Religions under fire

Tuesday , 25 June 2019

written by Mohamad Jamous , Palestinian Director .

                Perhaps some of you are wondering why I named my report with that name, and what is the relationship of fire to religions? And by simple answer I tell you that the answer to this question you will find in the content of the report!
On Tuesday, June 25, 2019, and at 9:00 am, we all started moving from our cities in the West Bank towards Bethlehem city , where this month's event is being held for the Abrahamic Reunion Association. The total number of participants was 42 participants came from Jericho, Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem

About 10:30 am, we arrived the first site and we were gathered at the Church of the Shepherds Field in Beit Sahour town , which is a kilometer east of Bethlehem . the Church of the Shepherds Field is a grotto about 20 degrees below the earth's surface and The Gospel says that in this cave there were shepherds who were the first of their preachers to bear the birth of Christ according to Christian belief .

At this moment I welcomed the old and new participants in this Event and i introduced myself as the director of the programs of the Abrahamic Reunion in Palestine. I also expressed the importance of the Abrahamic reunion through our activities, our meetings, internal and external conferences and the importance of the Organization work in the Holy Land.

here after i finished my word for the participants I let Musa Sabatin, a member of the association four years ago, and a resident of Bethlehem to talk to and explain to the participants about the history of the Church of the Shepherds Field and during his explaining he took us on a short tour in the Church to see the monuments and caves in it . And after half an hour of time and after we got to know Church of the Shepherds Field and specifically at 11:15 we left the church towards St. Nicholas Church in Beit Jala . And St. Nicolaus is the patron saint of Beit Jala and For this reason, St. Nicolas Church is the most important church in the city.

and Under the church there is a cave where St. Nicholas lived in the fifth century AD to hold on to a place close to the birth of Christ , and the cave now contains an icon of Saint Nicola and a canada that remains revered ,

A monastery was built at the site in 200 AD, where it was demolished several times , And the current temple was built during the Ottoman period by monks from Russia. In 1921 the building was rebuilt by the people of the city and completed in 1925 .

Here, during our path to Beit Jala, the answer of my report name is coming ! 

In the moment that we were heading from the Church of the Shepherds Field to the Church of St. Nicholas, there were large protests and anger in the Palestinian street on this day because of the occurrence of the Bahrain Conference, which is rejected by the Palestinian people
In the middle of our path, we found ourselves all in the midst of a large group of angry Palestinian youths and a huge number of Israeli soldiers who were trying to thwart to the protests of young Palestinians, and When our buses and my car arrived between the two sides, the events between Palestinian youths and soldiers escalated! The youths starting throw stones at the israeli soldiers and the Israeli army fired tear gas and fired!
oh lord !  We are in the midst of these events!

 We received some stones on the car I was traveling in and all of us inhaled the tear gas fired by the Israeli army! Here, at this moment, I looked behind me and did not find the second bus carrying 20 participants from the city of Jenin ! 
Here I no longer feel anything in my body! I have felt fear and horror that i thought something happens to the lost bus !!

 

so I got away from the events a bit and stopped at the side of the road and I contacted the coordinator of the second bus ( Wessam Sudah ) i asked him Are you okay? Is anyone hurt ?? He told me that they were all fine but they did not succeed in crossing. The army returned them, and here at this moment I told wessam  that we will continue our way to the church because Father bolous Allam waiting us a long time and we were delayed by half an hour because of these events. and i told him that I will let Mousa guide you to another path that will enable you to reach the church.

At 13:00 pm we arrived at the Church of St. Nicholas and we were welcomed by : Father bolous allam -  The Pastor of the Roman Church in Bethlehem, Palestine and Sheikh Maher Assaf - The Religious Leader in the Political Orientation in Bethlehem, Palestine which is both from Bethlehem. I started distribute the water to the participants and we took small break from the fatigue of the road and gas inhalation and the fear that took control of some older people because they were in the midst of these terrible events . After about half an hour, the second bus ( Jenin group ) arrived and i distributed water to them .

Here Father Allam welcomed us all and began his speech and said, "First, I do not consider you participants. I consider you fighters for peace!"who's bear all these difficulties and all these terrible to be here ,and to attened interfaith Event called fighter for peace and you are all young and old fighters for peace!

He began his speech and said: The Christian teachings are represented in the Bible, full of teachings that oblige Christians to deal with the rest of the other religions with love and tolerance, and not to discard the other, different faith, color and form, And that love is the main slogan of the religion of Christianity, and the origin in all beliefs that the human God is preferable to anything else, and that it is great injustice that peoples fights and innocent bloodshed on the beliefs,
 if God wanted to be one unified for all human beings to do , he will do it 
But the origin in life is difference, exchange of views, understanding and coexistence, and the removal of the dangers surrounding them, without any distinction .

It is difficult for a person to live with himself without being confused with the rest of the other societies, which believe without his religion, and without entering into a reciprocal process with a second party or with other parties based on consensus on common interests, goals or imperatives.
The hope remains that the sons and the followers of different religions will coexist without being influenced by the trumpets that do not want good for humanity.

As for the coexistence between Muslims and other religions, this coexistence should begin from mutual trust and respect, from the desire to cooperate for the benefit of humanity, in areas of common interest, and in a way that affects the life of the human being soon, not in the useless, nor Under him . And the divine religions came to work to raise man and prepare him spiritually, materially and intellectually, so that this man becomes the effective pillar in the building of advanced and civilized human societies. Therefore, religions have recommended it for all that benefits it, and forbade it from harming it. if the peoples of the world aspire to the achievement of world peace, all the messages of the prophets are based on building peace between man and his Lord, and between human and human This is our Lord Jesus Christ, saying in the Gospel of Matthew after the hungry and the thirsty are poured into righteousness

 “Blessed are the Merciful, For They Will Receive Mercy” (Matthew 5:7) 

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God“ ( Matthew 5:9 ) 

And here, at the heart of this great church, I tell you all that it is very important that you complement your activities as Muslims and Christians, and this path will actually increase love and peace not only between Islam and Christianity, but between all religions in the Holy Land!

After Allam finished his speech, I invited Sheikh Maher Assaf to deliver his speech and he said, "When I received a call from Mohammed Jamous a few days ago to invite me to this meeting, I told him that you do not need to invite me,becuase i took a resolution before that i will not miss any event or meeting with you and it is an honor for me to come and meet you again! Especially in my city! here in Bethlehem!

Assaf continued: "The important thing in starting the process of serious and effective dialogue is to go back to the search for religious texts in the Holy Bible and the Holy Qur'an to search for the common denominators, which are certainly many because the heavenly messages is from one author is God and revolves around one axis is human . 
which is mean that the messages of heaven one in the source, which is God and one in the goal is the human and must be messages integrated and not in contradiction and difference according to substance.

and the heavenly messeges of her multitudes are represent the multiplicity of her approaches and methods, but the truth that these approaches want and which leads to these methods is one that they want us to spiritual and moral highness and doing good deeds, including the common good of all mankind as it refers to this meaning of the difference in the form of the Holy Quran " (5:48) And We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. So judge between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allah willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allah is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ "

And the religions are one essence no matter how different forms and  formula, it is not important to worship God, but rather to worship God , It may be worshiped by each of us on a charter and on a platform different from the other, but in fact it is worship of the one God, which is not different according to the rituals and forms of worship.
Hence we say that it is not important how we worship God in the mosque or the church and places of worship . The important thing is that we worship God, which is the common denominator that we must meet to worship and obey. This advanced meaning emphasizes the practical aspect of religion, which is the other dimension in the process of believing in God because faith in God has two real dimensions : -

•  The first is the relationship between man and his Lord.
• The second is the relationship between human and his human as stated in a number of religious commandments that emphasize the human relationship with the other. There is no meaning to believing in God when a person oppresses, oppresses and enslaves others.

The important question that arises about the second dimension of the process of faith in God is the relationship between human and his human brother , and It's a question of what the other is doing ? and how it works ? In other words, what interests me and concerns me is how to deal with the other and not the question of what is believed and what is worshiped? Because religion on the other side is a treatment.
Therefore, I emphasize that the dialogue must be based on the religious texts found in the divine books (the Bible and the Quran) so that it is easy to understand each other and we may be able to change many customs and traditions contrary to religion by returning to religious texts

Here, and before my concluding, I would like to thank all of you for coming today to the city of Bethlehem, and I am with you and with the Abrahamic Reunion heart and soul.

After assaf ended his speech we all thanked Sheikh Maher Assaf and Father polous Allam for thier generous hospitality and we all took a memorial photo with the Abrahamic Reunion banner !

Here and at 15:00 pm , we left the church and went to the Church of the Nativity in the center of the city. The Church of the Nativity is the church where Jesus was born in Bethlehem, located in the south of the West Bank and Built by Emperor Constantine in 335

And is considered one of the oldest churches in Palestine and the world and more importantly the fact that the religious rituals have been held regularly since the beginning of the sixth century AD when the Roman Emperor Justinian built the church in its current form.
And its the first of the three churches built by Emperor Constantine at the beginning of the fourth century AD when Christianity became the official religion of the state and This was in response to the request of Bishop Makarios at the First Ecumenical Council in Niqaya in 325 AD

We arrived at the church at 3:30 pm and we were received by the Priest of the Roman Orthodox in bethlehem , the priest Issa Thaljieh, the priest known for his permanent smile, his good spirit and his beautiful word! He welcomed us all and said to me that it was an honor for me to met you here today over the Grotto of Christmas .

Thaljieh took us to short tour inside the Church and he said : that bethlehem is a model of islamic-Christian coexistence, where Muslims and Christians live side by side, sharing joy, happiness, and sorrow , and In Bethlehem, the church meets the mosque, the sounds of church bells ring, the voice of the Quran from the mosque 

It has always been the christmas decorations attached in the muslims homes , and the islamic decorations and Ramadan attached in the Christian  homes.and the muslims and christians celebrate their festivals together. On holidays, love and joy are embodied. Muslims celebrate Christmas, Christians distribute sweets and eggs to Muslims, and Muslims distribute Dessertand dates Pieso Christians during Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.After the end of our tour and talking with Thaljieh , we took a memorial photo all next to one of the church's caves ! And then we bid farewell to him in the hope of meeting him in future events .


Here at 16:00 pm we went to a popular restaurant in the center of the city , which is near the Church of the Nativity and we took a short break for lunch, which is consisting of shawarma, Hummus , beans, Msabaha and various types of salads and soft drinks and coffe .
After we finished our lunch, around 17:00 pm we moved toward the Batir village, which is a Palestinian rural village from the villages of the western countryside of the city of Bethlehem characterized by nature and traditional vegetable orchards 

We arrived Batir around 17:20 pm Exactly to Ein Pater (Roman pool) and we took a tour in the area , and we were supposed to visit the Mosque of Battir and to meet with the sheikh of the village, but for some reasons, the Sheikh was unable to come
here mousa sapatin explained the history of the village and its landmarks, and some of the participants took a pictures in the green nature
then i sat with all the participants and i opened a dialogue and discussion session about their opinions towards the Abrahamic Reunion and its activities and about this tired day and their views in the future with the organization
And the beautiful in that , that all the answers were positive and then i distributed a questionnaires to the participants, which are five questions attached to the report and I have been discussed the questions with the participants , with the write answers to the questionnaire
at 18:30 pm and after we finished everything  we all left the village of Battir and Bethlehem in the hope to meet in the next meeting