Friday

Today is Friday. It's alot less tense than the last 2 Fridays. The streets in the Old City are deserted, and the soldiers are much less than usual. But it doesn't hide what lies in the heart. Let's see what happens at noon prayers at the mosque today.

Today is also Fr Marcello's feastday. He's our professor of St. Paul. We celebrate our franciscan martyrs Sts Berard, Peter, Adiutus, Accursius, Otto and Vitalis today who were killed in Morocco in 1220. When their bodies were brought back to Portugal, their martyrdom moved a young Augustinian canon so much, he changed Orders and entered the Franciscans - he was St Anthony of Padua (Lisbon, if you are portuguese).

Now back to the sad situation in Gaza. Watch this and listen to some facts that are little known (Texas Rep. Ron Paul): http://www.videonewslive.com/view/294057/israel_created_hamas Teleban, Al-Qaeda all are American creations ... you draw your own conclusions.

You can hear the weariness of BBC correspondent Jeremy Bowen's voice in his article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7831757.stm

And two doctors' account of the situation inside: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7830302.stm

Gazans message out their reactions: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7830482.stm

And frankly, Germany, stop making your younger generation and the rest of the world guilty for your own sins. It will backfire among the younger generation - haven't you learnt that? It will only cause what you seek to avoid. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231950868144&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull How about the slaughter of 20 million chinese (stats from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties check out the other countries in Asia)? For those of you who haven't yet heard of the Nanking Massacre, check out the following but be warned - graphic images / see only if you're psychologically prepared (there are other more graphic sites!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre In a recent conversation, a friend said that Asians are very practical people and are more likely to leave the past and move ahead with life after a crisis. With regards to the japanese occupaiton of Asia, he said that other asian countries trust Japan not to do it again, and so do not harp on the subject again and again. It basically boils down to trust. I don't know enough to deny or affirm that. That's his opinion.