THE PALESTINIANS:
“Whether consciously or unconsciously, the Americans are paving a long, broad path for the death of tens of thousands, maybe even more, of their people. The American madness will bring nothing but counter-madness. They [Americans] have begun an era of destructive and lethal war for human beings in order to feed their aggressive military economic machine, and they will bear the responsibility for it.” Al-Ayyam (PA), April 10, 2003.
Jerusalem, Israel (Bridges for Peace) — Here in Israel, we have watched the interplay on the Iraq Crisis play out for months. On several occasions, it seemed that the war would start within days, and then a diplomatic detour put it off. Yet, all along, it was apparent that the battle would ultimately be fought if Saddam and his sons did not stand down and come clean on the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in Iraq. It was like a game of “hide and go seek” to watch UN Weapons Inspectors travel here and there, sometimes arriving just as trucks were leaving sites. More important than what was found during their inspections, is what was not found. The western nations that sold Hussein the raw materials or processing equipment to make his WMD know more than the public or the media what is there and what is missing and unreported.
Kurdish Christian Ziwar Mohammed Ismaeel was shot dead in front of his taxi stand last month in Zakho, the northern-most city in the Kurdish safe-haven of Northern Iraq.
“Prayer is everything! God brought us safely from Baghdad to Mosul/Dohuk and the many small Assyrian Christian villages in the north of Iraq,” writes Ken Joseph of a recent visit to northern Iraq.
Indian Christian, Prabhu Isaac, is due to be deported from Jiddah tonight after spending more than six months in Saudi prisons in connection with his Christian faith.
Jerusalem, Israel (Worthy News) — Just before 9 A.M. this morning at least 10 people were killed and 50 wounded when a bomb was detonated in a bus traveling down Gaza Road in Jerusalem, Israel. The explosion occurred near the home of Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, who was not home at the time, and also near the Moment Café, where 11 people were killed in a previous attack in March of 2002.
ISTANBUL, January 18 (Compass) — Less than 24 hours after armed gunmen kidnapped the Syrian Catholic archbishop of Mosul, the 66-year-old cleric was set free today unharmed.
While the Kurds of Northern Iraq are well known, for some reason almost completely ignored in the current discussion are 1.2 million Assyrian Christians living, many in their historic lands in Iraq.
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was getting battered at home, British Prime Minister Tony Blair was hosting Sharon’s chief opponent in the upcoming Israeli elections, Labor Party chairman Amram Mitzna. Blair said on Thursday that he would work toward reversing England’s restrictions on exporting security-related equipment to Israel.
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — Israeli politics reached a crescendo of scandal and media hype on Thursday night as embattled Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, walloped in the past week by accusations of wrongdoing, was cut off mid-sentence during a speech to answer charges of improper campaign financing in the 1999 elections.
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — Two Syrian soldiers crossed into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Wednesday, the first reported infiltration since September 2001.
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — The web sites of the cult-UFO group, Rael, which claimed last week to have cloned a woman, are rife with potent anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli propaganda tucked among movement’s doctrines and cloning stories.
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — The Israeli Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the Central Elections Committee’s decision to disqualify two Arab Knesset members and the Balad party from running in the Jan. 28 election.
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — A Labor-led government would drain the Jewish settlements in Gaza and transfer Israelis living there to the Negev and the southern coastal plain within one year, according to an internal Labor Party document obtained by Ha’aretz.
erusalem (ICEJ) — At least nine Palestinians were killed and at 10 were injured in the early hours of Friday morning during an Israeli military operation in the El-Bureij neighborhood in the Gaza strip, according to Palestinian sources. The AFP news agency quoted Palestinian medical staff as saying that a 10th person, a woman, died in hospital of her wounds.
Jerusalem (Bridges for Peace) — The Israeli Defense Minister disclosed that during the past week the security forces prevented 15 attacks that were intended against Israeli citizens and, in addition, arrested over 400 terrorist activists. “The IDF and security forces are making immense efforts to prevent terrorism. Over the past two weeks we are witnessing an increase in terrorist attempts against Israeli citizens. The assessment is that these increasing waves of terror are aimed at interfering with the democratic process in the State of Israel.”
A female American missionary has been shot dead at a Christian heath clinic in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, according to the Reuters news agency.
Retired missionary of the Christian radio network HCJB World Radio, Gustavo Molina, and his daughter Kathy were among five Ecuadorian tourists wounded Wednesday when a gunman opened fire on the group at the Israel-Jordan border near Israel’s Red Sea resort of Eilat, a Christian station said Friday, Nov 21.
Seven months after the newly constructed Diyarbakir Evangelical Church opened in southeast Turkey, a local council under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has again protested against the building’s use as a place of worship.
Two major hurdles face evangelical churches in Turkey: lack of trained leadership and suitable buildings. A Turkish church planter says conditions are now right to do something about both.