The Bible and Middle East history
– by Eric Walberg
Jews, of course, stick with the basic OT texts, insisting they alone prove their role as God's Chosen People and their right to create a Jewish state, Israel, in the Holy Land . This Jewish state was first grudgingly accepted by the Christian West, and now is enthusiastically embraced by some Christians based on their own misreading of the Bible. So what are the "facts"? What do modern archaeology and other sciences have to say about the Bible? Does it allow Judaism a new lease on life, providing proof of the existence of a Greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates, with a spectacular and ancient history?
Weekly digest: Reports from checkpoints
25.11.07 – 1.12.07
Associated Press summary of Monday developments
Israeli soldiers kill unarmed Palestinian man in At-Tira, near Ramallah
Qasqas's brother-in-law Jamil said that they were out for an evening walk when Israeli forces attacked them: "Firas visited me to congratulate me on the new house. After we had dinner, we went out for a walk in the fields not far away from my residence. My little brother joined us. All of a sudden, seven Israeli soldiers surprised us shooting randomly at us."
Palestinian kidnapped as Israeli forces invade Jenin and surrounding areas
Israeli military forces executed a pre-dawn raid on Monday on the northern West Bank city of Jenin as well as refugee camps and the nearby areas of Qabatiya, Tayaseer, Raba and Al Yamoun. Some residents reported that the army expelled them from their homes and detained them for several hours as their houses were used as military posts by the soldiers. Troops also ransacked houses with the aid of police dogs and confiscated property.
Israel releases 429 Palestinian prisoners (out of some 11,000)
on Monday as a part of a delayed "goodwill gesture" originally scheduled to take place before the Noveber 27 Annapolis conference. Just 21 prisoners crossed into the Gaza Strip through Erez checkpoint. Just on Monday morning, Israeli forces seized another 42 Palestinians in raids throughout the West Bank. The Palestinian National Initiative reported last week that Israel has detained more than four times the number it released Tuesday since June.
Israel blocks delivery of military vehicles to PA forces over arms dispute
Israeli authorities, the source said, want to deliver the tanks [?] without crucial components such as machine guns attached, making them less militarily effective. Donated by Russia, an original shipment of 50 vehicles has been reduced to 25, which are to be delivered to Jericho following final Israeli approval.
Israel delays transfer of APCs to Abbas
Israel has delayed a planned transfer of 25 armored personnel carriers from Russia to the Palestinian Authority, planned for this week in Nablus, because the Palestinians want to have them mounted with machine guns, security officials said Monday.
PA: Dozens of Hamas charities dismantled throughout West Bank, their accounts frozen
Government spokesman Riad Malki described the 92 charity committees as a financial empire for Hamas. He said the committees were quietly shuttered two weeks ago. There was no explanation for the delay in announcing the move. The committees are formed by prominent local and religious leaders under the supervision of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The committees collect money and distribute it to the poor, usually during religious holidays. Muslims will celebrate their holy day of Eid al-Adha in late December.
PA security arrests 22 from Iqaba village south of Nablus
on Monday on political and security charges, Akram Rajoub, the director of Nablus preventive security service said. Hamas says 15 of its members were arrested in the village. This campaign was the fourth of its kind in villages in the Nablus district and was carried out in coordination with the Israeli authorities because those villages are under Israeli control.
PA security seizes 9 Hamas members in West Bank on Sunday evening
Hamas said that seven of the arrestees are from the Nablus district in the northern West Bank, including journalist, Bassam As-Sayih, and a member of the local council of Zuwata west of Nablus, Aktham Ilaiwi. The statement added that another Hamas member was seized in Surif, north of Hebron in the southern West Bank and one from Marda village, north of Salfit in the northern West Bank.
Gaza fuel companies reject Israeli deliveries for the second day
in protest against drastic cuts in supplies on Monday.The Palestinian General Petroleum Corporation said that Israel allowed half the normal supply on Monday, up from one quarter on Sunday.
Officials: Shin Bet use emergency regulations on 17% of Gaza detainees
The Shin Bet said that in 44 cases it delayed bringing a detainee before a judge for 48 hours; in three of those cases the delay was 72 hours, and in one case, 96 hours passed before the detainee was brought before a judge. The Military Advocate General (MAG) sent the committee a document stating its opposition to extending the emergency regulations. In it, MAG argued that the orders "impair basic human rights such as the right to personal liberty, the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, etc."
700 Gazan pilgrims enter Egypt through Rafah crossing
The Egyptian authorities on Monday allowed the passage of 700 Hajj pilgrims from the Gaza Strip into the Egyptian territories en route to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. This is an unprecedented step following efforts by the deposed Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip to lift the crippling siege on the coastal region. Rafah ground crossing is completely closed and hundreds of Palestinians were stranded on the Egyptian side of the crossing. Now, the Gazan pilgrims will head to Saudi Arabia in tandem with the West Bank pilgrims.
Hamas-affiliated police storm Al-Azhar University in Gaza City
Police officers affiliated to the Hamas-led de facto government stormed the main campus of Al-Azhar University in Gaza City shooting into the air, the university's management said on Monday. This is the second time Hamas forces have raided the campus. They ransacked the central building four months ago, confiscating chemicals used for scientific research.
Al-Quds Brigades threaten bombing operations inside Israel if Gaza invaded
A spokesperson of Islamic Jihad's military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, on Monday threatened to carry out bombing operations deep inside Israel and to launch homemade projectiles that can reach as far as the far north of Ashkelon city if Israel invades the Gaza Strip.
Israeli soldier wounded on Gaza border, fighters say
The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility on Sunday for shooting and injuring an Israeli soldier near Kisufim, on the Gaza Strip border. [As usual] Israeli sources neither confirmed nor denied the incident.
For Israeli doctor, a time to kill and heal
Nasima, a Palestinian from Gaza, had brought her two-year-old son Ahmad to Israel for a heart operation. She was eager to return to Gaza. There was trouble at home, clashes with Israeli soldiers. Fear had kept her family up all night, the chop of hostile helicopters. Two years ago, a missile fired from a helicopter had killed two cousins. If Nasima ever met an Israeli pilot, she would "faint and die from fear," she said. A pediatrician named Yuval patted Ahmad on the head. The surgery would be soon. Later, Nasima called Yuval "our savior of the children." Yuval does save children. He is also an attack helicopter pilot. It was Yuval in his Cobra - though Nasima didn't know it - hovering over her town, as Israeli troops battled armed Palestinians.
Guerrilla artist Banksy in Holy Land
The Bristol-born artist has struck again with a series of stencilled works on and around the highly controversial security barrier ringing Bethlehem - with six ironic images, including a dove wearing a flak jacket and a soldier being frisked by a young girl. Banksy, who has successfully outfoxed the art world over his identity, has "tagged" the 436-mile West Bank wall before.
Fugitive right-wing author to serve 18 months for Holocaust denial
Vienna's highest court on Monday confirmed an 18-month prison term handed down to a right-wing Austrian writer who had fled to Spain after being convicted on Holocaust denial charges 15 years ago. The court ruled that Gerd Honsik, 67, must serve out the sentence, which was handed down in 1992. [Hmm, is there any penalty for Nakba denial? Guess not, or there would be a lot of people in prison]
Five life sentences for Palestinian convicted of killing former Israeli tourism minister
The Israeli central court in Jerusalem on Monday sentenced Palestinian Hamdi Qur'an to five consecutive life sentences for the murder of the right wing former Israeli minister of tourism Rehavam Ze'evi in 2001 and other "terrorist" acts. Seventy-five-year-old Ze'evi was shot dead on 17 October 2001 in the Jerusalem Hyatt hotel, Mount Scopus. He is the only Israeli politician to have been assassinated during the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
Most Arab MKs boycott special Knesset session commemorating partition
Arab MKs boycotted Monday a special Knesset session commemorating the 60th anniversary of the 1947 United Nations decision to partition British-mandate Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state. In his address to the plenum, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, "The choice, both 60 years ago and today, is between a Jewish state on part of the Land of Israel and a binational state on all of the Land of Israel. That is the choice we are faced with today - the existence of two nation-states, Israel and Palestine, in the Land of Israel." Netanyahu and Livni also addressed the session . . .
Peretz calls for dialogue with Hamas and release of Marwan Barghouti
The Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted former Israeli defense minister Amir Peretz as saying that he recently met with Barghouthi twice in his prison cell at Hadareim prison and got the impression that Barghouthi is a man of peace. He also suggested that Barghouthi, as a strong Fatah leader, could create balance with Hamas which, according to Peretz should be negotiated with over a mutual ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
Arab racism must go
The organizers [of the peace conference] were warned about the need to ensure that no Syrian or Saudi official unintentionally encounters some Zionist pest. Even if all the roadblocks will be removed, there will be no peace around here as long as Muslim Arabs don't view Jews as human beings. [a little psychological projection there….]
Palestinians promise coordination with Syria in Israel peace negotiations
DAMASCUS, Syria : A visiting envoy for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promised Monday to continue coordination with Syria as the Palestinians work to reach a peace agreement with Israel before the end of next year. Former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's comments came after a meeting with Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem to discuss the recent U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference.
Bush draws skepticism with hands-off approach to Mideast
President Bush last week laid out an American role in the upcoming Mideast peace talks that challenges the accumulated wisdom of former secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and James A. Baker III and Presidents Carter and Clinton. Bush has defied a diplomatic consensus reaching back decades by insisting that the United States would encourage Israelis and Palestinians and would offer ideas if asked, but wouldn't sit continuously at a negotiating table or establish positions of its own.
Fuses in Gaza
The one option that doesn't seem to be getting serious consideration is perhaps the only one that Hamas itself might accept: a cease-fire with Israel that would end attacks by both sides, open Gaza to normal commerce and allow the peace negotiations to go forward without interference. Such a deal, which is favored by the out-of-power Israeli left, doesn't fit with the Bush administration's vision of a polarized Middle East in which Iran and its allies are irreconcilable. Hamas might indeed be unyielding in its opposition to peace. But if there is no cease-fire, prepare for war.
U.S. says Iran ended atomic arms work
A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold, contradicting a previous intelligence report.
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