Report: Gun battle outside West Bank church

[gilliam]

Gun battle between Palestinian police and assailants outside West Bank church: witnesses
Palestinian police guarding a West Bank church exchanged fire with assailants and chased them away early Saturday, witnesses said.
Churches in the West Bank and Gaza have been attacked by firebombs and gunfire in recent days, as part of a Muslim uproar over remarks by Pope Benedict XVI last week, seen as insulting to Islam.

jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1157913686869&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

[Maryam]

Well, I for one don’t trust the Jerusalem Post for accuracy in reporting. I am part of a list giving support to Palestinian Christians and we were sent a message by Fr. Yousef J.Saadeh who is a priest in the Greek Catholic that was attacked in Nablus (or Shechem as it is called by Jews) in the West Bank.

The church did indeed sustain damage by having fire bottles thrown at it and gun shots that did penetrate into the church itself. The Jerusalem Post was wrong in its report that there was no damage.

You can view the pics of the church and the damage here…

pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/greekcathchurch/album?.dir=/fefcscd&.src=ph&.tok=phbzsiFBGz3pPsWO

One important thing I would like to point out is that Fr. Yousef said that immediately after this happened Muslims from the community who were outraged by the incidents and came to stand by them.

Here is the message about the incident that Father Yousef gave to us:

Dear Rev Bishops,
Dear Rev Fathers,
Dear Sirs,
Our best regards and love for you.

I’d like to tell you about what happened in Nablus last week.
After His Holiness-the Pope had finished his lecture (in Germany) a violent reaction happened in Nablus by some enthusiastic Muslim young men attacked the churches in Nablus by throwing some burning bottles at them and shot fires.

But the most damage happened to the Greek Catholic Church. They burnt the church gate and shot some bullets at the church which some of them penetrated the door and hit the temple and a desk inside the church.

After these incidents many people – Muslims and Christians came to stand by us (They are still coming). They all expressed about their anger and they condemned these actions.

I enclose this letter some photographs about the incident.

May God bless you.
Yours sincerely
Fr. Yousef J.Saadeh