Islam is a Religion of Peace...And We Are Prepared to Fight to Prove It.

In retaliation to Pope Benedict XVI's September 12th speech which many Muslims regarded as an affront to Islam, Palestinian Muslims in the West Bank and Gaza attacked a number of churches in the days that followed.

On September 16th, militant Muslims used firebombs and guns to carry out their damage on seven churches in the two territories.

An Anglican church in the West Bank town of Nablus was bombarded on the 16th by at least five firebombs, and Greek Orthodox churches also sustained damage from the scorching projectiles on their windows and walls.

Roman and Greek Catholic churches in Nablus were covered with lighter fluid by four masked Muslims during the September 16 rampage before they ignited the buildings and covered them with gunfire.

A Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City which had already sustained damage from an ignited bomb on September 15th, was riddled with bullets the next day from armed Palestinian Muslims.

Continuing their barrage in the West Bank on September 17th, angered Muslims set ablaze another two Christian worship centers, including the only Orthodox church in the city of Tulkarm.

In the Pope's speech, he quoted a statement from Manuel II Palaeologus, a Byzantine emperor from the 14th Century, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." Am I the only one who finds it ironic that this statement on violence was protested by Muslims around the world with acts and threats of further violence? Surely better proof that Palaeologus' statement was errant would have been peaceful and lawful protests rather than attacks on churches and death threats on the Pope. As it is, the response only makes it look like the Emperor wasn't all that far off of the mark.