Religion | The American Task Force on Palestine

US Christian group warns Palestinians of apocalypse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 12, 2011 - 12:00am

At least half a dozen billboards recently went up across the West Bank warning Palestinians of an impending judgment day, slated according to the signs, for May 21. At the entrance to Birzeit, and several roads leading into the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho, the signs -- some in English, some in Arabic -- advise travelers to "cry unto God" and are directed to the website of the US-based religious group.

‘We'll continue to enter Joseph’s Tomb with vigor'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jonah Mandel - April 27, 2011 - 12:00am

The head of the group behind the clandestine forays into Nablus to access Joseph’s Tomb stressed on Tuesday that such nocturnal expeditions would continue “with greater vigor and might,” just two days after Ben-Yosef Livnat was killed at the site by PA policemen. Benny Machlev, director-general of the Yesod Olam Society, explained why some – primarily Breslav Hassidim like himself – put themselves at risk to be physically present, even if for short periods of time, at sites believed to be the burial sites of important Jewish figures.

Supporting Israel means questioning its policies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Edgar M. Bronfman - (Opinion) April 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Last month, I met with a man who impressed me as none other has over the last 10 years. His name is David Grossman, and he was in New York to receive the National Jewish Book Award for his magnificent novel "To the End of the Land." Grossman, whose talent is enormous, has been fighting for peace in his country for 30 years.

WEST BANK: Palestinian Christians denied access to holy places in Jerusalem during Easter
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) April 16, 2011 - 12:00am

As Christians get ready to celebrate Easter, Palestinian Christians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are envious of fellow Christians from all over the world who are able to visit Jerusalem’s holy Christian sites and worship freely while they cannot. Since Israel cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories in the early 1990s, Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been required to get Israeli army permission before they can enter Jerusalem.

'Israel faces threat of becoming a religious state'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ben Hartman - April 3, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel is on its way to becoming a religious state – a reality that would pose a threat to its survival, according to a report released by the University of Haifa on Sunday. The report, entitled “Israel 2010-2030, on the Path to a Religious State,” examines the demographic factors set to change Israel in the coming years, through a comparison of the religious, haredi, secular and Arab birthrates in the country.

Israel denies top Anglican Bishop residency visa
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 6, 2011 - 1:00am

The Anglican Church says Israeli officials are refusing to renew the residency visa of its top official in the Holy Land. Church spokesman Hussam Naoum said Sunday that Israel's Interior Ministry has refused to renew the visa of the Right Rev. Suheil Dawani since September. Naoum says the church kept the issue quiet while they tried to lobby officials, but decided to go public after receiving no response. Dawani, who is Palestinian, is remaining in Jerusalem illegally.

What do the Muslim Brotherhood and the ultra-Orthodox religious-right have in common?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - February 11, 2011 - 1:00am

A few months from now, Egypt may come under the rule of a government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, whose supreme spiritual leader said just a few years ago that God would "destroy the seed of the Jews and extirpate them from the world. These Jews are accursed scoundrels, crying crocodile tears while they murder people; it is forbidden to have any mercy on them. We have to destroy them with great missiles."

70 rabbis protest arrest warrant against Rabbi Dov Lior
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jonah Mandel - February 10, 2011 - 1:00am

Nearly 70 prominent national religious rabbis signed a letter of protest published in a Friday newspaper, over the police’s announced intention to arrest Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior if he continued to ignore their requests to present himself for questioning about his endorsement of the book Torah Hamelech.

Charges filed against ‘Irvine 11’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
February 8, 2011 - 1:00am

Criminal charges were filed against 11 Muslim students who disrupted a speech at the University of California, Irvine, by Israel's U.S. ambassador. During the Feb. 8, 2010 speech by Michael Oren, the 11 defendants stood one by one and shouted at the ambassador, calling him a “mass murderer” and a “war criminal,” among other insults. The disruptions, organized to protest Israeli actions in Gaza, prompted Oren to walk off the stage twice.

Overkill in Orange County
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) February 7, 2011 - 1:00am

When 11 students affiliated with the Muslim Student Union at UC Irvine disrupted a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States last year, they no doubt knew there would be consequences. Rather than staging a traditional protest — by leafleting, say, or holding up signs expressing their disapproval — they attended the event as members of the audience and then stood up, one by one, and shouted the ambassador down more than a dozen times.

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