John Hagee and his Christian Zionist lobby make Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock "Vanish"

THE CUFI FANTASYLAND

They say a picture paints a thousand words. If so what picture is being painted by John Hagee and his Christian Zionist lobby, CUFI (Christian United for Israel ), with a new logo they’ve developed for their webpage? You can check it out here: http://www.cufi.org/. Its at the top of the page to the left of the gold seal.

What you’ll see is a photograph of the Wailing Wall topped by what appears to be a garden. No Dome of the Rock. No al Aqsa. They’re gone. Vanished. No more. The thousand words painted by this picture describe a Christian Zionist fantasyland, which is the world many of them inhabit (Christian Zionists of the dispensationalist variety) –a fantasy land in which there are no Palestinians, either Muslim or Christian. In this fantasy world, Palestine doesn’t exist as anything more than an historical oddity found on ancient Roman maps. There is no annoying demand for justice, no sense that anyone other than the world’s Jewish community has a right to stake a claim to the land currently under dispute. Those who may have lived in the land before the state of Israel was created (whose existence is also questionable as this was a “land without a people for a people without a land” ) have gone to live elsewhere – in one of any number of surrounding states where their kind of people live. This is a purely Jewish state bathed in the light of God’s benevolent gaze awaiting the day when the Warrior Prince Jesus returns to kill off any and all who may oppose her policies and don’t become born again Christians (including Jews who refuse to convert). At this point the streets of the fantasy land will flow with rivers of blood.

The last part of this fantasy is, of course, a well hidden element of Hagee’s ideology. He knows it. The Israelis who court his patronage know it. Everyone knows it, but no one talks about it. It can be easily dismissed as the truth cannot be known until the End and who knows when that will come. But the other part of the fantasy cannot be so easily dismissed. To treat Palestinians as if they didn’t exist; to ignore the reality of two peoples laying claim to same piece of real estate is a dangerous fantasy which adds fuel to the flames of conflict and encourages the violence which the real people who inhabit the real land of Israel and Palestine must deal with for there ever to be any hope of peace. Even more frightening is the possibility that those who live with this illusion will take steps to make the fantasy come true – to destroy the two mosques which are absent in the CUFI photo. Then the End will surely come, but not by any means the kind of End Hagee and his ideological bedfellows envision. The rivers of blood will flow, but the Prince of Peace will be noticeably absent as He is absent now in Hagee's fantasyland.

John Hubers

Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism

Chief Palestinian Justice being tried by Israeli government for protesting destruction at Al Aqsa

(Jerusalem) Palestine News Network

Saturday, 17 February 2007

The Israeli government is continuing to excavate at Al Aqsa Mosque and to target those trying to stop it. Tens of people have been taken from their homes in the middle of the night, snatched off the street, even arrested at school. Among them are several Palestinian officials and Islamic scholars. After the arrest and interrogation, most are let go if they will sign a form promising they will not return to the Old City of East Jerusalem. Sheikh Taysir Tamimi will be tried in an Israeli court tomorrow for entering Al Aqsa without permission and encouraging protests. The Chief Palestinian Justice will go before the Israeli Magistrate Court in West Jerusalem's Mascobia, Russian Compound, Detention Center on Sunday at 1:00 pm. He is being tried for entering Jerusalem to attend Friday prayers at Al Aqsa Mosque without obtaining prior permission from the occupying power in the city. Sheikh Tamimi told reporters on Saturday that his trial is purely political as there is no legal basis from which the Israeli government can levy charges against him. Under international law the Israeli government has illegally annexed the city of Jerusalem and has no authority there. It was occupied in 1967 along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Chief Palestinian Justice said, “There is no force on earth that can prevent me from returning to Al Aqsa Mosque or take away my right to enter Jerusalem.” Israeli forces have arrested the Sheikh several times in the past on the same charges: entering Jerusalem and praying in Al Aqsa Mosque without a permit. Demonstrations have been ongoing daily since Israeli forces began the destruction of Moroccans Gate (Al Maghrarbeh) next to Al Aqsa Mosque in Al Haram Ash Sharif. That is on hold for now, but the excavations under Al Aqsa Mosque that began long before the destruction at the Gate continues unabated.

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Sheikh Ra'ed Salah among demonstrators who reached Al Aqsa Mosque despite Israeli aggression

(Jerusalem) Palestine News Network

Sunday, 18 February 2007

Israeli forces prevented hundreds of Palestinians from protesting this morning at Moroccans (Maghrarbeh) Gate. Demonstrations have been ongoing in East Jerusalem and the Old City since the Israeli government began the public phase of the destruction in the area of Al Aqsa Mosque. The Israeli response has been widely described as brutal. The Al Aqsa Institution and the Islamic Movement inside the Green Line issued the daily denunciations of the continuing excavation under the Mosque and the destruction at the Gate. Hundreds of people made their way through a maze of additional checkpoints to arrive from cities throughout the West Bank for Sunday demonstrations. Several bus loads arrived, but as soon as the passengers disembarked, Israeli soldiers surrounded them and forced the people back into the buses. One the other hand, several Zionist groups say they have the consent of Israeli police to conduct a sit-in this evening in support of the destruction and excavation at the Muslim holy site, claiming the existence of a temple that has never been found. Among them are Jewish members of the Israeli Knesset. As part of the Israeli campaign to arrest demonstrators throughout the past two weeks, several Muslim officials were put in jail and sentenced to stay away from Al Aqsa Mosque. According to an Israeli court, the head of the Islamic Movement inside the Green Line, Sheikh Ra'ed Salah, is not allowed to be within 150 meters of the Muslim holy site for a period of 60 days. He is among the demonstrators. And also today, an Israeli court is trying Chief Palestinian Justice, Sheikh Taysir Tamim,i for praying without a permit and inciting demonstrations. Tamimi says the Israeli government has no legitimate authority in the city of Jerusalem, a position which the United Nations agrees with, and therefore has no right to try him on any count. Sheikh Ra'ed Salah among demonstrators who reached Al Aqsa Mosque despite Israeli aggression