Thank you for directing a light back towards our little town of Bethlehem. I look forward to the day when you and I will be able to return there together to enjoy Christmas properly. Keep fighting the good fight.
Love,
Robert O'Neill
Peace Corps Volunteer
Soalala, Madagascar

A great Article. As if you read my mind and put it in words. Thanks for the simple touchy article. Just simply true Thoguh the truth may hurt sometimes.

WITH RESPECT TO THE ASSASSINATION OF BENAZIR BHUTTO

This is a glimpse of the world’s future if the Zionist so called “State of Israel” and its number one ally the USA don’t wise up and vacate the Middle East.

That’s right Victoria, they can’t blame this one on the general Muslim population.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/yossi_melman/2007/12/bhutto_conspiracy_theories_wil/all_comments.html

We may find out, however, that the culprit is the Islamist fundamentalists (Al Qaeda and the Taliban) who are enabled by the foolish greed of the colonial USA and Israel.

Certainly Musharraf is one of those with the most to gain. He can now postpone elections indefinitely and hold onto his power, although he may have quite a revolt on his hands if he does so.

On the other hand, Bhutto was a strong ally of the US and an outspoken opponent of the Islamic fundamentalists. That is the kiss of death in this region of the world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/world/asia/28pakistan.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

“In October, Ms. Bhutto survived another deadly suicide attack in the southern city of Karachi on the day she returned from years of self-imposed exile abroad to contest the parliamentary elections. Ms. Bhutto blamed extremist Islamic groups who she said wanted to take over the country for that attack, which narrowly missed her but killed 134 people. But she also complained that the government had taken insufficient steps to safeguard her parade…

She was openly critical of Mr. Musharraf’s ineffectiveness at dealing with Islamic militants and welcomed American involvement…

The assassination comes just days after Mr. Musharraf lifted a state of emergency in the country, which he had used to suspend the Constitution and arrest thousands of political opponents, and which he said he had imposed in part because of terrorist threats by extremists in Pakistan…”

So this is how my crystal ball has it. We just took another step along the path to WW III. The Islamist fundamentalists (Al Qaeda and the Taliban) hold all the cards. Musharraf may or may not be making a serious effort to rein them in. He may be playing live and let live as they build their strength in NW Pakistan and continue to weaken Afghanistan.

The Zionist invader in Palestine keeps the entire Middle East inflamed at both them and the USA for supporting them. Of course our preemptive attack on Iraq and continued occupation of Afghanistan just adds fuel to the flames.

China, India and Pakistan’s thirst for Middle East oil makes them natural allies of Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the other Arabian Gulf oil states. They will be eager to supply whatever these countries need in the way of precision guided land Attack Cruise Missiles (LACM) like the US Tomahawk. These are precision, Global Position System (GPS) satellite guided, low flying cruise missiles that hug the earth and can be programmed to attack Israel from multiple directions. Israel will never know what hit them. These will not be like the thousands of ballistic Katyusha rockets fired from Southern Lebanon, which mostly land in the olive orchards and sage brush fields. These missiles will each have a high rise building or other high value target and street number programmed in them like our Tomahawk attacks on Baghdad in 1991 and 2003.

Our thirst for oil and 10 Trillion dollar national debt, with much of it owed to China, puts us in a very weak strategic position. China could bankrupt us at will by flooding the market with our worthless paper IOUs. That’s why the US dollar has lost ~33% of its value relative to the Euro, which is on its way to becoming the world standard currency. The US dollar will soon be known as the US Peso.

Israel only produces ~1% of its required oil from its own oil wells, and must import 99%, 90% from Russia. Russia is anything but a reliable ally and is known to have used its natural gas supplied to Eastern Europe as a political tool in the past.

So standby for action the so called Zionist “State of Israel” and its number one ally the USA. We live in interesting times.

Here is and interesting post by JDLEDELL @ December 27, 2007 7:26 AM from Yossi Melmans’s blog:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/yossi_melman/2007/12/hopeful_for_bethlehem/all_comments.html

Yossi - Pay no attention to the extremists on both sides that populate this blog. I am extremely pessimistic about the chances for peace. I have dozens of relatives living in West Bank settlements and I have been going to Israel, at least annually, for more than 40 years. I have seen it all, the good, the bad and the ugly of this situation.

It's easy to put the blame on the Palestinians for they have made numerous mistakes which have significantly aggravated the problem. Suicide bombers, rockets and armed resistance are just a few of the well known errors. However, Jewish mistakes are less well known. The settlement enterprise is the primary problem. My sister and her family were one of the first to move from Haifa to the West Bank after the 67 war. Settlements were planned with three express goals: first, dividing up the west bank with Jews so that a viable Palestinian state could never emerge. Second, to surround Jerusalem with Jewish settlements so that Palestinians could never use it as their capital (to that end, in 1967 Israel tripled the size of Jerusalem's historical dimensions). Third, to build on top of and control the West Bank aquifers.

I’m sure you are aware that Israel is not really trying to forge a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The settlement game is still being played. Some of my settler relatives are being recruited to seed a new settlement in Atarot, for a 11,000 person city on the doorstep of Ramallah. Others are being recruited to seed Giv’at Yael, a 20,000 person settlement near Bethlehem. Plans have been developed to build another new settlement, Shimo’n Hatsedeeq , near Abu Dis.

Eventually the world will catch on to Israel’s word games. Like Jerusalem's expanded boundries, Ma’ale Adumim's municipal boundries extend all the way to Jericho, empty land that can accomodate hundreds of thousands of Israelis. Ariel city boundries are proposed to expand to encompass all the small surrounding settlements that will make Ariel geographically 4 times larger, on the theory Ariel will be allowed to stay under a peace agreement. These kind of games will not lead to “land for peace” or “peace for peace”.

Look at the maps the settlers pass around, you will see four “reservations” for Palestinians with Israel taking all the rest, including the Jordan Valley. This is the game plan and I don’t think any Israeli politician is strong enough to stop it or slow it down. There is no such thing as the status quo, if peace is delayed Israeli settlement expansion will surely prevent the birth of a viable Palestinian state.

This is a recipe for disaster as internal and external Palestinians demand citizenship and a bi-national state. Yossi, our mutual dream of a Jewish homeland will disappear as it has so many times in the past few thousand years. I, for one, find that to be an unforgivable mistake. However, an even worse outcome is possible, the loss of the jewish soul. I have seen IDF and settler depravity first hand in the West Bank. I have two nephews serving in the IDF and they are thugs, who have already lost their souls to hatred, along with numerous of my relatives. I cherish my Jewish faith and the wisdom of the Torah but I see too many Israelis abandoning this wisdom in their greed and visceral hatred for “others”. If we lose our soul, land will not matter.

Asım,

*Golden age of muslim Spain* is a Palaver,it is a myth.
The Umayyad army(horde of the looters and rapists) had invaded Spain.The Umayyads had no any capable statemen,so,they had employed the jewish administrators.That is the point.

The arabs(if they dont leave islam) and muslims couldnt and can not manage and administer the state.Could you show any islamic state which is being administered well.

Neil Kuchinsky:

Neil, Shame on you.
Yes, Quakers did take it upon themselves to bring in relief to aid everyone and especially the Jewish survivors. Have you any idea of the ratio of surviving Jews to the entire number of Quakers in the entire world in 1945-46? how difficult it was to get aid into Europe? Yes, the Quakers were there first - despite the obstacles. You are either ignorant, immoral or both. Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you. There are Jews cringing in shame for the disgraceful and ungrateful words you have written about a people who sacrificed for the survivors.

Rachel, Neither you nor anyone should be scared of me. I have already said that I am NOT your enemy. The opposite is true.

While I am not a member of the tribe. My father would be considered a member if he chose. My Grandma (Mathilda Benjamin) was his mother. So, Land of my Fathers also.

My only purpose in posting here is to say that Israel as a state and MY kin will never, ever be safe in Palestine. Why? because j(J)ustice favors the Palestinians. How will you ever be safe? Are you going to kill everyone? Please come back to the US.

Shame on you for calling me: "Hezbollah--I mean Nazi boy". It is both untrue and unbecoming.

Further, it reveals the fear of which I have written.

I am so sorry for you; but, I would feel even worse if I kept my mouth shut and ignored you.

SO WHAT IS REALLY THE PRO-ISRAEL AGENDA WITH REGARDS TO OIL?

First of all, the ethno-centric Jewish state of Israel is a small, resource-poor country, with no natural oil resources, and is almost completely dependent on US support in the form of not only massive financial support (billions of US tax dollars yearly) but US military and political cover as well. Israel, quite simply, would not survive as the apartheid, imperialistic, war-mongering Jewish state that it is, without the massive support of the US government. Israel is surrounded by well-deserved, self-made enemies thanks to the initial injustice of the UN unilaterally giving away Arab land that was not theirs to give away in the first place to Eastern European Zionist Jews who have been committing ethnic cleansing and persecution of the indigenous non-Jewish Palestinians ever since 1948. Since that time, Israel has continued to aggressively steal even more Arab land and has blatant ambitions to control the entire Middle East, using the power and might of the United States.

If more Americans were truly aware of how racist and imperialistic Israel is, they would most likely demand that our government stop supporting Israel at all until it is transformed into a true democracy for all regardless of religion, race or gender, as the world pressured South Africa to transform from an apartheid country to a true democracy ten years ago. If more Americans knew how support of Israel increases anti-American sentiment worldwide and ensures endless unjust wars, they might very well question their government's support of Israel. There are many reasons for Americans to question their government's support of Israel including first and foremost for real financial and security concerns as well as our country's hard-won reputation as a democracy for all, regardless of religion, race or gender.

The fact is that the pro-Israel, Zionist-dominated US media very rarely even mentions the topic of Israel outside of incidents that involve Palestinian suicide bombers, which then make the screaming front page headlines. The footage of the aftermath of such an attack is played over and over again, back to back on CNN and Fox News and all the other US media. These isolated attacks by Palestinian suicide bombers are thus over-reported while the context in which these desperate acts occur is usually completely ignored. The on-going brutal persecution of the non-Jewish Palestinian people, including the killing of innocent civilians and children, since 1948 by the Israeli army goes almost totally unreported and is generally veiled from view by the American public.

Even though sometimes is hard to abstract Christmas holidays from all the shopping, the big dinners and the fancy celebrations, my family, which I consideer traditional, always remind me of the real sense of these special days. Not only for Christians but for everyone. Christmas means the birth of a revolutionary man who preached the word of peace, mercy and tolerance with the different. I loved to realize that this man was born in miss. Andoni's family town of Bethlehem.
Unfortunately this biblical place has been forgotten by many for his religious meaning and taken as an piece of land to colonize, and use it to opress a whole community.
Thanks miss. Andoni for reminding all of us that Bethlehem is real place where real people relate.
I can't stop anyone from spending way too much money, or buying more food they can eat. But I'm gonna try to keep in mind the actions of that man called Jesus born in Judea, and remember Christmas is for sharing, loving and helping.

The Israeli army did not bomb the Church of the Nativity during the 2002 seige. Lamis Andoni has invented that part.

PRO-ISRAEL FORCES WANT TO RE-OPEN A PIPELINE FROM IRAQ TO HAIFA, ISRAEL

The fact that American-Israelis in our government are endeavoring to use the war on Iraq as a way for Israel to gain control over oil in the Middle East is rarely reported in the mainstream pro-Israel US media with your average American readership, however it has been reported in Jewish newspapers with Jewish readership and in Israeli papers.

A case in point is the fact that American-Israelis in our government want to "re-open" or re-instate, the pipeline that used to exist between Iraq and Palestine, which is now specifically Haifa, Israel. When Israel was created in 1948, that pipeline was re-directed by Iraq to Syria. Now pro-Israel forces are actively seeking to cut off the pipeline to Syria and re-direct it to Haifa, Israel. For more information on this, please do a Google-search using such keywords such as "Iraq oil pipeline to Haifa, Israel" and see what you come up with.

Just as Israel's connection to the war on Iraq has been kept out of the US mainstream media (as you may have noticed, Israel has not even been mentioned as one of our "allies" in the war on Iraq), this choice nugget of information with regards to Israel's ambition to get a basically free supply of Iraqi oil is also kept out of view for vast American public consumption.

LdA @December 24, 2007 12:01 PM: No religiosu or other intitution was held hostage. People sought refuge in a Church. This is actually a time-honored tradition, that is unfortunately lacking here in the US. If at that time you had read the comments made bny the PRIESTS (not the occupyiong Israeli forces), you would have noticed that they were afraid of the gunfire by the Israelis, who targetted the Churches.

The population of Bethlehem, along with that of the rest of the Holy Lands, has been greatly reduced following the occupation by Israel. Until then, it had flourished and grown, despite 1400 years of Muslim predominance.

As a matter of fact, there was in Bethlehem a tradition going back hundreds of years whereby the Muslim ruler would attend Christmas services. It was a show of respect and desire for co-existence. The tradition ended in the 90's when Israel refused to give Arafat, and all subsequent Palestinian leaders, permission to travel to the Churches.

Indeed 'Food for thought at this time of year'.

"The Western world ... did not pay much attention then to the plight of the town, its people or even the church, bombed by the Israeli army." - Andoni is a LIAR, Israelis never bombed the church in Bethlehem.

If I were really "scared" of you, I would not have left the relative safety in the US to move to Israel five years ago. Get a life Hezbollah--I mean Nazi boy--we are coming for you shortly, Inshallah.

Rachel
Land of my Fathers

herenotthere,Holzcel,Eli ...

Clearly u don't live on planet earth:jewish terrorist gangs and all jews who arrived Arab historic Palestine as invaders at or after 1914/ww1 should simply pack up and leave to where they come from...peacefully.

zionists-as u guys are-are worse than nzais and zionism has always been good at manufacturing and fabricating history:jews have no temples or history in Arab historic Palestine-read my post again-and like the apartheid racist cancerous nuclear armed south africa and like the crusaders and mogul hordes,colonial Britain and France, israel is doomed to vanish.

It's my objective knowledge of my history that assures me of the doomed fate of the artificial zionist entity.The Arab world has no tolerance whatsoever for a racist colnial settler state in its midest-Arabs in Alegeria evicted by armed struggle another more powerful colonail settler state,France,which occupied Alegeria for 132 years statring in 1830.Over 1.25 million Alegerians were martyered as a cost.

It's simply untenable as it's unsustainable to accept a foreign cancerous and evil entity as a wall SEPERATING the Arab East from Egypt and the Maghrib-this just goes against the tumult of history which will surely clean up this zionist wall.

Again no hostility whatsoever against jews or their faith per se-remember the golden age of the jews in Muslim Spain and their accomodation in Arab and Muslim land after the Iquisition-it's all about Land Theft in full day light of history.

Yes I have Glubb Pasha's books and have personally met his son Faris who died recently in Kuwait and his grand daughters;Glubb was a British agent and did his part to evict Palestinians and arrange the sale/trade in of Palestine for creating and securing some Arab thrones...well for a while...

US diplomatic documents of 1947/8 and US Counsel General at the time in Arab Jerusalem and his correspondence on the treason and "behind the barn deals" of some Arab rulers,are available in any decent US library including liberary of congress. Also see the facts on the scholarly

WWW.PLANDS.ORG

As history unequivocally proves times and agin,racist colonial settler states are doomed ;also see Maxine Rodinson's writtings including "israel a colnial settler state," Rodinson being a respectable French jew and a historian.

israel is doomed-that simple-it will never be accepted to have an alien and a thief in the most sacrred of all Arab Land, Palestine.

Why israel "INSECURITY" over and over again even with a nuclear arsenal:because a theif will never feel safe in a stolen house.

Regarding the Quakers, they have never particularly been "Friends" of Israel or the Jews. For example, at the close of WWII, they took it upon themselves to be the first into Germany with food and clothing for the German population, while the masses of surviving concentration camp victims were virtually ignored by them.

Freedom will soon come to the Christians of Bethlehem as further conflict and war looms....all
those of faith must buckle down and pray and fast for guidance in these very troubled times....

What prevents the Muslims from celebrating and sharing with the Jews?

What prevents the Muslims from accepting Israel as a legitimate presence in the Middle East?

What prevents the Muslims in the Middle East from stopping the promulgation of anti Semitism?

What prevents the Muslims from helping the Palestinians form a state to live side by side in peace with Israel?

Merry Christmas and Happy Channukah!

Bill,
Perhaps a closet is appropriate at times. At other times, should we not pray in public? as did Jesus? (following his admonition to pray in private)?

Anonymous, You speak the truth. Are you a practicing Quaker?

God bless you.

God bless the Palestinian people.

God bless Palestine.

God deliver Palestine from the oppressor.

God bless the Hebrew who loves his fellow man.

The Chrsitmas experiences recounted by the writer resonate with what I had experienced growing up in Beirut, Lebanon. I lived in a Muslim neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs. We always celberated Christmas, both at school and in our home. At school, we would have a party and sometimes one of the teachers would dress up as Santa Clause. At home, we spent great time decorating a tree.

Back to the point, American and Israelis like to pretend like Palestinian Christians are helped by Israel. What a crock. Come to San Fran, Ca where the largest population of Palestinian Christians are. You wont hear anything from Pali Christians but Damnation for their Israeli occupiers. Us Christians in palestine are persecuted just like any other Palestinians. Thats why the muslems and christians get along so well over the years. We both have the same common enemy that is Israel. This evangelical movement of Christianity that supports Israel does not exist amongst Christians of the rest of the world. The rest of us Christians know the truth about Israel. OCCUPIER. RACIST. MURDERER.
I went to a Quaker school in Ramallah that is quite famous amonst Palestinians. It is a Christian school and the pupils are mixed evenly muslem and christian. Never one problem ever. As students all we did was study and organize peaceful demonstrations against the israeli occupation. We, us, Palestinians are one nation. Christian and Muslem with some Jewish sympathisizers. BY the way, you can look up the school. Friends Boys school run by quakers from Philly.
For the naysayers, Bethelehem is inacessible by most Palestinian Christians. Israel blocks us out of Bethehem with their barbaric checkpoints.
Israel is for jews only. They hate Christians and muslems. WAKE UP

Ahmad, I think Jesus would go into a closet to pray, like he told everybody else to.

Please, Great Creator, pour your blessings upon Palestine and the Palestinian people.

Rachel, Rachel, Rachel,

Such name calling - rather unbecoming.

"For Hezbollah Boy Tashunkatate :

We do not need to hide in holes in the ground in bunkers. Only cowards do this. May our amazing IAF pilots find you soon. If not them, then by all means may Shabak pull your IP and forward it along to the proper authorities. This is my wish for a peaceful New Year.
Rachel
Tel Aviv"

Rachel,
I know you are scared. We are all concerned for the safety of all Palestinian and Hebrew alike - including you.

No need for you and Ben to attack me. I am not you r enemy.

http://www.btselem.org/index.asp

http://www.hamoked.org.il/default.asp

Do any of you posters find fault when I ask the Great Creator to pour his blessings upon Palestine and the Palestinians? If so, why? If not, then please join in prayer.

Tash

David Kass, December 25, 2007 7:54 AM

Excellent comment, although I seem to be the only one to have read it. I think what the world needs is for good people of all faiths, respectful of the rights and dignities of others and aware of their own shortcomings, to unite against the intolerant people of the world, and to ignore distinctions of religion, race, and creed. I'm not holding my breath, though.

If you cut off the hands of these greedy filthy zionists, then they will stop stealing from their arab neighbors and we will finally have peace in the middle east.
I guarantee it.

will happen when the Messiah comes from heaven to fight against all teh nations that fight against Jeruslaem. He will put his foot on teh Moutn of Olives which will split in three making a way of escape for the beleaguered Jerusalemites and then He will destroy the Antichrist (Mehdi) with his legions. And then teh world (dar el harb and dar el islam) will know who is King and God. The Jews will also know who is King, the one Who came to resuce them (and already came to rescue he rest of the world from Hell). Jesus.

to the one that said "JEsus is Satan" the pharisees said the same thing and Jesus warned them that there is one sin for which there is no forgiveness and that is it blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. whenever whackos, like this lady from aljazeera (probably a plant from Mecca) says stuff like she said it rouses emotions on all side and we say things we souldnt in anger but there is a limit to what we are allowed by God to say. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is related to teh commandment about not taking God's name in Vain from Moses. For that sin, God says there is not forgiveness in this world or in the one to come

to the one that said "JEsus is Satan" the pharisees said the same thing and Jesus warned them that there is one sin for which there is no forgiveness and that is it blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. whenever whackos, like this lady from aljazeera (probably a plant from Mecca) says stuff like she said it rouses emotions on all side and we say things we souldnt in anger but there is a limit to what we are allowed by God to say. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is related to teh commandment about not taking God's name in Vain from Moses. For that sin, God says there is not forgiveness in this world or in the one to come

Someone retorted: "Eli,
the jews have absolutely no place in Arab PAlestine-all and every inch of it-the sooner they leave the better for the world."

Ah, but we have a place. Are you blind? Anyway, thank you for the thought. You and your ilk are the reason why we still have to fight.

You also wrote:"There were no "seven Arab armies":there were ragtag poorly trained and poorly armed militias controlled by British officers-Britain is the creator of the racist jewish theocracy."

You don't know your history. I'm sure Sir John Baggot Glubb (Glubb Pasha) and the great grandfather of the present King Abdallah of Jordan (shot and killed by a Palestinian on the Temple Mt-coming out of Friday prayers in al Aqsa Mosque in 1951), General Kaukji, the Egyptian Army, The Syrian Army etc. might take umbrage at your description of them.

You wrote: "At rate the zionist gangs/troops outnumbered the Arab ragtags:highly trained and prepared zionist troops who are fresh from fighting in WW11-trained and armed by the British-numbered 127,500 troops vs around 90,000 Arab ragtags." Some Jews did participate in WW II in the Jewish Legion. Perhaps they fought against some of the Bosnian Muslim Brigade headed by Haj Amin el Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jslm, who spent the war in Berlin. But there weren't so many.

You do not know your history.How many people made up the states of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Transjordan and the Arab population of Mandate Palestine? Many more than Palestinian Jews.

There was no regular Jewish army in Mandate Palestine, it was all an underground and repressed by the British. There were then only ca 600,000 Jews in Palestine then. Men, women and children had to fight to prevent being driven from their homes and massacred; some were massacred and some battles were lost. Arab gangs had been used to maraud since the 1920's. They slaughtered more than 90 unarmed Jews there in 1929. With the help of the British they attacked a hospital convoy (1948) and murdered over 30 people being evacuated from Mt Scopus--it happened in Jslm, Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

You wrote: "U can rfere to US diplomatic history documnets as reported by US Counsel General in Jerusalem which will confirm my view and discredit yours."

Which documents? Cite them?

You wrote: "It's better to stop this worn out lies and recycled propaganda about the mythical "seven Arab Armies"which attacked those poor jewish souls;there was absolutely right in attacking foreign invaders-but were wrong because they were weak,poorly trained,disunited and emoralized-why? Because Arab rulers sold their souls to the devil-the British mandate against the Muslim Turks in a historical betryal."

Clearly you believe that it is right to kill those with whom you disagree. It is that attitude that has guided and brought shame and degradation on the Palestinian people. What a waste and tragedy. It need not have been and should not continue to be. Peace is the way, peace and a willingness to share the land.

And last: Jews lived in what is today called the "Moslem world" for more than a millennium before the Prophet Mohammed was born. They have all been virtually driven out of those lands by Arabs and other Moslems. More than 1,000,000 Jews have been absorbed into the State of Israel. There are 3 or more generations of millions of Arab refugees, but no Jewish refugees because Jews did not want their brethren to be homeless. What about the Arabs and their brethren???????????????????

Ms. Andoni,
The Palestinians control Bethlehem now but you do not mention that... nor do you mention that with a little inspiration they could actually take advantage of Bethlehem's importance to Christians to help grow the local Palestinian economy. It might help if Hamas and Fatah would halt their demonstrations in Bethlehem long enough to stop scaring off Christian tourists. Israel would welcome further growth in Bethlehem's tourist economy.

At Bethlehem and the Christian places of Palestine, the Israelis put up the walls and divide the peoples. And the American Neocons support it. Now many of the Christians in Palestine have left - they cannot get support. The same thing is happening in Iraq. They talk about the Iraqi War as though it were progress. Prior to the War, Saddam protected Christians (as well as women and Jews). His deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, was even Christian. Saddam would not allow terrorists a free hand in Iraq, and rightfully executed many of them. He protected the culture in Iraq, and the ancient Chaldeans, the venerable people of the Bible. Then along came the Neocons who sold us a load of bull and now 1/3 of the Iraqi Christians have left, and many have been raped and killed. There is an ongoing and major assault on Christendom among these venerable peoples in Iraq and Palestine and elsewhere in the Middle East. Don't swallow the load of bull that the Neocons are dishing out that it is necessary to destroy these cultures in order to spread goodness about the world from the barrel of a gun. Rudy, McCain, Huck, Hill - all the same - all Neocons!

Ms. Andoni,
The Palestinians control Bethlehem now but you do not mention that... nor do you mention that with a little inspiration they could actually take advantage of Bethlehem's importance to Christians to help grow the local Palestinian economy. It might help if Hamas and Fatah would halt their demonstrations in Bethlehem long enough to stop scaring off Christian tourists. Israel would welcome further growth in Bethlehem's tourist economy.

Ms. Andoni typifies why there is no peace between Arabs and Israelis.

What does her dishonest description of an incident in 2002 have to do with the question, which pertains to conditions in 2007? Ms. Andoni apparently cannot resist unleashing her anti-semitic vitriol, regardless of its relevance.

She lauds and empathizes with "fighters" whose sole goal is to murder Israeli citizens and eradicate the State of Israel.

She labels the fence designed to prevent those depraved butchers from entering Israel as an "apartheid wall". Sure, Ms. Andoni. We all know that the Muslim states throughout the Middle East are models of openness, tolerance and democracy.

If you realy want to understand this conflict read RACHEL CORRIE's memmos from palestine before she was crushed by the terrorist israeli soldiers.

Many points in this piece can be debated but one seems clear to me. Palestinian Christians believe they have suffered grievously at the hands of Israel. The American media has tried to portray these people as being on 'our' side in the Arab-Israeli conflict - nearly all testimony from Christians themselves suggests otherwise.

I see that Steve comes thru with his message of love and compassion on the day of Jesus birth. Like Israeli Jews, I would like Steve to look into his own heart and that of the soul of his own country, The United States. Is American behavior clean and honest? Would the fact that American men kill their women at a rate far, far higher than any muslim country. We have the highest murder rate of any country. Year after year we slaughter 16,000 to 17,000 innocents. It just so happens we don't call our deaths "honor killings" but they are just as dead.

I wonder what Iraqi's thought as bombs rained down on them - what did we do to America. Iraq was wrong in 1991 and paid a terrible price. But since then, what did they do to hurt America enough to get killed?

Do you understand that Israeli textbooks do NOT show the green line or West Bank? Have you ever been in a synogogue or Jewish school in the West Bank? I have and you will hear hatred strong enough to curl your hair.

Get off your self-righteous high horse and admit we are all frail humans who sin. We are all made in G-d's image and ALL of us should realize how far short we come to G-d's ideal for us.

Perhaps you should write something about the Yom Kippur War. You remember, that's when the Arabs attacked Israel on the occasion of it's most holy holiday. Isn't that when your friends wound up being occupied? After they got their asses kicked after attacking a people on their sacred holiday?

While we are at it, how many billions of dollars have been given to the "Palestinians" and how much of that actually went to make their lives better as opposed to what went to Arafat's foreign bank accounts or to buy weapons that just make life worse for all involved?

Don't you think that if all that money had been spent on real education (not the hate teaching that is done), infrastructure improvements, business opportunities, etc, that things would be vastly different for the "Palestinian" people now?

I am sick of the death and destruction mentality of your Muslim neighbors. I am sick of their suicide bombings, random rocket attacks, wallowing self pity, honor killings, and general barbarism. I want to see Hezbollah annihilated..completely destroyed. I want to see Hammas eating ham. I want to see all those sick, hateful bastards finished off so the innocents among them can finally have a chance to make a peaceful society

Neil and Ze'ev - Just remember, Israel does not belong in Bethlahem. It's NOT our town and it's not our land. Divide the land fairly and then we can build a wall 1000 feet high on the border. You cannot keep expanding the settlements and taking additional land and also expect peace with the Palestinians.

An example is the municipal boundries of Jerusalem which were tripled in size, unilaterally in 1967 by Israel, over historical dimensions of the City. Jerusalem now extends to the doorstep of Ramallah. Look at the municipal boundries of Ma'ale Adumimim. It encompasses over 30 square miles and stretches all the way to Jericho, enough land for many hundreds of thousands of settlers. The same thing is happening in Ariel where the move to incorporate the outlying settlements into Ariel on the theory that Ariel will stay in any peace agreement. The plan is to quadruple Ariel's land size with this tactic.

It's easy to take shots at Palestinians. It's not too easy to look into our own souls and examine our actions.

Perhaps you should write something about the Yom Kippur War. You remember, that's when the Arabs attacked Israel on the occasion of it's most holy holiday. Isn't that when your friends wound up being occupied? After they got their asses kicked after attacking a people on their sacred holiday?

While we are at it, how many billions of dollars have been given to the "Palestinians" and how much of that actually went to make their lives better as opposed to what went to Arafat's foreign bank accounts or to buy weapons that just make life worse for all involved?

Don't you think that if all that money had been spent on real education (not the hate teaching that is done), infrastructure improvements, business opportunities, etc, that things would be vastly different for the "Palestinian" people now?

I am sick of the death and destruction mentality of your Muslim neighbors. I am sick of their suicide bombings, random rocket attacks, wallowing self pity, honor killings, and general barbarism. I want to see Hezbollah annihilated..completely destroyed. I want to see Hammas eating ham. I want to see all those sick, hateful bastards finished off so the innocents among them can finally have a chance to make a peaceful society

Merry Christmas to all, and to the Zionist invaders and war criminals:

1. The Zionist invader is occupying stolen land that it acquired by force, with an assist from the world’s superpowers, and so has no grounds for complaint when it is attacked in return by the displaced native population.

2. Israel continues to increase its illegal acquisition of Palestinian land in the occupied territories in the West Bank and Gaza. It has withdrawn from Gaza (for the moment) but continues to suppress the economy and limit access to vital resources such as water, fuel and electricity.

3. Israel's policy regarding water supply in the West Bank is illegal and discriminates on racial grounds. It flagrantly breaches international law which requires Israel to ensure proper living conditions for the occupied population and to respect the Palestinians' human rights, including the right to receive a sufficient quantity of water to meet their basic needs.”

4. Israel is violating the international law on water since the water resources in the Occupied Territories were integrated into the legal and bureaucratic system of Israel, severely limiting the ability of Palestinians to develop those resources…

5. Israel’s use of groundwater of the Occupied Territories in the settlements is a breach of article 55 of the Hague Regulations.

6. Israel is in breach of Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 which prohibits an occupying state from discriminating between residents of occupied territory; since the quantity of water supplied to the settlements is vastly larger than that which is supplied to the Palestinians.

7. Israel is in breach of article 6 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. Examination of the current division of water between Israel and the Palestinians leads to the conclusion that this division violates Palestinian rights and contravenes international water law.

8. Even Israel’s own human rights organization considers them to be racist, illegal and “discriminates on racial grounds”.

9. Israel hogs 80% of the regions water supply to keep their swimming pools full and lawns green, while leaving the Palestinians less than half the amount considered necessary of minimum health requirements by the WHO and USAID organizations.

10. The Zionist war criminals have killed more than 6 times the number of Palestinian civilians, as Palestinians have killed Israeli civilians.

11. The Zionist war criminals have killed more than 17 times the number of Palestinian children, as Palestinians have killed Israeli children.

12. Your repeated excuses that you drop leaflets to warn civilian population centers that are about to be bombed back to the stone ages, and apologize after the fact, are disgusting.

13. Your constant whining that suicide bombers kill women and children, a tiny fraction of the women and children slaughtered by the Zionist war criminal, is disgusting in the extreme.

As a Muslem (not Arab) I am ashamed of what the Palestinians do and have done. Intentional murder of innocents in shopping malls, restaurants, buses, and other places is not the Muslem way. I am also ashamed of the Muslem establishment for not condemning what is clearly Palestinian terrorism and murder.
By publishing an article written by a supporter of these terrorists (excuse me, I mean "fighters") the Post only encourages this behavior.

The Palestinian gunman referred to here, who took refuge in the Church of the Nativity in 2002, are the same 'brave freedom fighters' who regularly and indiscriminately murdered israeli men women and children - before the security fence the author calls the "apartheid wall" was built. It is much, much safer now in Israel because of it. This is a fact. An inconvenient one for apologists for terrorists like Lamis Adoni and former President, Jimmy Carter, but a fact all the same.

Ze'ev Silverman
Beer Sheva, Israel

What nonsense about "Palestinian "fighters" (i.e., terrorists) taking "refuge" in the Church of the Nativity. They forced their way in at gunpoint, desecrated the place by using it as a toilet, and the religious leaders in charge couldn't wait to get them out. Israel never "bombed" the church; if they had, the terrorists wouldn't have lasted a day. This is typical of the big lies of the Paestinians - after all, if you can justify the intentional murder of civilians, merely telling lies of this sort is so much easier. What we have here is an Arab Christian trying to out-Muslim the Muslims in her anti-Israel attitude, so she won't appear to be less fanatic in her beliefs, and increase the Muslim discrimination her people already suffer.

I'm grew up in Missouri. I could care less whether or not Israel is made up of mostly Jews, Christians or whomever. I have no preference for any religion over another. I'm agnostic.
I have a big problem with the State of Israel. The way it has treated and continues to treat the Palestinians. I could give a F that most all of those people that mistreat them are Jewish, so you can't pull that anti-semite card. The facts are these:
1. The Holocaust was real and terrible and the Jews in Europe were persecuted and displaced for many years.
2. That fact doesn't give a people the right to displace and persecute another people.
No matter what you want to say about idiots like Ahmadenijad, the fact is, the Israeli state continues to persecute and dehumanize Palestinians. The reason they have to continue to persecte them, is because they are working to forestall a resolution to a fundamentally unjust situation.

Bravo to Lamis Andoni for focussing on the transcending love of the Christmas message.
Those who attack her piece fail to employ the context in which Palestinians have lived - the context is a determined colonial settler state (Israel) to obliterate the name of Palestine and to empty its people from the land. Is it any wonder that Palestinians resist further dispersion and loss of land and home to accommodate Israel's ethnic cleansing.

A refreshing, uoplifting article, especially at this time in history. Your proof readers missed on, however. It's Eid al Idha not Eid al Doha.

Thanks.

Nice ! Let's concentrate on the positive.

We do not need to hide in holes in the ground in bunkers. Only cowards do this. May our amazing IAF pilots find you soon. If not them, then by all means may Shabak pull your IP and forward it along to the proper authorities. This is my wish for a peaceful New Year.
Rachel
Tel Aviv

As a Jew, I find it amazing that neither side to this conflict ever admit they did wrong. Obviously, the world knows of Palesinian terrorism and indeed it has been appauling. The Palestinians have crossed the barrier from freedom fighters to terrorists.

However, I am more familiar with Jewish mistakes and immoral actions. Starting with a close relative who was in the Irgun and bombed and killed innocent civilians along with British soldiers. He also fought in the 1948 war of independence. While some of the actions were appropriate to war, some were not, including taking over arab villages and threatening with death any inhabitants who would not leave.

However, it is the settlement activity that is the most immoral. I have cousins, nephews and nieces living in Ma'ale Adumim, Ariel, Har Homa, Giv'at Ze'ev and Modi'in Ilit. I can assure you that the primary reason my settlers live in the West Bank is to prevent a Palestinian state. As each generation matures they reach further into the Palestinian territory. The occupation is to protect these settlers much more than to protect Israel proper, as defined by the United Nations.
The Occupation is brutal and dehumanizing and I have witnessed all sorts of perversions of human behavior by the IDF and settlers.

I ask any of the Jews who have commented on this article, have you ever attended shul in the West Bank? I have many times. If you want to hear absolute hated and the most vile talk imaginable listen to the rabbis and settlers talk about arabs and Palestinians.

Until Israeli Jews drop the pretense of perfection and at least admit to themselves that they are capable of, and have committed, the same inhuman, immoral behavior as Palestinians there will never be peace. Israel has 99% of the power in this relationship and thus has 99% of the responsibility to act. Right now, based on my visits to Israel and discussions with my relatives what Israel wants is Palestinian subsurviance, a source of cheap labor, with Palestinians divied up into "reservations".

The Annapolis peace talks will drag on for years until Israel increases it's settler population from 500,000 to a million. At that point a Palestinian state is impossible. Jews should seriously think about what this means to the future of a jewish state.

I am not trying to pick on us jews, it's just that I cannot tolerate anymore the self-righteousness of some of the commentators. Arab terrorism is well documented in the west with screaming headlines, but Jewish terrorism is not as well known. If you think all of Israels actions are defensive, you are naive. Some are and many are not. The settlement enterprise was deliberatly designed to appeal to the Eretz Israel crowd as well as to prevent a Palestinain state.

Until some greater power knocks the heads of both Israelis and palestinians and literally imposes a settlement to the conflict, nothing will happen.

Nice to see that the Washington Post has not lost its anti-Israel slant on the Middle East. We can always tell when it is Christmas by all the anti-Israel rhetoric we see abouding from the Post and other papers worldwide. For your information, the IDF never bombed the Church of the Nativity when Palestinian terrorists holed up inside it. They destroyed many of the Church's books and artifacts and started the fires there using Church antiques and papers and books. These are the same Islamists who today have threatened and murdered Christian Arab activists and driven the almost 80% Christian arab population to almost 12% in only a few short years. Israel has no "apartheid wall" or even separation wall around Bethlehem. Why not ask the tourists who are there now when they get back if they ever saw such a structure? We do have military posts near an area higher than a road leading to Jerusalem that is popular with Palestinians looking for an afternoon's shooting at Israelis. Perhaps this is the "wall" that Ms. Adoni refers to. We especially enjoy Ms. Adani's brief comment regarding the truth about muslim fundamentalism where she downplays it. What else could we expect from one of Al Jazeera's most eloquent propagandists? The truth about the State of Israel is that she has always maintained protection of ALL holy sites in the Holy Land. We shudder to think what would happen if we let the Waqf control the Western Wall as it has the Al Aqsa compound where Jewish antiquities attesting to the Jewish homeland are dug up with bulldozers by the Arabs on the other side and left broken in huge mounds of dirt. The only thing we see them doing is attempting to destroy our heritage and culture not, as Ms. Adani would have anyone believe, that they are the "protectors" of all faiths in Israel.

In 2002, Palestinians were celebrating the inhuman national pastime of blowing themselves up in the vacinity of Jews. The Palestinian Authority -- ruling over 97% of the West Bank -- refused to arrest any terrorists or confiscate boms or weapons used against Israelis. When Israel surrounded the terrorists in Bethlehem, those killers took bombs and guns into the Church of the Nativity to further show their disrespect and murderous contempt for Christianity and all things decent. Tell the truth and write about your national shame. Then we will all live as one!

The woman betrays her CHristian Brothers and Sisters, and she lies. The Size of the Christian Community in Israel has grown from 30,000 to 135,000. THe size of in Palestine has decreased from 25% to less than 2% among the Muslim Palestinians. THe Muslim Palestinians kidnap their daughters and force them to convert to Islam and marry old Muslim Men. They are shot. Their homes are stolen. Their Churches are bombed. Their bookstores destroyed.
The Christian Community after murder and kidnappings and bombings are all leaving Gaza

Israel never bombed a Mosque or a Church. THe writer lies. Tell the day and the church. She can't. It is a lie.

Dear Lamis:

I thoroughly enjoyed your article. It humanizes the occassion of Chritmas and makes it an opportunity for an interfaith dialogue which goes further than a mere gesture of human civility. I am a Moslim Sunni whose first name is usually associated with Moslem Shiites and have always lived in communities where the neighbourhood was predominantly Christian. I spent a good part of my younger years getting educated in US institutions of learning. Thus I remember Chrismas trees and Baba Noel as Santa is called in Arabic. I grew to accept these things as a part of my inner culture. I also lived in Bethlehem and Jarusalem during my kid years and I was a constant visitor of the famous Bethlehem and Jerusalem Churches. The aroma of Christmas and the turkey stuffing haunt my senses to the point of elated pain. It is Christmas day today, a national holiday in Jordan. I am going to call my friend Munther to have him invite me to his Chritmas feast which his Prairie American wife, Lexie, prepares to perfection. Thank you Ms. Andoni and a very merry Xmas and a happy new year to you.

I find it sadly telling that as Christmas day begins, the postings become ever more viciously anti-Jew and anti-Israel. The cowardly rantings of anonymous haters including some Nazi-like postings. One can say simply this: cowards and losers whine the loudest. Israel will persist regardless of the hate-filled hordes that surround it. That's a Christmas message that Jesus would like, I suspect.

a

Our hearts as Americans go out to you and your family in Jesus's homeland of Palestine, Beit Lehem (Bethlehem) suffering under brutal Israel oppression too.

As you are well aware the pro-Israeli stranglehold and stifling of any discussion of expressing even the faintest solidarity with Palestinian Christians continue...in the great "land of the free and home of the brave."

The neoconservative Crusade and media blackout for Israel continues whether its Associated Press, FoxNews, NBC, or CNN.

May you have a wonderful Christmas and may your country soon realize its independence and freedom.

Every hate radio pundit in bed with neocons (Beck, Medved, Hannity, Grant, Limbaugh, Weiner Savage) who parrots about the fear of "Israel being wiped off the map" FAILS TO TELL YOU Palestine has all but been wiped off the map with more news story of continued Israel settlement expansion to JUDAIZE West Bank.

When Americans wake up and see the tireless self-determination and freedom that is growingly denied to the Palestinians, they'll know the brutality of all powerful Roman Israel and the weak oppressed Palestinians under its direct mercy.

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Asım from San Antonio Spurs,Tim Duncan.

**If Russian invading force lands in New York and declared a state...**
Two questions,
1-Is there 3000 years old Russian temple in New York ?
2-Is New York *Promised Land* for Russian?

Palestinian,
What is the difference between Arab and Palestinian ?
There is not and there had never been so-called *Palestinian nation* in the history.
You are an arab and there are 21 arabic countries from the Gulf to Atlantic Ocean.

Please DELETE this highly offensive comment, ASAP:

"Anthony Hill:
Jesus IS Satan!
December 24, 2007 5:51 PM "

Is there no site monitor ??!

Why would anybody have ANY regard for these arrogant murderous bastards and LAND thieves who suck us dry financially ?? Let them build all the blasted walls with THEIR OWN MONEY. We would have never had the 9/11 (I worked there for over a decade !!) had it not been for our 'special' relationship with Israel. For 10% of our dollars dumped into Israeli murderous enterprise for decades, we could have had plenty of new fuel/energy technologies making us independent from the Middle East mess. That would mean NO WAY to justify any of our business there, ie. end of free ride for Israel. Is it the reason there was NO real energy research in the US for the past 40 years or so ??

I am all for Israeli existence, but as a PARTNER of ALL peoples there, not a fascist occupier. Palestinian extremism/ growth is fed by Israeli's fascism and rascism.

Yitzhak Rabin who was serious about peace was brutally assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli zionist who opposed Rabin's signing of the Oslo Accords. Twelve years later all the hell is lose thanks to Sharon and Netanyahu. His dignity disregarded, Sharon is kept in a maxi-jar, just as Lenin was almost a hundred years ago - superior science indeed.

In my bldg in NYC with few hundred apartments for the third year we cannot have a Christmas Tree in the lobby we've always had. Our Muslim neighbors have NO problem with it, they put up their own Trees in their apartments.. Some of our crazed Jewish neighbors foam around mouth when Christmas is around. They get seizures when the Christmas or the Tree is mentioned. Why Christmas as a word has been banned in the US ??!! What could be their problem ??!! How can Christmas/ Tree be offensive to ANYBODY ??!! Unless one is a TOTAL Scrooge.

After all Jesus was a Jew ! Seems the problem is the same as some of these militant posters here. It has NOTHING to do with ANY religion, but power, money and GREED. Lording over everybody else.

it seems arabs muslims have nothing but sunshine for christians - i guess that explains both Lebanon and Darfur.

That Palestinian tape that all the racists above refer to about Palestinians dancing in the streets after 9/11 turned out to be false and a lie. Fox Zionist news issued an apology because that tape was celebration over something else 6 years earlier then 9/11.
Lamis - Merry Xmas. As a Palestinian muslem, In ramAllah we also celebrate Xmas with our Palestinian Christian brothers. I wish the Christians of the rest of the world knew that ISRAELIS OPPRESS ANYBODY WHO IS NOT JEWISH. Betheleham is under MILITARY ISRAELI OCCUPATION. Christians and muslems suffer at the hands of the Israelis.
Dear Ben the clown
As long as Israel continues its brutal occupation, Israel will never have peace. You know it. With all the Israeli weaponry, you cant put down a people like the Palestinians who have so much heart. Pretty soon, America will realize Israel has dragged it through the mud and sludge. and when america quits its support for Israel -.... Guess the ending by Jewish brother. Happy Hanukkah from an oppressed Palestinian American Muslem

Thank you to Ms Adonis for her wistful report,and the Washington Post for publishing it.
To all the hothead reactionaries : you're only coming off worse with your comments.

ullhaq

All the suicide bombers are in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi busy killing fellow muslims.

I think after you decided you can not send them to Israel, you said heck why travel so far, we can kill here.

Ben

Here's a quaint idea. Why don't the "arabs" recognize Israel and drop the idea of pushing the jooooze into the sea? Why don't the islamic fascists stop bombing pizza parlors and schools? Why don't the arabs forsake the UN handouts and go to work?

Answering those questions would be a start.

I Hope to some day visit Bethlehem, As it is sacred ground that every one should try to visit once in their life. I also have to say that when I saw lamis picture I was struck by how Beautiful she is. I dont remember seeing her blog on this site before.

The author exaggerates. The Church of the Nativity was not bombed by the Israeli army. Had it been bombed by the Israeli army, it would not stand today. Although one wouldn't know it from reading what this author has written, what actually happened is that in April 2000, Fatah terrorists, fleeing arrest, took refuge in the church, and the Israeli army surrounded them for 38 days until a surrender was negotiated. As part of the surrender, 13 terrorists agreed to be deported. In the end it was learned that the terrorists in the Church had desecrated the church and abused the clergy within while they remained holed up inside. When the author refers to "our defenders, the fighters in the Church of the Nativity" she refers to a band of Moslem terrorists who had no more respect for the Church or Clergy they abused than the large number of Palestinian Christians they have chased from Bethlehem over the years, which now is almost devoid of a Christian population.

BEN.

suiside bombers will keep coming because you stole there land and olive trees and even a donkey from 12 yaer old kid. nothing but low life jews

Tragically this arab in San Antonio is not the exception, but the rule. His extremist rant and attitude of unrelenting hate is a good example of what peace seekers are up against.

Bill Mosby: "No Christian spirit here to speak of."

LMFAO

Very few of those posting here have anything in mind other than "give me what I have a right to, and don't bother me with the concerns of anybody else". Human conflict business as usual. No Christian spirit here to speak of.

Having had the chance earlier this year to meet with one of the Israeli officers who was severely wounded in the attack on the Palestinian terrorists holing up in a Christian church as part of their propoganda onslaught, I found the article self-justifying, self-righteous pandering to those in the Muslim world who want the destruction, not only of Israel, but anyone who is non-Muslim. The Israeli soldier I met was wounded trying to separate the terrorists from the non-combatants in the church. Thank heavens he survived after a long struggle. Maybe some of your readers should explore the concept of dhimiti or dimity to see the reality of Christianity or Judaism in a Muslim country, and not this pretence at a showpiece.

Posted on December 24, 2007 18:26

Asim MA, San Antonio:

The lies you tell yourself speak more, than the lies you utter to me.. ..

On Christmas Eve, let us remember that Jesus was a Jew.

That Mary, Joseph, Paul, John the Baptist, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the Prophets, Kings David, Solomon, Moses, Isaac and Jacob were all Jews.

The land of Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish People.

The Jews were working, building, and worshipping in Jerusalem 1,700 years before the birth of Mohammad.

Archaeology and the Bible speak to the long history of the Jews and their Return to their ancient land.

Jesus stands with his people, chosen by God and supported by those of us who read the words of Scripture.

Eli,
the jews have absolutely no place in Arab PAlestine-all and every inch of it-the sooner they leave the better for the world.

If a Russian invading force lands in new york and declares a state,all US states are obliged and will fight the invaders.

There were no "seven Arab armies":there were ragtag poorly trained and poorly armed militias controlled by British officers-Britain is the creator of the racist jewish theocracy.

At rate the zionist gangs/troops outnumbered the Arab ragtags:highly trained and prepared zionist troops who are fresh from fighting in WW11-trained and armed by the British-numbered 127,500 troops vs around 90,000 Arab ragtags.
U can rfere to US diplomatic history documnets as reported by US Counsel General in Jerusalem which will confirm my view and discredit yours.

It's better to stop this worn out lies and recycled propaganda about the mythical "seven Arab Armies"which attacked those poor jewish souls;there was absolutely right in attacking foreign invaders-but were wrong because they were weak,poorly trained,disunited and emoralized-why? Because Arab rulers sold their souls to the devil-the British mandate against the Muslim Turks in a historical betryal.

Ms. Andoni,

I completely expected someone from the propganda machine called "Al-Jazeera" to blame whatever ills that have befallen upon people living in the middle east on Israel. Thank you for not letting me down.

The history of Bethlehem and of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to play no part in your "reporting". Fortunately, many of the posts in response to your "journalism" have pointed out that the Palestinian suicide bombers killing innocent Israeli citizens prompted the Israeli army to attack.

And please Ms Andoni, remember to leave out in your next "article" how The Chruch of The Nazarine was the only citadel that the Palestinian murdurers could find refuge in. And forget to mention that the reason the Palestinians took refuge there was because they knew the Israeli army wouldn't bomb it to splinters because of its historical value.

None of the people that holed up in that holy place deserved any sympathy. They deserve contempt for killing innocents and then risking an irreplacable holy place to save their own cowardly skins.

Despite this, Ms. Andoni, I, as a Jew, wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. I hope with some introspection you and yours also find this time of year to seek the truth instead of spreading lies.

Terry,
the jews were the first to introduce terrorism and violnec to Palestine:Yitzhak Shamir was the first terrorist ever to introduce poppy trapped cars to the ME;jewish terrorists bombed the king david hotel in jerusalem,they assasinated the UN envoy Count Bernadout in 1947 and their own Yitzhak Rabin in 1996-and have murdred,incarsertaed,tortured,ethpalestinians for sixty years.

Like the French resisting the Nazi Germany and the Alegerian resiting French occupation, the Palestinians have a UN snactioned right to resist the occupation of Arab historic PAlestine until the all jews who came as inavders and settlers after 1914 go back to where they come from-they have the choice to leave peacefully and not as the French were evicted from Algeria and the zionists from South Lebanon and Gaza.

Do the muslems who support the "right of return," also support the repatriation of all land occupied by muslims?

Will they support reparations paid to the descendants of all people brutalized by occupying muslim hordes?

I didn't think so.

I suppose the arabs could always try to take Israel's land by force. Although, by the scars received and land lost by last couple of attempts, that was a bit foolish. Who knows, if they do try, maybe the arabs can be removed from the Holy Land once and for all.

I visited Bethlehem on a Christian tour eight years ago at Easter time. There was absolutely no sense of "occupation". There were some soldiers but they were not only NOT threatening, they provided a feeling of security. In fact there ate soldiers commonly seen within Israel itself. It is a citizen's army. I heard no complaints from the local people (Christians) who I mingled with.
I am still in contact with some of them and I have been told that when Hamas took over things went down hill fast. The Christians are scared to death of Hamas and the other Palestinian Islamists. The few Christians in Gaza are in grave danger.

This Adoni is an Al Jezeera propagandist. I'm somewhat surprised that the W. Post permitted such a piece of garbage to appear on it's page.

herenothere:

Your ignorance is so appaling that it would be a waste of time to debate with u.Go and do some serious reading about comaprative religion esepcially about Islam:the final,complete,authentic and uncorrupted Islam cannot be a preversion of corrupt,altered and doctored faiths of Judaism and Chrisianity which were revaled to Moses and Jesus pure and ucorrupted originally.

"israel" was created by terrorism,ethnic cleanesing and violence-remember the terrorist jewish gangs:Haganh,Palmach,Shtern,Irgun???

WWW.PLANDS.ORG
provides an excellent and informative backgorund including detailed maps on the plight and tragedy of the PAlestinian people for the past sixty years.

Once established,the racist apartheid jewish militaristic theocracy has and continues to survive on state terrorism and extreme violance.

"israel" is an absolute evil and only evil has she begotten since its creation.Its fate is the same as that of apartheid racist South Africa,disappear and vanish because it's an artifical entity and has no place on Arab land.

Palestine has been Arab for over five thousand years-since their Cannanite ancestors settled it to this very day and Arab means Arab regardless of religion and means Muslims,Christians and even Jews who were in Palestine at or before WW1.

jews and jewish presence in Palestine were very marginal indeed and the sooner that the jews who came to Palestine as invaders and land thieves after ww1 should peacefully depart and return to where they come from.

Any jewish occupying alien state on Arab land and in the heart of the Arab land was not,is not and will never be accepatable-that simple.The Arab zionist conflict is about stolen Land and absolutely not about the jewish faith in any shape or form.

Lamis:U say "Islamic fundamentalism," but there is also Christian fundamentalism-and neither is an obstacle to Arab brothers-Christian and Muslim-to coexist in peace,love and prosperity as they always have throughout history.There are well-known Arab families especially in the Levant who are half Muslim and half Christian to this very day.

Also it's an Arab-Zionist conflict and not just a Palestinian-zionist conflict.

Interestingly enough, it is Christians who deserve refugee status from Iraq.

They are being driven out of Iraq through violence from their tolerant and peace loving muslim neighbors.

But, we won't see anyone on the world stage taking up their cause. That is reserved for the protected class.

It is such a pity that the holly place for all the Christians is still under the occupation and Christians from all around the world can not freely celebrate in the Holly Land the birth of Jesus 2007 years later. Shame on the world which allows this to happen,shame on the democracies who support this kind of modern apartheid.
I hope that one day this land and all the people who live there will be truly free and the senseless killings will stop.
Peace on Earth and Merry Christmas to all of you.

A very simple question to my Christians friends on Christmas,

If Jesus come back to life where would he go for his prayers?

1) Mosque
2) Catholic Church
3) Synaguage
4) Protestant Church

I think the answer would be an eye opener.

Let's vote.

I have taken to wondering what Jesus would make of the way Christianity has developed since he left it to his disciples and their spiritual descendants. The central message- "believe in me and be saved"- has been mostly pushed aside by the growth and elaboration of minutia and bureaucracy in the religion, never mind the commercialization of it. And that's not even to touch on the phenomenon of religious war. Until we give up the parts of all religions which divide and demonize us, we will continue to call down this particular form of God's wrath while believing ourselves to be in the very act of averting that wrath by attempting to stamp out the actions of others we think offend God. Ironic, isn't it?

Lamis says:

“In our family our sight and hearts go back to Bethlehem, where our family has been separated from loved ones and continue to celebrate Christmas after Christmas under Israeli occupation.”

As long as the racist Zionist invaders and land thieves occupy the West Bank and Gaza there will never be peace. Oh yes, they may have withdrawn from Gaza, but they still control its borders, suppress its economy, and limit its basic resources like water, fuel and electricity.

As long as the racist Zionist war criminals continue to hog 80% of the water supply while denying the Palestinians the minimum required to maintain health, there will never be peace.

Actually, it is not just the “occupied territories” that is the problem. It is the occupation of the entire pre-1947 Palestine that is the problem. Until the racist Zionist war criminals vacate the Middle East, there will be no peace.

The vehicle to transcend...the solstice, the full moon and christmas within the same 7 days. If you have never transcended, you should learn how. Hate melts away, if only but briefly, to be taken from your payers and thrust into reality.

And to look upon the great wall Israel has erected.

Jesus IS Satan!

Christianity is a perversion of Judaism; Islam is a perversion of both Christianity and Judaism.

When the basis of a cultures beliefs are twisted from other sources, is it surprising that they continue to twist those beliefs to fit the hate that fills their hearts.

i am an arab and a palestinian and all i can tell you from all that this woman has written is that she works for aljazeera. she is pushing the company line and using american/femnist/liberal heart-strings tugging to make her point. i don't disagree with all she said about the suffering as i was there and saw it. the one thing that irks me is her complete inability as a reporter or as a christian to see that those guys in the church were not just defenders. but if she, perhaps one of teh few christians that works at aljazeera is like this what of the rest of the staff. but forget the fact that she's a christian how about the fact that she's a reporter. that obligates her to some kind of objectivity but this issue doesn't allow for much of that. if those we trust with the truth are bringing this kind of bias to their jobs, then there is little hope that the media will help in doing more than fanning the flames of hatred and victimization at the cost of peopls lives. she lives in qatar safely away from the mess that she's helping to prolong.

So, Lamis Andoni, let me get this straight. It's OK for Arab militants to occupy a church, which they know that the Israelis will not enter out of respect for the Christian community. Yet, some of your Moslem friends have blown up synagogues, and I'm thinking of a particularly vicious car bomb incident in front of a Chasidic synagogue a few years ago that killed random men, women, and children who refuse to take up arms for Israel. I'm thinking of young Jewish seminary students stabbed to death in the alleys of Jerusalem by Arab thugs. I'm thinking of the hundreds of acts of hate against Jews by Moslems that are occurring in Paris.

You want to talk about Christmas and brotherly love, Lamis Andoni, why don't you get off your high horse and criticize the real perpetrators of violence in the Middle East and see how far it gets you. Fired from your job with Al Jazeera, for one thing. Threatened with death if you ever ventured back into an Arab area, possibly. You can trash the Israelis all you want, but hardly anyone there would contemplate blowing up your church or family or restaurants. What false morality you espouse. As another poster said, you're standing up for a backwards, doomed civilization--the Moslems of the Middle East--who are sliding backward even as the rest of the world moves forward.

The press is full of cowards like this Lamis Andoni who are full of brave talk when it comes to attacking the Jews--a time-honored blood sport--but become timid little worms when it comes to addressing the real problems of the middle East and Arab/Muslim societies.

Tashunkatate:

My answer to you is very simple. The hatred is simple, you are jealous, pure and simple. We win our wars, we have a functioning government, economy and army. We are hopeful. Israelis have won 3 nobles in the last 5 years.

Your people in other hand live under some very brutal dictators, you are mostly very poor and illetrate. You do not have any hope.

When you do not have it. You do not want any one else to have it.

We know your types, we have fought them before and survived. We will survive you too. We fight to live. You fight to die. All the luck to you.

Ben

It's "Eid-al-Adha", not "Eid-al-Doha"

The usual slanted view of a life long Jew-hater.
Maybe you should focus more on how raped women are treated in Saudi Arabia.

Ben,

and I would like you.

I know you are scared.
Can you trust even though there is little in which to trust?

I do not know that I could trust - knowing that on the next bus, the next concert, the next....there is going to be a child willing to give their life to take my life and the lives of my loved ones.

Thrive?

I would ask myself:
Why am I the object of such hatred?
Why are my loved ones the objects of such hatred?
What have I done to engender such hatred?
What can I do to extinguish this hatred?
How can I escape this?
Who will help me?
Is there an answer?

I think I know the some of the answers; and I offer my help such as it is. What can I do?

Peace, Come and share my table.

Tash

More holiday propoganda---Ms. Andoni, perhaps you need to be reminded that the Christian population in Bethlehem is not disappearing because of any "Israeli occupation." The Christian population plunged from 75% to its current 25% right after Arafat and his terrorist thugs took over the city in 1995. Prior to that, Christians in Bethlehem were thriving under this "Israeli occupation" that you somehow must use as a canard to deflect any criticism of the Muslim terrorists who have destroyed the city.

More holiday propoganda---Ms. Andoni, perhaps you need to be reminded that the Christian population in Bethlehem is not disappearing because of any "Israeli occupation." The Christian population plunged from 75% to its current 25% right after Arafat and his terrorist thugs took over the city in 1995. Prior to that, Christians in Bethlehem were thriving under this "Israeli occupation" that you somehow must use as a canard to deflect any criticism of the Muslim terrorists who have destroyed the city.

Ms. Andoni,

I completely expected someone from the propganda machine called "Al-Jazeera" to blame whatever ills that have befallen upon people living in the middle east on Israel. Thank you for not letting me down.

The history of Bethlehem and of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to play no part in your "reporting". Fortunately, many of the posts in response to your "journalism" have pointed out that the Palestinian suicide bombers killing innocent Israeli citizens prompted the Israeli army to attack.

And please Ms Andoni, remember to leave out in your next "article" how The Chruch of The Nazarine was the only citadel that the Palestinian murdurers could find refuge in. And forget to mention that the reason the Palestinians took refuge there was because they knew the Israeli army wouldn't bomb it to splinters because of its historical value.

None of the people that holed up in that holy place deserved any sympathy. They deserve contempt for killing innocents and then risking an irreplacable holy place to save their own cowardly skins.

Despite this, Ms. Andoni, I, as a Jew, wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. I hope with some introspection you and yours also find this time of year to seek the truth instead of spreading lies.

Ms. Andoni,

I completely expected someone from the propganda machine called "Al-Jazeera" to blame whatever ills that have befallen upon people living in the middle east on Israel. Thank you for not letting me down.

The history of Bethlehem and of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to play no part in your "reporting". Fortunately, many of the posts in response to your "journalism" have pointed out that the Palestinian suicide bombers killing innocent Israeli citizens prompted the Israeli army to attack.

And please Ms Andoni, remember to leave out in your next "article" how The Chruch of The Nazarine was the only citadel that the Palestinian murdurers could find refuge in. And forget to mention that the reason the Palestinians took refuge there was because they knew the Israeli army wouldn't bomb it to splinters because of its historical value.

None of the people that holed up in that holy place deserved any sympathy. They deserve contempt for killing innocents and then risking an irreplacable holy place to save their own cowardly skins.

Despite this, Ms. Andonis, I, as a Jew, wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. I hope with some introspection you and yours also find this time of year to seek the truth instead of spreading lies.

It seems timely to share an article on a related subject that appeared today.

Media's two-faced Christmas coverage

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3486144,00.html

Muslims driving Christians out of Bethlehem, but media outlets choose to blame Israel.

- good cheer to all.

Just another one of "it's the Jews!"

Just another one of "it's the Jews!"

Just another one of "it's the Jews!"

Let's see what is happening to Christians in Islamic liberated land of Gaza.

GAZA CITY - Gaza's tiny Christian community is keeping a low profile during Christmas this year, traumatized by the killing of a prominent Christian activist after the Hamas takeover of the Strip.

Few Christmas trees are on display, churches are holding austere services and hundreds of Christians hope to travel to the West Bank to celebrate the holiday in Bethlehem. Many say they don't plan on returning to Gaza.

"We have a very sad Christmas," said Essam Farah, acting pastor of Gaza's Baptist Church, which canceled its annual children's party because of the grim atmosphere.
bout 3,000 Christians live in Gaza, an overwhelmingly conservative Muslim society of 1.5 million people. The two religions have generally had cordial relations over the years.

That relationship has been shaken since Hamas seized control of Gaza last June, and especially following the recent death of 32-year-old Rami Ayyad.

Ayyad, a member of the Baptist Church, managed Gaza's only Christian bookstore and was involved in many charitable activities. He was found shot in the head, his body thrown on a Gaza street in early October, 10 hours after he was kidnapped from the store.

He regularly received death threats from people angry about his perceived missionary work - a rarity among Gaza's Christians - and the store was firebombed six months before the kidnapping.

No group claimed responsibility for the killing, and no one has openly accused Hamas of persecution. But Christians fear that the Hamas takeover, along with the lack of progress in finding Ayyad's killers, has emboldened Islamic extremists.

Hamas has tried to calm jittery Christians with reassuring handshakes and official visits promising justice.

"Hamas will not spare any effort to find the culprits of this crime and bring them to justice," said spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. He insisted the killing was simply a crime and not religiously motivated.

At the Baptist church on Sunday, just 10 people attended the regular weekly prayer service, down from an average of 70. There was no Christmas tree in sight.

Farah said the church's full-time pastor, along with his family and 12 employees of Ayyad's store, had relocated to the West Bank to wait out the tense atmosphere. Farah said he prayed for forgiveness and love among Muslims and Christians.

While no official statistics were available, the signs of the flight are evident. Rev. Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza's Roman Catholic church, said he alone knows of seven families that sold their properties and left the area, and 15 more are preparing to do the same.

Musallem blamed Israeli sanctions and excessive violence in Gaza for the flight.

Ayyad's wife, Pauline, 29, left for Bethlehem a month ago with her two children. She said their 3-year-old son, George, has been shattered by his father's death.

Pauline, who is seven months pregnant, said she plans to come back to Gaza for the birth.

But many Christians privately said they would use their travel permits to leave Gaza for good, even if that means remaining in the West Bank as illegal residents. Israeli security officials said they were permitting 400 Gaza Christians to travel through Israel to Bethlehem for Christmas.

It is good that the author brings up the terrorists occupying and desecrating the Church.

Had this been anyone else and had the Church been a mosque - there would have been world wide eruptions of violence and death.

Remember the cartoons?

Does anyone care about the muslim occupation of the Holy Land?

THAT is the root of the problem. What has happened to the palestinian people largely is an arab problem. The arabs use the palestinians as political pawns. They have no interest in helping them. All one has to do is look at the billions being spent in Dubai on luxury living - but the palestinians are starving.

Maybe they should not have destroyed the greenhouses the Israelis left them when they gave Gaza to the terrorists. Just a thought.

The Palestinian "fighters" she refers to were member of Arafat's Fatah Martyrs Brigade. They were responsible for the targeting and murdering of many men, women, and children.

She is morally disgusting.

Ms. Andoni,

It's so depressing to read people like you who merely perpetuate the same sectarian hatred year after year. Nowhere in your lament did you extend any good will, Christmas spirit, or anything to the Jews. You never mentioned them at all except as these cartoonish oppressors who (in your mind) apparently act in a vacuum.

When you start to think of Israelis as human beings, rather than as simply your enemy, you'll be surprised at how easy it becomes to get past this endless standoff. Please try becoming part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.

Peace to all. (Except you, Tashunkatate. You seem like a jerk.)

The problem is not Islamic 'fundamentalism'. As Ayatollah al Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah noted, "We Islamists are not fundamentalists the way the Westerners see us. We refuse to be called fundamentalists. We are Islamic activists. As for the etymological sense of usuliyya (fundamentalism), meaning returning to one's roots and origins (usul), our roots are the Qur'an and the true sunnah or way of the Prophet, not the historical period in which the Prophet lived or the periods that followed. We are not fundamentalists (usuliyin) in the sense of wanting to live like people at the time of the Prophet or the first Caliphs or the time of the Umayyads..."

That's what Westerners don't 'get'. The problem is the colonialism and imperialism practiced by the West, either directly, or indirectly through its proxy, 'Israel', and the daily humiliation and suffering experienced by our people. We don't have any problems with Christians or Jews. I am a Shi'ite Muslim from South Lebanon, and when I was a child, we used to put up a Christmas tree. My brother and I used to decorate it. I know many Muslim families who put Christmas trees in their houses, and most of them are devout Muslims and might even qualify as 'fundamentalists' by Western standards. I am now actively involved in Hezbollah, and don't see anything wrong with putting up a Christmas tree or celebrating the birth of the Prophet Issa (Jesus) PBUH.

This Al Jazeera reporter naturally blames Israel for everything.
I wonder how she felt on 9/11 when her station refused to broadcast the tape of the Palestinians dancing in the street.
And later when her station claimed Israelis carried out the 9/11 attack.

Tashunkatate:

It is true I am an Israeli and a jew. But I have a surprise for you. I truly do love Hamas, Ahmadinejad, Hezbelloah, Al-Qaeda and islamist terrorist. If I meet you I think I would like you very much.

You and your ilk are the people who have pretty much destroyed arab moslem progress. Your hatred will guarentee your destruction and our survial.

Keep hating and dreaming. In mean time we thrive.

Ben

Those of us separated from the situation in the Middle East by an ocean, by religious differences, by cultural differences, are ignorant of the facts of life there. Our information is filtered through prejudice, presumption and self-justification. The need to defend the wearing of our blinders leads us to anger, which in turn leads to acts of aggression and acts of revenge.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

Bethlehem and Israel belonged to someone else before the Israelites came. The Israelites were forced out by the Romans and for a thousand years there were few Jews in that land. Those who were there lived in peace with Muslims and Christians. The rise of Zionism sowed the seeds of conflict and the creation of the state of Israel placed the world on the path to the state of violence that governs our lives today. This is as much the fault of the West, who were all too happy to send the "Jewish problem" to the Middle East, as it is of the Zionists. If we cling to the notion of the innocent besieged Israelis surrounded by dangerous Muslim extremists, we understand only part of the story and we cannot help in healing the suffering of the world.

Arabs and Jews are children of Sem and Christians are their step-siblings. Conflict between brothers and between sisters is always more bitter than that between strangers.

If a simple Christmas tree and the spirit of generosity and giving can bring people together across these cultural and religious divides, I think that's wonderful. I am sorry to see that some people can't set their anger aside enough even to see this on Christmas Eve.

Peace is not earned through war. Peace is earned through digging up the roots of war- the anger in each of our hearts. I pray that the spirit of the season- generosity, fellowship and hope- will prevail. May everyone have a happy holiday of their choice.

"There is no doubt that the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has had its effect --but not to the point that prevents Muslim families (mostly middle- and upper-class) from enjoying Christian celebrations with their Christian friends. Our friends in Jordan organize Santa Claus parties for their kids. They like the joy that the mysterious man in red brings to their children. I remember years ago when an Iraqi refugee from Basra knocked at our door. She said her children would like to look at our Christmas tree up close. My little nieces came down from upstairs to share toys and sweets with her children, happy to have visitors to play with. It was a moment of sharing than transcended religious and class divides."

This is so pathetically silly. Of course fundamentalism has had an effect mostly on the lower classes. The middle- and upper-class people know better, eh? Of course, I'm sure they don't advertise that they are "celebrating" the infidel in red.

And the Iraqi "refugee" - must have been upper-class to be admitted so that her kids could get "up close" to the tree.

All this "transcended religious and class divides" - yeah, right. I'm sure the refugee had exactly that in mind when she knocked on your door. Hey Lamis, sister, let's transcend. BTW, was she Christian or just a random Buddhist from Basra?

What total BS.

Merry Christmas anyway and may you find a beginning in Kwanzaa.

The first "oppressive, apartheid wall" was put up after the 1948 wall when 7 Arab countries invaded the newly declared State of Israel, when Jews were banned from Old Jerusalem and when the Jewish Quarter's synagogues were deliberately destroyed by the Arab Legion of Transjordan. Then, between 1948 and 1967 only Arab countries prevented the declaration of a Palestinian State in Gaza (held under military rule by Egypt until 1967) and the West Bank (unilaterally annexed to the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan--formerly Eastern Palestine but lopped off the mandate territory of Palestine and given to the Hashemites by Great Britain in 1922--which then became the Kingdom of Jordan). Jordan is now made up of ca 74% Palestinians, but is not run by Palestinians and is not their state.
The men who were in the church are, to my way of thinking, terrorists who indiscriminately kill those with whom they disagree.
I also wonder that the writer, along with most of the Arab world, has nothing whatsoever to say about the plight of Christians in Moslem lands such as Iraq, Nigeria etc.or the treatment of some Moslems by other Moslems in Darfur.
The present wall is meant to keep people apart. Terrorism built it and terrorism will keep it there.
It would be nice if there were peace on earth.
Happy holiday. Things are better in Bethlehem tonight.

This is so true. I grew up in Kuwait as a Muslim Palestinian, but my best friend was Christian and we would celebrate all of the holidays together. The divisions that are portrayed here in the West between Muslims and Christians is highly inaccurate, or else *very* recent.(within the last 15 years). Merry Christmas, everybody!

Instead of spreading "comfort and joy" during the Christmas season, you use it to stir up more unrest against Jews. It is the Palestinians who attack Israeli civilians on a daily basis. It is the Palestinians who refuse to acknowledge Israel's right to exist. And it is the Arab nations which have repeatedly tried to drive Israel into the sea.

I used to sympathize with Palestinians. They have had every opportunity to live in peace, yet continue to launch suicide terrorist attacks against civilians. I'm simply out of sympathy any more. Repeated rocket and mortar attacks launched by Palestinians should be met with the harshest military response. If you really want peace, there's one sure way to achieve it: stop murdering Israelis.

Last week I got an email message from a senior Sunni Moslim in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As a foreign contractor I had been working with him recently in the Jeddah/Mecca Region on environmental issues. He kept it short and to the point: "I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Good New Year." He got my vote.

While the situation in Bethlehem is indeed unfortunate, I would remind you of two things:

1. The Jewish history of Bethlehem is deep; the name of the town itself derives from Hebrew, and of course Jesus and his family were themselves Jews.

2. In the 40 years since 1967, Israel has guaranteed the right of Christians and members of all faiths to worship not only in Bethlehem but throughout the occupied territories (not to mention within pre-1967 Israel itself). By contrast, Christian religious practice remains outlawed in Saudi Arabia and severely circumscribed in much of the Muslim world. And in Palestine, Jews -- in the years prior to the occupation of Bethelehem -- were forbidden from praying at the Western Wall in Jersusalem, and Jewish cemeteries and holy sites were desecrated.

So while it might make you feel better to blame everything on the Jews and the Israelis, the sources of intolerance in the Middle East lay elsewhere.

There is another, more accurate, name for the "defenders" that residents of Bethlehem smuggled food to when they holed up in the Church of the Nativity: terrorists.

Many Israelis can relate to your experience of calling relatives to see if they were harmed. Many do so every time a Palestinian blows up a pizza parlor.

Similar phone calls were made in the United States on 911. Meanwhile, Palestinians were literally dancing in the streets.

Ben,

Israel as a state is doomed. It came into being as a construct of larceny and deceit.

It is you, and others like you, who will leave. You will leave the land or you will leave your blood.
These are the choices provided by the heart of mankind.

There is a way provided by the Heart of the Great Creator - beg the forgiveness and mercy of Palestinians - please - for the good of all.

May you and yours enjoy a Happy and Peaceful Yuletide.

Thanks for letting us hear your story, from an angle that we know little about -- a Christian there with Muslim friends. How encouraging! Please keep writing and get your views published whenever you can. All we hear here is about Muslim "terrorists" and Muslim fundamentalism, and how Israel is in danger. Seldom a word about the Palestinians, walled off, jobless, and without resources. I hope and pray that Israel will grow more tolerant and make agreements that are fair to the Palestinians, and stop the fighting. As they are far more powerful, militarily, it is their obligation. I think many people here feel that way too, but are afraid to say so.

May the Great Creator pour his blessings upon the Palestinians of all faiths.

May the Great Creator provide for the peaceful return of the stolen lands of Palestine.

May those who brought this theft, murder, and hatred into the world, beg forgiveness and mercy.

May the Palestinians grant forgiveness and mercy.

I see you blame Israel for everything. This is very understandable, all your friends are muslims and Palestinians. You do not talk about the reasons Israel needed to take over Bethlehem. It was after two years of suicide bombers coming from west bank. Hundred of Israelis killed and injured. This is the fact you decided to simply not to mention.

I suggest rather than appeasing muslims which does not work, do yourself a favor and leave. Have courage to be true to yourself and your religion.

Ms Andoni - Thanks for your article. It shows me, a Western male, that despite whatever political differences may exist, there also exists an overriding, abiding belief that this time of the year is a time of loving and sharing, of giving and receiving, of brotherhood and peace. Muslims, Jews, Christians all seem to have the same religious roots: God, Yaweh, Allah - the name may change but the idea is the same - a Supreme Being, The Grand Architect. And Jesus' life and times and teachings span all cultures but are mostly celebrated by Jews, Christians and Muslims. It is therefore heartening to hear that this time of peace, love and sharing which Christians honor is also enjoyed and revered by cultures that our politicians and media are so bent on demonizing. I thank you, and I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas.

I find that I have to fight for Christmas, really want it, otherwise I'm overwhelmed with it's more crass elements. I have to make a conscious effort to de-commercialize it, throw out the hucksterism, and look deeper for the real message.

But I also find that when I do, I'm still rewarded with all the wonder and joy of the nativity story.

It just takes more effort is all.

I'm curious how you can justify that 'fighters' in Bethlehem hold a religious institution hostage and you show symphathy for them because they have a same nationality? Ask yourself how many Christians are even left in Bethlehem - a traditionally Christian city that now in predominantly Muslim, and where Christians sometimes fear celebrating in their Churches due to Islamic hijacking of the Palestinian cause and fighting with the Israeli military. Food for thought at this time of year.