resolution demanding that Israel halt a deadly Gaza offensive, shortly after an influential American television preacher warned President George W. Bush to adjust his Israel policy.
Speaking in Jerusalem, evangelist Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) said the U.S. backed Roadmap for Peace is "dead" as in his words Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is out for the destruction of Israel.
Robertson, who ran for the Republican Party presidential nomination in 1988, also warned Bush that the tens of millions of evangelical voters will "go and form a third party," if he agreed to divide Jerusalem.
"Gaza is one thing, but if he (the president) touches Jerusalem and he really gets serious about taking east Jerusalem and making it the capital of a Palestinian state, he’ll lose virtually all Evangelical support," Robertson said.
BLOODIEST INCURSION
He spoke as Israel troops continued one of their bloodiest incursions into the Gaza Strip in four years of fighting with reports that up to 80 Palestinians were killed since the military operation began their last week. On Tuesday, October 5, a leading Palestinian militant was among those killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City, the French News Agency (AFP) reported.
The dead commander was identified as Bashir al-Dibsh, 40, Gaza leader of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad. At least five Israelis have also been killed during the Gaza offensive, media reported.
ROCKET ATTACK
Israel’s government said it launched the operation in response to a deadly rocket attack last week which 200 Israeli tanks were reportedly involved in the Gaza operation.
Source: Aljazeera.com killed two children, as they prepared for the Feast of Tabernacles, a Jewish holiday known as Succot in Israel.
Analysts say the Gaza Strip invasion is also an attempt to ensure that militants will not claim a scheduled Israeli pull out from the region in 2005 as "a victory."
Evangelist Robertson, who was among over 4,000 Christians from more than 80 nations attending the Feast of Tabernacles festivities, indirectly criticized Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip by the end of next year, The Jerusalem Post news paper reported.
"GOD WILL JUDGE"
In an earlier Jerusalem sermon he was quoted as saying that "God says, ‘I’m going to judge those who carve up the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It’s my land and keep your hands off it.’ " Not all scholars agree with Robertson, and some evangelical Christians and Messianic Jews believe that God’s Promised Land will have different borders.
However the thousands of Christians participating in a peace march co-organized by the pro-Israel International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) seemed to put those theological differences aside as they carried banners through Jerusalem saying "We Love Israel," and "Shalom Israel."
"Every year in the Jerusalem March, when we are marching down the streets, I like to say we have thousands of thousands of the temples of the Holy Spirit, marching down the main street of Jerusalem," said Tim King, the Financial Director of the ICEJ in an interview with CBN. "What better thing could we offer?”
BIBLICAL HOLIDAY
The Succot is a biblical holiday mentioned in the Bible’s Leviticus 23 which instructs God’s people to build a booth, and spend time in it for eight days, honoring the "Holy One" of Israel. It is one of three times during the year when Jewish people are required to come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts.
Zechariah 14 says nations will one day be required to send representatives to Jerusalem at this time. If they do not, they will face "dire" consequences. "Christians are already preparing for that day," CBN commented.
"It’s thrilling to be here and bless the Jewish people," Leif Morling of Sweden told The Jerusalem Post. He said he was surprised by "how thankful and appreciative" the Israeli public was as he and others walked in streets that have often seen suicide attacks and other acts of violence.
