COVERAGE TRENDS Photostory: Israeli extremists’ attack on Nazareth’s most famous Christian church goes virtually unreported Jonathan Cook The Electronic Intifada 8 March 2006 Thousands of Nazarenes rushed to the Basilica of the Annunciation in the early evening of Friday March 3, as rumours swept the city that their church was under attack. Built over the grotto where the archangel Gabriel is supposed to have revealed to Mary that she was bearing the son of God, the Basilica is one of Christianity’s holiest sites. As local people streamed into the church’s walled-off courtyard, they learnt that three intruders had detonated a series of small explosions inside the building at 5.30pm, during a special ceremony for Lent. For several minutes the congregation huddled together in fear of their lives before a priest and several churchgoers managed to overpower a grey-bearded man in jeans, 44-year-old Haim Habibi, an Israeli Jew accompanied by his wife, Violet, and the couple’s 20-year-old daughter Odelia. As angry bystanders began beating Habibi, priests and a small contingent of local policemen hurried the three intruders into an annex of the church, where they were locked up for their own safety. There followed a stand-off between police and the crowd for the next four hours. Almost from the outset the Israeli media downplayed the significance of the attack, saying only “firecrackers” had been set off by Habibi, who was described - without evidence - as being mentally disturbed. As a result, most of the world’s media ignored the event entirely. These pictures capture some of that night’s dramatic events and a joint Christian and Muslim protest march through Nazareth the next day.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:43:10 +0000
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