To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] O troubled town of Bethlehem By David Parsons
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 08:04:27 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: BSaphir
Date sent: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 12:22:07 EST
Subject: O troubled town of Bethlehem By David Parsons
To: freemanlist@lists.io.com

The Jerusalem Post
O, troubled town of Bethlehem
By David Parsons

(December 24) - Bethlehem holds a special place in the Christian
faith, not only as the home of young King David and the resting place
of Rachel, but as the small village of Judean shepherds visited from
on high two millennia ago. Each Christmas, Christians worldwide sing
carols honoring that "little town" lost in "a dreamless sleep," that
would become universally known as the birthplace of Jesus.

But just as the Jordan River is not "deep and wide," so our songs
about Bethlehem no longer reflect its reality today - a bastion of
Islamic fervor on the front-lines of a holy war against Israel and
infidels.

Bethlehem, along with Beit Jala to the west and Beit Sahur to the
east, has been predominantly Christian for centuries. But in modern
times these towns have been invaded by PLO/Moslem elements bent on an
aggressive agenda to retake Jerusalem and the Islamic Wakf of
Palestine. In one generation, the entire area has undergone a dramatic
transformation, as 60 percent of its Christian families have fled and
Moslems have taken over, now constituting three-fourths of the local
population.

This agenda has been on full display during the current Palestinian
uprising, as Fatah's Tanzim militiamen - Moslems - have infiltrated
Christian homes and churches in Beit Jala night after night to shoot
at the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo. The IDF has reluctantly responded
to snipers firing from buildings whose owners were chased away at
gunpoint.

This is not Israeli spin, but first-hand testimony from local
residents. Their stories are chilling. We have listened to grown men
in tears talking of the Tanzim. Hundreds of Christians have fled. Last
month, one family with nine children hid in a cave until they could
cross safely into Jerusalem. This is the reality of Bethlehem this
Christmas.

The truth is, Beit Jala was initially targeted by Moslems at an
Islamic conference in Baghdad in 1978, which raised money to build
mosques in a village that had no mosque. Actually, at that time it had
no Moslems either. Since then, some 50,000 Bethlehem-area Christians
have moved to Chile and the entire Bethlehem area acquired 69 mosques
in 30 years.

When Israel handed over Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority three
days before Christmas in 1995, Yasser Arafat flew in and delivered a
speech to an overwhelmingly Moslem throng pressed into Manger Square
under banners of the PLO chief and the "Engineer," revered Hamas
bomb-maker Yihye Ayyash. "Glory to God in the highest and on earth
peace, goodwill towards men," proclaimed Arafat, invoking the angelic
message found in the Christian account of the Nativity. "In spirit and
blood we will redeem thee, O Palestine!" answered the crowd.

Christian pilgrims visiting Manger Square that Christmas were handed
fliers in English prepared by the Palestinian Ministry of Information
that stressed not the significance of Bethlehem but Islamic claims to
Jerusalem. Instead of Joseph and Mary, the focus was on Mohammed tying
his winged horse Burak to the Western Wall in his mythical night
journey - thus rendering it an exclusively Moslem holy site.

Two days after that first "PLO" Christmas, Arafat had an editor of
al-Kuds newspaper kidnapped and jailed for not following orders to
place on the front page of the Christmas Day edition a photo of him
and the Greek Orthodox patriarch. The picture was to be accompanied by
a story comparing Arafat to the Caliph Omar, the Moslem conqueror of
Jerusalem who was handed the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
by Sophronius. The editor's crime: He buried the story on page 7.

In years since, Palestinian officials admit tourism to Bethlehem has
dropped and Christmas festivities have been marred by roving Moslem
hooligans out to spoil Christian observances.

But this year may be saddest of all. The PA had worked with major
production companies to stage Bethlehem 2000, with plans for a laser
show and choirs from around the globe, to be beamed to a worldwide
audience. The choirs canceled weeks ago, due to the Palestinian
uprising - not any Israeli closure. Some traditional events will be
held, but the Arab Christians of Bethlehem are in no mood for singing.

You will hear some Arab Christians - perhaps even in response to this
column - telling a completely different tale, of Israeli abuses and
good relations with the Moslems. But too many of them have privately
looked us in the eye and said they fear for their lives if they openly
tell the truth. "We are forced to live with two faces," they lament.

So this Christmas, Christians and people of goodwill everywhere should
say a prayer for the dear Christians who have managed to survive in
Bethlehem. And keep in mind, they are singing the same cherished
carols heard round the world - but with a gun to their heads.

(The writer is the public relations officer at the International
Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.)

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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Op-Ed from today's Jerusalem Post
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 14:35:24 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 02:27:14 -0700 (MST)
From: The Temple Institute <opt-in@templeinstitute.org>
Subject: Op-Ed from today's Jerusalem Post

Pacifying Arafat with the Temple Mount
By Esther Levens

(December 25) - As Christians and Jews all over the world celebrate Christmas and Hanukka, members of both faiths are faced with a supreme irony. As this was being written, an Israeli delegation in Washington was attempting to reach a peace agreement with a delegation representing Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak and US President Bill Clinton, both about to leave office (Barak, if he's not reelected), appear willing to hand over the Temple Mount to the followers of Islam.
It is Arafat's radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorists whose ongoing jihad and current intifada represent the greatest threat to the entire Judeo-Christian civilization.
The two leaders seem to be telling Arafat that if he promises at some future date to stop shooting and bombing and killing, they will give him, in advance, the Temple Mount to destroy. It will be no different than when his people desecrated Joseph's Tomb and prevented Christians, through
terrorism, from visiting Bethlehem.
The leaders should demand, first, that Arafat stop sponsoring a "Day of Rage" every Friday. Orchestrated terrorist attacks take place throughout Israel, not just on Fridays, including the bombing of buses carrying schoolchildren and the hurling of large rocks from the Temple Mount to injure
worshipers at the Western Wall below.
Second, Arafat must immediately stop Tanzim terrorists from taking over at gunpoint the apartments of Arab Christians in Beit Jala in order to stage a shooting frenzy. The thousands of Christians of Beit Jala and tens of thousands of Jewish residents of nearby Gilo are targeted almost nightly,
once again displaying Arafat's contempt for the lives of both Christians and Jews. This atrocity cannot be allowed to continue.
Third, Arafat must cherish and protect the lives of Palestinian children. How strange it is that the Judeo-Christian world must implore Arafat to stop putting Palestinian children on the front line to be killed for the benefit of CNN "photo-ops." The PA encourages the killing of Palestinian
children by giving $2,000 to the families who are willing to sacrifice these youngsters as martyrs for jihad. This uncivilized practice has to end. Nothing has changed since prime minister Golda Meir said, "There will only be peace when Arabs love their children more than they hate us."
Fourth, Arafat must stop killing and maiming Israeli children in terror attacks throughout Israel. Perhaps it is naive to expect Arafat to honor the lives of Israeli children when he has put a bounty on the heads of his own young people.
Finally, as part of this understanding, Arafat should throw away the gun he wears with his military battle uniform, which he symbolically flaunts on the world stage.
The radical Islamic rejection of the Judeo-Christian commitment to the sanctity of human life is made clear by the carnage in Arafat's renewed intifada - a barbaric guerrilla war against civilians.
Despite this, we are witnessing Israeli and American government leaders desperately begging Arafat to accept the ultimate gift - the Temple Mount - in the hope that this bribe may finally satisfy him.
The National Unity Coalition for Israel, with its 200 Jewish and Christian organizations representing 40 million Americans, would like to remind President Clinton and Prime Minister Barak that this is not an Israeli issue alone. Jews and Christians worldwide have an intrinsic stake in the outcome
of this clash between totally opposite political objectives.
After years spent constantly seeking peace, Israel has learned once again that the Palestinian goal remains the same - the complete elimination of Israel.
(The writer is the president of the American National Unity Coalition for Israel.)

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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Israel, PA expected to agree on basis for talks
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 14:41:50 -0500

 Monday, December 25, 2000

Israel, PA expected to agree on basis for talks

                  By Aluf Benn, Amira Hass and Dalia Shehori
                  Ha'aretz Correspondents

Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority will probably agree to continue their
current negotiations on the basis of the American bridging proposals,
sources close to the talks say.

Off the record, Palestinian officials yesterday said these proposals are
significantly better than Israel offered in Washington last week, and so the
PA would probably agree to negotiate on this basis.

However an Israeli source said that during last week's talks "the Palestinians
essentially accepted the American proposals they rejected at [the] Camp
David [summit]. We didn't offer much more than we had already agreed at
Camp David."

Publicly, the PA is still saying it needs to study the proposals. Yasser Abed
Rabbo, one of the PA negotiators, said some elements were "positive" while
others "required caution."

However, he added, the proposal did address all the issues and did not
require trade-offs (such as Israel giving up the Temple Mount in exchange for
the Palestinians' conceding the right of return).

But the officials said the PA attaches three conditions for signing any
agreement.

One, which they say the American proposal already includes, is that
international forces replace Israeli troops along the Jordanian border and the
international community should guarantee implementation of the agreement.

Two, the agreement should be anchored in a UN Security Council resolution.
 

Three, the agreement should be approved by the Palestinian public in a
referendum.

Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, head of the Israeli negotiating team, told
a meeting of the "peace cabinet" last night he had also recommended
proceeding on the basis of the American proposals since they offered a
"reasonable resolution." Furthermore, he said, Israel cannot afford to carry
the blame if it rejects these proposals.

But Israeli sources said their side will not officially respond until PA
Chairman Yasser Arafat does.

If an agreement is signed, Israel will get a generous compensation package
from the United States, including an upgrading of its strategic relationship
and military aid. Ben-Ami discussed this package with outgoing Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright, and also raised the issue briefly with the incoming
secretary of state, Colin Powell.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak, speaking to the cabinet earlier in the day,
warned that if Israel did not reach an agreement with the Palestinians, its
peace treaties with other countries in the region would be threatened and it
would risk a "regional escalation" and international isolation.

Although he insisted Israel is "seriously" seeking an agreement, ministers
present at the meeting said they got the impression his expectation of
success is still low. Several ministers were infuriated by the sketchiness of
the report they got on last week's talks, and said they were getting all their
detailed information from the press.

But Barak said he had not yet been fully briefed by the negotiating team,
which returned to Israel only yesterday, and therefore could not give a fuller
report. He added that many of the press reports are pure speculation - in
particular he denied the Americans had submitted any written bridging
proposals.

Interior Minister Haim Ramon demanded that the American proposals be
submitted to the full cabinet so that body could decide on Israel's response.
Barak, however, refused to make such a commitment. He will not make the
final decision on his own, he said, but it might be made by the "peace
cabinet" rather than the full cabinet.

The U.S. proposal

Following are the main elements of the American bridging proposal.

l Jerusalem. Arab neighborhoods will become part of Palestine, Jewish
neighborhoods will remain part of Israel. On the Temple Mount, the Al Aqsa
Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and the plaza between them will be under
Palestinian sovereignty, but the Palestinians will be forbidden to conduct
archaeological digs there and will have to acknowledge the Jewish
connection to the site. The Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City
and most of the Armenian Quarter will remain Israeli. The entire Old City will
be open, with no border controls. Jerusalem will be the capital of both
countries.

l Refugees. Palestinian refugees will be granted the right to return to their
"homeland," which will be defined in the agreement as the Palestinian state.
There will be no right of return to Israel, but Israel will absorb tens of
thousands of refugees on a humanitarian basis. An international framework,
in which Israel will participate, will be set up for compensating and resettling
the refugees. The agreement will recognize Israel as the historic homeland of
the Jewish people.

l Borders. The border will be the June 4, 1967 lines, with minor adjustments,
for which Israel will compensate the Palestinians with territory in the Negev.
The Palestinians will control some 95 percent of the West Bank; about 80
percent of the settlers will be annexed to Israel, with territorial contiguity
between Israel and the annexed settlements. Israel will guarantee a "safe
passage" between Gaza and the West Bank.

The Washington talks did not discuss evacuating settlements, but sources
in Prime Minister Ehud Barak's office said that all settlements not annexed
will be evacuated.

l Finality. Upon signing the agreement, both sides will declare "an end to the
conflict." The agreement will be implemented in two stages, the first lasting
three years and the second, six years. When implementation is complete,
the Palestinians will announce that they have no further claims against
Israel.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=12/25/00&
id=104436

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