(picture by Banksy)

I’ve already alluded once this week to the absurdity of our celebrating the Nativity – a scene of peace, familial love and hope, in defiance of a baby-killing regime in historical Roman-occupied Palestine – all the while assisting in the violence, intolerance and despair of the baby-killing regime in contemporary Israeli-occupied Palestine. Ann at Reclaiming Space has come up with an interesting list of Christmas-in-Palestine related links, another selection focused on Bethlehem, and a great article by Sonja Karkar of Women For Palestine but the biscuit (or should that be the mince pie) goes to this 2003 article from GlobalResearch.ca.

The Spirit of Christmas consists in spreading Peace and Justice.

The Spirit of Christmas is when War Criminals are banned from the Birthplace of Jesus Christ.

In April 2003 at the height of the military campaign directed against Iraq, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem decided to ban President Bush and Prime Minister Blair from the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

“They are war criminals and murderers of children. Therefore the Church of Nativity decided to ban them access into the holy shrine for ever,”

“Their entry into the church will tarnish it as [Bush’s] hands are covered in the blood of the innocent,”