To: "'bprlist@egroups.com'" <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: RE: [bprlist] FYI: About Allah
From: "Elphick, David (WS)"
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 11:06:09 +1030
Dear Pam,
Just a comment on your last statement, that Christians choose God.
We don't choose God, He chooses us. This covers every single person born on
this planet and in every generation since Jesus.
We can't choose God, we can only choose to reject God after hearing the
message of the gospel.
To choose God is to make faith a work, but we know it is a gift.
We don't even accept God as an action on our part. It is by inaction that we
accept God. The only action available to a person is to reject God.
God chooses us and the only work we can do is to reject it.
I hope you understand this concept, because it makes it much easier to
understand why some people are not christians. It is not that God has not
chosen them or changed their hearts to believe, but rather that they have
rejected Him after hearing of Him, or coming across Him in their lives.
David
-----Original Message-----
From: Pam Baker
Sent: Saturday, 11 November 2000 6:16 am
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] FYI: About Allah
Dear Pastor Garrison:
Thank you for your clarification of: "Allah is great", that it
really means "Allah is greater"; greater than the God who created
the heaven and the earth. That, I think, is the iniquity that was found
in Satan and we know what is going to happen to him.
Praise the Lord!
To the Muslims, their god is so 'great' (?) he accepts the blood of
children in sacrifice and the present willingness of the
Palestinians, and Arabs in general, to 'sacrifice' their children to
Allah, I think, is analogous to children being passed through
the fire in the Old Tesament. That practice, we know, was anathema to
God and, I am sure, it still is. Praise the Lord!
It is obvious the UN is biased against Israel. I think they are
biased because they know that Israel will not join their 'One
World Government' and that Israelites, like true Christians, will not
join their One World Church. I think, too, that the UN is
hoping to use the Palestinian 'cause' to drive the Jews out of Israel
and that they would attack true Christians, also, but they
do not know those who are true Christians. God is the only one who
knows that because He, alone, knows what is in the
heart of anyone, myself included. (That is why I must, daily, examine
myself and recommit myself to the maker of all, my
Lord and Master, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.) After the rapture, The UN,
cum World Government, will not be able to
identify anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as the Son of God, positively.
Therefore, I think, Satan will cause the image of the
beast to be built and the mark of the beast to be decreed for that
purpose, specifically, during the last half of the Daniel's 70
weeks of years. The identity of the 144,000 'virgins', born-again Jews,
12,000 from each tribe, will be known but no one
will be able to harm them because they will be 'sealed by God'. Praise
the Lord!
When our Lord was caught up to heaven He left 12 Jews, whom He had
chosen; He gave them the spriitual protection of
the Holy Spirit and, sent them to preach the Gospel. After catching up
His bride to heaven, He will leave 12 x 12 = 144,000 Jews, Jewswho had
chosen Him; seal them, to protect them from both physical and spiritual
forces and, send them to preach His everlasting gospel.. Praise the
Lord!
Thank you, again for the clarification. God Bless you. Charlie
Baker.
P.S.
I think the main difference between Jews and Christians is simply this:
Jews were chosen by God. Jews did not choose Him, He chose them.
BUT
Christians choose God. Christians were not chosen by God, they
choose Him.
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Arafat holds rare meeting with Hamas leader in Qatar
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 20:17:29 -0500
Arafat holds rare meeting with Hamas leader in Qatar
DOHA, Nov 13 (AFP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat held talks Monday
for the first time in five years with a senior leader of the Islamic Resistance
Movement Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, on the sidelines of the Islamic summit
in Qatar.
During the meeting, Arafat "underlined the need for the unity of the
Palestinian people, a desire which I share with him based on continuing the
intifada and escalating resistance against (Israeli) occupation," Meshaal told
AFP.
Meshaal, the head of the Hamas political bureau, said he and Arafat had
"agreed to meet again in the future."
"The objective of the intifada is to put an end to the occupation and that is
what unites the Palestinian people. I hope that the Palestinian Authority
adheres to this position and continues the intifada, and will not be tempted
by negotiations."
Meshaal expressed his hope of agreeing upon a "programme to which the
Palestinian people and its factions will stick. It has been proven through
history that our people can only be united by resistance while the peace
process divides us".
"To bet on Zionist intentions is a losing bet because that means a war of
extermination against this (Palestinian) people," he said earlier in a television
interview.
"Resistance is a full programme that responds to the aspirations of the
Palestinian people," he said.
Hamas, the leading opposition movement to Arafat in the territories, has
called for a intensification of the Palestinian intifada and attacks on Israeli
soldiers and settlers.
Hamas opposes the peace process with Israel and has claimed
responsibility for a number of bloody anti-Israeli attacks since the 1993 Oslo
autonomy accords.
Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Marshalls to Seize Church Tuesday
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 13:41:44 -0000
Time is up for the IBT
Marshalls to Seize Church Tuesday
By Paul Zimmerman - Sierra Times On Scene Reporter Last Updated:
11/14/2000 07:30:28
Indinapolis: It's dark, 32 degrees with scattered snow flurries and
I'm just getting ready to leave for the 45 minute trip to
Indianapolis. It won't be light for another half an hour or so.
I caught the early bird newscast today and I saw a live report from
one of the local TV stations in front of the Indianapolis Baptist
Temple. It had the usual pro-government spin. The church is being
seized for failure to "pay millions of dollars in taxes" (FACTS: the
church is accused of not withholding FICA and other federal taxes
from the salaries of it's ministers, but the individuals have paid
all taxes that were due; the IRS estimated that the withholding taxes
came to approximately $200,000 and the rest of the $6 million plus
that the government says is due them are for fines and penalty
interest). The local TV reporter went on to state, in that
professionally concerned voice that they learn in journalism school,
that "the neighbors" are worried because "right-wing militias" have
said that they intend to defend the property.
Last night's broadcast showed people from around the country who'd
driven to Indianapolis to stand in solidarity with the congregation.
Bo Gritz made the trip and spent most of yesterday at the Temple and
he will be standing with the church today.
I'll be leaving for Indianapolis in a couple of minutes to stand with
the Indianapolis Baptist Temple and to bear witness to whatever may
unfold today.
Your prayers and thoughts will be much appreciated.
Yours in Liberty,
Paul Zimmerman
Check back often at this page will be updated throughout the day
http://www.sierratimes.com/pribt111400.htm
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Ben Yosef update: Close call in Gilo
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 08:55:01 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Send reply to: <benyosef@torahvoice.org>
From: "Ben Yosef"
To: "ben Yosef"
Subject: update: close call in Gilo; school teacher & 2 IDF soliders killed in drive-by shooting; settlements under attack by Palestinians and Meretz
Date sent: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 22:28:19 +0200
Shalom,
GILO, New South Lebanon -- Another battle with Tanzim militia in Beit
Jala firing automatic weapons at residences here and IDF forces
responding in kind and with a few anti-tank missiles has calmed for
the time being after about 30 minutes of intense exchanges.
There were no reports of injuries but my Christian friend (who let me
watch the news on television at his house before we got our own TV)
was walking along Ha-Anafah Street about 6:30 p.m. tonight when the
Palestinian firing began and bullets pinged past him. The IDF opened
fire from machine gun and anti-tank missile nests atop residences and
gun emplacements along the southern face of our mountain.
An attack helicopter is currently floating across our mountain staying
out of reach of anti-aircraft fire waiting to see whether the
Palestinians resume the battle or whether they are through for the
night.
But the tragic news tonight is the death of a school teacher and two
IDF "special unit" soldiers killed in a drive-by shooting on the main
Shomron bypass road between Ofrah and Shilo at about 4:15 p.m. this
afternoon. The two soldiers are part of the IDF's special force
assigned to guard settlements and were enroute to their assignments
when the military bus in which they were traveling was peppered with
automatic gun fire. The bus was struck more than 50 times killing the
two and injuring 8 other passengers. The injured were taken to
hospitals in Jerusalem and were listed in light to moderate condition.
(Moderate is the equivalent of "stable" in the U.S., meaning the
extent of injuries was not life-threatening). The woman teacher was
on her way to a class in Neve Suk in her personal vehicle in front of
the bus. Her vehicle was struck head on with automatic gunfire which
then peppered the bus.
The junction where the attack occurred is about halfway between
Jerusalem and Shechem, at the junction between Ofrah and Shilo where
the road forks westwards to Nachliel and Ateret.
Six ambulances from Jerusalem rushed to the scene and all traffic from
Jerusalem to the Binyamin region - Tel Tzion, Psagot, Beit El, Ofrah,
etc. - is being held up at the Hizme junction near Jerusalem's Pisgat
Ze'ev neighborhood. (A woman who lives near Ofrah and attends an ulpan
(Hebrew school) with my wife, called us a short time ago stating that
she had made it home ahead of the attacks but her children, ages 6 and
8, who attend a religious school in Jerusalem have not yet made it
home and probably cannot tonight with the roads closed.)
Late-breaking reports, for which I do not have the details, list a
fourth Israeli killed minutes ago in an attack in the Gaza. Also, a
car loaded with explosives went off and caught fire in Beit Jala. The
car was believed to have been a terrorist bomb that was accidentally
detonated. The huge explosion rattled windows here in Gilo.
The Palestinians occupying the vehicle from which the drive-by attack
was launched, escaped into Beir Zeit, a Christian Arab university
town, which has been the hotbed of ultra-Nationalistic sentiment for
a Palestinian State for at least the last 10 years and borders
Ramallah. Much of the ideological opposition of the Palestinians to
Israel and vehement anti-Israel sentiment has surfaced from this town
populated mostly by Christian Arabs.
COMMENT: As we noted 10 years ago, even the Christian Arabs in
Israel have very great difficulty recognizing Hashem as the "G-d of
Israel." This was true at another Christian Arab University in
Bethlehem, where Palestinian ultra-Nationalism was taught as part of
the curriculum. G-d to the vast majority of the Christian Arab
population is still "Allah." To call Him the G-d of Israel, recognizes
the legitimacy of Israel, to which few Christian Arabs will consent.
END COMMENT
All roads leading north and south from Jerusalem to the settlements
are closed tonight to all but IDF forces and IDF helicopters are
patrolling the perimeter of Beir Zeit and Ramallah searching for the
car from which the attack was launched.
The Yesha Council condemned the attack in a statement harshly
criticizing Prime Minister Barak: "These are the victims of the policy
of restraint that the government has decreed upon the IDF... All Yesha
roads must be closed to Palestinian traffic, to reduce the risk they
present to innocent Israeli drivers." MK Sha'ul Yahalom (National
Religious Party) called upon Barak to return to Israel at once and
establish an emergency government. Likud MK Yisrael Katz said that
Barak must instruct the army to liquidate the Palestinian aggression.
Barak's meeting with U.S. President Clinton last night ended with no
concrete results. Gen. Danny Yatom, Barak's top security-affairs aide,
said afterwards that peace with the Palestinians will not be attained
during the current Prime Ministerial term. At the same time, other
sources said that a Clinton-Barak-Arafat summit may take place before
the new American President is inaugurated. Barak departed from the
meeting to meet with American-Jewish leaders in Chicago.
MK Ruby Rivlin (Likud) termed "very grave" the reports that the Prime
Minister has agreed to hold a three-way summit involving himself,
Clinton, and Arafat without first demanding an end to the violence.
Rivlin also predicted bitterly that the negotiations would resume from
where they left off at Camp David - despite the fact that Barak had
promised after the Camp David failure that the rejected Israeli
proposals were to be considered "null and void." Senior officials in
Barak's entourage said, however, that the government would insist on a
total cessation of hostilities, and not just a ceasefire, before
proceeding with negotiations.
COMMENT: If Barak does intend to pick up where Camp David left off,
Shas MKs would abandon the party's "safety net" currently holding
together the Barak government. Shas warned Barak in no uncertain
language that any return to the negotiations based on Oslo OR Camp
David would immediately revoke their support for Barak's government.
Meanwhile, Likud MKs were preparing to introduce a formal call for
early elections to be presented before the Knesset next week. END
COMMENT
Israeli polls place Barak's support among the population at less than
20-25 percent, however, the recent "love fest" held in Tel Aviv to
commemorate the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin,
gave Barak an overwhelming welcome.
In other incidents today and Sunday night, 3 IDF soldiers managed to
escape from a near-lynching in Gush Katif early this afternoon. HaKol
MeHashetach reports that they lost eye contact with the military
convoy in which they were traveling, and ended up at a Palestinian
police post. The three were forcefully removed from their vehicle, and
a magazine was taken from their weapons. A large mob gathered at the
place and attempted to lynch them, but they somehow managed to escape.
The Palestinians shot last night at many Yesha locations, including
most notably the community of Vered Yericho, which was the target of
protracted fire from the casino in Jericho; an IDF tank fired a mortar
shell at the building, causing extensive damage to the top floor
offices.
Palestinian fire was also directed at IDF posts near Mt. Gerizim, Beit
El, the Alon Road, and Bezek base near Jenin. A Border Guard base near
Tulkarm and Jewish homes in Hevron were shot at, as well. As usual,
several sites in Gaza were attacked by Palestinian gunfire. No one was
hurt in these incidents. A one-year-old toddler from Beitar was
lightly wounded by rocks thrown at her family's car last night.
Arab rioting continued today at the usual sites... An Israeli civilian
was lightly wounded by a rock thrown at him near N'vei Dekalim. The PA
reports that two Arabs were killed in the various disturbances.
The attack tonight at the Ofrah junction is the most serious incident
of the six-week uprising, since it represents a deliberate deadly
assault against a civilian target in Area C, (an area which is under
full Israeli authority under the Oslo agreement) on a main Israeli
thoroughfare. A Tanzim Fatah militia spokesman said tonight that
civilians are now "legitimate targets" and this attack was an action
by the militia against "the occupation."
There was much talk tonight on Israeli TV about the "Lebanon model,"
so our dateline, GILO, New South Lebanon, which we have been using for
the past three weeks, may not be as far from "off" as some might
think. Specifically, analysts tonight said the Tanzim militia appear
to be mounting a "Lebanon-style guerilla war in Judea and Samaria and
the Gaza," which is specifically targeting civilians in order to
"break the spirit" of the population and have them call for the
abandonment of all the settlements.
Already this tactic is having its effect. A quarter of the front page
of the Jerusalem Post this morning was taken by an advertisement paid
for by "Peace Now" activists calling for such a move condemning the
settlement policy "that sacrifices lives for the sake of a messianic
dream that has long since passed into oblivion."
A similar large front-page ad sponored by Peace Now appears in today's
edition of the Palestinian newspaper Al Ayam, declaring that the main
obstacle to peace is the Yesha settlements. The ad states that Peace
Now promises to report to the newspaper's readers on every shekel
spent on the settlements.
The ad in the Post featured a reverse headline in white 120-point
boldface capitals on a red background: NO FUTURE WITH THE
SETTLEMENTS. The ad goes on to call for immediately dismantling the
settlements and names the Gav Ha-Har settlement bloc among the list.
COMMENT: The Gav Ha-Har bloc makes up the heart of the SHOMRON and is
the settlements who we are helping to defend with your contributions.
A report later tonight on the progress of the contributions. END
COMMENT
COMMENT: Also I would like to publish a counter ad on behalf of the
JOE-ISH support of the settlements if there is anyone out there who
would be interested in financing it. Please E-mail me if you are able
to do this and would like to and I will be happy to share with you the
cost and the text I have in mind. END COMMENT
Analysts here say a prolongued period of guerilla operations or the
"Lebanonization" of Judea-Samaria and the Gaza is how Arafat plans to
keep the popular uprising alive. Such actions can be carried out by a
minimum of Tanzim militia -- only a squad or two freeing the rest of
the population to engage in the rock throwing which has made the
intifada a popular resistance movement. However most of those rock
throwers 12 years ago are now adults.
In Lebanon, Arafat was successful in portraying the Palestinians as an
"oppressed people" (although most of his personal army was wiped out
in the process), by sustaining the level of violence inflicting
casualties over a long period of time.
Just how the settlers feel about this was reflected in the Israeli
Knesset today when Gush Katif settlers appealed to Knesset members
today to "Let the IDF Win!" The Yesha Council has scheduled a major
rally in downtown Jerusalem next week, with this same theme. The Gush
Katif (Gaza) settlers met separately with MKs of the Likud, Meretz,
Shas, and United Torah Judaism to attempt to persuade the MKs that the
IDF must be given orders to win the battle/war against the
Palestinians.
The settlers pleaded with MKs for adequate protection saying the Barak
government has "handcuffed" the IDF. There were reports of "close
calls" and escalating skirmishes with the Palestinians. As one woman
stated it, "Bombing and shooting night after night is not a normal way
to live your life unless you live in Lebanon." Others stated that
evacuation is not the solution for anything and it is a mistake to
even "talk about peace" while shooting is going on.
The meeting with Meretz was marked by an outburst from MK Mosi Raz,
who called the settlers "men of Sodom." His party colleagues condemned
him. The argument fell upon deaf ears of Meretz MKs who made a
position statement after the meeting: "The residents of Gush Katif
will merit protection only within the borders of the State of Israel."
Meretz MK Yossi Sarid further called for the most isolated of the
settlements -- including Gush Katif -- to be uprooted immediately
stating "from the very beginning this has been the most stupid
initiative of the Zionist movement."
The plot to "break" the settlers and the settlements, also was
revealed with a report that the Tanzim - the PLO's slightly-more
military arm than Fatah - is supplying weapons and ammunition to the
Hamas military wing Iz A-Din El Kassam. A senior Tanzim source told
Itim News Agency today that this is part of his organization's plans
to "turn the settlers' lives into hell, until they leave their homes."
Most of the Israeli public does not agree, with Peace Now's sentiment,
however. The Yesha Council announced today the findings of a poll
carried out this month by Market Watch that shows about half of the
public feel that their "admiration for Yesha residents has grown."
About the same number feel that the settlements "provide protection
for the rest of Israel, in that they absorb the brunt of the
Palestinian violence." Four-fifths do not agree that the settlements
are the chief cause of Palestinian violence, and 60% do not believe
that evacuation of settlements will lead to calm between Israel and
the Palestinians. However, 46% would support unilateral separation
even at the expense of evacuation of settlements; 45% are against.
Another phenomenon of the 1980's intifada, when the PLO routinely
would murder Arab sympathizers with Israel, may have begun to
re-appear. The body of an Arab man suspected of collaborating with
Israel was found at the A-Ram junction in northern Jerusalem
yesterday. Palestinian sources say he was murdered by Tanzim agents,
who suspected him of having transferred information to Israel that was
used in the successful killing of the Tanzim's Beit Jala leader
Hussein Abiyet last week.
To come later tonight:
1) Report on Arab Summit at Qatar
2) Update on settlement defense fund
3) Spiritual perceptions & comments (time permitting)
Shalom Shalom & Hashem's love & blessings,
ben Yosef
------- End of forwarded message -------
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Ben Yosef update from Jerusalem -- 13 Nov 2000
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 08:55:01 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Send reply to: <benyosef@torahvoice.org>
From: "Ben Yosef"
To: "ben Yosef"
Subject: update: scimitar rattling at Moslem summit
Date sent: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 23:53:23 +0200
The sabres (or I guess I should call them scimitars) are rattling at
the Moslem Summit in Qatar and that is about to translate into higher
gasoline prices for all of the Western world and even more ominous
alliances against Israel.
First, all the leaders of the Moslem states in the Middle East and
throughout the world, including the 56 OIC members (oil producing
states) joined yesterday in calling for tough measures against Israel
for what they call "war crimes against the Palestinians."
Then Yasser Arafat, who addressed the conference, declared the
Palestinians people's willingness to "continue their Jihad (holy war)
in the al-Aksa intifada with the help of our brothers and friends."
Arafat called on ALL Palestinian factions, including Hamas, to "join
forces to confront the occupation" and repeated his call for
Palestinian control of all Christian and Islamic holy sites in
Jerusalem.
Sudani President Omar Hassan Bashir called on the Moslem world to
"revive Jihad to liberate Arab lands." He said the recent
confrontations in the "occupied territories" affirm that Jihad is the
only means "to snatch our rights from an enemy that does not believe
in the language of peace and dialogue." Earlier this call was echoed
by Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
But it was Arafat advisor Bassam Abu Sharif who made the loudest noise
calling for the world's oil producing nations to "take active steps to
make the West understand that it must change its policy toward Israel
to comply with UN resolutions." Abu Sharif asked the oil producing
states to curb their production and put increased pressure on the West
to revise its biased stance supporting Israel by escalating oil
prices.
OPEC members apparently heard what he said announcing today that oil
prices would not decrease, meaning the current prices at the pump will
continue for the time being if not escalate as the Moslem oil
producers hold Israel hostage to the world economy.
The 3-day conference, which ends on Tuesday also includes a draft
resolution approved by the OIC nations asking all its members to sever
diplomatic ties with Israel and to urge the US administration to
"revise its biased stance which obstructs the Security Council from
shouldering its responsibilities, representing a dangerous violation
of the UN Charter."
In recent weeks, both Qatar and Morocco have severed diplomatic ties
with Israel.
The only moderating voice heard in the Summit so far has been that of
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who counseled "restraint." He urged
the conference not to promote violence and hatred. "The question
before the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, before this assembly, and
before the world, is how to bring an end to the violence and killing,
and how to respect the sanctity of every human life, Palestinian or
Israeli, your or old."
The conference began with verses from the Koran and silence in memory
of Palestinian martyrs. The draft resolution moderated by Egypt and
Turkey to ease criticism of Washington but still laced with
anti-Israel rhetoric, indicates that the conference may repeat the
demand Yasser Arafat made to President Clinton for a 2,000 member
international force to separate Palestinians from Israelis.
COMMENT: This conference spells out the framework of alliances that
will eventually form the Gog-Magog army that will oppose Israel during
some future Succot. It will be Islamic and it will be anti-Zionist and
it will be united by OIL. That Sudan is now advancing the rhetoric of
Jihad with Arafat and Iraq is especially significant because the Sudan
is anciently part of Ethiopia, which is the southernmost state of the
Gog-Magog alliance.
However the moderating influence of Turkey and Egypt indicates that
Turkey is not yet ready to join the call for Jihad, even though it has
in recent weeks restored alliances with Syria. Also, in recent weeks,
Iraq has restored relations with Iran and Egypt.
Even though Israel's immediate neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and
Lebanon, do not enter into the alliance of Moslem states that will war
with Israel, this is not to say that the anti-Israel neighbors will be
altogether neutral in accommodating the future invasion.
In another curious development today, a Lebanese Christian Patriarch
called for Lebanon and Syria to restore diplomatic ties saying
otherwise Lebanon is slowly "fading away" as a puppet of Syria.
With the Sudan and Iraq now joining Arafat's call for Jihad, it is
more important than ever that the West understand the "terms" of an
Islamic "peace" being only a stage of war when an enemy is stronger
than the Islamic state. Peace exists only until the Islamic state is
stronger and then the peace is transformed into war. See What the West
Needs to Know About Islam at www.torahvoice.org/housewar.html on our
website.
Shalom Shalom & Hashem's blessings,
ben Yosef
------- End of forwarded message -------
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Nov 14, 2000 TV Programs
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:12:33 -0500
8:00 PM Eastern
PBS - NOVA - "Hitler's Lost Sub" - Professional diver
John Chatterton discovers a sunken World War II German U-boat
located near the New Jersey shore.(CC)(TVG)
HIST - HISTORY'S MYSTERIES - "Nazi Ghost Train" - The
Resistance prevents Nazis from sending a train full of
prisoners to Germany.(CC)(TVPG)
MSNBC - MSNBC INVESTIGATES: A CHANGE OF GENDER - (CC)
9:00
HIST - D-DAY: THE TOTAL STORY - "D Minus 1" - Tensions rise
as the Allies prepare to invade Europe. Host Gerald
McRaney.(CC)(TVG)
10:00
HIST - THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIPS - Ships constituting the
Gator Navy are among the most advanced ships
afloat.(CC)
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Subject: [bprlist] Zenit News items (11/13/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:12:33 -0500
NOBEL PRIZE RECIPIENTS HEAR PAPAL PLEA
Pope Touches on Debt, Discrimination and Openness to Others
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 13, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- John Paul II met this morning
with a forum of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, gathered in Rome for a
meeting of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political
Studies, presided over by Mikhail Gorbachev.
After greeting the former Communist leader and Francesco Rutelli, Rome's
mayor, who hosted forum for the second time in the Capitol, the Holy
Father told the Nobel recipients that "a concerted effort must be made to
ensure that new generations reject the ways of discrimination, exclusion
and conflict, and set out resolutely on the path to peace in a spirit of
openness to the values and traditions of others."
The Pope praised the work of the Nobel Prize recipients "in seeking to
promote a culture of nonviolence and peace among the children of the world
during the coming decade," and "in recognizing that a civilization of
peace cannot be built without tackling the problem of external debt."
Following their meeting with the Holy Father in the Vatican, the Nobel
Prize recipients held a press conference in the Capitol to report on their
two days of work. They said their attention focused on the Middle East
situation, disarmament, globalization and the need for development in the
world's poorest areas.
Gorbachev said the laureates analyzed how the opportunities generated by
globalization might be shared in a just way.
The former Soviet leader added: "Personally, I am in favor of eliminating
the debts of developing countries. However, I stress that this is not
enough for their economic relaunching, as more articulated measures are
necessary, an ensemble of dispositions that will foster development in
these countries." ZE00111308
----------
CHURCH HAS RIGHT TO PRONOUNCE ITSELF ON LAWS, JOHN PAUL II
SAYS
Greets New Portuguese Ambassador
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 13, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- The Church has the right to
criticize a country's laws and institutions when they go against the moral
law, John Paul II affirmed today.
When receiving Pedro Jose Ribeiro de Menezes, the new Portuguese
ambassador to the Vatican, the Pope focused on the public role of the
Church in modern democracies.
"The Church has no direct power over laws and institutions of the state,
chosen democratically and in full liberty by citizens," the Holy Father
said. "But in fulfilling the mission received from her divine Founder, she
claims the right to pronounce herself on them, distinguishing what is
permitted by the civil laws from what is the moral law, consistent with a
well-formed conscience."
As an example of the Church's task, the Pontiff referred to the role of
bishops and Catholics to publicly oppose their country's laws when they
favor abortion or give legal status to "unions" that are irreconcilable
with, and completely different from, matrimony.
The Pope said, "We must denounce, as a violation of the original
assignment we received, those people who do not educate in authentic
liberty, in truth, and in respect for love and for family values."
He added that the Church "wishes with all her strength to work for this
cause within her own sphere, in full respect for the liberty of
conscience."
Lastly, the Holy Father applauded Portugal's support of
Portuguese-speaking countries, in particular "the great solidarity shown
by Portugal during the bloody drama of East Timor," and during the return
of Macao to China. ZE00111307
ZENIT, November 13, 2000 - DAILY DISPATCH - The World Seen From Rome
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Subject: [bprlist] U.S., Brits Strike Iraqi Radar Site
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:12:34 -0500
Monday November 13 9:19 PM ET
U.S., Brits Strike Iraqi Radar Site
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and British warplanes bombed a military radar
site in southern Iraq on Monday after coming under fire, the U.S. military
said.
The afternoon attack was a response to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire on the
allied planes, the U.S. central command, based in Florida, said in a
statement faxed to The Associated Press in Cairo.
An Iraqi military spokesman acknowledged the attack in a statement carried
by the official Iraqi News Agency, saying it targeted ``civil and service
installations'' in Basra, 350 miles south of Baghdad. He did not comment
on casualties.
U.S. and British warplanes enforce no-fly zones over northern and southern
Iraq to protect groups opposed to the Baghdad government. Iraq does not
recognize the zones and has been challenging the planes since December
1998.
Also Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov arrived in Baghdad for
talks with Iraqi officials and showed support for Iraq's opposition to the
U.N. trade sanctions imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Speaking on Iraqi state television, Ivanov said Moscow is pushing for
removal of the sanctions. Ivanov arrived in Baghdad on a flight that the
U.N. sanctions committee said it had approved. Under the sanctions regime,
passenger flights to Baghdad are forbidden.
``Russia and other countries are suffering huge losses because of the
embargo,'' Ivanov said, referring to Iraq's multibillion-dollar debt to
Russia and potential oil-industry deals.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001113/wl/us_iraq_1.html
via: Third_Watch@egroups.com
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Subject: [bprlist] Israel: Sharp drop in property crime
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:12:34 -0500
Ha'aretz: Police attribute sharp drop in property crime to closure and
beefed-up police presence along the boundary with the PA
By Asaf Bergerfreund Ha'aretz 14 November 2000
The Israel Police reported a significant drop in property crime within the
Green Line in October. Police assessments attribute this to the violence
in the Palestinian Authority over the past month, coupled with the closure
imposed on the territories and the beefed-up police presence along the
boundary with the PA.
Police figures show a 34 percent drop in the number of car thefts, from
2,469 in September to 1,607 in October; while the number of burglaries of
private homes fell by 18.5 percent, from 2,637 to 2,150.
The police reported falls in the number of thefts in all districts, but
particularly in the Southern district, which is close to the PA and where
closure has made it hard for criminals in the territories to link up with
accomplices within Israel.
via: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:03:07 +0200
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Subject: [bprlist] IDF Spokesperson: Summary of Day's Events (11/13/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:12:34 -0500
IDF Spokesperson: Summary of the Day's Events in Judea & Samaria and
the Gaza Strip (correct 21.30 13 November 2000)
13 November 2000
Judea & Samaria:
An Israeli female civilian was killed this evening while travelling near
the Ofra settlement, north of Ramallah, by gunfire from a passing car.
Corporal Elad Wallenstein, aged 18 from Ashkelon, and Corporal Amit Zanna,
aged 19 from Netanya, were killed this evening by gunfire from a car
passing the military bus carrying them close to the Ofra settlement. The
families of the two soldiers have been informed. In the attack six other
soldiers were injured, two moderately and four lightly. The soldiers have
been evacuated and given medical attention.
Two Israel civilians were slightly hurt from stones thrown at the car in
which they were travelling close to Ojieh, north of Jericho.
An Israeli car was fired on close to Alfe Menashe. Nobody was hurt. The
car was lightly damaged.
An Israeli car was fired on near to the entrance to the Shilo settlement.
No one was hurt. No damage was caused.
A Palestinian car attempted to run over soldiers close to the settlement
of Rahalayim in Samaria. After soldiers succeeded to escape, fire was
directed towards them from the car. Soldiers returned fire towards the car
carrying the attackers. There were no casualties, and no damage was
caused.
In the evening gunfire was launched towards the Jerusalem suburb of Gilo
from Bet Jalla. The IDF returned in the direction of the attackers.
Gunfire was directed at the entrance of the settlement of Beracha;
the gunfire was not returned to.
Gunfire was directed at the DCO in Jericho; gunfire was directed towards
Vered Jericho; gunfire was directed towards the bypass road near Jericho;
gunfire was directed at an army warehouse at Gan Hayot; gunfire was
directed towards Kever Rachel in Bethlehem; at Tel Aras; the Shedama
Camp;
the fruit market close to Kalkilya; and towards the Jewish settlement in
Hebron from Kaharat I-Sheikh. Soldiers returned fire in the direction of
the attackers.
There were a number of disturbances in Judea and Samaria: stones and
molotov cocktails were thrown at the Ayosh junction; and the Border Police
section at Tul Karem. The IDF broke up the demonstrations.
Stones were thrown at Israeli cars and IDF forces at the following places:
the Shemaa Tzaffon and El Power near Hebron; the Otzrin junction near
Jenin; Bet Omer near Bethlehem; and the El Ojie road. In each incident
there no casualties or damage.
The Gaza Strip
An Israeli civilian was killed this evening by gunfire directed towards a
truck in which he was travelling, close to the Kissufim junction in the
southern part of the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli civilian suffered light head injuries from stones thrown
towards him in the Neve Dekalim area.
Gunfire was directed at an IDF post close to Neve Dekalim; and towards IDF
forces by the fenceline north of Kissufim. Soldiers returned the gunfire
towards the direction of the attackers in a number of the cases.
Stones were thrown at the following: an IDF position on the
Israeli-Egyptian border; towards the Neve Dekalim industrial area; towards
a military vehicle close to Kfar Darom by the fence line north of
Kissufim; and towards a convoy leaving the Netzarim settlement.
"IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
Tue, 14 Nov 2000 08:54:09 +0200
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Subject: [bprlist] Palestinians And Jews Spar Over Archaeological Claims
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:17:56 -0500
Palestinians And Jews Spar Over Archaeological Claims
JERUSALEM, Israel (NEWSROOM) -- Amid gunfire and rock throwing,
Palestinian archaeologists are engaged in an academic battle with their
Israeli counterparts over the history of the Holy Land.
Palestinian politicians are urging their scholars to find proof that antiqu
ity
supports their claims to the region and its holy sites. Israeli negotiators
at
the most recent Camp David peace talks say that the archeological issue
was the hottest topic, with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat attempting to
delegitimize Israeli claims and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak using
historical counter arguments.
Dispute over what touched off the recent clashes is itself rooted in histor
ical
concerns. Palestinians call current violence an "Al-Aqsa intifada" after th
e
mosque located on what Jews refer to as the Temple Mount, a sacred
Jewish site under Israeli sovereignty since 1967 where archaeological digs
continue. The Palestinian Authority insists the violence was sparked by
conservative Israeli leader Ariel Sharon's visit to the Mount, which is rev
ered
in the Muslim world as the Noble Sanctuary.
Israeli leaders argue, however, that Islamic leaders from Umm al-Fahm, one
of the largest Arab communities in Israel, were holding rallies for an "Al-
Aqsa
intifada" long before Sharon's visit. The slogan "Al-Aqsa is in danger" has
been the rallying cry of the Islamic movement in Israel for years, the Isra
elis
point out. The movement has invested labor and millions of dollars donated
by the Arab Gulf states into restoring Al-Aqsa and publicizing allegations
that Israel plans to annex the mosque. For years Arab towns around Galilee
were pasted with posters depicting the chained golden dome surrounded by
a halo of fire with a clenched fist rising out of the flames.
Analysts agree that Sharon's visit, accompanied by a large contingency of
Israeli police, provoked a particularly raw religious and political nerve a
mong
Arabs, but Israel insists that was not the intention. Israeli Foreign Minis
ter
Shlomo Ben-Ami asked in a recent meeting with prominent Israeli Arabs:
"Does anybody think that there is a sane person in this country, this
government, who wants to harm the sacredness of Islam, who wants to harm
Al-Aqsa? We have had sovereignty over the Temple Mount for 30 years, and
we have never changed the status quo. Under our sovereignty, the biggest
mosque in the Middle East has been constructed."
But the more militant northern wing of the Islamic movement headed by
Umm al-Fahm Mayor Sheikh Ra'ed Salah charges that Israel is trying to
destroy Al-Aqsa. Recently, Sheikh Salah stated that "the constant
excavations carried out by Israeli archeologists under the mosque are
affecting its foundations" and that "so far, the archeologists have found
nothing (at the site) that belongs to the Jewish people."
The relationship between Israeli and Palestinian archeologists always has
been tense. Most Palestinian scholars reject the Jewish belief that
archaeological evidence accords Jews the strongest claim to the Holy Land.
Some Palestinians claim their presence in the region predates the Jews by
more than a millennium. Modern-day Palestinians, according to that school
of belief, are not the descendants of people who drifted from the Arabian
peninsula in recent centuries, as most historians believe, but are the dire
ct
descendants of the Philistines, Aegean Sea people who settled on the coast
of Canaan in the 12th century B.C. Palestinian archeologist Dr. Adel Yahya
argues that "Palestinians are the descendants of the ancient Canaanites
themselves, who were present in the land before the Israelites arrived."
Though there is no physical evidence to back these assertions, they have
been popular among Palestinian academics for at least a decade.
Mainstream international archeologists flatly reject that belief. Palestini
an
Islamists also shy away from the theory, which would make them
descendants of pagans.
Another group of Palestinian historians asserts that their people are the p
art
of the Jewish nation that did not leave after the destruction of the Temple
in
A.D. 70 and subsequently converted to Islam. Recent DNA research carried
out at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University College in London has
shown that many Jews and Arabs are indeed closely related. More than
seven out of 10 Jewish men and half of Arab men whose DNA was studied
inherited their Y chromosomes from the same paternal ancestors who lived
in the Middle East in the Neolithic period in prehistoric times.
A previous study of 1,371 men from around the world by the University of
Arizona found that the Y chromosome in Middle Eastern Arabs was almost
indistinguishable from that of the Jews. "Our findings are in good agreemen
t
with historical evidence and suggest genetic continuity in both populations
despite their long separation and the wide geographic dispersal of Jews,"
wrote Hebrew University geneticists.
Most Palestinian scholars, however, choose to create a distinctive
Palestinian-Muslim narrative that denies Jewish historical claim for the Ho
ly
Land. Edward Said, a leading Palestinian intellectual, argues that "biblica
l
scholars had effectively conspired with the Zionists to write the Palestini
ans
out of Middle Eastern history. Now, the Palestinians are hitting back --
attempting to loosen the Jews' historical grip on the disputed land."
Hamed Salem, a lecturer in archeology at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah,
recently declared: "Even the term Judaism is not very old. There is no reco
rd
of Judaism before Jesus."
A recent Israeli-Palestinian archeological conference in Beit-Jala became
turbulent when Israeli archeologist Ronny Reich presented evidence
purporting to show that the ancient and modern Hebrews are one people.
Reich said that the ancient Jewish ritual baths he had excavated in
Jerusalem's Old City are identical to those established in the Talmud and
still in use two millennia later by the Jews.
In a fiery response, Dr. Moain Sadek, the Palestinian Authority's director
of
antiquities, asserted that these were merely "ancient bathhouses" with no
particular Jewish significance. Sadek later rejected the term "biblical
archeology," claiming that Christian and Jewish scholars base their
conclusions on distortions. He castigated his Israeli counterparts for
employing what he called "religious terminology," such as "Second Temple
period" to describe the late Iron Age of 1000 B.C. to A.D. 324.
Palestinian scholars try to strengthen their position by citing controversi
al
theories of the "new Jewish archeologists" who probe the legitimacy of earl
ier
unquestioned evidence that appear to confirm the biblical stories. The most
prominent in that school is Tel Aviv University professor Israel Finkelstei
n,
who argues that there is no archeological evidence to support stories of th
e
book of Exodus, which includes the wanderings of the Jews in Sinai and
Joshua's conquest of Canaan. "The ancient Israelites evolved from the local
late Bronze Age Canaanite civilization," Finkelstein claims. "There was no
brutal military invasion. And if the united kingdom of David and Solomon ev
er
existed, they were small tribal affairs. As for Solomon's Temple, there is
no
hard archeological evidence for it."
Mainstream Israeli archeologists repeatedly charge that their Palestinian
counterparts are conducting reckless excavations on the Temple Mount in
the process of expanding and renovating the Al-Aqsa mosque and are
deliberately destroying precious archeological evidence of the Jewish
temples. Israeli archeologists are prevented from supervising these digs by
Waqf, an Islamic trust controlling the Muslim holy sites.
The Palestinian Authority's Planning Ministry Web site, in its sections on
history and on Jerusalem, makes no mention of Jews, Judaism, the Bible, or
the Temple. The site details only the significance of Jerusalem for Muslims
and Christians. The PA Tourism Ministry's Web site also does not mention
Jews or Judaism. The Israeli Tourism Ministry Web site, however, highlights
the city's significance to "Jews, Christians, and Muslims" and identifies A
l-
Aqsa Mosque as Islam's third holiest shrine.
"Most archeologists do not accept the revisionist view," says Hebrew
University archeologist Amihai Mazar. "We have been able to prove the
veracity of much in the Bible, particularly the later books."
Jon Seligman, Jerusalem district archeologist, says the Palestinian effort
to
question the existence of the Second Temple "is tantamount to Holocaust
denial. There is a huge body of evidence. The Arch of Titus, erected in Rom
e
to commemorate the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, is powerful
contemporary proof."
Knesset member Rabbi Benny Elon, from the national religious camp,
asserted that the Palestinians cannot acknowledge any Jewish roots in the
Holy Land "because Islam arrived only in the 7th century with a different
version of the biblical narrative. The sacrifice of Isaac, for example, had
become the sacrifice if Ishmael. Any archeological evidence to support the
Bible is therefore dangerous and has to be suppressed."
Mossi Raz, a former leader of Peace Now, put it differently: "I am not happ
y
when I hear the Palestinians say there was no Temple here or no Jewish
history here. It's obviously political demagoguery. But the discussions abo
ut
what happened here 2,500 years ago have no bearing on the current political
talks. The Western Wall is important, not because it stood near the Temple
but because it has become a symbol."
The Palestinian Authority's Sadek clarified that he is not suggesting that
the
area has no Jewish heritage. "I just say that all the inhabitants of this a
ncient
land were Palestinians: Jews, Christians, Muslims, and pagans," he said.
"The Bible was misused for political purposes for the last 100 years.
Excavations were carried out with an Old Testament orientation, and that's
been very damaging to the Palestinians. I am not against the Bible. The
ancient cities of Megiddo and Hatzor, for example, are mentioned in the
Bible. But they were inhabited by Philistines and Canaanites well before th
e
Israelite period. Interpretations must be reworked."
=A9 2000 newsroom.org
http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00b/20001113a.htm
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Subject: [bprlist] Homosexual priests elected to Church's ruling Synod
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:23:46 -0500
Tuesday 14 November 2000
Homosexual priests elected to Church's ruling Synod
Reports by Victoria Combe, Religion Correspondent
A NUMBER of openly homosexual clergy have been elected to the Church of
England's General Synod, which is to be inaugurated by the Queen at
Westminster Abbey today.
The election of practising homosexual priests to the Church's parliament
threatens to undermine the Archbishop of Canterbury's leadership across the
Anglican Communion. The Church teaches that homosexual acts are "sinful"
and forbids the ordination of practising homosexuals.
Such a blatant - and public - contradiction between doctrine and practice will
embarrass the Archbishop, Dr George Carey, who is opposed to any
softening of the Church's teaching on homosexuality. At the 1998 Lambeth
Conference, Dr Carey prevented the Communion splitting by siding with the
conservative bishops of Africa, Asia and Latin America and voting to retain
the ban on ordaining practising homosexuals.
A survey by the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement disclosed that 13
clergy in Synod would campaign for the ordination of practising homosexuals
and the marriage of couples of the same sex in church. Richard Kirker,
spokesman for the movement, said that the majority of these 13 clergy were
practising homosexuals whose "lifestyle" was known to voters in their
dioceses.
It is the first time that clergy members have been overt about their sexuality
when standing for Synod. Mr Kirker yesterday said: "The priests have made
no bones about their homosexuality. It is the first time that such openly gay
members have been voted on to Synod and shows that being gay is not
invariably a liability in the Church."
One of the new members, the Rev Paul Collier, priest-in-charge of St Hugh's
church in Southwark, south London, said that he admired the tactics of Peter
Tatchell of Outrage!, the militant homosexual rights organisation. Mr Tatchell
was taken to court and fined for staging a protest in the middle of Dr Carey's
Easter Day sermon in Canterbury Cathedral. He also vaulted the wall around
Lambeth Palace while a delegation of foreign bishops was visiting Dr Carey.
Mr Collier, 37 said: "We owe a huge debt to Peter Tatchell. To move the
debate you need people upsetting the institution as well as people who are
happy to move more slowly". Mr Collier will take part in a protest outside
Church House on the first day of the new Synod, which is elected every five
years.
The Rev Stephen Coles, 51, vicar of St Thomas in Finsbury Park, north
London, and convenor of the Lesbian and Gay Clergy Consultation, a
network of 200 members, has also won a place on Synod for the first time.
Mr Coles said: "There have always been homosexuals in the Synod but the
atmosphere is different this time because they will be more open about it."
The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement commissioned independent
analysis of Synod memership to find levels of support and hostility to its
cause. The study was based on analysis of members' election addresses.
The survey found that 21 per cent of the clergy were sympathetic to a
change in the Church's teaching on homosexuality, 38 per cent were neutral
and prepared to "listen", and 25 per cent were hostile to change. The rest
made no mention of sexuality. Hostility was greater among the laity with 39
per cent opposed to any softening of Church teaching on sexuality. Only
eight per cent were deemed sympathetic to the homosexual lobby.
Mr Kirker said the movement would intensify its campaign. "We have got a
tough challenge among the laity which is not a surprise, but a great many
people are persuadable."
The movement will release a report on "Christian homophobia" during the
Synod meeting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=001851641145319&rtmo=as8Hxa3L&atmo
=99999999&pg=/et/00/11/14/nsyn14.html
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (unknown)
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 14:26:38 -0000
---Forwarded message follows---
From: BSaphir
Date sent: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 14:16:01 EST
Subject: THOSE WHO FORSAKE THE COVENANT by Jan WJillem
van der Hoeven
To: freemanlist@lists.io.com
an WJillem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
THOSE WHO FORSAKE THE COVENANT
"And in his place shall arise a vile person, to whom they will not
give the honour of royalty; but he shall come in peaceably, and seize
the kingdom by intrigue. And after the league is made with him he
shall act deceitfully -- he shall show regard for those who forsake
the holy covenant. Those who do wickedly against the covenant he
shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall
be strong, and carry out great exploits." (See Daniel 11)
The inference of the above quoted words is clear: In the end time
Israel's greatest danger will come from within -- those who forsake
the holy covenant will be the chosen tools for the enemy of Israel to
lead Israel astray.
Those who have no inner regard to the uniqueness of God's holy
calling and covenant of Israel will be most vulnerable to the
deceitful flatteries of peace from the enemies of Israel.
The covenant God made with Israel is again and again alluded to in
the scriptures and has a direct link to the land He promised them
(not half of it!) as an everlasting possession. Let us listen to how
God Himself describes this covenant in Genesis 17:7,8:
And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your
descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting
covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I
give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are
a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and
I will be their God.
In my book "Babylon or Jerusalem" I call attention to the fact that
there are essentially two systems of philosophy, which vie for world
supremacy: One is called Babylon the other Jerusalem. One is
earthly bound, the other is heavenly bound. One is initiated by
man's endeavours, the other is initiated by God. One belittles
nationality and sovereignty in favour of a new global and
international approach to solve mankind's problems, the other
stresses very much sovereignty and nationhood even to the point of
singling out one nation and people as God's chosen channel for a new
world where nations shall fight no longer but turn their swords into
ploughshares and joyfully come up to Jerusalem to live in peace and
justice together.
Thus, those among the Jews who in their hearts have forsaken this
aspect of their unique calling and destiny become open to the
flatteries and deceit of those who are bent on their destruction as a
uniquely called Jewish nations. That is the implication of the
verses just quoted from the prophet Daniel.
Since God confused the Babel like effort to unite mankind in
rebellion to Him by giving each nation his own particular language -
the barrier to a global world body or government has become
nationhood and sovereignty.
As Robert W. Lee writes in his book on the U.N., "for thirty years we
have been asked to believe that an international union under the
economic, political, cultural, geographic and linguistic Tower of
Babel on New York's East River can save us from the scourge of war
and protect our personal liberties! It is an incredibly unrealistic
and dangerous assumption." (35)
On United Nations Day in 1975, the World Affairs Council of
Philadelphia unveiled the notorious "Declaration of INTERdependance"
authored by internationalist historian Henry Steele Commager. The
document called for "all nations to strengthen and to sustain the
United Nations," and claimed that "To establish a new world order"
it "is essential that mankind free itself from the limitations of
national prejudice" (See "Babylon and Jerusalem" page 20) (Emphasis
added)
Therefore those Israeli politicians who in essence have come around
to this Babylonian outlook and philosophy are the most dangerous in
regards to the ultimate safety and destiny of the people of Israel.
In Yoram Hazony's book "The Jewish State," he has the following
insightful passage: Nowhere within the Israeli government was the
influence of post-Zionist ideals more in evidence in the years after
1992 than in the Foreign Ministry, which appeared to change course
from a foreign policy aimed at securing the interests of the Jewish
people and the independent Jewish state, to one aimed at the
construction of a "new Middle East" wherein the sovereign character
of the present Jewish and Arab states would be attenuated, possibly
to the point of erasure. This policy revolution was executed with
unparalleled speed and gusto thanks to the leadership of Shimon
Peres, one of Ben-Gurion's most devoted disciples, who has over the
last decade become the most important advocate of backing away from
the idea of an independent Jewish State. (Page 62)
It is still unclear what the forces were that drove Peres, during the
Labor party's long years in opposition after 1977, to change course
after a lifetime of devotion to classic Jewish nationalism. (Page 63)
In contrast, everywhere the supernational trend predominates, there
is a sensitivity to human needs, opportunities, and desires, leading
to a more lasting international order that strives for prosperity,
development, and human rights. Western Europe is a shining example
of this. (Page 64)
At the threshold of the twenty-first century, we do not need to
reinforce sovereignty, but rather to strengthen the position of
humankind. (Page 65)
As Yoel Marcus wrote, "Our people has long since tired of bearing
Zionism on its shoulders generation after generation. While the Arabs
have remained faithful to their ideology of the holiness of the land,
preferring to forgo peace rather concede anything of their demands.
Israel is ready lightly to withdraw from the lands that were the
cradle of Judaism in exchange for personal safety and a 'normal'
life." (Page 71)
David Grossman described, "The Jews living in Israel are now being
asked not only to give up on geographical territories. We must also
implement a 'redeployment' or even a complete withdrawal from entire
regions in our soul. Such as 'the purity of arms.' Such as being
a 'precious people' (am segula) or a 'chosen people.' Slowly, over
long years, we will discover that we are beginning to give them up:
Giving up on power as a value. On the army itself as a value. On 'It
is good to die for one's country,' on 'The best to the air force' and
on 'After me.' We will discover how we are refining a new existence
for ourselves. One which is no longer drenched to the point of
suffocation with the myth of our exile from the land, or with the
myth of Masada, or with a one-dimensional lesson of the Holocaust.
(Page 72)
That this process and ideology of globalisation was not the exclusive
or original domain of Israeli educators and politicians but in fact
taken over from others in the world who had long since advocated such
thoughts and policies can be seen from the following quotes.
Years ago Zbigniew Brzeziinski already wrote in Foreign Affairs: The
world is not likely to unite (willingly) behind a common ideology or
a super-government. The only hope is that it will now respond to a
common concern for its own survival. Today the Atlantic framework is
too narrow to encompass the multitude of challenges and
opportunities that confront the international community. It is a
recognition of this reality to propose that the active promotion of
such trilateral cooperation must now become the central priority of
U.S. policy.
Professor Richard Gardner, a member of the Council of Foreign
Relations and the Trilateral Commission wrote in the same Foreign
Affairs: Attempts to achieve instant world government must be
changed. An end-run around national sovereignty eroding it piece-by-
piece will accomplish more than the old-fashioned frontal assault.
These influences and philosophies therefore are only able to
penetrate Israeli society when there are enough men and women in
Israel who are willing to trade off their own unique calling and
nationality for such a global and more international structure.
This then is meant by the words quoted from Daniel that the enemy
wanting to undermine Israel in the end will do so through "those who
have forsaken the Holy Covenant."
Therefore, the alarm sounded by Yoram Hazony in his book, "The Jewish
State," is right on target when he writes: The answer seems to be
that Peres was not really that interested in questions of 'national
sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence' as
indeed Peres himself wrote in his book, 'The New Middle East': 'At
the threshold of the twenty-first century, we do not need to
reinforce sovereignty, but rather to strengthen the position of
humankind.'"
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN ZIONIST CENTER
P.O. Box 49063
91490 Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Telephone/Fax: +972 (0)2 540 0133
Email Address: iczc@iczc.org.il
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=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] 300 boys attack girls school
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:28:52 -0500
300 boys attack girls school
By James Astill in Nairobi
Tuesday 14 November 2000
THREE hundred Kenyan schoolboys tried to fight their way into a
neighbouring co-educational school on Saturday night, allegedly in an
attempt to rape the school's 200 female boarders.
After a pitched battle with the girls and their male classmates lasting mos
t of
the night, the boys were dispersed when police arrived and fired shots over
their heads. Thirty-four boys were yesterday (Mon) arrested in connection
with the attack, which apparently failed in its objective.
=93This raid was well organised,=94 said a teacher at the besieged Ndururmo
Mixed High School in Kenya's Central Province, who wished to remain
anonymous. =93The invaders came dressed in our uniforms which they had
stolen on Thursday night. We suspect they planned to rape the girls.=94
Several dozen students were injured in the attack, which began when the
boys gathered around the girls' dormitory at 10pm, reportedly high on drink
and drugs. Alerted by the girls' screams as the intruders tried to force th
eir
way in, male pupils came running from their own dormitory to fight them off
with broken-up chairs and other makeshift weapons.
Police called all 600 pupils of Nyahururu Boys High School, at the foot of
Mt.
Kenya, to an inspection yesterday morning. Any boy with fresh cuts or
bruises was arrested. However, many of the schoolboys were thought to be
hiding in nearby maize fields to escape arrest.
The incident is only the latest example of the violence currently plaguing
Kenya's schools. More than 100 pupil riots have been reported this year. In
one recent incident, schoolboys set their matron's house alight after she
refused them access to their female classmates' dormitory. In another, high
school pupils attempted to burn their prefects alive, complaining that they
were too strict.
COPYRIGHT: GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE
http://www.theage.com.au/frontpage/20001114/A49363-2000Nov14.html
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Legal disputes thwart Clinton library
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:35:49 -0500
Legal disputes thwart Clinton library
By JOAN I. DUFFY
Scripps Howard News Service
November 13, 2000
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - He's voted for Bill Clinton and thinks the man from
Hope may be the best and brightest political leader of his generation.
But that doesn't mean businessman Eugene Pfeifer III approves of the way
the president's library is being built.
Pfeifer has sued to block the City of Little Rock from condemning a critical
piece of acreage he owns in the middle of what Clinton and city fathers hope
will be the Clinton Presidential Library on the banks of the Arkansas River.
At issue is whether the library qualifies as a public park as required for the
city to acquire the property through eminent domain.
But his real gripe is that the voters didn't have a voice in the city's decision to
spend $14 million of already approved park improvement bond proceeds to
acquire and clear the 27.7-acre site that will become what the city calls the
Clinton Presidential Park.
"It's not about Bill Clinton. It's not in opposition to the library," the 63-year-old
Pfeifer said. "What it is about is how the city went about it."
He said he was angered by City Board members deciding to give the land for
the library in the first place and using park improvement money to pay for it
without asking the voters what they thought of the idea.
Chancery Court Judge Vann Smith is expected to decide within weeks
whether a trial is needed to decide Pfeifer's claim that the city is trying to
illegally condemn the 2.9 acres of warehouse land he owns where architects
envision about one-third of Clinton's library will sit.
Another hearing is pending in the Arkansas Supreme Court on a lawsuit filed
by anti-tax activist Nora Harris challenging the way the city financed the $14
million land purchase with park revenue bonds she said voters intended to go
to the zoo and other existing facilities.
The law of eminent domain that figures in Pfeifer's fight allows cities to
condemn property for "wharves, levees, parks, squares, market places and
other lawful purposes."
Pfeifer's land is a pie-shaped parcel at the southern end of the 27.7 acres of
warehouses and ramshackle houses near the Arkansas River where Clinton
has envisioned his library and public policy center.
A conceptual site plan for a museum jutting over a river water garden with a
residence for the soon-to-be former president, an amphitheater and the
Clinton School and Public Policy Institute already have been created by
Polshek Partnership Architects LLP. But work by the designers has been
stopped pending resolution of the legal problems.
That has caused some in the city to wonder if the legal fight could cause the
city to lose what would be an estimated $10.7 million annual economic
benefit to central Arkansas.
But Pfeifer says he doubts Little Rock will lose Clinton's library to any of the
other locations that initially vied for it. He's offered to give the Heifer Project
the land it needs and to sell the rest to the foundation for its appraised value
"if the foundation will return a substantial portion of the money our city is
out."
(Contact Joan I. Duffy of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., at
http://www.gomemphis.com.)
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=CLINTONLIBRARY-11-13-
00&cat=WW
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=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] PART II OF CAMERA BACKGROUNDER Excessive Force
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:36:00 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: BSaphir
Date sent: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 19:02:25 EST
Subject: PART II OF CAMERA BACKGROUNDER Excessive Force
To: freemanlist@lists.io.com
PART II OF CAMERA BACKGROUNDER: Excessive Force?
Date: 11/13/2000 4:53:55 PM Central Standard Time
From: Leah Green
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
www.camera.org
PART II OF CAMERA BACKGROUNDER:
IS ISRAEL USING "EXCESSIVE FORCE" AGAINST PALESTINIANS?
(For full report, go to www.camera.org. Click on New Material, then
name of report.)
The US Invasion of Panama
Reacting to increasingly repressive and criminal behavior in 1988 by
Panamanian strongman General Manuel Noriega, the United States imposed
economic sanctions on the Central American country and indicted
Noriega for drug running. On December 15, 1989, following further
unrest in the country, and a failed coup attempt, the Noriega-led
assembly declared war on the United States. (New York Times, various
articles December 1989)
US apprehensions over these developments were heightened by
concerns for the safety of approximately 15,000 US citizens who then
lived in the Panama Canal Zone.
Unarmed Marines Assaulted at Roadblock, One Killed
On December 16th four unarmed US Marine officers driving in Panama
City took a wrong turn and encountered a military roadblock near the
Noriega headquarters, at which point:
"Panamanian soldiers tried to pull the Americans out of their car and
then opened fire when they fled, killing one and wounding another in
the ankle." (New York Times, December 19, 1989)
These US soldiers made a fatally wrong turn, in an incident eerily
reminiscent of the case of the two Israeli army reservists who made a
wrong turn into the Palestinian-controlled town of Ramallah. There are
differences, however: the Israeli reservists were brutally lynched in
the Ramallah police station, but there is no evidence that Panamanian
soldiers would have lynched or even killed the Americans had they not
fled. The US reaction to the killing of its soldier was swift and
severe.
US Invades Panama; Forces include APC's, Tanks, Apache
Helicopters, AC-130's
In response to this attack on American soldiers, which President Bush
described as an "enormous outrage," the United States, on December
20th, invaded Panama. The US invasion force was 20,000 strong,
including elements of the 82nd Airborne Division and the 6th
Mechanized Brigade. The US order of battle included mortars, APC's
(Armored Personnel Carriers), Sheridan tanks, and A-64 Apache
helicopters firing Hellfire anti-tank missiles. Additionally, US
forces employed F-117 Stealth fighter-bombers, which made their combat
debut, dropping 2000 pound bombs near Panamanian barracks at Rio Hato
(New York Times, December 24, 1989). Finally, the US also used the
lethal AC-130 gunship, which is:
"... equipped with a frightening array of 20-mm canon, 7.62-mm Gatling
guns and even 105-mm howitzers that fire 40-pound shells .... [The
AC-130] can lay down 17,000 rounds of ammunition a minute in a
pulverizing stream of bullets." (Newsweek, January 1, 1990)
Small Panamanian Army Overwhelmed; Civilians Not Spared
These weapons were used to devastating effect against the 12,000 man
Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF), which amounted to little more than a
uniformed militia, and Noriega's plainclothed militia known as the
Dignity Battalions. In the course of the fighting, numerous civilians
were also killed, and entire blocks of poor civilian neighborhoods
were destroyed in Panama City. According to one press report:
"At around 12:15 AM Wednesday, residents of century-old wooden houses
ringing Noriega's sprawling PDF headquarters, called the Comandancia,
were startled by the roar of circling US AC-130 ... gunships and
attack choppers, then the rumble of tanks in the streets. The tanks
fired barrage after barrage at Noriega's official lair ... The streets
soon began to fill as terrified residents ran out of their flaming
houses. An unknown number died in their homes; many were injured."
(Newsweek, January 1, 2000)
As the US forces advanced towards Noriega's headquarters, the
Panamanians fought back, drawing an unrestrained response from
US Apache helicopters:
"... riflemen and machine-gunners [began] shooting from the
headquarters and the windows of surrounding apartment towers and other
houses. American helicopter gunships unleashed rockets and volleys of
machine-gun fire." (New York Times, December 26, 1989)
According to another report of the fighting in the neighborhood, which
housed 20,000 people:
"... flames lapped at the base of a smoke column that rose several
thousand feet. An American military helicopter hovered overhead and
occasional explosions could be heard.
'This is horrible,' said a mother who had fled the area with members
of her family. 'Never in the history of our country has this been
seen.'
Residents said that many of the wooden houses near the headquarters
had been hit by gunfire and artillery fire. Many had burned, and some
residents said they had lost everything." (Reuters, December 21, 2000)
While the Pentagon officially estimated that 516 Panamanians were
killed in the invasion, 314 soldiers and 202 civilians (UPI, September
18, 1990), some credible reports indicate that the civilian death toll
was far higher. A "60 Minutes" report suggested that the number of
dead may have approached 4000, and cited a US Army document dated nine
days after the invasion began that estimated the number of civilian
dead at 1000. The Army document stated that:
"Some were killed in the Torrijo section of Panama [site of the
Noriega headquarters], where about 10 blocks of high-density housing
or slums were destroyed as a result of our ops." (60 Minutes,
September 30, 1990)
US and allies veto critical Security Council Resolution
A Security Council Resolution which "strongly deplore[d] the
intervention in Panama by the armed forces of the United States of
America" was vetoed by the United States, Britain and France, though a
majority of the council's 15 members voted in favor. (New York Times,
December 24, 1989)
When Cuba pressed the General Assembly to pass a resolution
condemning the US invasion, a senior State Department official said
that such a resolution would be:
"another example of hypocrisy ... visible to the rest of the world
even if it isn't to the members of the United Nations." (New York
Times, December 27, 1989)
Comparison: US versus Israeli use of force
The example of Panama
The immediate provocation for the US invasion of Panama by more
than 20,000 soldiers, and the arrest of the Panamanian strongman
Noriega, was the killing by Panamanian soldiers of an off-duty US
Marine and the wounding of another, after the Marines' car got lost
and was stopped at a Panamanian checkpoint. Credible reports indicate
that up to 4000 Panamanians, most of them civilians, were killed in
the invasion.
In contrast, when two Israeli Army reservists got lost driving to
their base, fell into Palestinian hands, and were lynched in a
particularly horrible manner, Israel gave the Palestinians three hours
notice that certain buildings would be attacked. One of the buildings
was the Ramallah police station that was the site of the lynching.
After the three hours had passed, Israeli A-64 Apache helicopters
fired warning shots, then fired missiles at the buildings that the
Palestinians had been warned to evacuate. The Israeli attacks resulted
in some injuries but no fatalities.
Over all, in its invasion of Panama, the United States employed a far
greater level of force than Israel has so far used against the
Palestinian Authority. As a result, the US action caused far greater
casualties, especially among civilians.
Finally, Israel's restraint should be placed in proper context. Panama
is more than a thousand miles distant from the United States, and
never posed a threat to US cities or any substantial number of US
civilians. In contrast, Israel's civilian population and even
Jerusalem, its capital, have been directly threatened by Palestinian
attacks.
Saudi reaction to the Iranian disturbances in Mecca in 1987
During the 1987 Muslim hajj, or annual religious pilgrimage to Mecca,
Iranian pilgrims, 157,000 strong, staged violent demonstrations
intended to destabilize and discredit Saudi Arabia. According to news
reports, the Iranians, bolstered by senior intelligence agents and
Revolutionary Guards, intended to take over the Grand Mosque and force
Saudi religious officials to declare Iranian ruler Ayatollah Khomeini
the leader of all Muslims. (AP, August 5, 1987)
The Iranians, reportedly carrying under their clothes "knives and
sticks," soon overwhelmed Saudi police, taking their weapons. After a
Saudi policeman was beheaded during street battles, reinforced Saudi
security troops began to "shoot to kill." (New York Times, August 8,
1987; UPI, August 29, 1987)
According to Saudi Arabia more than 275 Iranian pilgrims were killed
in the fighting; Iran claimed that the toll was 600, with 4500
injured, and that "Saudi police mowed down pilgrims with machine
guns." (AP, August 5, 1987)
Despite Heavy Civilian Toll,
US and Arab Leaders Back Saudi Actions
The United States refrained from criticizing the Saudis for the heavy
civilian death toll, and instead "blamed Iran ... for the riots and
praised Saudi Arabia for bringing the clashes under control." State
Department spokesman Charles Redman, said that Iranian charges that
the US instigated the riots served Iran's:
"... political interest in exciting its own population and escalating
its campaign of tension, intimidation and destabilization in the Gulf.
" (New York Times, August 4, 1987)
Arab rulers also defended the Saudis. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat,
for example, was reported to have joined "a growing number of Arab
leaders ... in denouncing Iran for the violence in Mecca." (New York
Times, August 5, 1987) Aarafat did not condemn the Saudi forces for
using machine guns against Iranian pilgrims, most of whom were without
firearms.
Similarly, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also defended the Saudis,
explaining that:
"Moslems of the world must realize that any laxity in confronting such
incidents would spread the forces of evil and aggression over all that
is holy to Islam." (New York Times, August 4, 1987)
Finally, it should be noted that there were no non-Muslim reporters in
Mecca, because non-Muslims are not allowed in Islams holiest city.
With regard to violence, and with regard to access to a holy city, the
contrast with Judaism's holiest city, Jerusalem, could not be more
striking.
The Civil War Between Jordan and the PLO: Black September
The Palestine Liberation Organization had been firmly entrenched in
Jordan, with its large Palestinian population, since the organization
was founded in the 1960s. As the PLO's military power grew it became a
state within a state, challenging King Hussein's rule and clashing
repeatedly with the Jordanian army and security forces.
King Hussein blamed Yasir Arafat and the PLO for their attacks on
Israel that provoked damaging retaliation. His attempts to prevent
such PLO attacks were met by a number of assassination attempts.
Finally, in September 1970 a PLO group hijacked three Western
airliners to Jordan and blew them up after evacuating the passengers.
On September 15, seemingly not in control of his country, or his
capital, which was dotted with PLO checkpoints, King Hussein appointed
an emergency cabinet composed of loyal generals and declared martial
law. The stage was set for a showdown with Yasir Arafat and the PLO.
(Jordan's Palestinian Challenge, 1948-1983, Clinton Bailey; Israel:
the Embattled Ally, Nadav Safran)
The next day the Jordanian army:
"... trained its artillery on fedayeen headquarters and other targets
in the al-Wahdat and Husayni refugee camps adjacent to the capital. On
the next day, ruthless mop-up operations began in Amman itself to
dislodge Palestinian fighters from bunkers and rooftops. These
operations, which lasted for ten days, were heavy-handed, causing
great loss of life and damage to property. The two refugee camps were
almost razed to the ground and buildings were destroyed on top of
their occupants. In Amman, most buildings harboring fedayeen nests
were summarily shelled." (Bailey, p 57)
The Palestinian death toll in 11 days of fighting was estimated at
3400, though Arafat claimed that 20,000 had been killed. (Bailey, p
59, The Making of a War, John Bulloch, p 67) After a cease fire
lasting until July 1971, fighting resumed and the remaining PLO forces
were defeated and expelled from Jordan. Some 200 fedayeen, seeing
their comrades butchered by Hussein's troops, fled across the Jordan
River to Israel. Most PLO personnel and their families resettled in
Lebanon, where they repeated their Jordanian experience, setting up a
state within a state, and launching attacks against Israel that drew
firm retaliation.
The Fighting Between Israel and the Palestinians
Most, if not all, of the recent clashes have been initiated by the
Palestinian side, whether by mass attacks against Israeli soldiers
manning outposts that guard Israeli communities, or by gunfire against
Israeli communities themselves. Gilo, for example, a residential area
on the southern edge of Jerusalem, has been repeatedly targeted by
gunmen firing from the neighboring Palestinian town of Beit Jalla.
Brief clips of the mass attacks shown on television give an impression
of disorganized mobs engaging well-armed soldiers. The reality is
somewhat different --- at the head of the attackers are usually
children and teenagers, throwing rocks and sometimes gasoline bombs,
both of which are supplied to the front lines in an orderly fashion.
Behind the front lines are Palestinian gunmen and snipers, sometimes
in uniform, but often not. The latter are usually members of the
Tanzim (organization), strike force of Yasir Arafat's Fatah wing of
the PLO.
These gunmen shoot at the Israelis from behind the cover of the
"demonstrators" at the front lines, and when Israeli troops fire back
at the gunmen, they often have to do so by attempting to shoot between
the "demonstrators." Because they are potentially deadly, the gunmen,
and those throwing gasoline bombs, are considered by the Israelis
legitimate targets for live fire. Against the rock throwers the
Israelis usually employ rubber coated steel pellets, which the media
regularly refers to as "rubber bullets," even though they are designed
to be much less lethal than real bullets. The Israelis fire these in
order to avoid causing deaths and serious injuries, yet on those
occasions when rubber bullets do lead to deaths or serious injuries,
the Israelis are accused of brutality.
Often Palestinian gunmen and snipers also shoot at Israelis from
apartment buildings or private homes. When these attacks become too
threatening Israel has responded with anti-tank missiles fired from
the ground or from Apache helicopters. Israel also used Apache-fired
anti-tank missiles to retaliate for the lynching of two of its army
reservists, who got lost while driving and were captured by
Palestinian police in Ramallah. They were taken to the police station,
where a mob, and apparently also some Palestinian police, brutally
murdered them. The retaliatory missile attacks came only after giving
the Palestinians three hours warning that specific facilities would be
hit, and therefore caused no deaths.
In response to the attacks on Gilo, Israel has returned fire using
tank-mounted machine guns, and if the source of fire can be precisely
determined, Apache-fired missiles and tank cannon rounds.
There is no doubt that had Israel truly used excessive or wanton
force, the toll of Palestinian dead would be many thousands, rather
than approximately 150 as of late October. Had Israel reacted as the
United States would to such attacks, the death toll would again be in
the thousands.
Prepared by:
Alexander Safian, PhD
Associate Director
CAMERA
PO Box 428
Boston, MA 02456-0428
www.camera.org
------- End of forwarded message -------
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] CAMERA Backgrounder Excessive Force Part I
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:36:00 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: BSaphir
Date sent: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 18:59:34 EST
Subject: CAMERA Backgrounder Excessive Force Part I
To: freemanlist@lists.io.com
CAMERA Backgrounder: Excessive Force? Part I
Date: 11/13/2000 4:29:12 PM Central Standard Time
From: Leah Green
To: Leah Green
BCC: BSaphir
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
www.camera.org
Shalom CAMERA E-Mail Team,
Please read CAMERA's Backgrounder:
"Is Israel Using 'Excessive Force' Against Palestinians?"
For a formatted version of the report, go to the CAMERA website.
(Go to www.camera.org. Click on New Material on left side
of homepage. Click on report name.)
ACTION STEPS
* Please use this informative Backgrounder when writing about and
discussing the Israeli response to violent rioting.
* Forward it to organizations and community leaders who might make
use of it. (rabbis/ministers, Hadassah, ADL, Hillel, social action
committees, Jewish Federation...)
* Give it to teachers and professors who discuss world events or
journalism in their classes.
* Mail it to your congressional representative and senators
* Write a letter about this issue and send it to your local paper.
Due to the length of the Backgrounder, I must break it into two parts.
Below is Part I, which compares Israel's use of force to that used by
Western democracies that took part in the UN Peacekeeping mission in
Somalia. Part II, in a separate e-mail, compares Israel's use of
force to: 1) America's use of force in Panama, 2) Saudi reaction to
the Iranian disturbances in Mecca in 1987 and 3) Jordan's use of
force against the PLO. Part II also includes CAMERA's conclusion.
Here is Part I:
CAMERA BACKGROUNDER November 9, 2000
IS ISRAEL USING "EXCESSIVE FORCE"
AGAINST PALESTINIANS?
Following recent violent clashes pitting the Israeli Army against a
combination of Palestinian civilians, uniformed Palestinian security
forces, and Yasir Arafat's plainclothed Tanzim militias, the UN
Security Council passed Resolution 1322, condemning Israel for
"excessive use of force" in attempting to protect the lives of its
soldiers and civilians. The United States allowed the resolution to
pass by abstaining, and explained afterwards that a veto would have
"caused more Arab violence and put American lives at stake in the
region." (New York Times, October 9, 2000)
Amnesty International also denounced Israels actions. Reversing the
usual process of investigating BEFORE reaching conclusions, Amnesty on
October 3rd charged Israel with using "excessive and indiscriminate
force," then TWO DAYS LATER announced the departure of its delegates
to "investigate" the matter. Amnesty also announced that its
representatives "would make recommendations to the Israeli
government," but made no mention of any recommendations that might be
directed towards the Palestinian Authority. (AI press releases October
3rd and 5th, M2 Presswire)
Are these charges of Israeli brutality and excessive force justified?
COMPARED TO OTHER NATIONS, AND THE UN ITSELF,
ISRAEL HAS BEEN RESTRAINED
Israel is regularly scrutinized under a microscope that seems
reserved for it alone. Critics ignore how other countries, including
Western democracies, have reacted to violent disturbances that are
incomparably less threatening to them than those faced by Israel.
The UN itself provides at least one apt example: in 1993 UN
peacekeeper forces in Somalia used helicopter gunships to mow down
hostile civilians and militiamen. On September 9 for example, in one
brief engagement, US Cobra helicopters defended a US bulldozer crew by
firing anti-tank missiles and 20-mm cannon on a crowd of attacking
Somali civilians and militiamen. The UN justified the killing of
almost 100 Somalis by noting that, "Everyone on the ground in the
vicinity was a combatant, because they meant to do us harm." US
soldiers referred to a "free fire zone" and complained that Somalis
"call us killers of women and children when we shoot the very same
people who are shooting at us and we kill some of the people that they
are using for cover."
Other examples that provide valuable perspective include the United
States invasion of Panama, Jordan's reaction to a PLO uprising, and
Saudi Arabia's reaction to riots by Iranian pilgrims in Mecca. In each
case these countries acted with far less regard for the lives of their
adversaries than Israel has in the present crisis.
US and UN "Peacekeeping" Action in Somalia
In 1991, Somalia was disintegrating as a country, its government
overthrown and the streets of its capital, Mogadishu, run by competing
clan-based militias. Widespread famine covered by the media spurred
international intervention. Under a United Nations banner, US forces,
along with personnel from 25 other nations, attempted to restore
order, distribute much-needed food, disarm the militias, and
eventually restore civilian rule.
One of the militia leaders, Muhammad Farah Aidid, wanted to be the
sole ruler of Somalia and rejected compromises among the clans
brokered by the UN. On June 6, 1993, Aidid's forces, shielded by a
cordon of civilians, attacked Pakistani UN soldiers, killing 23:
"One or two men approached the soldiers and began to talk to them as
15 or so walked toward them, their hands behind their backs ... Women
and children then surrounded the Pakistanis ... blocking them from
shooting at the men, who pulled out sticks and knives as other Somalis
on nearby rooftops opened fire." (New York Times, June 8, 1993)
A few days later, in response to sniper fire during a demonstration,
Pakistani UN soldiers fired on a crowd of Somali demonstrators,
killing two:
"In what appears to be a pattern of intensifying harassment, shooting
episodes have increased over the past two days. On Monday, Pakistani
soldiers killed two Somalis during a demonstration outside their
headquarters after snipers opened fire." (New York Times, June 9,
1993)
UN Bombards Mogadishu, Leading to Heavy Civilian Casualties
The United Nations forces responded with full scale attacks against
General Aidid and his militia, first attacking densely populated
Mogadishu from the air:
"After hours of bombardment that shook the city, United Nations troops
stormed the headquarters of General Mohammed Farah Aidid early this
morning, but the Somali clan leader was not there.
The center of Mogadishu was transformed into a battlefield as aircraft
led the assault and peacekeepers swept through the city...
The attack began at 1:30 A.M. local time as General Aidids
neighborhood was shaken by cannon fire, missiles from Cobra helicopter
gunships and a AC-130H Specter gunship..." (New York Times, June 18,
1993)
The AC-130 is a particularly devastating weapon, and the raids caused
heavy casualties:
"By this evening, hospitals reported that more than 60 Somalis had
been killed and an estimated 100 wounded. "
"Two helicopter missiles landed in the yard of a French relief agency,
International Action Against Hunger, killing one Somali worker and
wounding seven others." (New York Times, June 18, 1993)
UN Bombs Mogadishu Radio, Claiming "Incitement"
Among the targets was Mogadishu radio, which was bombed to silence
"anti-United Nations" incitement:
"... aerial bombardments ...hit the Mogadishu radio station. The
station, United Nations officials said, had been used to broadcast
anti-United Nations messages and incite actions against the
peacekeeping force. " (New York Times, June 18, 1993)
US Blames Civilian Deaths On Aidid:
He Sent Civilians To Confront Troops
After the initial fighting, 20 Somali civilian demonstrators were
killed by Pakistani troops:
"The attacks have fed resentment and anger among Somalis against the
Americans and the United Nations. The tensions were made worse when
more than 20 civilians were killed in two demonstrations on Sunday
when Pakistani troops opened fire after snipers aimed at them..." (New
York Times, June 18, 1993)
The UN envoy in Somalia, retired US Admiral Jonathan Howe, laid the
blame for civilian deaths squarely on General Aidid:
"Admiral Howe accused General Aidid of using women and children as
shields for gunmen, saying that the general's faction had organized
the demonstrations and that he would be held responsible for the
deaths. " (New York Times, June 18, 1993)
UN Calls for "Armoured Personnel Carriers,
Tanks and Attack Helicopters"
The day of the June 6 attacks against Pakistani soldiers, the UN
Security Council passed Resolution 837, which:
--- "condemned the unprovoked armed attacks against [UN] personnel ...
which appear to have been part of a calculated and premeditated series
of cease-fire violations ... "
--- "[urged] member states to contribute, on an emergency basis,
military support and transportation, including armoured personnel
carriers, tanks and attack helicopters to provide ... the capability
appropriately to confront and deter armed attacks ... "
Thus while Israel has been condemned by the UN for very limited use of
tanks and helicopters, the UN itself called for increasing use of such
weapons in Somalia.
US Helicopters Rocket Meeting of Somali Leaders,
Killing at Least 54
Attacking on July 12, 1993 what was described as the "command and
control" of Aidid's militia, US helicopters fired "16 missiles and
more than 2000 rounds of 20-mm cannon rounds" into a Mogadishu villa
where Aidid aides and other Somali leaders were meeting. (AP, July 12,
1993) According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, at
least 54 Somalis were killed in the raid and another 174 wounded,
while Somali sources claimed that the dead totaled 73, included 10
children and 22 women (Agence France Presse, July 13, 1993). Four
Western journalists who rushed to the scene were killed by a Somali
mob outside the villa. (AFP, July 13, 1993)
In September Battle, "Free Fire Zone" Declared,
100 Somalis Killed by US Cobras
In a September 9, 1993 battle sparked by a Somali attack
against a US bulldozer crew, US Cobra helicopters fired anti-tank
missiles and 20-mm rounds at "the crowd that came to see the shooting,
killing nearly one hundred people." (Black Hawk Down, p 76; in the
text the date for the battle is erroneously given as September 19; the
correct date of September 9 is given in the notes, p 360)
Apparently the crowd had begun to help Somali militiamen in the
battle, leading UN Military Spokesman Major David Stockwell to defend
firing on civilians:
"Everyone on the ground in the vicinity was a combatant, because they
meant to do us harm." (Manchester Guardian Weekly, September 19, 1993)
According to a diary account of one of the US units involved in the
action:
"... the Cobras killed as many as 100, they were shooting into crowds
where they were taking fire. Remember it was a free fire zone... [The
Somalis] use women as cover and concealment for when they shoot at us
to make it harder to see who is doing the shooting, if we can see them
at all. Then they call us killers of women and children when we shoot
the very same people who are shooting at us and we kill some of the
people that they are using for cover." (Black Hawk Down, p 360)
After botched raid, 18 US Soldiers and up to 500 Somalis
are killed in half-day battle
Firefights and ambushes continued for several months culminating in an
ill-fated attempt on October 3rd by US Rangers and Special Forces to
capture dozens of Aidid's senior aides. The raid went awry when first
one and then another Cobra helicopter was shot down by Somalis using
RPG's (rocket propelled grenades). Refusing to abandon the body of a
dead pilot trapped in the wreckage of one of the helicopters, US
forces instead formed a perimeter around the crash site, attempted to
extricate the body, and called for reinforcements. The soldiers
trapped near the downed choppers soon faced a withering assault from
Aidid's men, who were armed with AK-47's and RPG's. The reinforcement
attempts and the effort to hold the position, while heroic, caused
massive casualties. The eventual rescue, employing tanks and armored
personnel carriers, added to the bloodshed. According to one report:
"At least 300 Somalis are believed to have been killed during the
street fighting in Mogadishu on October 3, and hundreds of women and
children were among the 700 treated in hospitals after the battle....
'There was tremendous carnage involved,' a Pentagon official said."
The author of the definitive book on the battle estimated that the
toll had been even higher, up to 500 Somalis killed and a thousand
injured. (Black Hawk Down, Mark Bowden, p 310)
Many of these casualties were due to fire from US helicopters, which
were reported to have let loose with 75,000 rounds and 63 anti-tank
missiles in the 14 hour battle. (Gannett News Service, November 22,
1993)
Despite high casualties, US spokesmen deny excessive force
was used in raid
US Army spokesmen asserted that, high civilian casualties
notwithstanding, the US had not used excessive force, nor breached
international laws, and the Somalis themselves bore the ultimate
responsibility, since they used civilian shields and had started the
firefight:
>From all reports, the nature and degree of force used ... did not
>exceed
what was necessary to counter this escalating fire and was
consistent with the right of self-defense under international law...
It has been our experience that the Somali gunmen who have opposed us
have frequently used women and children and, at times, have worn
women's clothing, to cover their movements and to protect them from
attack. These gunmen do not wear uniforms or distinctive insignia;
they do not carry arms openly; they are not led by accountable
military leadership; they are not subject to military discipline and
they do not comply with international law. It is they who initiated
the firefight and who bear ultimate responsibility for this tragic
loss of life. (Statement by US Central Command as reported in New York
Times, October 14, 1993; emphasis added)
Comparison: US and UN Versus Israeli Use of Force
The Example of Somalia
There can be no doubt that Israel has been far more restrained in
dealing with Palestinian attacks than the US and UN were in dealing
with comparable Somalian attacks. Clearly, some of the battles in
Somalia were far more intense than any in the recent fighting between
Israelis and Palestinians. But this is largely because Israel has
acted with great forbearance. Moreover, many of the battles in Somalia
described above --- for example those in June and September --- are
quite similar to recent battles between Israelis and Palestinians.
The September battle, in particular is worth emphasizing, because it
was a relatively small encounter, involving an armed band who were
joined by civilians in attacking UN soldiers. The UN forces, including
US Cobra helicopters, considered the area of the attack "a free fire
zone" and shot at every Somali in the vicinity, whether armed or not.
The Cobra's 20-mm cannon and anti-tank missiles killed nearly 100
Somalis, many of them women and children. The words of UN Military
spokesman Major David Stockwell bear repeating:
"Everyone on the ground in the vicinity was a combatant, because they
meant to do us harm." (as quoted in the Manchester Guardian Weekly,
September 19, 1993)
The Somali death toll in this single small battle with UN forces
equaled the entire Palestinian death toll in the first three weeks of
the disturbances, once again demonstrating the great restraint
exhibited by Israel.
It is also instructive to compare the reactions of the US and Israel
to having soldiers --- some of them wounded --- trapped by an
extremely hostile armed mob. When US soldiers were trapped by much
larger Somali forces in the October battle mentioned above, the US
rescued them at the cost of more than 500 Somali lives. When Israeli
soldiers were under siege at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, with Cpl. Yosef
Madhat seriously wounded by gunfire, an Israeli request to Palestinian
forces to allow his evacuation was refused. Senior IDF commanders
ignored pleas from the trapped soldiers that the officer was dying,
and did not employ nearby armored forces to effect a rescue, stating
later that they wanted to avoid escalation and the attendant bad
publicity:
"If we had sent in tanks and heavy weapons to take out a wounded
soldier, it would not only have caused an escalation in events, but
imagine how it would look to the rest of the world." (Jerusalem Post,
October 3, 2000)
Instead, Israel protected Palestinian lives by not trying to extricate
the wounded officer, who, after four hours, bled to death.
While the US defended the huge Somali death toll that resulted from
the rescue of its trapped soldiers as not exceeding "what was
necessary to counter this escalating fire and ... consistent with the
right of self-defense under international law...", Israel once again
exercised far more restraint, but has nonetheless been charged with
excessive use of force.
THE REMAINDER OF THE BACKGROUNDER
IS INCLUDED IN A SECOND E-MAIL.
Or to view entire formatted Backgrounder,
go to www.camera.org. Click on New Material,
and then click on name of report.
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Daily World Affairs Report items (11/14/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 12:22:45 -0500
SEEING THE LIGHT
The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals As Solar Observatories
J.L. Heilbron has written a book for all those who have been amazed and
awed by the predictable passage of controlled light beams in places of
public worship. . . If the Middle Ages were the great era of church
construction, the 16th-18th centuries saw the proliferation of the
meridiana: a line incised into the church floor onto which a beam of
sunlight fell from a controlled opening in the roof.
Although the Catholic Church's advocacy of scientific observation of solar
phenomena was ostensibly motivated by the need to set a predictable date
for observing Easter, it soon became clear that the instruments created to
compute it went far beyond providing the "universal church" with data for
the calendar. Repeated observation of the movement of light along an axis
viewd over time and distance made it possible to calculate not only the
length of the year but also the orbits of the planets. Furthermore, a
meridiana could resolve awkward differences in timekeeping between
neighboring countries.
Egnatio Danti, a Dominican hired as cartographer to Cosimo l de' Medici,
installed a gnomon - or Sun-clock - on the facade of Santa Maria Novella in
Florence in 1573. . . An early gnomon in the northern apse of Santa Maria
del Fiore marked the solstice . . . Light entering Michelangelo's New
Sacristy from a high, south window illuminates the space behind the altar at
noon on the equinox.
. . . All roads eventually led to Rome. The story Heilbron tells illustrates not
only the astronomers' dependence on the accuracy of the instruments, but
also their dependence on the Church as patron and authority. Nearly all the
major figures involved in astronomical observation were either in service to
or sponsored by the Papacy. . . To avoid directly opposing the geocentrism
of Scripture, the safe position, that all evidence supported a hypothesis that
could never be proved, became standard.
Instruments of solar observation link the doctrines of faith to the progress of
scientific knowledge about the heavens. Before one could determine a date
for Easter one had to determine the vernal equinox. March 21st, the date
established by the Nicene fathers, won out over March 25th, the date set by
Julius Caesar. But regardless of its calendar date, the equinox is a sign. It
marked the moment of the Incarnation , the Annunciation of the birth of
Christ, the beginning of the liturgical calendar, and, in many cities and
states, it was the first day of the new year.
In the context of the book, the relationship of time...to the larger question of
mortality is implicit. Confirmation of eternal life was seen in the rising and
setting of the Sun. Behind the Church's practical need to regulate the clocks
lay a desire to consider questions of a more cosmic dimension. That desire
may explain both our fascination with solar "anniversary magic" and the
scientist's quest for astronomical "truth." (Sky & Telescope - this "month's"
issue)
THE FOUNDING MYTHS OF MODERN ISRAEL
The book that scandalized Europe and thrilled the Islamic world brings
America the shocking truth on Zionism and the Holocaust!
In this headline-making work, prominent French scholar Roger Garaudy
delivers one powerful blow after another to the pernicious historical myths
cited for decades to justify Zionist aggression and repression, including the
Israeli legend of a "land without people for a people without land," and the
most sacred of Jewish-Zionist icons, the Holocaust extermination story. For
financial gain, as an alibi for indefensible policies, and for other reasons,
Jews have used what the author calls "theological myths" to arrogate for
themselves a "right of theological devine choseness." The wartime suffering
of Europe's Jews, he contends, has been elevated to the status of a secular
religion, and is now treated with sacrosanct historical uniqueness.
This readable, thoroughly documented study examines the brutal
dispossession and mass expulsion of Palestine's Arabs, exposes the farce of
the Nuremberg victors' show trial, and shows that the notorius German
"final solution" term referred to a "territorial" program of resettlement, not
extermination. Founding Myths details the secret collaboration of prominent
Jews with the young Nazi regime, and the 1941 offer by some Zionists,
including a future Israeli prime minister, to join Hitler's Germany in a
military alliance against Britain. The author presents a frank assessment of
the powerful Jewish-Zionist lobby in the US, showing how it effectively
controls US policy regarding Israel, and plays a crucial role in shaping
American public opinion.
When Founding Myths first appeared in France, it touched off a storm of
controversy among intellectuals and a furious uproar in the media. Soon
Garaudy was charged with violating France's notorious Gayssot law, which
makes it a crime to "contest" the "crimes against humanity" as defined by
the Nuremberg Tribunal of '45-46. A Paris court found him guilty and fined
him $40,000. His trial and conviction for Holocaust heresy prompted wide
international support, above all from across the Arab and Muslim world.
Relying on a vast range of Zionist, Soviet, American and German source
references, this well-documented study is packed with hundreds of eye-
opening quotations, many by prominent Jewish scholars and personalities.
Here at last, this important work is available in a handsome, professionaly
edited English-language edition, with a valuable foreword by Theodore J.
O'Keefe. (The Journal for Historical Review - ad for book)
THE DISSOLUTION OF EASTERN EUROPEAN JEWRY
Where are the missing "6mn"? If Hitler didn't kill Europe's Jews, what
happened to them?
In this masterly, unprecedented and, so far, unique demographic study,
qualified specialist Walter N. Sanning shows what happened to Europe's
Jews under Hitler and during WW2. The Dissolution of Eastern European
Jewry provides the best accounting available of the actual fate of the
"6mn." Carefully analyzes the (often fragmentary) census data and the
extraordinary population displacements that occured before, during and
after the war, which involved great migrations and deportations of Jewish
refugees into Soviet Russia and Ukraine, North & South America, and
Palestine.
Based on a wide range of sources - including publications of the Institute
for Jewish Affairs and such reference works as the Encyclopaedia Judaica
and the American Jewish Year Book, as well as contemporary European
periodicals and wartime German documents - this study establishes that
there never were "6mn" Jews under German control at any time. It shows,
for example, that the great majority of Jews in the Soviet territories
occupied by the Germans ('41-44) and who are widely assumed to have
perished as "victims of the Holocaust," were actually evacuated or fled -
and never came under German rule.
In his foreword, Northwestern University Prof. Arthur R. Butz calls this
"the first full length serious study of WW2-related Jewish population
changes ... This book presents the fundamentally correct account of the
subject. The perfect antidote to the vulgar idiocies that are today
monotonously peddled by the media ..." (The Journal for Historical Review -
ad for book)
FALSE MEMORIES
People under stress are more likely to "remember" events that never
occured, a new study suggests. Even without stress, people tend to recall
things they haven't actually seen when the context is suggestive. But after
a stressful event, it's harder for people to distinguish what they've seen
from what they think they've seen, scientists said at the neuroscience
meeting. (The Dallas Morning News - by Diana Steele in the Discoveries
section) [There was more to the article, but it was just describing a student
study at the University of Arizona in Tucson.]
MICHAEL TURNER
(mykelturner@airmail.net)
780 HART ROAD; FAIRVIEW, TX 75069
972.569.9175 & 214.395.3096
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To: BPR <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Cher Song Upsets Catholics, Calling Nuns 'Daughters Of Hell'
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 14 Nov 00 12:49:27 EST
Cher Song Upsets Catholics, Calling Nuns 'Daughters Of Hell'
http://www.sonicnet.com/news/digital/story.jhtml?id=1224226&index=7&_DARGS=%2Fmemusic%2Fnews%2Fdigital%2Fnews_nav2.jhtml..2_A&_DAV=7
Track 'Sisters of Mercy' appears on diva's upcoming album Not.Com.mercial.
Teri vanHorn reports:
Cher has upset Catholics with a song on her upcoming album Not.Com.mercial
that refers to nuns as "daughters of Hell" and "masters of pain."
"Sisters of Mercy," which Cher wrote about her brief stay in a Catholic
orphanage as an infant, is "extremely inflammatory" toward nuns and the
Catholic Church, a spokesperson for a Catholic anti-defamation organization
said.
"She's basically calling this order of nuns satanic," Patrick Scully of the
Catholic League said.
Cher, 54, said her mother put her in a Sisters of Mercy-run orphanage while
working at an all-night diner, intending it only as a temporary arrangement.
But when she came to take her back, the singer/actress claims, the order told
her mother to put Cher up for adoption because she was unfit to raise her.
Cher said it took her mother six months to get her back.
"Let's face it, this is a Cher CD - it's not exactly Sgt. Pepper's." - Patrick
Scully of the Catholic League
"In God's house she's held a hostage by a cruel and heartless mob," Cher sings
in the song. "Sisters of Mercy, daughters of hell, they always weave the web
of lies and wrap you in their wicked spell. Sisters of Mercy, masters of pain,
they try to crucify your innocence and do it in God's name."
The song, which Cher penned in 1994, appears on the singer's new
Not.Com.mercial CD, which will be sold beginning Wednesday only via cher.com.
Cher also refers to nuns as "mothers of shame," "twisters of truth" and
"daughters of war" in the tune, and calls the orphanage "a dark and dangerous
place."
...more...
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To: BPR <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Hindus in India target other religions
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 14 Nov 00 12:50:26 EST
Tuesday, November 14, 2000
Hindus in India target other religions
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2000/1114/opt4.htm
The rise of Hindu fundamentalism in India is increasingly seen as a threat to
that country's Muslim and Christian
populations, Rahul Bedi writes.
RITE AND REASON: A state-sponsored Hindu fundamentalist movement is afoot
across secular India, seriously threatening its minority Muslim and Christian
communities. Encouraged by senior cabinet members of the coalition government
led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, it aims to impose
Hindutva or Hindu hegemony on the country.
This point was driven home firmly when the federal Home Minister, Mr Lal
Krishan Advani, recently joined thousands of Hindus from the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or the National Volunteer Corps, committed to racial
intolerance, in saluting their flag which for decades has spelt terror to
millions of Muslims and Christians.
Mr Advani, who is also the prime minister-in-waiting, graced the RSS's show of
strength at its 75th anniversary in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal near
Delhi, and was photographed with his hand across his chest in the traditional
RSS salute to the flag symbolising a Hindu state. Paying glowing tributes to
the RSS he described it as the Bharati Janata Party's (BJP) spiritual and
moral guide.
Mr Advani's presence at the RSS meeting is comparable to the British Home
Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, attending a meeting of the National Front or the US
Secretary of State, Ms Madeline Albright, gracing a meeting of the Ku Klux
Klan.
"The RSS exercises a moral influence on the government, and Prime Minister
Vajpayee and I share a historical bonding with it, and there is no question of
dissociating from it," Mr Advani declared at Agra.
This declaration came after the RSS leader, Mr K. Sudershan, had stated that
the new millennium would witness an explosion of Hindu hegemony and demanded
that India's 17 million Christians (about 2.5 per cent of the country's one
billion population) be brought under a state-controlled indigenous church, as
in China.
He accused the Vatican of intolerance towards other religions and demanded
that all foreign churches and their organisations be banned. "Today
Christianity [in India] is more of politics and less of religion," Mr
Sudershan said. It is therefore advisable, he added, to have a totally Indian
church like the one in China, and all foreign churches and missionaries should
be asked by the government to pack up and go.
"When England, Scotland and Ireland can have their own churches, it is
necessary for Indian Christians to sever ties with such an intolerant
viewpoint [of the Vatican; that all religions are not equal] and accept that
there are other ways to salvation," he declared.
The RSS leader alleged that the Baptist church in the north-eastern states
bordering Burma (Myana mar) was responsible for fostering a civil war for an
independent Christian homeland and preventing local Hindus from celebrating
their religious festivals.
Jesuit priests established missions in the area around the end of the 19th
century, and the government blames the 50-year-old separatist movement in
Nagaland state for independence on these missionaries.
Claiming to be culturally, ethnically and religiously different from the rest
of India, several Naga factions, of which the National Socialist Council of
Nagaland-IsakMuivah or NSCN (IM) is the best armed and trained, founded their
armed separatist movement in the later 1940s.
Most Naga rebels were influenced by the church and American missionaries, many
of whom preached secession, which led to the federal government imposing a ban
on all foreigners visiting Nagaland and neighbouring states in the 1960s.
Even now, a foreigner wishing to visit this region needs a special permit from
the federal authorities.
And, though the insurgency was contained around the mid-1980s and partial
peace brought about by state elections, NSCN-IM guerrillas resurfaced two
years ago, killing scores of soldiers in well-planned ambushes in the hilly
regions north of the state capital, Kohima, once again plunging the state into
civil war.
The RSS chief, meanwhile, also called on India's 130 million Muslims to
publicly acknowledge Hinduism's mythical gods, Rama and Krishna, as national
heroes and to "join the mainstream", a euphemism for knuckling under to Hindu
control.
The RSS, which provides ideological guidance to the BJP government and lists
Mr Advani and several senior cabinet colleagues as members, was founded in
1925 as a "religious militia" for the Hindu community to protect it from being
"defiled" by outside influences such as Islam and Christianity.
It is organised along lines similar to the Italian Fascist party, daily
imparting basic military drill to its cadres and involving them in ideological
discussions in hundreds of neighbourhoods across India. The assassins of
Mahatma Gandhi were educated in such a school and murdered him because of his
secular outlook and policy of appeasement to the Muslims in the struggle for
independence from colonial rule.
And although the RSS was banned for some years following Gandhi's murder in
1948, it was never outlawed. In the early 1950s it founded its political wing,
the rightwing Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which later became the BJP with RSS
activists occupying top positions.
Rahul Bedi is a journalist in New Delhi and a regular Irish Times contributor
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To: BPR <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Pyramids? You can thank Orkney's ancient stargazers
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 14 Nov 00 12:51:54 EST
14 NOVEMBER 2000 SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ON THE WEB
Pyramids? You can thank Orkney's ancient stargazers
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id==TS00186673&d==News&c==scotland&s==0&keyword==the
Alan Crawford
THE Egyptians have long been regarded as the master-builders of the ancient
world, revered for the skill with which they constructed the pyramids.
However, an academic claims they may have learned everything they knew from an
even earlier civilisation - the first inhabitants of Orkney.
Dr Robert Lomas claims Orcadians developed sophisticated building techniques
more than 1,000 years before similar methods were used in Egypt. He believes
the builders of Maes Howe, a chambered tomb constructed around 2,500BC,
devised a standard unit of length by taking readings from the movement of sun
and stars.
Dr Lomas argues the measurement, known as the megalithic yard, could easily
have been taken by seafarers to Brittany and then Egypt.
Dr Lomas, who previously claimed the secret teachings of Jesus lay beneath
Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian, said: "These people seem to have been led by a
group of astronomer priests who passed on their knowledge to pilgrims all over
Britain."
Maes Howe is aligned with the seasonal movement of the sun, so the passage is
illuminated at sunset during midwinter. Together with the Ring of Brodgar, the
Stones of Stenness and Scara Brae, it has been awarded UN World Heritage
status.
"Its construction technique is completely wonderful," said Julie Gibson of the
Orkney Archaeological Trust. "It's built in absolutely fine stonework
involving some really enormous stones. But they have managed to level these
stones to the point where you can hardly get a matchstick between them."
Dr Stephen Driscoll, a senior archaeology lecturer at the University of
Glasgow, said books such as Dr Lomas's were "frustrating" for archaeologists:
"Unfortunately the Holy Grail is always going to outsell a monograph on bits
of pottery."
______
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To: BPR Item Of Interest <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] U.S. government funds research on prayer and health
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 14 Nov 00 12:53:25 EST
U.S. government funds research on prayer and health
Monday, 13 November 2000 14:05 (ET)
http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=136556
By UWE SIEMON-NETTO, UPI Religion Correspondent
NEW YORK, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists launched a five-year study to
determine if prayer intervention can improve the health of cancer patients.
The enterprise was funded by the National Institutes of Health, a federal
agency, and was reported in the November issue of the Research News journal.
The project was centered on black women in the early stages of breast
cancer. According to Research News, blacks were chosen over whites because
"African American women have a higher propensity to use spiritual healing
than white women."
Moreover, "They have been found to be more vulnerable to stress associated
with postoperative social functioning." The paper pointed to scientific
evidence that stress weakens the mechanisms of a person's immune system.
This increased the likelihood that a patient's tumor will recur or spread.
One task of the research project was to learn if a statement from the
Epistle of James can be "scientifically validated," the journal said, The
text reads, "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the
church, and let them pray over him" (James 5:14).
The study was conducted by Dr. Diane Becker of Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Md.; and Dr. Harold G. Koenig of Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Koenig, an associate professor of medicine and psychiatry, has been studying
the effects of religion on health for 15 years.
A Johns Hopkins research nurse was randomly recruiting 40 patients with
early breast cancer that has neither spread to other organs nor infiltrated
the fatty tissue, muscle or bone around the breast. The study does not begin
until one or two months after surgery and radiation treatment, Research News
explained.
The participants would then meet a "comfort leader." This is a cancer
survivor known for her strong religious convictions and prayer life. She
"has been specially trained to be a witness to the women recovering from
breast cancer."
The "comfort leader" will help the patient to organize and run a prayer
group that may include five to eight friends or members of her church. For
24 weeks they were to follow a special prayer guide containing messages from
the Bible.
The patient and her group will then pursue an ancient Judeo-Christian way
of communicating with the Divine. It is called Centering Prayer, was
practiced in the Medieval Church and then almost forgotten until three
Trappist monks in Spencer, Mass., rediscovered it in the 1970s.
At any given time, participants of a Centering Prayer session choose only
one sacred word from Scripture. This word -- for example, grace, love,
mercy, or Jesus -- would serve as a symbol of the supplicant's consent to
God's presence and action.
In Becker's and Koenig's research project, the patients and their groups
were to meet twice a day at a quiet place for at least 20 minutes. They were
to close their eyes and silently think the Scriptural word they had
previously agreed upon. The idea is that they would be resting in God.
Should their thoughts drift, however, they would return to their chosen word
to focus once again on the Divine.
The method differs from the ritualized and conversational prayers of
traditional Christianity and meditation as practiced by eastern religions.
In Centering Prayer sessions, participants "avoid analyzing their
experience, harboring expectations or aiming at some specific goal such as
repeating the sacred words continuously, having no thoughts, making the mind
a blank, feeling peaceful, consoled, or achieving a spiritual presence,"
Research News writes.
"Those who guide centered prayer groups warn that often a person will feel
tingling as the body relaxes," the paper reported. "This is just tension
slowly oozing away. " Another attribute of "deep spiritual attentiveness" is
that one's extremities feel heavy.
Koenig hoped that in the long term the findings from this study "will give
women and their religious communities a powerful tool for combating breast
cancer." He said he believed that "getting the patients' minds off their
disease makes a big difference."
Even more important, though, is that Centering Prayer would battle stress
caused by cancer. It would do so by giving the patients "a sense of hope,
social and psychological support, a positive belief system, and a sense of
personal control through prayer."
While most religions teach that prayer intervention helps a patient,
trying to validate "extra-personal spirituality" scientifically is a
relatively new endeavor. One of its pioneers is Randolph C. Byrd, a San
Francisco cardiologist. In 1988, he chronicled the therapeutic effects of
intercessory prayer in a provoking study.
It analyzed 393 coronary care patients who were divided into two sections.
One group was made up of patients who were not prayed for. But for the other
group's members prayers were said regularly. Byrd discovered that the latter
patients suffered significantly less from congestive heart failure, had
fewer cardiopulmonary arrests, used fewer antibiotics and diuretics, had
less pneumonia and were less frequently intubated.
Even more surprising," wrote the journal, Science & Spirit, "is the
revelation that the patients...did not know that they were being prayed for,
nor did their doctors." Science & Spirit concluded, "Byrd's study suggests
that religiosity is a kind of antibiotic."
This is what Koenig trusted his research program would prove as well.
According to Research News, "He hopes that research such as this will open
the door to more studies on the effect that prayer may have on other
diseases influenced by immune system activity, including AIDS."
____________________________________________________________________
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Breaking News-Israel (11/14/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 13:40:01 -0500
BreakingNews-Israel
1. No injuries in shooting attack at Tapuach Junction (NOV.14 =96 19:35-IST
)=09
2. No injuries in Hawarah shooting attack (NOV.14 =96 17:44-IST)=09
3. Gush Katif residents protesting government=92s restraint (NOV.14 =96 17:
33-
IST)=09
4. Gunfight near Kibbutz Bari - over the Green Line (NOV.14 =96 17:20-IST)
=09
Update on condition of terror victims (NOV.14 =96 14:45-IST)=09
5. Hebron Jews retaliate (NOV.14 =96 12:45-IST)=09
6. Shots fired at the Ramallah DCO =96 no injuries (NOV.14 =96 13:08-IST)
1. No injuries in shooting attack at Tapuach Junction (NOV.14 =96 19:35-IST
)
(IsraelWire-11/14) A bus was fired upon a short time ago from a passing
car near Tapuach Junction in Samaria. According to the Kol M=92Hashetach
News Agency report, there were no injuries since the bus was bulletproof.
Bullets did strike the vehicle.
++++
2. No injuries in Hawarah shooting attack (NOV.14 =96 17:44-IST)
(IsraelWire-11/14) There were no injuries in shooting attack in Samaria a
short time ago. An Israeli vehicle traveling through the Arab village of
Hawarah was fired upon. Bullets did strike the bulletproof vehicle. There
were no injuries.
Hawarah is located on the main north south road, north of Tapuach Junction
in Samaria. Motorists wishing to access Jewish communities in the area
such as Har Bracha and Yitzhar must drive through the village. (Kol
M=92Hashetach)
++++
3. Gush Katif residents protesting government=92s restraint (NOV.14 =96
17:33-IST)
(IsraelWire-11/14) Hundreds of residents of the Gush Katif area of Gaza
are at this time demonstrating against the government=92s continued policy
of restraint, demanding that action be taken to restore law and order.
In a Monday evening shooting attack, an Israeli truck driver employed in
the area was shot and killed in a terrorist attack.
++++
4. Gunfight near Kibbutz Bari - over the Green Line (NOV.14 =96 17:20-IST)
(IsraelWire-11/14) IDF and PLO Authority (PA) forces are engaged in a gun
battle near Kibbutz Bari, bordering the Green Line area between =93Israel
proper=94 and the Gaza.
PA sources are reporting one fatality and several wounded. There were no
immediate reports of casualties among Israeli forces.
++++
Update on condition of terror victims (NOV.14 =96 14:45-IST)
(IsraelWire-11/14) At this time, three IDF soldiers remain hospitalized in
Jerusalem=92s Hadassah Hospitals. The three were wounded in a Monday
afternoon terrorist attack in Samaria between the Jewish communities of
Ofra and Shilo. Two soldiers and a civilian were killed in the attack.
One soldier is recuperating in Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem, and is
listed in light-to-moderate condition. Two soldiers remain admitted in
Hadassah on Mount Scopus, and are listed in light-to-moderate condition.
At this time, funerals are underway for the victims of the attack,
++++
5. Hebron Jews retaliate (NOV.14 =96 12:45-IST)
(IsraelWire-11/14) On Tuesday morning, the IDF lifted the curfew on the
Arab residents of Hebron to permit them to stock up on basic essentials.
Minutes after they were permitted to walk about freely, three firebombs
were hurled at a border police patrol. There were no injuries.
Later in the morning, in retaliation for the constant attacks, a small
number of Jews began turning over vegetable stands of Arab merchants that
reopened to serve residents during the break in the curfew. There were no
reports of injuries.
In addition, Jews on Tuesday morning sporadically closed the area roads to
Arab motorists, explaining if they were unable to travel in safety, the
Arabs would not be permitted to travel the area.
++++
6. Shots fired at the Ramallah DCO =96 no injuries (NOV.14 =96 13:08-IST)
(IsraelWire-11/14) Shots were fired at the IDF=92s District Coordinating
Office in the Ramallah area a short time ago. No injuries.
A few meters away, at Ayosh Junction, soldiers are being sporadically
attacked with stones and firebombs. No injuries.
BreakingNews-Israel <YeshBB@netvision.net.il>
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To: <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Documents: Vietnam persecutes Christians
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 14 Nov 00 14:23:18 EST
Documents: Vietnam persecutes Christians
UPI, Tue 14 Nov 2000
http://www.worldnews.com/?action=display&article=4405725&template=worldnews/search.txt&index=recent
Only days before President Clinton is to visit Vietnam, newly released
Vietnamese government documents indicate an official policy of persecution
against Christians, the Washington Times reported Tuesday. The human rights
group Freedom House released 50 pages of documents that were passed to human
rights workers in Vietnam earlier this year. "These documents . . . show that
church closures, arrests and Bible burnings are not isolated acts of
overzealous cadres but are the policy directives of the Vietnamese Communist
Party and state religious officials," said Nina Shea, director of Freedom
House's Washington-based Center for Religious Freedom. The documents, some
marked "Top Secret" were dated between Feb. 7, 1998, and June 6 of this year.
They authenticated by Vietnam experts in the United States, Canada and
Thailand, Freedom House said. One document blames the Catholic Church for
orchestrating the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the Times reported.
Issued by the Bureau of Religious and Minority Affairs in the northern
province of Lao Cai that borders China, the document includes 10 policy
recommendations for the repression of churches. "We must carefully control the
thinking and activities of the religions," according to the translation. "We
must turn propaganda into an art form" so that "they will not know they are
being propagandized." --
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Arutz-7 News items (11/14/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 18:19:16 -0500
Arutz Sheva News Service
<www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2000 / Cheshvan 16, 5761
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. CLOSURE ANNOUNCED BUT NOT ENFORCED
2. FOUR TERRORIST VICTIMS BURIED
3. PRESIDENT, AND ARMY OFFICERS, SUPPORT YESHA
PROTESTORS
4. LARGE RALLY TONIGHT: "LET THE IDF WIN!"
5. BARAK RETURNS EARLY
6. OUTSIDE COMMITTEE DEMANDED
7. SHAS LEADER EXPLAINS
8. ELDEST SON WINS, DONATES KIDNEY TO FATHER
9. FREEDOM OF SPEECH WINS; SHIRAN RETURNS TO JOB
10. CHECK THESE OUT
1. CLOSURE ANNOUNCED BUT NOT ENFORCED
The government's decision to impose a closure on Palestinian-controlled
areas in Judea, Samaria and Gaza has not been enforced. Binyamin Region
security chief Avigdor Shatz confirmed as much to Arutz-7's Yosef
Zalmanson late this afternoon, saying, "There is no closure, period. All
that happened is that a certain limited area in northern Binyamin is
gradually being closed off to a certain extent..." Almost all the
highways leading to major cities in Judea, Binyamin and Samaria are open,
and Palestinians are free to leave Ramallah, Hevron, and Shechem.
Palestinians were stopped at several checkpoints, however, but Palestinian
cars drove along Yesha roads almost as on any other day.
The Yesha Council says that Ehud Barak is misleading the nation, and is
actually abandoning the residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The army
explained this morning that it takes time to prepare a full closure, but
that it should be completed by the afternoon.
Evidence of the non-closure: 48 Palestinian Arabs were arrested after
they were found to have arrived in the Sharon region of pre-1967 Israel
for work. In addition, an Israeli car was fired upon this afternoon near
Hawara, south of Shechem; the shots hit the bullet-proof car, but no one
was hurt. Similarly, an Egged bus was shot at near Tapuach this evening
by a car that passed it; no one was hurt.
2. FOUR TERRORIST VICTIMS BURIED
The four victims of yesterday's terrorist attacks were buried today. Gabi
Zagury, the 37-year-old truckdriver who was killed last night in an ambush
shooting near Kisufim in Gaza, was buried this afternoon in Netivot.
Residents of Gush Katif briefly blocked the western entrance to Khan Yunis
after his murder not far from there last night. Corp. Elad Valenshtein,
18, and Corp. Amit Zana, 19, the two soldiers who were murdered in the
drive-by shooting at the Halamish junction yesterday afternoon, were
buried in their hometowns of Ashkelon and Netanya, respectively.
The funeral of Sara Lisha, 42, mother of five, from N'vei Tzuf, took a
round-about route from Jerusalem's Sanhedria neighborhood to Har
HaMenuchot, via both the Prime Minister's residence and his office. Chief
Rabbi Lau was among those who eulogized her. Rafi Fisher, a resident of
Shilo and a brother of the victim, had just heard of his sister's murder
and was on her way to her home yesterday evening when he himself was
attacked in a similar drive-by Palestinian terrorist shooting. So
reported the Ma'ariv newspaper, adding that he was unhurt.
Rocks injured two Israelis north of Jericho last night, including a Tsfat
resident who was hit in the skull... Also last night, Israeli cars were
fired on near Alfei Menashe and near Shilo, while a Palestinian car
attempted to run over soldiers near Rechelim, then shot at them; the
soldiers returned fire. Heavy gunfire was rained on Kfar Darom in Gaza;
Ami Giat, who lives there, said that such shooting has been going on every
night, but last night, "we must give thanks for G-d's daily miracles: The
fire was not directed at our houses. Instead, it was directed on the army
post that is directly adjacent to us; the army returned fire fairly
strongly." Palestinians fired last night towards Gilo, several spots near
Jericho and Vered Yericho, Rachel's Tomb, Hevron, Brachah, and several
other locations. Rioting occurred at the Ayosh junction and outside
Tulkarm. In Gaza, an Israeli was hit in the head by rocks thrown towards
him near N'vei Dekalim, while gunfire was shot nearby and towards IDF
forces north of Kisufim.
This morning, the army briefly removed the curfew it had imposed on the
Arab residents, and they immediately began rioting, throwing firebombs and
rocks at Israeli soldiers, who were forced to respond with tear gas and
rubber bullets. Ayosh Junction, north of Ramallah, was also a stage for
violent rioting today.
In the wake of yesterday's terrorist attacks, the following proposals have
been raised:
* Gen. (res.) Yossi Peled has called for shelling of PA infrastructures.
* Former Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan believes that Israeli forces should
retake large parts of Beit Jala.
* Likud MK Gideon Ezra, a former Deputy Head of the General Security
Service, suggests allowing no more than two Palestinians to travel in each
vehicle.
* MK Mossi Raz (Meretz), reneged on his remarks of yesterday that Gush
Katif residents deserve protection only within Israel's pre-1967 borders,
and said, "Now it's a real war, and it must be fought, in a wise manner...
But at the same time, there must be negotiations to stop the war..."
Asked whether he is against Barak's policy of restraint, Raz said, "I
don't think Barak is acting with restraint... I think he is acting
wisely..."
* MK Roman Bronfman, a supporter of Oslo: "It could be that the
framework
of talks must change, that Oslo as we know it must change - maybe a
temporary solution, and not a final one, should be sought... It could be
that if there is no partner, we will have to enact the one-sided policy of
physical separation."
3. PRESIDENT, AND ARMY OFFICERS, SUPPORT YESHA PROTESTORS
A group of IDF brigade commanders demanded last night to be allowed to
employ a stronger hand against the Palestinian violence. Chief of Staff
Mofaz acknowledged that the demand was in fact raised, but emphasized
today that the "political echelons will make the decisions in these
matters." He said that until then, the best way to deal with the
situation is "for the army to find the guilty terrorists and hit them."
Yesha Council leaders, together with residents of Ofrah and N'vei Tzuf,
began a protest outside the Prime Minister's residence last night -
joining Likud MK Limor Livnat in her continuing sit-in strike there - and
called on the Prime Minister to "let the IDF win." The demonstrators plan
to remain there until the IDF is ordered to strike out firmly against the
Palestinian violence.
They received unexpected support from President Moshe Katzav, who said
today that after so many weeks of violence, the need to reach "decisions"
is increasing. Speaking at a swearing-in ceremony for new judges today,
President Katzav said, "The present situation - where we show restraint,
but have nothing to show for it from the other side; where it is 'as if'
ways are sought to renew the talks, while a certain level of violence and
bloodshed is constantly maintained - this cannot continue."
4. LARGE RALLY TONIGHT: "LET THE IDF WIN!"
In addition to the Council's sit-in strike, a mass demonstration has been
called for tonight at Zion Square, in downtown Jerusalem, to protest
against the Prime Minister's policy of "restraint and retreat." Shlomo
Filber, Yesha Council Secretary, called this morning on "all those who
support the settlement enterprise in Judea, Samaria and Gaza to take part
in acts of protest organized by the Council." Other voices at an
emergency Council meeting last night called for "residents to take matters
into their own hands, if the IDF doesn't take action."
Other protest measures against the government's policy of
restraint: Rehovot residents held a protest rally at a local mall last
night=85 Those of Kfar Maimon, realizing that the army was not enforcing
the closure, blocked off the entrance to the terminal of the Dor Energia
oil company, which supplies fuel to the Palestinians=85 Har Hevron
residents blocked off the Halhoul-bypass road to Arab traffic...
Sources in the Prime Minister's entourage said that the policy of
restraint will not change, because Israel is not interested in playing
into Arafat's hands by causing an escalation that may lead to pressure for
an international presence here. A senior source said that Arafat told
U.S. President Clinton last week that he wants to reach a final-status
solution by the end of Clinton's term in office. He further said that
Israel would not reject a proposal for a three-way summit involving Barak,
Clinton, and Arafat, if the possibility is raised.
5. BARAK RETURNS EARLY
After a Saturday night and Sunday full of Palestinian violence and
shooting, which did not prompt Prime Minister Barak to return from his
trip abroad - and following an almost-hijacking in Israel, which almost
*did* cause him to change his plans - Ehud Barak has now decided that
yesterday's terrorist attacks and their four victims are reason enough to
return early. He thereupon cancelled his meeting with British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, and will return to Israel tonight. Upon arrival, he
will convene the security mini-cabinet, which, IDF Chief of Staff
Maj.-Gen. Sha'ul Mofaz said, will decide on the measures that will be
taken in response to the escalation of the past few days.
Mofaz noted that since the outbreak of fighting, the Palestinians have
opened fire on Israeli targets 1,300 times, leading to what he said was a
"relatively low" amount of casualties. [Ed. note: Fourteen soldiers and
eleven civilians have been killed since the beginning of the violence.]
Minister Matan Vilnai commented this morning that one must not view the
situation in the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem, which has been attacked
by Palestinian fire from Beit Jala many times over the past weeks, in such
dismal colors. "The firing has affected only isolated streets in Gilo,
while the rest of the neighborhood is peaceful," said Vilnai.
6. OUTSIDE COMMITTEE DEMANDED
The official findings of the military commission charged with
investigating the circumstances of two recent incidents in which Israelis
died were released yesterday. The subjects of the investigation were: the
abandonment of the soldier Madhat Yusuf during a battle at Joseph's Tomb
on Oct. 1, and the failure to rescue Mt. Eval hikers who were the targets
of Palestinian firing for five hours. Regarding the second incident, it
was found that the organizer of the hike was at fault, as was the Shechem
Brigade Commander. As for the failure to rescue Madhat Yusuf, the
findings were that the battle was handled correctly, and that at no point
was there a doubt as to the importance of saving him; the question merely
was how to do this - by asking the Palestinian Authority officers for
help, or by using force.
Col. (res.) Moshe Leshem provided his impassioned opinion against the
commission of inquiry and its findings to Arutz-7 today:=09
"This is absolutely reminiscent of a Bolshevik committee appointed by the
Red Army... When officers are appointed to investigate their colleagues -
and each of them has their political opinions - then it is clear what the
findings will be... It's easy to blame the victims, the organizers, etc.
What is clear to all is that the army did not fire on the armed
Palestinians firing at the civilians, and that the helicopters fired to
the side while making sure not to hit the real targets... No one fired,
except for the three soldiers who were there in the field..."
Arutz-7's Haggai Segal interjected, "This point was addressed by the
commission, which found that our forces were afraid that their fire might
hit the hikers themselves." Leshem: "This is absolute nonsense." Segal:
"You weren't there..." Leshem: "I was not there, but with the special
sighting equipment that we have now on tanks and helicopters, it can be
ascertained 100% who is standing where. I can say this with full
responsibility. Regarding Joseph's Tomb - there was lots of verbiage [in
the findings] about the dilemmas and alternatives the officers faced,
etc... But the bottom line is that a soldier was bleeding to death, and
the army, instead of talking to the enemy, didn't just go in and save him,
like it knew how to do on many other occasions... The only way to
investigate this matter is to have, as the family of Madhat Yusuf demands,
an outside committee... Barak has turned the Israel Defense Forces into
Israel Restraint Forces... Enough of this nonsense. We must know clearly
that Arafat is not our partner - he is our enemy! He is a murderer and he
is our enemy, and just like he was thrown out of Beirut and Jordan, we
must also throw him out of Israel." This last call was echoed by Yesha
Council member Elyakim Ha'etzni.
7. SHAS LEADER EXPLAINS
Shas leader Eli Yeshai told Arutz-7 today his understanding of current
events:
"It's clear that we, the Shas party, are against Barak's policy of
restraint, and I have made this quite clear to him, as recently as last
night. This doesn't mean that we should ignite the entire Middle East -
but we cannot continue this way... The army has many ideas of how to deal
with the violence, and it must be allowed to carry them out... What the
Palestinians want most of all is for us to fight amongst ourselves, and
this is why I said that we must all unite - but not in a unity government.
Many right-wing leaders thanked me for [giving Barak a safety net and
thus preventing the formation of a unity government with the Likud],
because if a unity government had been formed, Barak would then come to
an
agreement with Arafat, the Likud would quit the government and call for
new elections, and Barak would win because he has a peace agreement.
Therefore, it looks like we saved the right-wing from both an agreement
with Arafat and from a Barak victory. Jerusalem Mayor Olmert, for
instance, said this was a smart and correct move by Shas...
"Actually, I'm even more extremist than the Likud. I think that we
should
go to elections right now. There should be an emergency cabinet formed,
with two MKs from the Likud, and two from Shas, and one from the NRP, and
from Yisrael B'Aliyah... because how can Barak, with the backing of so
few MKs, make these decisions by himself? The mini-cabinet will sit
carefully and come to the correct and courageous decisions, and thus bring
security and victory while we are united, and then right after that we'll
go to elections..."
8. ELDEST SON WINS, DONATES KIDNEY TO FATHER
MK Rabbi Avraham Ravitz (United Torah Judaism) and his eldest son Moshe
are recuperating nicely, after a kidney from the son was transplanted into
the father yesterday. The rabbi's twelve children, as well as their
mother, had competed among themselves for the privilege of granting their
ailing father a kidney. His wife, however, was found to be an improper
match, and the seven daughters were disqualified because of child-bearing
considerations. Of the five sons, health reasons dictated that the final
choice would be one of the two eldest sons, Moshe and Shimshon. After a
choice between them could not be made, a lottery was finally agreed upon,
and when the brothers' three-year-old niece pulled Moshe's name from among
two slips of paper, the issue was decided. Moshe's wife said later that
her husband felt very gratified to have been able to help his father in
this way.
9. FREEDOM OF SPEECH WINS; SHIRAN RETURNS TO JOB
Teacher Yisrael Shiran has been allowed to return to his job as a
teacher. It will be recalled that Education Ministry Director-General
Shlomit Amichai had issued a directive preventing Shiran from appearing in
Ministry schools, after he circulated a letter against teaching what
certain circles hold to be the "Rabin legacy." Amichai agreed to
re-instate him after a meeting yesterday with leading educators, including
Tsfat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Dr. Daniel Tropper, and Knesset
Education Committee Chairman Zevulun Orlev (NRP), at which he repeated
his
condemnation of the assassination itself. The original letter also
condemned the murder, calling it "despicable," but emphasized that Rabin
was the one who initiated "the giving over of firearms to the
Arab/Palestinian enemy, who in these very days is aiming those weapons at
us, at our children, and at our homes."
10. CHECK THESE OUT
Relatively new websites providing different and original viewpoints on
Israel and the troubles it is presently experiencing:
<http://www.honestreporting.net/join.htm> - Keeping an eye on the world
media and responding, en masse, to anti-Israeli bias.
<http://www.iwitnessisrael.com> - where users share news items, as well
as
their personal impressions thereof, with each other.
<http://www.helpingisrael.com> - Providing the international public with
a
means of directly helping Israel in a time of national emergency.
<http://www.rotter.net/israel/> - Photographs of the events of the past
weeks. <http://www.israelbehindthenews.com> - News items and analysis
selected
from journalists registered with the Beit Agron International Press Center
in Jerusalem, or with the Palestinian Authority's Gaza Media Center.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Reuters reported that a Lebanese newspaper apologized last Thursday for
declaring Al Gore the winner of the U.S. presidential election. "We are
used to a deep-rooted Arab tradition of democracy where results are first
declared, then elections are conducted and votes brought in to affirm it,"
wrote As-Safir's editor, Talal Salman.
Hebrew News Editor: Haggai Segal and Haggai Seri
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel
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=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Weekend News Today items (11/14/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 18:19:16 -0500
The Pope urges respect for nature
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: CNN/Reuters
Tue Nov 14,2000 -- Pope John Paul II has warned that life on earth will
become more dangerous unless humanity learns to reconcile technology
with respect for nature.
Religious push for conservation
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: BBC NEWS
Tue Nov 14,2000 -- A conservation conference is getting underway in Nepal
to enlist the world's major religions in the battle to save the environment.
Delegates from 33 countries representing eleven major faiths are taking part
in the conference which has been called Sacred Gifts for a Living Planet.
Twenty-six initiatives are due to be unveiled, among them restoring sacred
forests in India and reinstating a Buddhist hunting ban to help protect
Mongolia's endangered snow leopard. The president of the World Wide Fund
for Nature, Claude Martin, said the conference would reach out to huge new
constituencies among the billions of people represented by the 11 faiths.
China clamps down on its seminaries
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: Religion Today
Tue Nov 14,2000 -- Some of China's official seminaries are trying to stop
evangelism and water down Christian doctrine. Leaders of the Three-Self
Patriotic Movement, the state-sanctioned Protestant body, are punishing
seminarians, teachers, and pastors who encourage evangelism, according to
World Evangelical Fellowship.
TSPM Bishop Ting and other church leaders launched a campaign to purge
evangelistically minded students from seminaries. Pastors and teachers
protested Ting's expulsion of three students from Nanjing Theological
Seminary who were known for their "evangelistic zeal," according to WEF.
Several Nanjing graduates resigned their posts because of the expulsions.
Bishops affirm value of interfaith dialogue
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: Chicago Tribune
Tue Nov 14,2000 -- The president of the nation's Catholic bishops' conference
Monday strongly reaffirmed the church's commitment to a continuing
dialogue with other Christian and non-Christian faiths.
In his opening address at the fall meeting of the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops, Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of the Galveston-Houston diocese
praised the Second Vatican Council for its "new insights" and "fresh
approach" to the search for Christian unity and recognition of "what is true
and holy in non-Christian faiths."
The Pope meets Nobel prize winners
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: ITN
Tue Nov 14,2000 -- The Pope emphasised the importance of working for
peace to dignitaries such as former presidents of Russia and Poland, Mikhail
Gorbachev and Lech Walesa. Other guests at the private audience at the
Vatican included the Polish physicist winner of 1995 Nobel Peace Prize,
Joseph Rotblat, and Latin American peace worker and winner of the 1980
Nobel Peace Price, Adolfo Perez Esquivel. Also present were Northern
Ireland's Betty Williams, the 1976 winner and Jose Ramos Horta, the East
Timorese independence leader and peace laureate.
The papal audience is the group's last appointment in Rome after a two-day
World Summit which focussed on the political implications of international
debt for poor and industrialised countries. The Pope praised their efforts for
peace in a world still wracked by conflicts.
U.S. accuses Germany of challenging its right to capital punishment
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: New Jersey Online
Tue Nov 14,2000 -- The United States on Tuesday accused Germany of
distorting international law in a deceptive attempt to undermine America's
right to enforce the death penalty.
U.S. government lawyers asked the World Court, the top judicial branch of
the United Nations, to reject Germany's demand for a legal sanction and
reparations following the executions of two German citizens last year in
Arizona. The move came on the second day of hearings into the case of
Walter and Karl LaGrand, put to death for the fatal stabbing of a bank
manager near Tucson in 1982.
The case underscored the deep trans-Atlantic rift over capital punishment,
which has been abolished throughout Europe. European countries protested
in vain to delay a death sentence carried out Friday against a Mexican-born
man who murdered a college student in Texas.
Mafia 'gripping Italian economy'
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: BBC NEWS
Tue Nov 14,2000 -- Organised crime controls one business in five in Italy,
according to statistics revealed by the country's leading trade association. A
conference organised by the association in Milan said the Mafia controlled
about 20% of all businesses and 15% of the country's gross national
product. It said Mafia profits were being invested in real estate, clinics and
retirement homes, supermarkets, hotels and restaurants. Sergio Bille, the
president of Italy's business association, said not enough was being done
internationally to combat organised crime.
http://216.219.160.226/cgi-
bin/readnews.cgi?day=00_11_14&item=#974238472
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=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Jordan, Iraq And Syria As Fertile Crescent Nucleus
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 18:25:05 -0500
Jordan, Iraq And Syria As Fertile Crescent Nucleus
The Jordanian daily al-Rai said on Sunday that since cooperation relations
between Jordan, Iraq and Syria have been greatly developed and
strengthened in way that furnishes for a genuine integration among these
states, and will pave the way for the establishment of a central strong
nucleus for the unity of the fertile crescent states. Arabic News
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/001113/2000111310.html
via: http://www.harpazo.net/news.html
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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] PA official: No statehood declaration on November 15
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 18:28:49 -0500
November 14, 2000
21:15 (Israel time)
PA official: No statehood declaration on November 15
DPA
A senior Palestinian Authority official announced Tuesday that the
Palestinian Central Council will not convene on Wednesday November 15, as
had been expected, and it will not declare an independent Palestinian state
.
"There will be no declaration of an independent Palestinian state in the
coming few days, and the PLO Central Council will convene within the next
two weeks," said Palestinian Minister of Information Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Rabbo's announcement was confirmed by Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat.
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza had expected that the PCC would
convene on November 15, the anniversary of the 1988 Palestinian declaration
of independence in Algeria, to declare a Palestinian state in the West Bank
and Gaza.
"We have already declared our independent state, and the declaration of a
state this time would be a symbolic step, but we will take measures to
implement this step," Abed Rabbo said.
He said that once the Palestinians have full sovereignty over the Palestini
an
territories of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, "we will declare our
own independent Palestinian state."
"Before having our full sovereignty over all our occupied territories, I be
lieve
that it is premature and there is no necessity to take such a step," Abed
Rabbo told reporters on his return from the Islamic summit in Qatar with
Arafat.
Arafat, who returned from a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,
praised the decisions in the Islamic Conference final statement to support
the Palestinian people. Arafat told reporters that the Palestinian Central
Council, which was expected to declare a Palestinian state, will not conven
e
on Wednesday, and added that the Palestinian leadership will be decided
within the next two weeks.
Asked when he thought violence between Israel and the Palestinians would
end, Arafat said this question must be addressed to Prime Minister Ehud
Barak and not to him.
"He (Barak) must accurately and honestly implement what we had agreed
upon during the Sharm el Sheikh summit which was attended by President
Clinton and other important world leaders," said Arafat.
Arafat became upset when a questioner said the Israeli leaders, especially
Barak, are angry after the deaths of four Israeli soldiers in Gaza and the
West Bank on Tuesday. "But he (Barak) forgot that hundreds of Palestinian
children, men and women were killed and more than 10,000 Palestinians
were injured," Arafat told the questioner.
Arafat also said that he sent condolences to the family of Israel's late pr
ime
minister Yitzhak Rabin after the death on Sunday of Rabin's widow, Leah
Rabin.
"There is no doubt that we feel a sense of loss because she was one of the
most important personalities who defended and pushed forward the peace
process, and she was the wife of my peace partner, Yitzhak Rabin," said
Arafat.
=A9 copyright 2000 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved
http://www2.haaretz.co.il/breaking-news/peace_process/336583.stm
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Please be advised that this domain (Philologos.org) does not endorse 100 per cent any link contained herein. This forum is for the dissemination of pertinent information on an end-times biblical theme which includes many disturbing, unethical, immoral, etc. topics and should be viewed with a mature, discerning eye.