According to eyewitness accounts, three or four persons, clad mostly in black and armed with machine guns, started firing at the famous church through the windows. When the dust of this short but deadly encounter settled, seven Christians were fatally wounded, and thirty-four suffered bloody injuries, two of them critical. On Saturday, the day after, one of the wounded passed away, raising fatalities to eight respectable citizens.
This horrible attack, regardless of its motives, has disturbed the beautiful image of Jordan as the country of brotherly love, and not only of Amman, which the Romans called Philadelphia.
In the last few years, Jordan has taken large and meaningful steps towards focusing on its Christian heritage. That heritage is deep-rooted in this land. We were ruled by the Roman Catholic Empire from the early second century, and after the fall of its western half in AD 476, by the Byzantine Empire, which continued to rule until the Islamic conquest in the seventh century. That Empire, whose church was Eastern Orthodox, secured its southern frontier through the Ghassanians, who also converted to Christianity. Their kingdom extended widely across the Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, Houran in southern Syria, and Palestine.
When Islam spread in the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century, Prophet Muhammad sent an army to probe the possibility of expanding north. The three-thousand-strong army faced off with the larger Byzantine army, many of whose soldiers were Arab Ghassanians. When the three Muslim leaders fell in battle, the Christian people of Karak helped the Islamic army to withdraw peacefully back to Al-Madina in Hijaz.
The early Crusader campaigns, prompted by Catholic zeal and economic gains, started in the early part of the Eleventh Century AD. They passed through the opulent Byzantine capital of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and wreaked havoc there. Yet the Christian Arab community in the Levant stood with their Muslim brethren. Muslims, who were the rulers but the minority, allied with the majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians to defend the dignity of the Arab lands. Jordan was always at the heart of that interfaith solidarity.
The same pattern continued throughout the generations until our modern times. When Jordan was established as a Hashemite Emirate in 1921, the Christian community of Karak in particular helped affirm the integrity of the new entity. The Al Halasah, Zuraikat, and Al Oudat families, their extended family, and their off-shoots stood firmly behind the Hashemite Kings. Some Christian families in the Karak Governorate migrated to the Capital Amman Governorate and its neighbourhood in Madaba, where Prophet Moses stayed, and where the city and its celebrated ancient churches, with their unique mosaic artistry, continued to survive and thrive.
Jordan has done excellent work in digging and rejuvenating churches which were built in the Jordanian desert. Moreover, Jordan has allowed almost all Western Christian sects to have their own shrines in Jordan.
The project recently granted one thousand hectares of land is the Baptism Site. At least ten eye-catching cathedrals have already been built. The project will be nurtured to become a symbol of Christian-Muslim affinity and fraternal relations.
Netanyahu immediately jumped to utilize the opportunity presented by the killing of two soldiers in Hebron and the Karak church attack in order to support his claims of Judeo-Christian relations in Israel, and to lower the boom on the Palestinians of the occupied West Bank.
He is the one, with his dogged extremist ministers, forcing Christians to move from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. His purpose is to present Jerusalem as a confrontation hub between Jews and Muslims. He is pressing the Christian shops in the Old City economically and commercially in order to force them out. It is his governments that bombed churches and other Christian sites in Gaza.
This is but a drop in the bucket of all the atrocities the Netanyahu government is committing. Yet in his unabashed lexicography, he calls himself the main protector of Christians in our region.
Jordan has already allowed the respective churches to divide the inheritance of the dead among the heirs. In the past, Islamic shari’a law was applied. This is a major step.
What happened at the Hmoud Church in Karak cannot be an innocent accident. Although there is no official account as to who is behind it and what the motives are, judging by who would benefit most from it, I would say the Netanyahu government. Yet little does this Israeli government know how strong the resolve of Jordanians is to unite horizontally and vertically behind their Hashemite leadership, to deny Israeli aggressive intentions and keep Israeli schemes as an Israeli burden.
According to eyewitness accounts, three or four persons, clad mostly in black and armed with machine guns, started firing at the famous church through the windows. When the dust of this short but deadly encounter settled, seven Christians were fatally wounded, and thirty-four suffered bloody injuries, two of them critical. On Saturday, the day after, one of the wounded passed away, raising fatalities to eight respectable citizens.
This horrible attack, regardless of its motives, has disturbed the beautiful image of Jordan as the country of brotherly love, and not only of Amman, which the Romans called Philadelphia.
In the last few years, Jordan has taken large and meaningful steps towards focusing on its Christian heritage. That heritage is deep-rooted in this land. We were ruled by the Roman Catholic Empire from the early second century, and after the fall of its western half in AD 476, by the Byzantine Empire, which continued to rule until the Islamic conquest in the seventh century. That Empire, whose church was Eastern Orthodox, secured its southern frontier through the Ghassanians, who also converted to Christianity. Their kingdom extended widely across the Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, Houran in southern Syria, and Palestine.
When Islam spread in the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century, Prophet Muhammad sent an army to probe the possibility of expanding north. The three-thousand-strong army faced off with the larger Byzantine army, many of whose soldiers were Arab Ghassanians. When the three Muslim leaders fell in battle, the Christian people of Karak helped the Islamic army to withdraw peacefully back to Al-Madina in Hijaz.
The early Crusader campaigns, prompted by Catholic zeal and economic gains, started in the early part of the Eleventh Century AD. They passed through the opulent Byzantine capital of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and wreaked havoc there. Yet the Christian Arab community in the Levant stood with their Muslim brethren. Muslims, who were the rulers but the minority, allied with the majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians to defend the dignity of the Arab lands. Jordan was always at the heart of that interfaith solidarity.
The same pattern continued throughout the generations until our modern times. When Jordan was established as a Hashemite Emirate in 1921, the Christian community of Karak in particular helped affirm the integrity of the new entity. The Al Halasah, Zuraikat, and Al Oudat families, their extended family, and their off-shoots stood firmly behind the Hashemite Kings. Some Christian families in the Karak Governorate migrated to the Capital Amman Governorate and its neighbourhood in Madaba, where Prophet Moses stayed, and where the city and its celebrated ancient churches, with their unique mosaic artistry, continued to survive and thrive.
Jordan has done excellent work in digging and rejuvenating churches which were built in the Jordanian desert. Moreover, Jordan has allowed almost all Western Christian sects to have their own shrines in Jordan.
The project recently granted one thousand hectares of land is the Baptism Site. At least ten eye-catching cathedrals have already been built. The project will be nurtured to become a symbol of Christian-Muslim affinity and fraternal relations.
Netanyahu immediately jumped to utilize the opportunity presented by the killing of two soldiers in Hebron and the Karak church attack in order to support his claims of Judeo-Christian relations in Israel, and to lower the boom on the Palestinians of the occupied West Bank.
He is the one, with his dogged extremist ministers, forcing Christians to move from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. His purpose is to present Jerusalem as a confrontation hub between Jews and Muslims. He is pressing the Christian shops in the Old City economically and commercially in order to force them out. It is his governments that bombed churches and other Christian sites in Gaza.
This is but a drop in the bucket of all the atrocities the Netanyahu government is committing. Yet in his unabashed lexicography, he calls himself the main protector of Christians in our region.
Jordan has already allowed the respective churches to divide the inheritance of the dead among the heirs. In the past, Islamic shari’a law was applied. This is a major step.
What happened at the Hmoud Church in Karak cannot be an innocent accident. Although there is no official account as to who is behind it and what the motives are, judging by who would benefit most from it, I would say the Netanyahu government. Yet little does this Israeli government know how strong the resolve of Jordanians is to unite horizontally and vertically behind their Hashemite leadership, to deny Israeli aggressive intentions and keep Israeli schemes as an Israeli burden.
According to eyewitness accounts, three or four persons, clad mostly in black and armed with machine guns, started firing at the famous church through the windows. When the dust of this short but deadly encounter settled, seven Christians were fatally wounded, and thirty-four suffered bloody injuries, two of them critical. On Saturday, the day after, one of the wounded passed away, raising fatalities to eight respectable citizens.
This horrible attack, regardless of its motives, has disturbed the beautiful image of Jordan as the country of brotherly love, and not only of Amman, which the Romans called Philadelphia.
In the last few years, Jordan has taken large and meaningful steps towards focusing on its Christian heritage. That heritage is deep-rooted in this land. We were ruled by the Roman Catholic Empire from the early second century, and after the fall of its western half in AD 476, by the Byzantine Empire, which continued to rule until the Islamic conquest in the seventh century. That Empire, whose church was Eastern Orthodox, secured its southern frontier through the Ghassanians, who also converted to Christianity. Their kingdom extended widely across the Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, Houran in southern Syria, and Palestine.
When Islam spread in the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century, Prophet Muhammad sent an army to probe the possibility of expanding north. The three-thousand-strong army faced off with the larger Byzantine army, many of whose soldiers were Arab Ghassanians. When the three Muslim leaders fell in battle, the Christian people of Karak helped the Islamic army to withdraw peacefully back to Al-Madina in Hijaz.
The early Crusader campaigns, prompted by Catholic zeal and economic gains, started in the early part of the Eleventh Century AD. They passed through the opulent Byzantine capital of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and wreaked havoc there. Yet the Christian Arab community in the Levant stood with their Muslim brethren. Muslims, who were the rulers but the minority, allied with the majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians to defend the dignity of the Arab lands. Jordan was always at the heart of that interfaith solidarity.
The same pattern continued throughout the generations until our modern times. When Jordan was established as a Hashemite Emirate in 1921, the Christian community of Karak in particular helped affirm the integrity of the new entity. The Al Halasah, Zuraikat, and Al Oudat families, their extended family, and their off-shoots stood firmly behind the Hashemite Kings. Some Christian families in the Karak Governorate migrated to the Capital Amman Governorate and its neighbourhood in Madaba, where Prophet Moses stayed, and where the city and its celebrated ancient churches, with their unique mosaic artistry, continued to survive and thrive.
Jordan has done excellent work in digging and rejuvenating churches which were built in the Jordanian desert. Moreover, Jordan has allowed almost all Western Christian sects to have their own shrines in Jordan.
The project recently granted one thousand hectares of land is the Baptism Site. At least ten eye-catching cathedrals have already been built. The project will be nurtured to become a symbol of Christian-Muslim affinity and fraternal relations.
Netanyahu immediately jumped to utilize the opportunity presented by the killing of two soldiers in Hebron and the Karak church attack in order to support his claims of Judeo-Christian relations in Israel, and to lower the boom on the Palestinians of the occupied West Bank.
He is the one, with his dogged extremist ministers, forcing Christians to move from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. His purpose is to present Jerusalem as a confrontation hub between Jews and Muslims. He is pressing the Christian shops in the Old City economically and commercially in order to force them out. It is his governments that bombed churches and other Christian sites in Gaza.
This is but a drop in the bucket of all the atrocities the Netanyahu government is committing. Yet in his unabashed lexicography, he calls himself the main protector of Christians in our region.
Jordan has already allowed the respective churches to divide the inheritance of the dead among the heirs. In the past, Islamic shari’a law was applied. This is a major step.
What happened at the Hmoud Church in Karak cannot be an innocent accident. Although there is no official account as to who is behind it and what the motives are, judging by who would benefit most from it, I would say the Netanyahu government. Yet little does this Israeli government know how strong the resolve of Jordanians is to unite horizontally and vertically behind their Hashemite leadership, to deny Israeli aggressive intentions and keep Israeli schemes as an Israeli burden.
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