THE JEWISH 'STATE OF JUDEA'

Medinat Yehuda

IsraelWire - July 25,2000 - Efforts towards the establishment of the State of Judea, intended to fill the void left by Israel's abandonment of any and all lands of Israel to the PLO Authority, has been announced. The organizers carefully point out their statement of purpose that the goals are in no way to combat Israeli forces, or engage in any inciteful activity against the current Israeli administration. Following are some of the points of clarification appearing on the State of Judea website.
--- We do not advocate any seditious activity against the current Israeli regime and therefore present no threat to the State of Israel.
--- We intend to act only if abandoned to the enemy State of Palestine and to act only against the forces of the enemy State of Palestine.
--- We believe that the existence of the State of Judea is in the best interests of the State of Israel in that it will provide a safety valve to relieve religious/secular tensions and in the eventuality of the creation of a State of Palestine, the emergence of a State of Judea in that area will make for a better neighbor and peace partner to the State of Israel than the alternative.
--- That part of historical Eretz Israel known as Yesha has never been part of the modern State of Israel, but has remained since 1967 "disputed territory" that was never annexed or placed under Israeli sovereignty. [ Source: IsraelWire ]

 

CHRISTIAN PATRIARCHS BACK PALESTINIAN CLAIMS ON EAST JERUSALEM

Jordan Times - Jul 25, 2000 - Jerusalem's Christian patriarchs back Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem, an official said Monday, giving the Palestinians strong support. "East Jerusalem is a Palestinian city that should return to Palestinian sovereignty," Hanan Ashrawi, a top Palestinian spokeswoman, told reporters after a meeting between Palestinian officials and the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian Orthodox patriarchs in Jerusalem. Ashrawi said her statements represented the views held by both the Palestinian political leadership and the Christian churches. "The churches and the church leaders reject attempts at dividing or fragmenting of East Jerusalem or dividing it into quarters or sharing sovereignty," Ashrawi said.

Officials from the Custody of the Holy Land, a Franciscan order with special authority over several Christian sites, were also present at the meeting, as was Faisal Husseini, holder of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Jerusalem portfolio.

The three patriarchs last week expressed concern that their historic role in Jerusalem was not being taken into consideration at Camp David and requested that a representative be present. Church officials confirmed that Israel has called a meeting with the patriarchs for Tuesday, but did not say who would attend from the Israeli side. [ http://philologos.org/ ]