Wednesday, March 17, 2010
From an email from Barbara L. This is a little visual on what it's like to be a minority in a Muslim land [Update: Yes, this is actually in Israel itself]. Where are the Western Churches?:
From a friend visiting Israel: One marked point I noticed was the intolerance of the Muslims in Nazareth... their banners boldly proclaiming that Allah is God and that he has no "begotten son" across the Church of the Annunciation there. If we dared to state that Jesus was the last prophet from God near a Mosque there would be WWIII. It's so biased. I am glad that I can see first hand how small the nation of Israel is, the land mines the Syrians planted in the Golan (Our guide is a Jewish lady from Russia that shared how a child recently had his foot blown off from the mines the Syrians had planted there.)
It's mind boggling that the elites in Europe are advocating the incorporation of Turkey into the EU. They wont even come to terms with their mass murder and genocide of Armenian Christians.
Those buildings must be at least a block or two away from the Church of the Annunciation. First, look at the bird's eye view and you won't see any buildings like it within a block of the Church, and second, those buildings are too shoddy to be near the church. Even the nicer building has that steel electrical pole in front of it:
http://www.biblewalks.com/PhotosBentov/1066.jpg
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/nazareth-basilica-of-annunciation
Folks might want to read the story Natan Sharansky wrote of the Church in Nazareth in his book, Defending Identity. Extremist Muslims occupied the square for many months, demanding the construction of the tallest mosque in the middle east, one that would overshadow the Church. But the local Muslims didn't support them. Talking to the extremists had been a mistake. Eventually the army cleared them out, and that was the end of it - for a time.
#2, Sorry, I'm not seeing it. To me it looks like the photos above could be in any of a number of places in that overhead shot.
Mark James, the Basilica of the Annunciation is visible in the upper-right corner of the pic featuring the banner that has "And whoever seeks a religion...."
Thanks "Roman Catholic" for pointing that out. You have sharp eyes and familiarity with the site, I guess.
Italian crew trying to film life of Jesus film gives up on Holy Land and moves operation to Tuscany because every Christian site in Holy Land is obscured with close-crowding Muslim neighborhoods, utility poles, litter, Koran-based anti-Trinity graffiti and signs, etc--just like those posted here on Solomonia:
Christian Sites
Yediot Yerushalayim, March 19; Ma'ariv, March 21, 2010
http://caspari.com/media_review/2010/10-03-24.html
Excerpt: Signposts and directions to the Cenacle were defaced by anonymous vandals this past week, adding insult to the injury felt by Christian tourists faced with the piles of refuse and rubbish it contains and making it difficult for them to find their way to the site (Yediot Yerushalayim, March 19).
Other Christian sites are no more attractive to pilgrims, according to a report in Ma'ariv (March 21). According to Yuval Peled, who accompanied a group of Italians who had come to film the Galilee in which Jesus grew up, lived, and taught, "After two or three days of shooting, they abruptly announced that they were leaving. 'They told us, "You've destroyed the story for us, with all the pollution, electricity wires, and infrastructure. This isn't what we were taught about the place where Jesus grew up,"' he recalls. The crew, which had planned to broadcast the film on Italian television - the country considered to be the capital of Christianity - told us that here, in the most authentic place in which the founder of their religion lived, we had destroyed their associations [to it] with pollution and infrastructure. Out of disappointment and despair, they left, and went to shoot the film in Tuscany."
Evidently, the Italian crew episode occurred in 2000 or shortly thereafter:
Israel Parks Authority draws up its own list of heritage sites, By Zafrir Rinat, 18 Mar 2010
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1157006.html
excerpt: "I became aware of the problem of cultural landscapes when at the beginning of the decade an Italian crew came to film important Christian sites, and said nothing was left to film because we had ruined the terrain," Peled said.