When Religion Forces People To Act

From Palestine:

As I wish you a most blessed holy week and glorious Pascha celebration I wanted to remind you that this holy Palm Sunday everyone was asked to spiritually meet Christ in Jerusalem to walk with Him in his Passion and to be with Him as he offers a new life, each and every time He forgive us.

As Christians of the Holy Land, we have kept the flame of Witness for Christ burning more than 2,000 years and as I have tried so hard to remind everyone that we, as people of God , have accepted the Messiah so we are baptised onto Christ and we are the "new Israel"...the Israel created on the ground in 1948 is not the Israel of our Gospels so this terrible misunderstanding of the Holy Bible is the great force behind Israel currently receiving more than seven million dollars each day from the American goverment to continue the brutal military occupation of Palestine.

Please keep us in your prayers as the fight for Jerusalem is more "hot" than ever. There is a huge effort especially now to make Jerusalem 100% Jewish to the point of taking Palestinian families out of their homes of 30 years to replace them with illegal Israeli Jewish settlers.

A good friend Mazin Qumsiyeh, Ph.D., reported on the most current Palm Sunday non violent action...over 100 native Palestinian Christians and Muslims and internationals including Israelis, breached the tight security separating the Palestinian cities of Bethlehem from the occupied city of Jerusalem. Donkeys and people arrested!

We were initially some 150 strong and started from the Church of Nativity at 11:45 AM carrying palm leaves an banners asking for freedom of worship and movement (as demanded by international law). The demonstration included individuals riding 2 donkeys and a horse. Appropriate since Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. Like him, we knew this was not going to be an easy entry but we did believe in the goodness of humanity. We arrived at the main gate used for tourist buses at around 12:30 and decided to just keep going. The few soldiers and police at the gate tried to close it but we managed to get in and the huge 8 meter high metal gate stopped half way perhaps as a safety mechanisms since there were dozens of people passing and they could be crushed if it continued...."11 friends who were kidnapped by the Israeli army for daring to do what every human being on earth is entitled to do (move freely within their own country):

Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imemc/

Published stories
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=272253
http://www.imemc.org/article/58309