Prophesy

Jerusalem is not the best place to be at the moment - it's fine if you're a tourist spending a day or two, but living here is getting more tense by the day. Yesterday the Jerusalem Municipality came and destroyed 20 houses in Siloam Village (Pool of Siloam area outside the Old City) because it was built illegally. Then they also came inside the Old City and destroyed two houses near our monastery. These are all muslim houses. I'm sure sooner or later, more illegal houses / structures around our monastery will be torn down and the muslims will accuse us of being Israeli informers. People are already talking about it in the streets. That means trouble. The muslims will soon be attacking us. It's a frightening thought. You guys better pray for our safety.

Bye Marcio

A very touching event yesterday which shows that enemies can still be friends: Palestinians from the village of Tekoa (where the prophet Amos was born) help Jewish settlers when their car overturn. I wonder if Jewish settlers would have done the same if a Palestinian car overturned. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371057709&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Israeli Supreme Court criticises the State for making empty talk about closing down settlements but never doing it - finally someone has the guts to do say it!http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091830.html

And newspaper columnists suggest the removal of the word "Jewish" from the State of Israel - like wow, if it were said by a non-Jew, it would be seen as treason and anti-semitic. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091809.html

And a Jewish woman from Tel Aviv threw away her mother's old mattress that hid US$1 million! Now she's looking through the landfills in search of lost treasure. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8092942.stm

Today Marcio leaves Israel for good. He returns to Brasil to start a new mission. Marcio was my first cameraman before Thiago. He's very good at his job, although he was origianlly trained as an editor which he's even better at. We had great collaboration in producing several programmes and he was the one who designed the Eternal Light Webcast banner and all the openings of its programmes. Will certainly miss Marcio and his crazy music! All the best to your new mission!

And watch out next time you eat your bread. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8092921.stm

received with thanks

Thanks to the following:
1. Sponsorship of children in Musky (Cairo) - May Yu, Greece pilgrims (HK grp + Lilian Li)
2. For the Poor - Fr L. Leung
3. Sponsorship of Chinese clergy - US$128 collected from various donors
4. Gaza - US$257 collected from various donors
5. Webcast - Agnes Chiu-Lee,
6. Teresa (Pedro's mother), Aurora Ng, Kath Malone, Liza Tam, Rose Chiu, Cecilia Cavero, Mary Leung, Loretta & Louise, Teresa (Sydney), Marie Lo, Greece pilgrims (Sydney/HK group )

May God bless you all for your generosity and be assured of our prayers here in the Holyland.

wow

So read this - I'm not saying anything - http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091469.html

news

The weather is extremely hot and dry now. And the sun is merciless. Thank goodness our houses are build with stones so its alot cooler. But the nights can be very stuffy and hot.

Reports yesterday and today bemoan the recent events when jewish extremists are threatening other fellow jews. Ultra-orthodox attack police in Jerusalem; while rightist Zionist attack soldiers. Now these soldiers need guards to protect themselves from the Zionists! http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371042697&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

defiance

Rightists in the govt. are now openly waging war against the US by pledging more money to build more settlements. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091163.html

And wow - a catholic pilgrim who took an archaological stone in 1997 home to the US regrets it and now has returned it to Israel. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8079825.stm The Head, Haim Shchupak of the IAA's anti-theft unit said the return of antiquities was rare.
"It's nice that these people's consciences bothered them," he told the Associated Press news agency. "I'm glad that there are good people out there." I wonder if there're good israelis who'll return stolen land back to the palestinians....... any good men out there?

And it goes on .....

So Israel is not letting up on the settlements and building up the barriers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8085858.stm Like I said, nothing will stop them - not even Obama! Who does he think he is?

Meantime archaeology becomes the fertile field for the political upper-hand. This article is about an arab and an israeli interpretation of the same place, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8076772.stm

And here's an interesting article on hebrew-catholic priests = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8032339.stm