Related Searches(UK visitors only)
Jyllands-Posten
Denmark
Islam
Danish Embassy
Muslim Photographs
Christian peacemakers told to keep low profile following anti-muslim cartoons
-06/02/06
Christian peacemakers in Hebron have been told to keep a low profile following the republication of derogatory cartoons in European newspapers depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) whose colleagues in Iraq were kidnapped at the end of November, say they have experienced a variety of angry reactions to the caricatures of the Prophet which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September.
CPT has recently issued a statement condemning the anti-Muslim cartoons published by Denmark’s daily paper the Jyllands-Posten, as spreading ‘hate and bigotry’.
Last week CPT learned that two Swedish members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) team in Tel Rumeida had been advised by their leadership to leave Hebron, which they did briefly. They came back
when they received assurances from Palestinian leadership that the presence of peace workers was welcome and appreciated.
Then on Wednesday, the first day of the Islamic New Year–Hamas staged an orderly protest demonstration outside the headquarters of TIPH (Temporary International Presence Hebron). TIPH, has monitors in Hebron from
a consortium of six nations–including Sweden and Denmark. The organization has monitored tensions caused by the Israeli Occupation in Hebron’s Old City since 1994.
Although the protest, according to one member of TIPH, was “quiet and orderly” a throng of young Palestinians who congregated later outside the headquarters gate was not.
They stoned the building and broke many windows. Contacts told CPT that for the time-being TIPH has suspended its daily and nightly patrols, and the entire unit is remaining inside, “pending an assessment of the current situation.”
On Thursday, members of CPT say they began to encounter shopkeeper friends who expressed their concerns and astonishment over the republication of the cartoons. Also on Thursday, CPT received a call from EAPPI, the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel.
The small contingent EAPPI normally keeps in Hebron will be staying away temporarily.
On Friday, the Muslim Sabbath, CPT member Jerry Levin, in the streets for most of the day showing a visitor the situation in Hebron, was approached several times by men on their way to noon prayers. They informed him how important it is for the cartoons not to start appearing in the American press. After prayers the pace of those encounters increased. Then in the middle of the afternoon, while Levin and the visitor were walking along one of the ancient terraces below Tel Rumeida settlement, four teenage boys stopped them; two of them had clubs concealed in the folds of their coats. The boys first complained about the cartoons and then demanded Levin’s mobile phone. Levin refused.
The boys began brandishing their clubs. Then when Levin still refused, one snatched his camera from around his neck; and the four dashed off. “I never was really worried about being hurt,” Levin said. “I really think the kids were after my phone and my camera, and thought sounding angry about the cartoons while waving their clubs at us, might move things along.”
Related Searches(UK visitors only)
Jyllands-Posten
Denmark
Islam
Danish Embassy
Muslim Photographs
Christian peacemakers told to keep low profile following anti-muslim cartoons
-06/02/06
Christian peacemakers in Hebron have been told to keep a low profile following the republication of derogatory cartoons in European newspapers depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) whose colleagues in Iraq were kidnapped at the end of November, say they have experienced a variety of angry reactions to the caricatures of the Prophet which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September.
CPT has recently issued a statement condemning the anti-Muslim cartoons published by Denmark’s daily paper the Jyllands-Posten, as spreading ‘hate and bigotry’.
Last week CPT learned that two Swedish members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) team in Tel Rumeida had been advised by their leadership to leave Hebron, which they did briefly. They came back
when they received assurances from Palestinian leadership that the presence of peace workers was welcome and appreciated.
Then on Wednesday, the first day of the Islamic New Year–Hamas staged an orderly protest demonstration outside the headquarters of TIPH (Temporary International Presence Hebron). TIPH, has monitors in Hebron from
a consortium of six nations–including Sweden and Denmark. The organization has monitored tensions caused by the Israeli Occupation in Hebron’s Old City since 1994.
Although the protest, according to one member of TIPH, was “quiet and orderly” a throng of young Palestinians who congregated later outside the headquarters gate was not.
They stoned the building and broke many windows. Contacts told CPT that for the time-being TIPH has suspended its daily and nightly patrols, and the entire unit is remaining inside, “pending an assessment of the current situation.”
On Thursday, members of CPT say they began to encounter shopkeeper friends who expressed their concerns and astonishment over the republication of the cartoons. Also on Thursday, CPT received a call from EAPPI, the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel.
The small contingent EAPPI normally keeps in Hebron will be staying away temporarily.
On Friday, the Muslim Sabbath, CPT member Jerry Levin, in the streets for most of the day showing a visitor the situation in Hebron, was approached several times by men on their way to noon prayers. They informed him how important it is for the cartoons not to start appearing in the American press. After prayers the pace of those encounters increased. Then in the middle of the afternoon, while Levin and the visitor were walking along one of the ancient terraces below Tel Rumeida settlement, four teenage boys stopped them; two of them had clubs concealed in the folds of their coats. The boys first complained about the cartoons and then demanded Levin’s mobile phone. Levin refused.
The boys began brandishing their clubs. Then when Levin still refused, one snatched his camera from around his neck; and the four dashed off. “I never was really worried about being hurt,” Levin said. “I really think the kids were after my phone and my camera, and thought sounding angry about the cartoons while waving their clubs at us, might move things along.”