(Raised Walled Express Way around Tokyo...)THANKS GIVING TO XMAS WITH A MEMORY OF A SPRING
They said that 49 million American children are not provided with sufficient foods.
It is because their parents do not have good chances in business and the labor market.
It is because too much competition being driven from Wall Street has damaged American Antitrust Law so much.
I mean that if you have 10 moderately big automakers in the U.S., such as GM1, GM2, GM3, and Ford4, no American children would suffer shortage of provided foods as their parents can work in, say, Honda3.
Enemies to Xmas are apparently on Wall Street, Children!
(It is so, since WFP recently announced that the number of worldwide starving population and famine victims for the first time reached one billion level in 2009.)
SECTION I: BETHLEHEM ON APRIL 2, 2002
I suppose I was watching the scene on TV around Tokyo in 2002, since Israelis found machine-gun-armed enemies in Bethlehem:
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Phone Calls to THREE Coloradans in Bethlehem Area
(All Times Palestine Local)
6:40am, Gary Anderson in Bethlehem
April 2, 2002
Massive gunfire began at at 6:00am. After being up all night he was planning to go to sleep when massive tank shelling and more began. "When we take a risk and look out the window we see a few Palestinian resistance fighters….F-16s flying overhead…"
The internationals in Aida Refugee camp… I made sure I got their names and passport numbers…I spoke to consular official and gave them phone numbers….camp has been hit by fire from helicopter gunships…targeted by sniper fire from Continental Hotel…which has been taken over by the Israeli military…our ability to hinder an attack is about nil at this point.
Media Gary talked to yesterday: Channel 7, Hendricks Sybrandy; Tyler Lopez, Channel 2; John Montgomery, Channel 4, FreeSpeech TV for one hour;
As I was talking to Gary there was Israeli tank shelling more than one round per second.
The Latin patriarch was planning to lead a mass this morning in Manger square to intercede with invasion…word got out to the Israeli and they made sure to invade Bethlehem before he could lead prayers….
Camps are cut off from Bethlehem with tanks….our internationals are cut off…
7:00am, Nancy Stohlman in Bethlehem
April 2, 2002
Aida Refugee Camp: 11 internationals still there…They are frightened…even the strong ones are demanding we call the embassies for support…swiss, italian, swedish, french, uk, american…tell them that int'l peacekeepers are in there and they are getting blasted from all sides and no one's been injured so far…we're completely cut off…no injuries have been reported yet…troops outside the house Nancy stayed at…
Japanese woman shot at peace protest yesterday still has a piece of shrapnel in her leg….she can't walk…she needs treatment
In Ramallah there are constant home to home searches…a form of ethnic cleansing…ID
...
Be sure to check out www.ccmep.org or www.jerusalem.indymedia.org
http://www.ccmep.org/delegations/nancygary/phone040202.html
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Some Arab Americans tried to get help from the American Embassy in vain as they happened to be caught by this battle around the notable Christian church in the birth place of Jesus Christ.
They thought that they could have gotten efficient help if they had been Judaist Americans.
SECTION II: BETHLEHEM ON APRIL 2, 2002 (2)
Of course, there is a reasonable explanation on what happened, since it is the 21st century but not in the first century before the fall of the Temple of Jerusalem
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What Happened at the Church of the Nativity in April 2002?
On April 2, 2002 armed Palestinian Arab terrorists forced their way into the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, one of Christianity's most sacred sites, the birthplace of Christ. In the midst of over 200 nuns and priests, they sought refuge from Operation Defensive Shield, the Israel Defense Forces action against suicide bombing activity originating from West Bank locations. For 38 days, until May 10, 2002, the world watched as the gunmen refused to surrender their positions inside the Church. Only Israeli restraint and respect for the Christian shrine prevented the Palestinian desecration from turning into its destruction.
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Finally, on May 10, after 38 days, the crisis concluded with a negotiated plan. Thirteen "senior terrorists" departed for Cyprus by British aircraft, to be dispersed among various EU nations. Twenty-six more were transported to the Gaza Strip where they were to be put on trial for terrorism. But their arrival in Gaza was greeted with a celebration and they were treated as heroes. One hundred twenty-four other Palestinian Arabs inside the Church were set free.
After the Palestinians' departure, the IDF was invited inside by Church officials to look for explosives or booby traps. An IDF spokesman said that 40 "explosive devices" were found in the Church compound. The IDF reported that seven Palestinians and no Israelis died in the confrontation at the Church.
The Church was not seriously damaged, but cooking utensils, trash, and clothing were strewn around. The debris of the occupation, and the smells of the unsanitary conditions, lingered.
...
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_church_nativity_2002.php
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It is very important, since it is the very situation where Christians, Muslims, and Judaists were converging on the birth place of Jesus Christ with arms, weapons, and associated powers outside or in the world.
Every historian must further study implications of this bloody event in Bethlehem in the spring of 2002, since Xmas of 2009 is getting closer.
SECTION III: BETHLEHEM ON APRIL 2, 2002 (3)
President Mr. Bill Clinton was busy in his last days in the White House to promote peace in Palestine based on the Oslo Accords (Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements) signed in 1993.
However his efforts turned to a pipe dream as the Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, started in late September 2000, since Yassir Arafat walked out on negotiations at the Camp David Summit in July 2000 and Mr. Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount without friendship from Muslims in September 2000.
Finally, with the tragic event of the 9/11 Terror of 2001, President Mr. George W. Bush took charge in the Palestine matter, a result of which was the siege of the Bethlehem church.
Yet, as a large scale of bloodshed involving many Christians could be avoided, Palestine has been allowed to remain rather calm thereafter all through the War on Terror up to date.
Now, what lessons President Mr. Barack Obama and Secretary Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton have learnt from the Bethlehem siege are likely to influence the state of Xmas of this year and in future.
(I was highly impressed by Israeli armed vehicles besieging the Arafat's office compound and building, and also an Arab father and his son trapped along a wall in the middle of an exchange of fire [on September 30, 2000], during my observation of TV reporting in those days over the 9/11 Terror...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Intifada )
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So, this is the first Christmas present to you of this year: the memory of Bethlehem On April 2, 2002.
It is so, since a Christian church served as an instrument of peace while billion Christians, Muslims, and Judaists were watching on the day.
Luk 11:27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
Luk 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Luk 11:29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.