St. George Day, where my Christians and Muslims at!?

Our boy St. George is the patron Saint of both Palestine and Beirut! Given the fact that his martyrdom took place at Lydda, Palestine, testified to by two early Syrian church inscriptions and by a canon of Pope Gelasius I, dated 494, in which St. George is mentioned as one whose name was held in reverence, he is also a Muslim saint and the Patron Saint of Palestine; there is not one town in costal Palestine that doesn’t have either a church dedicated to St. George, or a mosque dedicated to Al-Khadr, the latter being his Muslim name.
So here is a shout out to our man (even to us atheists)!!

The grave of St. George in Lod, Israel

The one in my mothers house (can we say needlepoint!?)

Special shout outs to all my “born-again” Christian bloggers who will contend that St. George was really a suicide bomber or some other bigoted response.

How Muslims are treated in America

Props to Sabbah.biz

All Christians are created equal

Not in the eyes of Israel, especially during Easter.

Israel, for the third year in a row, enforced a curfew on the West Bank and Gaza preventing the Christian populations from leaving their homes. The Churches in Israel were full of tourists, but you would be hard pressed to find a single native Christian. They could not go to the churches, could not practice their religion. In Israel, you aren’t a Christian Arab, you are the enemy.

Israel has put its best foot forward in recent years to attract Christian tourists. Often they stress the security measures that have been put in place to ensure the safety of their Abrahamic brothers. These measures, for all intents and purposes, are simply aimed at keeping “the Arabs” out. The problem with this policy is that it, like other Israeli policies, is collective punishment. Israel has the right to ensure the safety of its civilians (not just the Jewish ones) but at what cost?

The truth is that the Christian Palestinian population has decreased at steady pace since the foundation of Israel as a Jewish State. Before 1948 Christians accounted for upwards of 30% of the population, now estimates hover between 2% and 5%. People would like you to believe that this diaspora of Christians is due to ” Radical Islamofascists” who attack Christians and Jews because they Koran tells them so. Obviously the facts state the opposite.

If you look back upon the recent history of Palestine you will notice a trend. No Christians were killed. No attacks upon Christians around the holidays. You may even remember when some militants took refuge in a church in Bethlehem and, to the shock of the Zionists, were fed and warmly greeted by the priests. In reality the only enemy to Christians in the Middle East are the Zionist and their not-so Christian supporters.

On a regular basis Fundamentalist Christian churches advocate support for the Israeli state while overlooking their fellow Christian. It is not as though Christian Palestinians have been absent from the world stage either. Some of the most prominent names in Palestinian history have been Christian ones:  Hanan Ashrawi, Edward Said, Emile Habibi, George Habash, Afif Safieh, Nayef Hawatmeh, and Rifat Odeh Kassis.

Hawatmeh wasn’t even allowed to leave Gaza for 40 years. Was he a security threat? Was he going to blow him self up for 72 virgins? The policies of Israel can truly be seen for what they are in these instances. Racism. This is not an attempt at security but an attempt to religiously homogenize the region.

So ask yourselves if you saw any Arab Christians walking through Jerusalem today. I can tell you they were not in Bethlehem, not when its surrounded on three sides by a cement wall. They were not in Nazareth because of the curfew and travel restrictions. They were as they always have been, in their homes alongside their Muslim neighbors coloring eggs and waiting for their fellow Christians to raise their voice.

Sgt. Raghead’s Lonely Arab Club

M. Idrees at Fanonite

‘Recruiting Arabs still tough for Army’, reports AP. Makes me wonder why it is only ‘tough’ and not ‘impossible’.

“The idea that people have here, as soon as they see me in uniform is: ‘Oh, you’re in the U.S. Army? You’re in Iraq killing your own people?’”

Bless those people. At least they remain lucid. So, who are these patriots and what lofty ideals drive them to join the US military?

At a recent recruitment event, some potential translators declined to speak publicly out of concern for their safety. But a few acknowledged that money would be a key factor in their decision.

And then of course there is the endearing story of ‘Sgt. Raghead‘.

In boot camp, he was called a “raghead.” Comrades have questioned his patriotism. Last year a staff sergeant greeted him by calling out, “Here comes the Taliban!”

He remembers a day in 2002 when the comedian Drew Carey visited a base in Saudi Arabia where he was working. During a skit, Sergeant Murad recalled, Mr. Carey dropped to the ground to mimic the Muslim prayer. As the troops roared with laughter, Sergeant Murad walked out.

“I thought about my mom when she prays, how humble she is,” he said.

Yet, day after day, Sergeant Murad sets out to sell other immigrants on the life he has lived…

According to Sgt. Raghead, joining the military offers ‘a path to assimilation, a way to become undeniably American’. It kind of reminds me of some Asian Uncle Toms who had gathered at the Guardian Book Festival to have a discussion on their ‘britishness’, or the American reality show where aspiring Latino immigrants to the United States were made to eat worms and perform other acts of ‘daring’ in order to get a green card.

“It’s almost like Superman wearing his cape,” said Gunnery Sgt. Jamal Baadani, 42, an Egyptian immigrant with the United States Marine Corps. “I’ve got my uniform on, and you can’t take that away from me because I’ve earned it.”

Yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw this particular egyptian eating his own excrement on TV for a green card.

So whats it like wearing the Superman cape for Sgt. Raghead?

“To put on that shirt and keep a face free of blush — it’s just an impossible thing for me to do,” he said…

Sergeant Murad wanted to prove his loyalty. He got his chance when the United States invaded Iraq…

In Bahrain, he was elated to learn that he would be sent to southern Iraq on a top-secret mission with the Navy Seals. But several days into the voyage, he heard a sailor on his ship whisper, “Cam [a.k.a Sgt. Raghead] is one of them [Muslims].” …

That month, he changed his name…“I am an American, I am Cam, I am a naturalized citizen.”…Kamaran became Cameron. Muhammad was dropped for another, less conspicuous family name, Murad.

So how does this man convince other Middle Easterners to join the same military that is oppressing his kin and racially abuses him?

He is careful to tell potential recruits about the military’s zero tolerance policy on discrimination, and urges them to file complaints should harassment occur.

Still, Sergeant Murad has never filed a complaint of his own. During several interviews, he was reluctant to talk about his negative experiences, saying that he did not want to “whine” and that all immigrants endure hardship before they are accepted.

Last year, when an instructor at an Army base referred to Sergeant Murad as “the Taliban,” he laughed along.

“I laughed not to cause trouble,” he said. “…I laughed because I know it’s a hopeless situation. What do you do? You just have to laugh.”

“It doesn’t matter what you think of me,” he said. “Like it or not, I’m your brother in arms.”

Such self-esteem!

“In the end, when somebody gets to know Cam the soldier, Cam the citizen, they always take my side,” he said. “That’s where my triumph is. The hurt goes away.”

Aw! Now isn’t that touching?

According to reports up to 12,000 Muslims are serving in the US military, and about 10,000 have served in Iraq. All I can say is that whatever amount of contempt and derision is heaped on them, is too little.

Clash of civilizations or simply democracy failing

In Hebrew

In English

In Arabic

When you actually speak to the people you find out what they truly want, its not what the media feeds you or what some blogger writes about, it is the people. So when you hear that a majority of Israeli’s want to have meetings with Hamas and a majority of Palestinians want to meet with the Israeli’s one would think that this would make the news, even influence their leadership.

When you read blogs from either side of the spectrum you feel as though peace is not achievable, these are the extremes. They represent the same fundamentalism that first brought on the world’s problems and do nothing to change it.

How can we as a nation advocate the spread of democracy in other countries when our own elected officials publicly declare that public polls mean nothing to them.

HILLARY CLINTON IS AN ANTI-SEMITE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE WHO WILL EAT YOUR CHILDREN!!!!!!!

 Hillary must be a terrorist sympathizer! I mean look at how she is dressed? I wonder if she went to a madrassa in afghanorabiastan. I bet she was behind 9/11 and the USS Cole. She hate Israel and is a an anti-semite, the nazi!!!

 (Lets see if this works)

A response to Elya Katz

I would like to thank Elya Katz for his quick rebuttle over a piece he had posted from www.lekarev.org. In his response he offers counterpoints to my assumptions about Sderot and the events of Deir Yassin.

Elya: If one applies The Philistine’s logic universally, why do the people of Gaza not simply leave? After all, many proponents of the Arab cause claim these people are in continual mortal danger from the “Zionists”. I challenge him to visit Gaza and offer that as a solution to the difficulties plaguing the area.

Response: I would attribute the resistance to further dispersion on the original mass movements of 1948 and 1967. As illustrated by the recent event in Gaza one can see that the people do want to leave their land again. We all know what happened last time political refugees fled the holy land.

Elya: This logic of reminds me of the story of a businessman at a meeting. He has severe body odor and everyone is gagging for air. When his poor grooming habits are pointed out, and he is told to make the necessary changes or he will be fired, he responds that everyone should just “get used to it”

Response: This story would work nicely if it were not for the fact of Gaza being occupied by Israel. And before he turns this on me, occupied on the governmental level. All goods and money must pass through Israel, as we have seen with the last “blockade” Israel maintains control of the region for all intents and purposes. The events in Gaza are not self imposed, they are simply reactions to Israeli policy.

Elya: Not all of of the Arabs in Israel left. Many stayed and found that the “Zionists” weren’t out to massacre anyone. Here’s the deal: The Jewish people merely recognize their right to self-defense. Anyone who challenges the Jewish people’s right to life will soon find out what a risk they involve themselves in by toying with such folly.

My response: If he had read further he would see that I addressed the palestinians who did not leave the region. Don’t the Arab people have a right to self defense? By last count the death toll of Arab to Israeli since 2000 has been 4 to 1. This is not a defense, this is massacre.

Elya: Now, I want to address the controversy surrounding the village of “Deir Yassin” during Israel’s War of Independence. The Philistine states that Deir Yassin had declared themselves to be neutral in 1948.

Response: The village was in fact neutral. Like most human beings the residents wanted no part in the fighting especially since Palestine was still under British control.

Elya: Another reason Deir Yassin is cited so frequently by the Arab opponents to Israel’s existence is because there really isn’t much else to point to in Israel’s history. Contrast this to the many massacres perpetrated against the Jewish people by the Arab world.

Response: I am not going back 2000 years and I am not speaking about all Arabs. I am addressing Palestinians and Israeli colonialists.

Elya: As far as the long list of Arab villages that The Philistine claims Israel destroyed, how about being fair? It’s one thing to cite a bunch of alleged Arab villages. Let’s see some sources (outside of The Philistine) that prove 1) that these villages existed and 2) that it is the fault of unfair Israeli aggression (vs. self defense) that they no longer exist. The title of a credible history book or two would be helpful. Or a link. Or something…

Response:

Several authors have conducted studies on the number of Palestinian localities which were abandoned, evacuated and/or destroyed during the 1947-1949 period. Based on their respective calculations, the table below summarises their information^[72].

Reference	Towns	Villages	Tribes	Total
Morris	10	342	17	369
Khalidi	1	400	17	418
Abu Sitta	13	419	99	531

Source: The table data was taken from Ruling Palestine, A History of the Legally Sanctioned Jewish-Israeli Seizure of Land and Housing in Palestine. Publishers: COHRE & BADIL, May 2005, p. 34.
Note: For information on methodologies; see: Morris, Benny (1987): The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987; Khalidi, Walid (ed.): All that Remains. The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington, D.C: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992, App. IV, pp. xix, 585-586; and Sitta, Salman Abu: The Palestinian Nakba 1948. London: The Palestinian Return Centre, 2000.

According to COHRE and BADIL, Morris’s list of affected localities, the shortest of the three, includes towns but excludes other localities cited by Khalidi and/or Abu Sitta. The six sources compared in Khalidi’s study have in common 296 of the villages listed as destroyed and/or depopulated. Sixty other villages are cited in all but one source. Of the total of 418 localities cited in Khalidi, 292 (70 percent) were completely destroyed and 90 (22 percent) “largely destroyed”. COHRE and BADIL also note that other sources refer to an additional 151 localities that are omitted from Khalidi’s study for various reasons (for example, major cities and towns that were depopulated, as well as some Bedouin encampments and villages ‘vacated’ before the start of hostilities). Abu Sitta’s list includes tribes in Beersheba that lost lands; most of these were omitted from Khalidi’s work

Another study, involving field research and comparisons with British and other documents, concludes that 472 Palestinian habitations (including towns and villages) were destroyed in 1948. It notes that the devastation was virtually complete in some sub-districts. For example, it points out that 96.0% of the villages in the Jaffa area were totally destroyed, as were 90.0% of those in Tiberiade, 90.3% of those in Safad, and 95.9% of those in Beisan. It also extrapolates from 1931 British census data to estimate that over 70 280 Palestinian houses were destroyed in this period

Wiki

Elya: Second, what about all the destroyed Jewish homes, communities and confiscated personal wealth inflicted upon the Jewish people who’d lived in the Arab world for hundreds, and even thousands of years? What terrible crime did those of us who lived in the midst of our Arab neighbors commit? We suffered too. Terribly

Response: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_Judaism#Historical_interaction
Jews lived better lives under Arab and Muslim rule compared to Christian nations prior to 1948.

Soon after the declaration of the establishment of Israel in 1948, over 45,000 Jews had emigrated from Arab countries to mandatory Palestine. Although some of the Jews emigrated because of the influence of Zionism that proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to return to their homeland, most Jews came to Israel as a result of persecution by Arab countries. Gilbert (1999) maintains that Israeli officials were instrumental in facilitating population transfers from Muslim countries, known in Israel as the gathering of the exiles, because there was a shortage of manpower in Israel after 1948. Wiki

Elya: Why are these [arab israelis] people no longer refugees? Answer: Because Israel values her people. Rather than leaving them in their misery to be used as pawns in the conflict between herself and her Arab neighbors, she chose to integrate them into Israeli society.

Response: See this post and this post

Elya: How about the fact that the Arab people were squatters on land that had been stolen from the Jewish people 2000 years ago?

Response: I can bury books in the sand and claim I was there 3000 years ago. Archeology has already shown that the tribes in the region were of more than one religions and race. To have a singular group claim all authority over a region is hogwash.

Elya: “The Philistine” has chosen to tie the Arab people to Philistines? This is interesting to me. Read any history book on this, but for starters, Wikipedia may offer some insight. The Philistines are generally regarded to be a non-Arab sea faring people. Notwithstanding the Roman name Palestine for the region, the Philistines as a distinct people have disappeared off the face of the planet.

Response: You can view my choice of name as a realization of my outcast status in today’s society. A smug, ignorant, especially middle-class person who is regarded as being indifferent or antagonistic to artistic and cultural values.

Or you can view my name choice as a representation of my physical attributes as compared to the rest of Arab society. I indeed look more like a philistine than an Arab. (Less hassle at the airport)

Gaza’s Christian Community—Serenity, Solidarity and Soulfulness

AS THE SUN rises in the east on the first day of Advent, the bells of Gaza’s churches fill the air, mixing amicably with the Muslim call to prayer. There is an air of quiet serenity spiced with excitement as the faithful walk to their churches and mosques, the doors swinging open, and Christians and Muslims bid each other good morning on yet another Sunday.

Gaza’s oldest church, the Greek Orthodox St. Porphyrus, dates back to the 16th century. The majority of Gaza’s Christians are served by the Roman Catholic Church on Al Zayotoun St. and the Gaza Baptist Church, which offer living room prayer groups, interfaith outreach, several schools, and humanitarian/medical Christian charities staffed by both locals and internationals. Today Gaza is home to approximately 3,000 Christians, the majority of whom live near these Gaza City churches.

Until November 1947, when the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 181 partitioning Palestine, Palestinian Christians lived peacefully among the Muslim and small Jewish populations of the area. With the passage of the nonbinding resolution, however, Zionist forces began their ethnic cleansing campaign in earnest. At the time Christians represented 18 percent of Palestine’s population, with many families tracing their ancestry back to the time of Christ. Today Christians comprise less than 2 percent of Palestinians, with the loss of Jerusalem’s Christian community being the most profound-plunging from a peak of 51 percent in 1922 to just 4 percent today. By the time of the Deir Yassin massacre in early April 1948, over a quarter-million Palestinians-many of them Christian-had been displaced, either killed or made refugees.

Like their Muslim neighbors, Christian Palestinians sought to find a safe refuge following the establishment of Israel. Because Gaza came under Egyptian rule in 1948, Palestinians of all faiths fled there. As the Zionist militias advanced-razing entire towns, massacring families and confiscating all property in their wake-many Christians fled to Jerusalem, a divided yet still international city. For a time, Christians and Muslims in East Jerusalem, which was under Jordanian control, remained relatively safe.

In 1967, Israel chose to further expand its borders, attacking Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Within six days all three nations had been defeated and Israel had tripled its territory, rendering millions of Palestinians homeless or living under occupation or, in Israel, under martial law. Along with its Muslim neighbors, Gaza’s small Christian community found itself imprisoned between Israel and the sea, and the land swollen with additional refugees. But Gaza’s Christians also discovered they were invisible: unacknowledged, dismissed, denounced or forgotten by fellow Christians throughout the world, especially in the United States.
The Bookseller’s Murder

It is well known that one of the most effective tools for rendering a society subservient is the tactic of divide and conquer. Thus the October kidnapping and murder of Rami Ayyad, the manager of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, presented a dangerous challenge. Speculations about the motive still abound: was it a hate crime or simply a random tragedy?

Father Manuel Musallam, the senior Roman Catholic priest in Gaza, doubts the attack was religiously motivated.

“Rami was not only Christian,” the priest explained. “He was Palestinian. Violent acts against Christians are not a phenomenon unique to Gaza.”

Immediately upon hearing of what he described as a “murderous crime,” Ismail Haniyeh, Palestine’s elected prime minister, ordered the Ministry of Interior to dispatch an investigative committee to “urgently look into the matter.”

“We are all one people who suffer together for the sake of freedom, independence and restoration of our inalienable citizenship rights,” Haniyeh said publicly. “We are waging a single struggle and refuse to allow any party to tamper with or manipulate this historical relationship [between Muslims and Christians].”
Muslim and Christian Students Speak

“My life is normal and I’ve never felt oppressed,” said Ali Al Jeldah, a 17-year-old Christian student attending a dual faith school. “Being Muslim or Christian is never an issue,” he emphasized, adding, “I have many Muslim friends. We hang out and study together with no differences at all.”

Lelias Ali, a 16-year-old Muslim who attends Holy Family School, agrees. “We have a unity of struggle, a unity of aim-to live under the same circumstances,” she stated. “This land is for both of us, and being a Christian or Muslim should not separate us.”

“I have lots of friends,” said Diana Al Sadi, 17. “Being Muslim or Christian is not an issue. I go to my friend’s homes for happy and sad occasions, including Christmas and Easter,” she elaborated. “They visit mine during Eid.”

Asked if Christians in Gaza are being harassed by Hamas or the Palestinian police, all the students agreed that this is not the case.

“Every society has extremists,” Ali observed. “Like sometimes I’m criticized for not wearing my hijab. But that has nothing to do with being Muslim or Christian. Those people don’t represent our Palestinian society.”

Pausing for a moment to consider the international media’s portrayal of strife between Muslims and Christians, she concluded, “We should not let such ideas sneak into our minds. If we don’t unite, then we lose.”
The Thoughts of Clergy

Father Musallam explained why Christians in Gaza do not feel singled out or oppressed. “Palestinian Christians are not a religious community set apart in some corner. We are part of the Palestinian people,” he asserted. “Our relationship with Hamas is as people of one nation. Hamas doesn’t fight religious groups. Its fight is against the Israeli occupation.”

When asked about Western media reports that Gaza’s Christians are considering emigrating because of Islamic oppression, Father Musallam sighed. “If Christians emigrate, it’s not because of Muslims,” he emphasized. “It is because we suffer from the Israeli siege. We seek a life of freedom-a life different from the life of dogs we are currently forced to live.”

Archimandrite Artemios, the top clergyman in Gaza of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, chooses to live and minister in Gaza. Though Greek by birth he is Palestinian by heart, he insists. Asked what Christians in Gaza pray for, given the circumstances Palestinians must live under, he replied gently, “We pray for peace, wisdom and improvement of the situations in Gaza.” He added that he anxiously anticipates the day when all Christians and Muslims will have free access to all parts of Palestine: “Then we’ll go together to Bethlehem and celebrate Christmas and Eid Al Adha.”

The Christian leader was not optimistic about the effect of the Annapolis conference on Gaza’s current situation, however. “We all know that Gaza is out of the game,” he said sadly. “I pray God will give the wisdom to President Abbas and the Israeli side to find a solution.”

As church pews and mosque prayer halls filled on the first Sunday of December, a pensive hope prevails as faith in God endures. For in Gaza there are no Jews or Gentiles, no Muslims or Christians. In Gaza there are only Palestinians.

Mohammed Omer, winner of New America Media’s Best Youth Voice award, reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org> .