that he was
pushing in the carriage was listening to his speech too. I assume the baby was
also moved by the speech of Fouad.
I was surprised
that Fouad has accepted the position of Defense Minister in this right wing
government, but the memory of his speech led me to think that: "If Fouad
is the Defense Minister, perhaps he will not use acts of war or power when it
comes to resolving the conflict".
I
remained optimistic for a while. As his words still hamming in my ears
I now teach in
the Faculty of Education at Bethlehem University. Since Friday March 8th. I've
been under curfew in my home in Beit Jala with my beloved wife and five
children. I am a peace advocate and, along with Prof. Dan Bar On from
Ben-Gurion University, a co-director of the Peace Research Institute in the
Middle East (PRIME). We organized encounters, meetings conferences between
Israelis and Palestinians during the so-called peace era (1993-2000). Now, we
feel impotent and cannot do anything.
We are now
working together to introduce the Israeli and the Palestinian narratives of
certain historical events to each other pupils. The aim of this project is to
allow pupils of both sides to learn about each other narrative and to try to
understand the narratives of each other. Other project related to the oral
history of the refugees.
Working with Dr.
Ruth Firer from the Hebrew University on the "learn to Live Together
Project'. The aim of this project is to help Israelis and Palestinians children
to live in peace, to get rid of stereotypes and to empower teachers and their
pupils to be the leader of tomorrow.
Since more than
five years we were studying the schoolbooks of both nations and made
recommendations on how to improve them.
The aims of
these and other projects are to lay the ground for love and friendship to grow
and blossom. I understand that these bottom-up and grassroots projects have not
influenced the political levels. I then understand that signing a peace
agreements (top-down) is not enough to end conflict. We need both formulas.
I am continually
shocked to see atrocities against unarmed Palestinians, the destruction of
homes, shelling hospitals, medical teams and ambulances, uprooting fruit trees
(which for many Palestinians are their source of sustenance), killing infants
and children, confiscating the smiles of mothers and fathers, and destroying a
future of a people.
In some cases
Israeli Forces put numbers on detained Palestinians? Does this remind anybody
of the Jewish suffering on the Nazis hands... were they used the same way? Does
anybody have any statistics of how many pregnant women gave birth at military
checkpoints because they were denied access to a hospital? How many of them or
their infants died? How many sick or elderly have suffered the same fate?
I do not
remember reading in history when army blocked the roads to hospitals, or cut of
water and electricity on hospitals, or held injured people and left them
bleeding to death, or shooting and destroying ambulances or killing medical
teams.
Israeli Forces
set a record in doing all of these acts. The daily news is full with stories of
such acts. Israeli tanks in Ramallah, prohibiting ambulances and medical teams
to treat injured people, blocked the entrances of Ramallah Hospital. Medical
supplies are not allowed to reach. Everyone saw how an Israeli tanks damaged
two parking ambulances in Jenin areas.
Guided rockets
hit Bethlehem University library and a new building just inaugurated. The
statute of Version Mary was destroyed at the top of one of church in Bethlehem.
Journalists were not in more luck. Yesterday an Italian reporter was shot and
by six bullets hit hem in the chest by Israeli Forces, a French and an Egyptian
reporters were injured as well.
I realize Bin Elieser
may have justifications for all of these crimes. Maybe he wanted to keep his
position as a defense minister and maintain his prestige. We are sometimes
selfish, are we not?
Very often the
Israeli Forces take over/occupy Palestinians homes, expelling their inhabitants
ñ
women, infants, children, healthy and sick, young and old into the streets in
the winter cold or the summer's burning sun. Sometimes they keep families in
their homes or squeezed them in one room and use them as human shields. This
sounds like a very cowardly act for an army!!?? Solders forbid the inhabitants
to use the restrooms, or reach to their own kitchens, while they eat their food
and sleep in their bedrooms.
Often the
soldiers destroy the walls and furniture, children books and toys; sometimes they
steal money, gold and small but expensive things. These are family savings. The
refugees lost their prosperities and belongings in 1948 and now the Israeli
army is stripping them of their small savings, which they need to buy food and
clothing so they will not starve and which gives them some security to help
keep their sanity. The Nazis stole Jews prosperity.
One more thing.
Israeli Soldiers gather children and young men (from age of 14 to 50 yrs) into
an open space in the town or the camp they invade, lined them handcuff,
blindfold them then interrogate or arrest them. Jews were lined up the Nazis as
well. Hundreds have been detained and sent to prisons. After few months or
years these prisoners will graduate from jails (which are like universities) with
a strong national orientation, with much more hate and extreme views. No body
expect them to increase their love for Jewish or Israelis. If anybody expects
so, he has not learned from past experience. No matter how much force Israelis
use they can never win over a people who want to live and be free. This is a
historical fact.
Hate only breeds
more hate, but love breeds more love. Everybody knows that. Palestinians want
to be free like Israelis. They are longing for their independence, to live
peacefully with themselves and all neighboring countries including Israel. Why
don't Israelis give them this chance?
Israeli
government is not launching a war of defense but fighting to keep extreme
settlers living in the occupied territories illegally and against all
international resolutions and Geneva Convention.
Luxemburg once
defined freedom" Freedom is the freedom of others". Israelis are
expecting to live in peace and freedom while oppressing and occupying other
land and people. This is just not right.
I wonder now
what the baby- that Mr. Bin Eliezer was pushing in 1992, and probably now he is
11 years old- is saying now about Bin Eliezer speech in 1992 and his action
now. I do not know what will be his answer, do you?
The continual Israeli occupation of Palestinian areas is separating Israelis and Jews from their own people from their code of Jewish ethics - and you (Bin Eliezer) will be blamed for it by your own people. Are Israelis proud of being the last occupying force in the world? This question is left open to who ever want to answer.
The conflict has
to end. Wars, destruction and killing will not resolve it. Only make it worst.
Israeli will never be able to continue to subjugate/occupy Palestinians or
oppress them for a longtime. Palestinians will never reach the same level of
power Israel has, but Israelis security will continue to be un-achieved.
Therefore, a peaceful solution where an independent Palestinian State with East
Jerusalem its capital living side by side an Israeli secured State is a valid
and reachable solution.
I will keep
praying for the safety of Israelis and Palestinians and ask all peace lovers to
do so to bring this dreadful situation to an end once and for all.
An
Apology
Uri Avnery
16.3.02
Sorry to say, I have to apologize. And to myself, of
all people.
This is how it was. A short time after the destruction
of the Twin Towers, on September 11, 2001, I wrote: A basic change in the
American attitude towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is going to take
place. The US is going to impose a settlement which will satisfy the
Palestinian demands, too.
This assessment was not based on any leak, but on logic. The
terror that brought the towers down came from the Arab world. It sprang from
the anger and hatred that has accumulated among the Arab masses. The oppression
of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government is the main (if not only)
cause for these feelings. In order to fight against terrorism, the US must
remove this cause. This is such a basic American interest, that even the power
of the Jewish and fundamentalist-Christian lobbies will not be able to overcome
it.
I was completely convinced of this logic. So I wrote
articles, some of which were published in many countries. I repeated it in
dozens of lectures in the US and at a press-conference on Capitol Hill.
And indeed, it seemed that I was right. President Bush
suddenly began to talk about the “vision” of the Palestinian State. Colin
Powell made a speech indicating that the US was prepared to meet many of the
Palestinian demands.
But then it stopped. The US went to war in Afghanistan
and won an amazing victory, destroying the rule of the Taliban with almost zero
losses, with only money and bombs. It seemed that it did not need the help of
anyone anymore, certainly not the Arabs.
Instead of looking for a solution to the Palestinian
problem, Bush gave the green light to Sharon, so that he could run berserk in
the Palestinian territories, re-conquer, kill, destroy, uproot, besiege,
surround and cut off. It seemed that Bush was lending unqualified support to
Sharon’s objectives: to break the Palestinian national entity and its
leadership, to bring the Palestinians to their knees, to enlarge the
settlements and annex the territories. As usual, the blame was placed on the
victims. Arafat, according go Bush, was to blame for everything.
All this ran contrary to the analysis I voiced after
the September 11 outrage. I started to have doubts. I asked myself: Where did I
go wrong? Where is the weak link in my chain of reasoning?
And then something dramatic occurred. When Sharon
escalated his actions and invaded the refugee camps and towns, the Americans
shut the door in his face.
What has happened? Simple: the basic logic of the
situation started at long last to assert itself.
After Afghanistan, Bush looked for a new place to
employ American power. He invented the “axis of evil”, consisting of Iraq, Iran
and North Korea. (What is the connection between them? Perhaps God knows.)
The most reasonable target would have been Iran,
because its territory is best suited for laying the Caspian Sea pipeline to the
Indian Ocean. Sharon tried hard to push the US in this direction. But Iran is a
hard nut. Iraq is an easier target.
But Iraq is not Afghanistan. It cannot be brought down
by a few bombs. Moreover, if it does go down, it is liable to break up into
three parts: a Shiite protectorate of Iran in the South, a Kurdish state in the
north and a small Sunni state in the middle. That would completely destabilize
the whole region, expose the Arab world to the Iranians and Turkey to Kurdish
irredentism.
Even the US cannot start such a complex action without
the support of the Arab world. But when it put out feelers, the Palestinian
cause raised its head.
In order to understand this, one has only to look
several times a day at the newscasts of al-Jazeera television, which reaches
almost every home from Oman to Morocco. They show what happens, and what
happens is awful. The daily killing of Palestinians, the wanton destruction
wrought by
tanks and bulldozers, the crying, tears and funerals, are shown every hour
together with Palestinian guerilla exploits and suicide bombings. Every
newscast is a ticking bomb under the seats of the kings and presidents, who are
being compared by their subjects with the imprisoned lion in Ramallah.
The Arab governments are worried that the situation in
Palestine may cause “instability” all over the region, endangering all the
regimes, one after the other. They tell Washington: In this situation we cannot
help you to attack another Arab country. It would break the camel’s back.
All this was already clear six months ago, but now it
has entered the consciousness of American decision-makers. In the meantime, the
real Sharon and his claws have been seen by all. In Washington it is now
understood that the Arab masses have to be won over. That is the reason for the
ultimatum delivered to Sharon, which compelled him to evacuate his troops from
the center of Ramallah, to lift the blockade against Arafat
and to give up the slogan of “seven days without (Palestinian) violence.” It
explains the President Bush’s speech, in which he attacked Sharon in no
uncertain terms; the Security Council resolution inspired by the Americans,
which speaks about “the states of Israel and Palestine”; the declaration by the
UN General Secretary expressing an international consensus, which denounces the
occupation and Israeli humiliation of the Palestinians.
So it transpires that what was needed was only
patience. It takes only minutes to conclude a train of thought, but a
super-power needs half a year to change its policy. Like the mills of justice,
the mills of reason work slowly. Many slow-thinking officials have to get used
to a new idea. Many think tanks have to arrive at new conclusion (and experts
do not like to reach conclusions contrary to the wishes of the Boss).
International pressures and opposite internal pressures have to be balanced. In
short, it’s a process.
However, the basic national interest of a Great Power
will overcome the obstacles, if the leaders do not want to appear in books
similar to “The March of Folly”.
The question remains: How serious are they? Americans
leaders may again be seduced into believing that hollow phrases and token
actions are sufficient – a withdrawal of Israeli troops from one hill to
another, another journey of General Zinni, saying “phoooya” to Sharon, in order
to pacify the Arab governments and their peoples. The decision of
Vice-President Cheney to ignore President Arafat while visiting all the other
Arab kings and presidents does not bode well. Bush may decide to do as little
as
possible against Sharon in order to avoid drawing flak from the Jewish and
Christian lobbies back home. That is where the Israeli peace movement has a
role to play.
In the end, the political logic will win out. But it
may take time – and in our county, time means blood, tears and
bereavement.
OUR LADY OF SORROW
By Israel Shamir
Quietude of the West should frighten
us well beyond the Middle Eastern context, as it possibly means our
civilisation is dead.
In the Upper church of Annunciation in
Nazareth, there is a striking collection of images, homage of artists to Mary.
A dainty Virgin in colourful kimono holds her child dressed in ceremonial
Japanese royal robes among blue and golden flowers; a naïve Gothic face of
Madonna transferred from French Cluniac illuminations; the Chinese Queen of Heaven
cut in precious wood by Formosa devotees; the Cuban richly inlaid statue of
Madonna of Guadeloupe, the Polish Black Madonna, the tender face of Byzantine
Mother of God, a modernist steely Madonna from the United States look from the
walls of the church, uniting us in one human family. There is hardly an image
in the world as universal and poignant as that of the Virgin and the Child.
Wherever you go, from Santiago de Compostella
in the far west of Spain to the golden domes of Russia, from frozen Uppsala in
Sweden to Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, you will find this adorable face.
Best artists depicted her compassionate features, her love to her child and her
sorrow. Botticelli painted her with a pomegranate and among the Kings of the
East; Michelangelo and Rafael, Cimabue and Titian, van der Weyden and Fra
Filippo Lippi were inspired by her image. This unique mix of a young girl and
mother, of vulnerability and protection, of admiration and love formed the
spiritual and inspirational base of our civilisation.
She appeared to a Mexican peasant, and her
flower-covered image arrested the strife and united Native Americans and
Spaniards in one nation. She gave her rosary to Saint Dominic and a letter to
Portuguese kids in Fatima. Prophet Muhammad saved and cherished her icon found
in the Mecca shrine, writes Maxim Rodinson. She appeared to a wealthy Jewish
banker Alphonse Ratisbonne, and he took orders and built convent of Sisters of
Zion in En Karim. A Palestinian Muslim in a refugee camp of Lebanon preserved
her image taken from his native Galilee, tells Elias Khoury in his novel Bab Al-Shams (recently
translated into Hebrew by Moshe Hakham and edited by Anton
Shammas). Syrian astronauts asked for her protection in the shrine of Seidnaya
before the flight on the Soviet space shuttle[i][i].
In medieval legends, the Jews were often
perceived as enemies of the Virgin. A column stump on Jerusalem’s Via Dolorosa
marks the place of a legendary Jewish attack on her. These were old tales, and
now new facts. This week in Bethlehem, a Jew shelled the Virgin. A Jewish
soldier in the formidable tank Merkava-3 constructed according to the US
technology at the US taxpayer’s expense fired a shell at fifty yards at the
statue of Madonna on top of The Holy Family church in the Nativity town.
The Virgin lost an arm, and her pretty face was
disfigured. She became one of a hundred Palestinian women shot by the Jews in
the present outburst of war. This seemingly unnecessary act of vandalism could
not be an accidental shot. No terrorist hided behind her gentle figure on the
pinnacle of the hospital church. At fifty yards, you make no mistake. It could
be orders; it could be a spontaneous expression of feelings by a Jewish
fanatic. Our world rewinds full speed back into Dark Ages, and as Israel
rekindled traditional Jewish hostile rejection of Christianity, it can not be
excluded.
Whatever it was meant to be, the shrapnel shot
became the last check of the mind control system: will this sacrilege become
widely known? And will it stir the hearts of Christendom? The doubly negative
result of the check probably confirmed the greatest hopes of its initiators.
The world mass media, from New York to Moscow via Paris and London, has been
secured in the grip of Jewish supremacists; not a squeak gets out unless
authorised. The current Israeli invasion of Ramallah and Bethlehem was covered
under the heading ‘Sharon looks for peace’.. The UN resolution equalized the
aggressors and their victims in sotto voce. The Western mainstream media drew
the blanket of silence over the cries from the Holy Land.
Alexander Cockburn[ii][ii] writes this week: “It’s supposedly the third rail in journalism even to have a discussion of how much Jews control the media. Jude Wanniski remarked last week in his daily "Memo on the Margin" in his Web newsletter Supply Side Investor that it was certainly true to say that the Jews control discussion of Israel in the media here”.
Indeed, the story was reported by Reuters and
this dreadful picture was taken by an AP photographer. It was available to the
world media. Still, no important newspaper or magazine printed it. Instead,
they published stories of Christian anti-Semitism.
The conscience of the West suffers of the
mirror vision complaint regarding the Middle East. Terrorist actions were
perpetrated by the Jews against Palestinians, but the very name of Palestinians
became the epitome of terrorism. Palestinians face holocaust; Jewish soldiers
print numbers on their foreheads and forearms, separate men and send them into
concentration camps, but Jewish holocaust memorials spread like mushrooms.
Israel and the US disregard the international law, but their adversaries
branded ‘rogue nations’[iii][iii]. While Palestinian towns are
invaded by Israeli tanks, the Wall Street Journal published an article Israel
under Siege by the illegal ‘Mayor’ of Jerusalem Ehud Olmert. Churches are
shelled, Gospel books burnt, Christians persecuted by the Jews in Palestine,
but it is Christian anti-Semitism that worries news editors and churchmen.
The accusation of anti-Semitism became the
blood libel of our days. Or was it always? In the Merchant of Venice, Shylock
complained of Gentile hatred, though it is he who hated, while others disproved
of his loan-sharking practices. Instead of cutting the loan rate, he preferred
to cut Antonio’s flesh, and hide behind his claims of discrimination. If
Shakespeare’s Portia would have our modern attitude, she would rather let Shylock
have his pound of flesh than stop him and be accused of anti-Semitism.
Probably in such a spirit, the guardians of the
public conscience decided to spike or play down the sacrilege in Bethlehem. This
quietude of the West should frighten us well beyond the Middle Eastern context,
as it possibly means our civilisation is dead.
Civilisation can’t survive if its sacral heart ceased to beat. When faith loses its relevance, civilisation dies, wrote the philosopher of history Arnold Toynbee in his explanation of the ancient Egypt’s collapse. There is no life without sacral, seconded the philosopher of religion, Mircea Eliade. Whether we accept philosophy of history, or mystic reading, or pragmatic sociological studies; whether we follow Durkheim or Heidegger, the conclusion is the same: indifference to the fate of the Virgin of Bethlehem bodes ill to the Christian Western civilisation. It implies that the Europeans and Americans lost the sacral core, and our profaned civilisation is doomed to extinction, unless we’ll turn away from the edge of the abyss.
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