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Glory to Jesus Christ!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I recieved this in my e-mail today from a member of my parish. Read it, think about it, pray, and pass it on if you think it is important.

Subject: Israeli Atrocities Against (Orthodox) Christians
Organization: Ofiice of Church Growth

Grete Roeber, an OCF (Orthodox Christian Fellowship) member at Penn State, just received this email from a fellow she met last month on her mission to Guatemala. It speaks for itself.
Please get the word out.
Thanks,
Fr John


"Please help us, -

I am Anthony Razook, I am writing to you tonight, the local time here is 9:49pm in the night time, in Bethlehem, Palestine. I came with some friends to the camp of the Antiochian Orthodox in the United States, some few years back, and now I am writing to you all in distress for some help for our peoples in Palestine.

Last night, the Israeli tanks and military personal, broke into our homes,they entered my sister and her husband's home around 2:30 in the morning this morning. They proceeded to attack my sister, one of the military men made attacks on her that were not appropriate, he violated her in
more than one way. My sister is 4 months pregnate,and for sure she has most likely lost the baby, When he was finished violating her, two other army men did the same thing. When she refused and tried to fight them off, they beat her, more in the stomach, her husband Marwahn was shot three times in the back of the neck, when he tried to stop them, this morning at around 5 in the morning he died from the wounds.

When they stopped violating my sister they then threw her on the bed, all of this horrible things were witnesse by her seven year old son,my nephew Michael. At the end of them beating and violating my sister, they then stole her jewelry, her monies, and some other things, at that point they went and totally destroyed different things in her apartment home. As of this morning, she feels that she had a miscarriage of the baby, also, these same soldiers came into our home, and we were blessed from God that my father had cash (almost two thousand shekals (this is the money of Israel) and he gave it to the soldiers, he also took gold from his own neck, from myself, and my younger sister and my mother. The soldiers
in Hebrew (we understand Hebrew) told my father that his wife was too old and unattractive to have sexually things with, and that we should
feel lucky about this- but that they had all shared the woman in the apartment before ( my sister) - then my mother asked to please allow the soldiers to bring medicine for my sister, and to please help to remove my brother in law body, from the apartment, they would not, my poor mother was to afraid to cry, as to what had happend because they would kill us too-

please, you must help us, we are orthodox greek christian, we are not muslim, we are your peoples from your religion. We are being persecuted
and there is not an end in sight. Your country doesn't allow you to know the news of what is really happening to our peoples. In Nablus, their
were calls made from cell phones that tell us that over 86 womans were raped and beaten and theirs is manys of people men, their husbands that have been killed when they are trying to stop these soliders.

Your government is standing and allowing this to happen. None of the arabic countries are helping us? What are we to do? Please help us,
I must go- I was gracious from God to have enough battery in my lap computer to send u this e-mail. i am scared that i will not be able to
read ur responses, please help us, plese, send this email to anyone who care to help the christians in Palestine,

I must go, before i get into trouble, of or someone to find me (the soliders come into the homes in the night, that is when we are most scared-)

anthony (please help)"

Let us all pray that The Christians of Palestine may be protected from the unGodly actions of others. My e-mails from Christian friends in the Middle East indicate that several almost totally Christian villages and settlements have been hit particularly hard and viciously with this campain. All seem to report rape, pillage, and plundering occuring. May God Interceed with his people, Christian, Muslim, or Jew to protect the righteous and keep safe the innocent.

Your brother in Christ
Thomas

[ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: Thomas ]

DearBrothers and sisters,

This is a letter from Sr. Maria Stephanopoulos, a nun in ROCOR stationed in Bethany that was forwarded to me by a friend in Boston. For those who do not know of her, she is the daughter of Fr. Robert Stephanopoulos, Dean of the Holy Trinity Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA) in New York, and Presbytera Nikki Stephanopoulos, Press Officer of the GOA. Sr. Maria's brother is George Stephanopoulos, former Clinton White House Press Secretary and television commentator. the letter is a credible presentation of what it is like to live in this situation from a non-Palestinian, Orthodox Christian.

April 2, 2002

Dear Friends,
A couple of people have written asking about the current situation here. The following are some observations from the last two days. Hope you are not troubled by my sharing this information with you. All in our Convents and here in Bethany are safe but the situation is certainly tense and definitely grim for people living in totally Palestinian cities such as Bethlehem and Ramallah. Please keep us in your prayers and implore the US government to have a more balanced attitude toward the situation here.

Sunday, March 31

We are safe here in Bethany (so far) but it is increasingly difficult to travel anywhere, even as far as Gethsemane. We left the kids home this morning with sr. Barsanouphia. They went to the Greek church up the road. We (three sisters) took the long way around to Gethsemane, but had three checkpoints to pass. The Old City is virtually deserted and Jerusalem looks more like a military base than anything else. Greatly worried about friends and co-workers (teachers) in Bethlehem and Ramallah. I've been watching a little of CNN and BBC lately, though I probably shouldn't bother. CNN in particular is so biased and seems to be mimicking the views of the American administration it makes me really fearful of what is going to happen here. Plenty of shots of the suicide bombings but I have yet to see one report (more than the scenes of Arafat's compound) that really portrays how invasive and extremely large is the military presence of Israel in the neighborhoods of Bethlehem and all around the rest of Ramallah, and apparently expanding as I write in the northern West Bank cities (Qalquilyah, Jenin, Tulkarm).

Its's important to realize that this heavy Israeli presence, wholesale destruction of homes and property, and humiliating round up of innocent Palestinian males has been in place for days, even before the suicide attacks began. Last week a friend's house (an Orthodox Christian family, parents both doctors and four young children, living in the eastern edge of Beit Jala), was strafed by Israeli gunfire at 2 in the morning.

Fortunately only one daughter was lightly wounded. The week before Israeli soldiers had entered the same house in the middle of the night, forced the whole family into one room and ransacked the house for two hours, stealing every last shekel in the home after going through bedroom drawers, handbags, etc (as part of their search for terrorists I guess?) -- this type of behaviour is not uncommon at all, and of course rarely reported by the media (the attached document offers an example of similar Israeli Army behaviour in Ramallah to a family who carry US passports!).

Has any news report noted the "inability" of Palestinian Western Christians to attend Easter services today (Inability to even step out of one's door for fear of an Israeli sniper kind of curtails attending church services doesn't it)??? M. Barnabas' sister lives close to the center of Ramallah and made a panicked call this morning. They have no gas or water supply, food supplies are low, the electricity is cut off and of course they don't dare step on the street. Much the same shaping up in Bethlehem area.

I spoke with one of my teachers who lives in the center of Beit Jala (a Catholic), normally quite fearless (she has made her way to work here in Bethany for the last YEAR, literally risking her life at times: forced to travel on back roads, walk up mountain paths to avoid Israeli soldiers who snipe at them, to make a 7 mile trip from home which in "normal"times would take perhaps twenty minutes, but for the last year and half off and on can take two or three hours, or sometimes even impossible to get here.) It was obvious in her voice that she is terrified now. She has not been able to step out of her home for the last two days. (Approximately 35 tanks have been near the main checkpoint into Bethlehem for a few days [before the last two suicide bombings by the way--it has always been clear here from local news reports that Israel was preparing a major invasion into the territories BEFORE any of the recent suicide bombings began]). I heard from another teacher this afternoon who lives next to the Deheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. According to her report about one thousand Israeli soldiers were amassing around the camp. To do what -- I guess we'll know soon enough.

Needless to say there is no school tomorrow and everyone is in a bit of a panic. A friend works in a Catholic run old age home in nearby Abu Dis. Besides housing the 50 elderly they care for, the five sisters there are also housing ten workers from Bethlehem who couldn't get to their homes because of the Israeli checkpoints. The house is trying to stockpile food supplies and one volunteer went racing around East Jerusalem for phone cards so the men would be able to stay in touch with their families.

Every place in East Jerusalem was sold out of phone cards basically because everyone is panicking. Though as I say we are not in as immediate danger as other areas we will be trying to pick up as many food supplies as possible tomorrow morning (it's 10 pm Sunday here now). God knows what is going to happen. It is very quiet outside, though we heard some "pops" shooting not so far away a couple of hours ago.

MONDAY, APRIL 1:

It's 1 pm Monday afternoon here in Bethany. This morning the price of gas had risen 10% and one Israeli minister suggested petrol supplies to Palestinian areas should be cut off.

I just got back into Bethany by car from Jerusalem after filling up the car. I was not able to enter Bethany from the closer Ras Al Amud checkpoint entrance which is about &fraq12; kilometer from Gethsemane. It was completely blockaded by Israeli soldiers. I drove 12 km -- up the Mt of Olives, then headed in the opposite direction from Bethany on the highway to Jericho and then took the interchange into the main road of Bethany. Israeli soldiers were there but didn't stop me from entering. As I drove deeper into Bethany past the last remaining open Palestinian Authority building in this supposedly Palestinian-controlled city (all the rest were shut down months ago by Israel, including the nascent PNA police force), 3 jeeps (no roofs on them) each packed with Israeli soldiers raced by headed towards the Ras Al Amud checkpoint. As they passed by the Ministry of Interior building (has a PNA flag flying outside) a few of their soldiers pointed there guns at the building. Mind you we live in a town that has been virtually totally absent of any violence or sign of uprising, yet the behaviour of the Israeli Army here is to do all they can to provoke trouble.

The heavy Israeli military presence I have observed as they block entrances into Jerusalem, as well as other major Israeli cities, that has been in place for months (and definitely more heavily the last few weeks) begs the question: if the powerful Israeli army with all the weapons it has at hand (jeeps, bulldozers, tanks, armed personnel carriers, helicopters, heavily armed and numerous soldiers) can't stop suicide bombers from slipping into locations, how does it expect the Palestinian security forces lightly armed, most of their buildings destroyed, to stop them?

The answer of course really lies in the will and motivation of the people to disavow violence and work toward a peaceful solution, but this is determined by how hopeful that they are that such a solution can be implemented. Unfortunately as one who lives here it is too obvious that the Israeli government is in no way, shape or form prepared to disengage themselves from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and allow for the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state, all the propaganda notwithstanding. In the four years I have lived in the West Bank there has not been one step by the Israeli government to disengage. For instance in May 2000 Israel was obligated by signed agreements to cede total control to the Palestinians in Bethany and Abu Dis. They refused to do so.

According to former agreements they should not be constructing additional settlements in the West Bank -- huge construction projects in places such as Ma'ale Adumim, a settlement two kilometers south of us and at Har Homa which lies between Bethlehem and Beit Sahour are continuing apace to this day and have been going on even during the period when there was little violence being carried out by Palestinian militants, during reigns of both left-wing and right-wing Israeli governments. To borrow from another slogan "It's the occupation, stupid" and until Israel begins to dismantle some of their settlements in the West Bank you can be sure this senseless violence will continue, from both sides.

Sorry to lay this all on you. Actually feel an obligation to write some firsthand reports of what is going on here because my perception is that the US is definitely being fed a one-sided view and Orthodox Christians at least should be made aware of what is really happening here.

From a moral standpoint shouldn't people be made aware that there is certainly a sense of great fear and trepidation here in a large civilian population that is innocent of any wrongdoing or violent "terrorist" acts. And they are in fear because of the actions of a country that is receiving full backing from the US to terrorize it, and full backing not to undertake any measures (such as removing some of the illegal settlements dotted in the West Bank and Gaza area) which is the major stumbling block to any movement towards a peaceful agreement here.

For those who think I may be biased toward the Palestinian side please be assured we have just as many acquaintances living in Israeli proper. A relative of one sister (Russian background) had only left the supermarket minutes before one suicide bomb went off last Friday. Another sister was blocked in a building for three hours after a bomb had gone off in a cafe half a block from where she was. We have parishioners who also have been very close by to a suicide bombing and of course are still very much affected by it, as well as other parishioners who serve as reserve soldiers in the Israeli Army -- sometimes their duty is to shoot on Beit Jala where the families of some of our sisters live. So we're very aware how the conflict here is affecting all parties.

Please pray that God grant wisdom and discernment to all the world leaders who have a role to play in this conflict.

In Christ,
sr. Maria

[ 04-13-2002: Message edited by: Thomas ]

If they would stop Blowing themselves up I think a Real Peace could be made!

Christ is Risen!

But He is also crying and suffering. We know that all this violence is born of evil. I think Gen. Sherman said it best, "war is all hell!" Some "Holy Land".

Lord, come to the aid of those who seek peace in the Holy Land. Hold those who are frightened and confused close to You and bring them ever closer. Give protection and comfort to the innocent and eternal justice to the evil ones.


John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck

One of our deacons is from Bethlehem and still has family members there, including two sisters. He has been in daily contact with them and with various clergy and nuns. His reports are absolutely in line with the previously posted reports. It is worse over there than you can possibly imagine.

For more news on the Christians of the Holy Land, go to

http://hcef.org/news/news/index.cfm?nType=News

Donations can be made at the International Orthodox Christian Charities site
http://iocc.org/

or at the CNEWA site http://www.cnewa.org/donate-palestinians.htm

[ 04-13-2002: Message edited by: VWilliams ]

Thomas,

Thank you so much my friend! I have more than a fair share of images and photographs that parallel those of Iraq's hideous birth defects. The Arab online community shares these pictures that would never be shown on mainstream media.

While CNN dotes over its footage of suicide bombing aftermaths (with its silly disclaimer: We warn you, these pictures may be disturbing, so some of you maybe should turn away), does it dare show anything of the massacres that Israelis perpetrate and perpetuate, which actually give rise to suicide bombers? Media jackasses!

In IC XC
Samer

[ 04-13-2002: Message edited by: SamB ]

>>>Dear Mr. President:
>>>I just saw footage of the destruction of Bethlehem on CNN. I am
>>>sickened and repulsed at the wanton destruction of this city.
>>>Unfortunately, every Palestinian city is experiencing the same. I
>>>have many friends in Bethlehem, all of whom have families, young
>>>children. God only knows the terrors they are experiencing. I am
>>>so sad and angry that I can barely write this note to you. While
>>>you are probably sleeping, your allies are slaughtering the hopes
>>>of an entire people and destroying their lives.
>>>
>>>You make me ashamed to be an American citizen. You have made the
>>>entire nation
>>>accomplices to this barbarism. You have made all Americans
>>>accomplices to Nazi-like thuggery and it is a stain the American
>>>nation will NEVER be able to remove.
>>>
>>>Just as the Germans have been stained by their past, so have you
>>>stained the reputation forever of every American citizen.
>>>
>>>Mr. President, your continued support for the regime of Israel and
>>>its murderous and destructive action is disgusting and immoral. I
>>>don't know what Bible you read but it is not the one I used when
>>>attending Mass in Bethlehem. For you to ever walk in a church
>>>after your support for this murderous escapade will be sinful.
>>>
>>>You can be assured that I and my entire family will spend the rest
>>>of our lives to make sure that this Nazi-like nation never
>>>receives another US penny to use to murder more people. When I
>>>worked in the US Congress, I considered what we were giving to be
>>>excessive then. Now, we have already given $100 billion to Israel.
>>>The problem they face is that their greed to steal more land and
>>>murder more people met with resistance and they are paying the
>>>price. The occupation has corrupted that country to its rotten
>>>core.
>>>
>>>Israel defending itself. What a joke. Ariel Sharon is a war
>>>criminal and you
>>>have made us his sponsor. This is no war on terror. This is
>>>terror unleashed on an entire unarmed population with a few
>>>fighter trying to defend their families and homes. You have
>>>stained the reputation of the United States of America. My
>>>country!!!
>>>
>>>Mr. President, you are an embarrassment to humanity. And,
>>>unfortunately, you
>>>have just cheapened the life of every American. Your
>>>administration will go down in history as the one that snapped the
>>>moral fiber of this country to the rest of the world.
>>>
>>>Ashamedly yours,
>>>
>>>Tom Martin
>>>Israeli-Occupied Washington, DC

You must be kidding me!

In IC XC
Samer

I want to do something. I'm sick of sitting here while people haven't a clue of what goes on abroad. I highly recommend this site.

www.antiwar.com [antiwar.com]

It isn't mainstream media, thank God, and can be considered underground in a way.

It updates daily except on Sundays. PLEASE, read the commentaries (especially HaCohen's) and the headlines. Try to understand the genocide going on in Palestine right now, and get a taste of what Palestinians have been putting up with for over 50 years, and how the Israeli and American governments have outdone themselves in their monstrously evil deeds. See what YOUR taxpayers' money has gone into (look at the astronomical figures in grants to this Nazi state)--it's not just the genocide of abortion, but the deaths of many peoples and nations. America is responsible for direct affronts to the Creator and Christianity. It has been complicit in the destruction of sacred religious treasures and monasteries in Kosovo, outdoing the Ottomans, and is directly responsible for the death of Christianity in the Holy Land and the exodus of the last Christians in Palestine! All this is financed by American tax dollars--the government forces you to have your hard-earned money contribute to the destruction of the Christian presence in the Holy Land, and I'm not being hyperbolic here!

In IC XC
Samer

Joe Sobran and Charley Reese, amongst other columnists were once pro-Israeli. They changed their stance when Israel's nature became clear to them.

In IC XC
Samer

Bush Plays Pontius Pilate

The tragedy of the Palestinian people is an indelible stain on Western civilization in general and on America in particular. President George Bush has played Pontius Pilate and turned his back while Israelis crucify Palestinians.

These people are the last victims of racist colonialism in all its ugliness, brutality and duplicity.

I don't know whether President Bush is naive and doesn't realize what Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is doing, or if he does know and condones it. The latter would be far worse than the former.

Sharon is neither defending Israel nor pursuing terrorists. He is doing what he has planned to do from the very beginning � destroy the Palestinian Authority and thus the peace process, and wreck what's left of the infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza.

Sharon believes that will leave the Palestinians where he wants them � leaderless, impoverished and demoralized. I think he will fail, though the time ahead will be bad for the Palestinians, as impossible as that sounds given the suffering they've already endured in recent decades.

It is now obvious that no one in Washington has the courage to face the junkyard dogs of the Israeli lobby. Arab governments will not go to war to save the Palestinians because they know they cannot win a war against the Israelis and the United States. They would be subjecting their people to slaughter and their economies to ruin for nothing. But they won't forget. And an arrogant Israel might force them into a war.

While the Israelis put on their usual false face to the international media, moaning about how difficult and dangerous this operation is, just remember that it is an army against civilians. Some brave Palestinians armed only with rifles have resisted, but a rifleman can't do much against a main battle tank protected by infantry, snipers, F-16s and helicopters.

The Israelis move into a town and immediately shut the press out by declaring it a "closed military area." The meek and submissive press then covers its eyes and ears while the Israelis do their dirty work cloaked in secrecy. Some America TV talkers act surprised when the Israel Defense Forces takes another city. Well, I can tell you right now that the Israelis are going all the way to the Gaza Strip. They plan on being there for months.

Nevertheless, Sharon will fail. Israel will know no peace. One of the lies Israel uses in its nonstop barrage of slander against the Palestinians is that families teach their children to hate Israelis. Nothing is further from the truth. It is Israeli behavior that teaches children to hate Israelis. A military friend related a story of how IDF members operated in Lebanon. They went into a house, wrecked it, beat the father in front of his wife and children, then dropped their pants and defecated on the coffee table in front of the family. Do you think those children, watching their parents' humiliation, will have to read a book to hate Israelis? Even the American officer came away hating Israelis.

Or what about the father in the West Bank trying to drive his daughter to a hospital only five miles away. He was stopped at an Israeli checkpoint and refused passage. His little girl died in his arms an hour or so later when her appendix burst. Do you think anyone has to teach that bereaved father to hate Israelis? You could write a 1,000-page book telling individual stories of Israeli cruelty and the brutality they routinely display toward Palestinians.

So Sharon's problem is not a few terrorists. Sharon's problem is the entire Palestinian population. When people are made miserable and hopeless, they don't mind dying. As much as the Israelis would like to, they can't kill them all, and they can't beat them into submission. As long as the Palestinians have no state, Israel will have no security. I have great admiration for the Palestinians, but much less for George Bush, who is endangering Americans with his feckless subservience to Israel.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charley Reese can be contacted at briarl@earthlink.net.
� 2002 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

SamB,

NO I AM NOT KIDDING!

The Pal. Christians live in an Islamic State that only wants total victory and blood! Unfortunately, the Pal. Christians are stuck in the middle of the conflict. There is not a lot that can be done since the majority are Muslims. If the Pal. people wanted true peace they could take an example of Gandhi and use the media toward there advantage. I can see it now, "Thousands injured by Israelis police beat back the peaceful march". The world would be outrage. But, when the world hears this, "Today 20 Israelis die from another suicide bombing." The world blames the Pal. so all we can do is pray and hope for conversions of the Muslim to Christianity.

If I was in charge I would tell the Jews to leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip. I would make a Pal. State. Then I would help rebuild the Pal. schools and buildings. I would arrest the whole FAMILY of the Suicide bombers and freeze all of there financial assets. Finally, I would take a bulldozer to the Dome of Rock!

[ 04-13-2002: Message edited by: aRomanCatholicGuy ]

Dear Ray,

I'm afraid your portrayal of all this is much too simplistic.

Things are much more complex than most people think.

I suggest you continue to read and learn more. Believe me, even a lifetime of Middle Eastern studies may not be enough for one to fully comprehend the Middle Eastern phenomenon.

In IC XC
Samer

In IC XC
Samer

Samer,

Get out of my country.

It is sickening to read your anti-american polemic and have to put up with it.

If you don't approve of what the president is doing, thats one thing. But to spout your anti-american propaganda is another. I don't think the readers here appreciate it.

And no, I'm not pro-palestian or pro-israeli, I'm an American and I'm pretty proud.

Instead of mocking my president and my country, why don't you go pray for them and be a real Christian.

Administrator, I request this offensive and sickening thread be closed at once.

I hope that forum participants will speak up against this outrage.

linuxmachine

Linuxmachine,

With all due respect, Samer speaks a perspective shared by most of the world, a perspective which most american seem not to have, as a result of their peculiar worldview.

Samer may be a patriot in the true sense of the word - one who criticises it when it is most in need of those who speak sense and counsel peace. Those who say "my country, right or wrong" are like those who say "my mother, drunk or sober".

While I have much respect for the American people, I have nothing but contempt for the insane foreign policy of the United States, which has engendered nothing but hatred for herself and cause nothing but harm to the peoples of earth.

And yes, I pray for the peace of the world daily too.

In Christ,

Edward

Sir, please let's not rehash tired old arguments and make unnecessary disclaimers.

First, I don't live in your country, so pipe down mac!

Second, I don't know how things work in your part of the world, but where I come from, we do not equate nation and country with government, so feel free to bash all the Arab governments you want with my blessing.

Third, to get things clear enough, when I speak of America, I do not speak of its citizens, while some Americans on the other hand spit on the Palestinians as a people, rather than have merely an axe to grind against the PLO. And I believe I have every right to condemn your government for the atrocities it is responsible for committing, but I do not wish to gloat about it.

Fourth, it is hypocritical of you to state that I cannot redicule "your President" (which I have not done, and who, by the way, is supposed to be but one component of your government whose actions can be opposed by the other branches), when during any presidency, almost half the country redicules, insults, and lambasts the President. So if I can get this straight, an American is free to maliciously express his disgust with his elected leader on basic economical issues, people and politicians can rightfully call a government that permits infanticide and the slaughter of its children, evil (heck, they can call the country itself as an evil, immoral nation. I've heard enough Americans say this themselves), without believing that is an insult to America, but rather a defense of its honour, but those on the receiving end of your government's plagues of death, who have been the recepients of grievously evil acts, cannot so much as utter a whimper against your sacrosanct government and President?! Hogwash! I remind you that it is Americans with a consciense who are speaking so critically of your government's actions, writing columns, disseminating news, etc., and whose material I have presented here on this forum. Call them anti-Americans first before you address me, and they include some of the few conscientious politicians in your government. (I cite Ron Paul)

In any case, I have made my say, and do not intend to speak any further on America in this thread.

If the administrator decides to close this thread, it is his decision, though I see no reason to do so, as I have not maligned a nation or people, but rather called to attention the complicity of your State in horrendous acts, amongst which impact on us Middle Eastern Christians, over whom probably few people in this world lose much sleep. And my main focus in any case is on Israel, not the US. I intend to speak no more on America's involvement in this issue on this thread, if listmembers permit me.

So quit it with your diatribe.

In IC XC
Samer

[ 04-13-2002: Message edited by: SamB ]