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Comments (0)Some 25 left-wing activists were released from prison by a Jerusalem court.
The protesters were released Saturday night after being arrested the day before after refusing to end a protest in front of a home in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheik Jarrah against the eviction of its Arab residents.
Some 100 protesters had gathered Saturday outside the district court in Jerusalem peacefully playing drums and other instruments to protest the arrested activists’ detention.
Jews have moved into the Sheik Jarrah house under a court order following a decades-long dispute over who owns the property.
Jesus-Era Home Discovered in Nazareth
A home from the time of Jesus was discovered in Nazareth.
The Israel Antiquities Authority announced Monday that the remains of the home dating to the Early Roman period were uncovered recently during an archaeological excavation near the Church of the Annunciation. The church is built on the site where Christians believe the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would give birth to Jesus.
“The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth and thereby sheds light on the way of life at the time of Jesus,” said Yardenna Alexandre, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Alexandre said the building is small and modest, and most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth from that period.
“From the few written sources that there are, we know that in the first century CE Nazareth was a small Jewish village, located inside a valley,” Alexandre said. “Until now a number of tombs from the time of Jesus were found in Nazareth. However, no settlement remains have been discovered that are attributed to this period.”
The excavation was undertaken before the construction of the International Marian Center of Nazareth by the Association Mary of Nazareth, next to the Church of the Annunciation.
The association intends to conserve and display the remains of the newly discovered house inside the building planned for the center.
Miss Palestine Pageant Canceled
The Palestinian Authority canceled the Miss Palestine beauty pageant.
The PA said it postponed the Dec. 26 event in Ramallah indefinitely because it coincides with the anniversary of the start of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, the Palestinian Ma’an News Service reported Monday.
The announcement earlier this month of the pageant, sponsored by the Trip Fashion Company, drew the ire of Hamas and other fundamentalist Islamic organizations.
Some 58 Palestinian women from the West Bank and inside Israel were to compete by modeling four dresses—but not swimsuits, in deference to Muslim sensibilities. Some of the judges were to come from the Palestinian Authority’s information and culture ministries.
The contest was not affiliated with any international pageants.