Doc's Talk: Reenacting the Bible at Israel Bible Park

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Reenacting the Bible at Israel Bible Park

Nurit Greenger

The process of restoring the Jewish nation in its ancient homeland Israel is a long process. After all the Jews were scattered and without a homeland for 2000 years and that cannot be undone and reversed in 64 short years.

The idea to restore the Bible to life, through a large Biblical village model, conceived as an educational theme park, was originally developed, in 1996, by Israel's Ministry of Tourism. And the best and only natural place to bring this idea to fruition is the ancient land of the Kingdom of Judea, today, the state of Israel. But then the 2nd Lebanon War broke out and the government budget for this project was frozen and the project was put on hold.

Then, in 2005 it was revived by a group of prominent Israelis who formed "Israel Bible Park" -- a not-for-profit corporation. The founders include Zvi Kesseh, management consultant; Shlomo Gertner, architect and planner; Itzik Efron, educator; and Dr. Nathan Sas, city planner.

The planned location of Israel Bible Park, known also as the international and interfaith center for Bible and peace in the Land of Israel, is Emek Ha'Elah and nearby land, southwest of Bet Shemesh. Emek HaElah is best known as the place described in the Bible where the Israelites were encamped when David fought Goliath.

The Yoav Regional Council in Israel is providing the land and the management and government grants and sponsorship have begun.

a. The Office of Israel's Prime Minister is a sponsor under the project's slogan, "Strengthening the Jewish Heritage of the Land of Israel," with $100,000 first grant.

b. Israel's Ministry of Tourism agreed to support, but no dollar amount is known yet.

c. Israel's Ministry of Education with future grants anticipated.

To explain why such project will be a worldwide phenomenon, with a million visitors anticipated annually, I would like to digress for a moment and refer the reader to The Colonial Williamsburg, Founder John D. Rockefeller Jr., is theme is "that the future may learn from the past." - http://www.history.org/foundation/.

The Colonial Williamsburg takes the visitor to the life in the 18th Century, people, places, and the making of history. It is a reenactment of the early life in America that created the Democratic Republic of the United States of America. Colonial Williamsburg is the largest tourist and local visitors attraction in America. And Colonial Williamsburg will be serving as the model for Israel Bible Valley. (http://www.israelbiblevalley.com/).

Israel Bible Park mission

To increase appreciation of the Bible and the relevance of its story and message for our world today.

To develop a large interactive, hands-on theme park where visitors of all ages can fully experience the Bible in the place where it originally occurred.

There are five viable reasons why Israel Bible Park, its theme is, 'helping a new generation to re-discover the timeless truths of the Bible,' is needed:

* The Bible is the foundation of the Jewish and Christian faiths. It is the single most pervasive influence in shaping the history of the Israelites as a nation and as a people in their homeland, Israel. The Bible’s truth for guiding the lives of individuals and nations are timeless and that includes Jesus of Nazareth.

** The Hebrew Bible is not only the literary and historical treasure of the Jewish nation; it is the Jews' moral and spiritual compass, shared by more than a billion people around the world. There is no book, other than the Bible, that has influenced the course of history or inspired the lives of countless individuals throughout the ages.

***Regrettably, the Bible’s great stories have become increasingly unknown to the younger generations facing a complex and fractured world, with a myriad of confusing and conflicting voices, all are clamoring for their allegiance. The Bible can be an anchor of wisdom and counsel for the generations to come in search of truth and meaning.

****Israel Bible Park will present the story of the Bible in an exciting, dramatic and innovative manner, as never before done, to enable those who visit and study there, from around the world, to understand and appreciate its messages. Israel Bible Valley's biblical theme park and living museum will make the Bible come alive and thus will greatly motivate visitors to visit the Holy Land.

*****The theme park will offer audio/video interaction with international audiences who may not be able to visit the facility in Israel. Live interactive via webcams, videos of the park’s activities on the website, and DVDs will connect the viewers, youth and adult, in classrooms, synagogues, churches and community activities' venues with on-going happenings at Israel Bible Park.

Israel Bible Park will offer a back into the future vacation experience to all. That will include, a lake for swimming, boating and fishing, amphitheatre and wide spaces for performances and festivals, as well as family recreation area.

I asked Dr. Efraim Warshaw, Director of American Friends of Israel Bible Park, why such project is relevant today?

His answer was clear:

There are four targeted audiences the park is designed to appeal to:

Jews who will visit Israel from around the world. In Israel Bible Park, the deep historical connection between the Bible and the Land of Israel will become obvious, and major spiritual and ethical teachings of the Bible will be demonstrated.

Israeli Jews. Israel Bible Valley will bring to life the Bible's history, stories and legends, which they have studied throughout their school years and which give spiritual/cultural meaning to their life as Israelis. Also will provide a vivid historical perspective. The Park will offer special programs for children and youth visiting with their families, as well as educational experience for schools and youth groups.

Evangelical - and other – Christians tourists. Israel Bible Park will be portraying the Hebrew Bible as the foundation stone of Christianity and will emphasize the spiritual qualities of the Biblical heritage that Christians share with Jews.

Other tourists, who are neither Christian or Jewish. Israel Bible Park will present the Hebrew Bible as part history, literature, law code and spiritual guide that has inspired billions of people around the world for well over 2,000 years, and continues to move large number of people on the five continents.

But this is all in hearts and minds, on paper and in the planning. Those who are excited to see Israel Bible Valley become reality, for additional, detailed information please visit www.IsraelBibleValley.com.

People who wish to become part of this wonderful project and be a member, to include help amassing the funds needed to build it, please contact American Friends of Israel Bible Valley – a not-for-profit organization – Director, Dr. Efraim Warshaw (Ben-Yakir) at benyakir@aol.com or by phone+1-818-712-9383.

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

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