Biblical theme park in Galilee
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1677557,00.html
When you first read that you think at last the Palestinians get themselves a theme park to exploit their rich cultural history. That maybe they’ll open up Bethlehem too, and maybe they can get together with Israel and make peace through Disneyesque quasi religious theme parks.
Then you read its being made by the Israelis, with the backing and money of the US Christian right. Made my heart sink certainly, that and the fact that this is so full of hypocrisy that it fits nicely into the history of hypocrisy and stupidity that both Israel and the Christian right in the US are famed for. I can only imagine on and aesthetic and religious level how tacky this place will be, I imagine giant plastic statues of Jesus, probably very blond ones. Having seen before some of America’s churches I can only cringe at the thought of the holy land, renowned for the beauty and aesthetic wonder of its religious places being fouled by some gaudy, muscular and bigoted church.
Once again it is noted that despite Palestine having one of the worlds oldest Christian denominations, by default really considering the location and their beleaguered status considering they can’t even use bethlehem at christmas anymore that the US christian right are giving them fuck all help. Didn’t Pat Robertson even think that maybe he should reach out the those christian brothers facing persecution and death at the hands of another religion? No, because they are arabs, and thus scum. If it had been Christian persecuted by Arabs then Roberston and his ilk would be there like a shot, unless it was Saudi Arabia, which is of course another kettle of hypocrisy. This is not to suggesting that the Christian right has lost its history of anti-Semitism and is getting friendly with the Israeli state because of inter faith cooperation or atoning for Christianity’s historic persecution of the Jews. Nope nothing actually Christian like that, just that the book of rebveltaion says that for jesus to come back there has to be a Jewish state in jereusalem and that the jews have to get with the christianity. Not that this seems to scare many in the Israeli establishment israelies, most are happy to accept the cash, as they always have been from the US. Some are obviously alarmed but then if I was Isreali citizen I would be very alarmed by many, many things my government had done.
The icing on the cake is that this land by the sea of Gallilee isn’t even properly owned by Israel, before 1967 it was part of Syria, and Syria very much wants it back. By getting a bunch of Americans to build a theme park and church there has pretty much made it sure never to go back to Syria. No wonder the Israelis aren’t charging rent for the land, even they aren’t that cheeky.
But the sadness of this is that once again the Palestinians get shafted, and irony doesn’t really get any worse than being ignored by very rich co religionists who would rather give their cash to the very people who are seeking to cleanse you from the land your people have lived on since before that bearded guy was even thought of. That and a gaudy Themepark being built on the memory of your people, while at the same time they sit back and watch you be annihilated.
When you first read that you think at last the Palestinians get themselves a theme park to exploit their rich cultural history. That maybe they’ll open up Bethlehem too, and maybe they can get together with Israel and make peace through Disneyesque quasi religious theme parks.
Then you read its being made by the Israelis, with the backing and money of the US Christian right. Made my heart sink certainly, that and the fact that this is so full of hypocrisy that it fits nicely into the history of hypocrisy and stupidity that both Israel and the Christian right in the US are famed for. I can only imagine on and aesthetic and religious level how tacky this place will be, I imagine giant plastic statues of Jesus, probably very blond ones. Having seen before some of America’s churches I can only cringe at the thought of the holy land, renowned for the beauty and aesthetic wonder of its religious places being fouled by some gaudy, muscular and bigoted church.
Once again it is noted that despite Palestine having one of the worlds oldest Christian denominations, by default really considering the location and their beleaguered status considering they can’t even use bethlehem at christmas anymore that the US christian right are giving them fuck all help. Didn’t Pat Robertson even think that maybe he should reach out the those christian brothers facing persecution and death at the hands of another religion? No, because they are arabs, and thus scum. If it had been Christian persecuted by Arabs then Roberston and his ilk would be there like a shot, unless it was Saudi Arabia, which is of course another kettle of hypocrisy. This is not to suggesting that the Christian right has lost its history of anti-Semitism and is getting friendly with the Israeli state because of inter faith cooperation or atoning for Christianity’s historic persecution of the Jews. Nope nothing actually Christian like that, just that the book of rebveltaion says that for jesus to come back there has to be a Jewish state in jereusalem and that the jews have to get with the christianity. Not that this seems to scare many in the Israeli establishment israelies, most are happy to accept the cash, as they always have been from the US. Some are obviously alarmed but then if I was Isreali citizen I would be very alarmed by many, many things my government had done.
The icing on the cake is that this land by the sea of Gallilee isn’t even properly owned by Israel, before 1967 it was part of Syria, and Syria very much wants it back. By getting a bunch of Americans to build a theme park and church there has pretty much made it sure never to go back to Syria. No wonder the Israelis aren’t charging rent for the land, even they aren’t that cheeky.
But the sadness of this is that once again the Palestinians get shafted, and irony doesn’t really get any worse than being ignored by very rich co religionists who would rather give their cash to the very people who are seeking to cleanse you from the land your people have lived on since before that bearded guy was even thought of. That and a gaudy Themepark being built on the memory of your people, while at the same time they sit back and watch you be annihilated.
posted by Marcel at 7:49 AM
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