Free Republic

For the first time, the camp of the Sixth Roman Legion may have been located. Analyzing an enhanced high-resolution satellite photo, archaeologist Yotam Tepper of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in collaboration with the Jezreel Valley Regional Project, identified what he believes to be the camp’s square-shaped boundary. The team conducted ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic testing and subsequently carried out excavations at the site. They uncovered the base of a battery or wall, a moat surrounding the camp, water pipes, a covered sewage channel, coins, tiles and a shingle decorated with the legion’s symbol. These discoveries seem to support Tepper’s identification...

"Scientists probe puzzle at site made famous by Jesus, Peter"Some 2,000 years ago, the Sea of Galilee in Israel became famous as the Bible says Jesus and His apostle Peter walked on top of the water in a spectacular miracle. Now, a mysterious find from beneath the surface is bringing new attention to the ancient body of water. Scientists have discovered a massive, “monumental” structure on the sea’s floor, leaving experts puzzled as to what it actually is and how and when it became located there.The structure is basically a cone-shaped pile of boulders with an estimated weight of 60,000...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is playing with fire. And Israel is getting burned. Over the past week, it has been widely reported that the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government are conducting secret negotiations regarding future Israeli land surrenders to the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem. According to the reports, the Obama administration has presented Netanyahu with a plan whereby Israel will cede its rights to eastern Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley to the Palestinians and then lease the areas from the Palestinians for a limited period. The reports on the length of the lease vary. Some claim...

The Alrai daily newspaper in Kuwait reported on Saturday that Israel is planning to attack Hizbullah weapons storage and production facilities in Syria. According to unnamed Western sources who were quoted in the report, the IDF has strengthened its troop presence in the Golan Heights and Galilee panhandle. European sources told the paper that Israel had sent unmanned aerial vehicles over Syria and Lebanon, which they see as a sign that a military operation in the area is in the works. In September of 2007, Israel attacked and destroyed a nuclear reactor in Syria. The site of the bombing was...

Among various important discoveries, the 2010 Kinneret Regional Project discovered an ancient synagogue, in use at around 400 AD. This year's archeological focus is the first systematic excavation on Horvat Kur, a village inhabited from the Early Roman through the Early Medieval periods located on a gentle hill two kilometers west of the Lake of Galilee. Thirty volunteers -- mostly students of theology, religious studies, and archeology -- and staff from the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, Romania, Belgium, Spain, Israel, and Germany explore the material remains of the village life in Galilee, a region that features very prominently in Early Christian...

JERUSALEM – Israeli archaeologists have uncovered one of the earliest depictions of a menorah, the seven-branched candelabra that has come to symbolize Judaism, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Friday. The menorah was engraved in stone around 2,000 years ago and found in a synagogue recently discovered by the Sea of Galilee. Pottery, coins and tools found at the site indicate the synagogue dates to the period of the second Jewish temple in Jerusalem, where the actual menorah was kept, said archaeologist Dina Avshalom-Gorni of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

http://wingless.aoriginality.com If you can prove a country called Palestine existed on Planet Earth in the few billion years before 1948 then wingless.aoriginality.com has $$$$ reward for you! COME ON DOWN! They had no takers yet because you will never find information on something non-existent. (if it was a country, what was its capital, its flag, its government, who recognized it, what was its history, its currency, when did it declare independence etc...)

SNIPPET: "A North Texas imam is calling on Muslims to take up arms in defense of Palestinians in Gaza. Sheikh Mohamed El-Moctar El-Shinqiti, director of the Islamic Center of South Plains in Lubbock, Texas, participated in an online chat, "Fatwas on Gaza," at the web site IslamOnline.net. El-Shinqiti encouraged readers to fight - or if they can't, to send money to those who are fighting - in response to six out of the eight questions posed to him in the online chat. When asked what can be done to help the people in Gaza, El-Shinqiti emphasized war over sending food...

"THE BRIEF LIFE AND EXQUISITE MARTYRDOM OF A HAMAS MORTAR CREW" Snippet: "Via Hamas' al-Aqsa TV station, said to be filmed in Jabaliya on 06 January 2008. At about 1'15" the crew is hit by an apparent Israeli counter-strike."

SNIPPET: "Rocket range extended: Palestinian gunmen respond to IDF operation in Gaza by firing three rockets beyond Ashkelon area, some 40 km away from Strip. Building in moshav near Ashdod; air raid siren sounds in Yavne area" ARTICLE SNIPPET: "After a day which saw dozens of Qassam rockets fired at Israel, Palestinian gunmen resumed the fire on Sunday morning. Three rockets, believed to be Grad missiles, were fired from the Gaza Strip and landed east of the city of Ashdod. One of the rockets caused damage to the windows of a house in a moshav near Ashdod. Explosions were also...

Prehistoric cave uncovered in Western Galilee 22 May 2008 A stalactite cave containing prehistoric remains was exposed in the Western Galilee. Among the artifacts found are flint implements and the bones of animals that have long since become extinct from ‎the country’s landscape The stalactite cave uncovered in Western Galilee (Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority) (Communicated by the Israel Antiquities Authority Spokesman) While carrying out development work connected with the construction of a sewage line in a forest of the Jewish National Fund, a large stalactite cave was accidentally breached inside of which an abundance of prehistoric artifacts were discovered. Immediately...

(IsraelNN.com) Having just completed an anti-Israel rally near the town of Tzipori, in the Lower Galilee, hundreds of Arabs clashed violently with a group of Jews celebrating Independence Day. In the ensuing riot, five police officers were injured The Arabs demanded that the Jews lower their flag, which led to a heated exchange. and six rioters were arrested. Two Arab Members of Knesset who took part in the rally and ensuing violence were lightly injured, as well. Both police and Arab MK Mohammad Barakeh (Hadash) confirmed that the violence started when members of a youth movement dedicated to reviving Zionism...

02:30 AM 12 Kislev 5768, November 22, '07 Ancient Synagogue Discovered in Galilee (IsraelNN.com) Hebrew University archeologists have discovered the remnants of an ancient synagogue in the lower Galilee. The synagogue was found in the Arbel National Park, among other remnants of an ancient Jewish town from the Byzantine and Roman periods. Within the synagogue archeologists revealed a colorful tile floor depicting several craftsmen constructing a large edifice. Archeologists said the scene is not familiar from other ruins from the same time period. The scene appears to depict either the building of the Temple, of Noah’s Ark, or of the...

Last update - 09:58 28/08/2007 At Galilee site, solving a mystery from the time of Solomon By Jack Khoury A wooden sign stands at the entrance to the dirt road leading to the Segev Forest in the Western Galilee, inscribed with the symbol of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Beneath it in fading green letters is the name "Rosh Zayit Ruin." Without perusing the entrance to the dirt road carefully, you might not see the weed-covered sign, and not realize that this is the entrance to a very special archaeological site. Only an all-terrain vehicle can reach the place because...

Western Galilee: 3 women killed in rocket attack Heavy rocket barrage hits north Saturday afternoon: Some 120 rockets land in Ma'alot, Tiberias, Nahariya, Shlomi and Kiryat Shmona within 90 minutes. Mother, her two daughters killed in village of Arab al-Aramshe, near Shlomi, after house suffers direct hit. Two people lightly injured in Kiryat Shmona Hagai Einav Rockets claim heavy price: Three residents of the village of Arab al-Aramshe, a 60-year-old mother and her two daughters, 31 and 33 years old, were killed Saturday afternoon after being directly hit by a rocket. The village is located very close to the Lebanon...

Hizbullah fires four rockets, mortar shells towards Galilee communities; fire fighting crews work to extinguish fire sparked when mortars hit. Sirens heard in Nahariya, Maalot, Kfar Vradim Hizbullah operatives fired four Katyusha rockets which hit three Israeli communities in the western Galilee Tuesday night. One of the rockets struck an empty kindergarten and caused damages, and the other three landed in open areas. No casualties were reported. At least three mortar shells were fired by Hizbullah Tuesday night and hit the area of Shlomi. Simultaneously, security forces searched open areas around Shlomi and two nearby communities, where some 10 mortars...

IDF makes an example of female troops who say one size does not fit all. In a rare moment of navel-gazing, the Israeli army has declared war on the sexy soldier, ordering its female conscripts to close the gap between pants and shirts for the sake of military decorum. The crackdown is intended to restore discipline to a generation of young Israeli recruits whose approach to uniforms has become, well, less than uniform, with many soldiers altering their army-issue fatigues into low-rider fashion statements. Army officials say the issue came to a head at bases in Galilee and Golan Heights,...

Jerusalem. Bethlehem. Nazareth. The Galilee. These are the places where Christianity began. They're where the story of Jesus took place. But for the Arab Christians who live there now, the story is coming to an end. Once as much as 8 percent of the population of what is now Israel and the Palestinian-administered territories, Arab Christians now make up 2 percent or less of the population, and the number is growing steadily smaller. What's happened is a familiar tale. Tens of thousands of Palestinian Christians -- along with many more thousands of Muslims -- left their homes in 1948 when...

The New Testament story describes Jesus walking on water in the Sea of Galilee but according to a study led by Florida State University Professor of Oceanography Doron Nof, it's more likely that he walked on an isolated patch of floating ice. The study points to a rare combination of optimal water and atmospheric conditions for development of a unique, localized freezing phenomenon that Nof and his co-authors call "springs ice." In what is now northern Israel, such ice could have formed on the cold freshwater surface of the Sea of Galilee -- known as Lake Kinneret by modern-day Israelis...

A clean-up operation began Wednesday across northern Israel, after a day of storms, including a tornado, wrought large-scale destruction in the area and left 70 people injured. Israel Radio reported that Agriculture Ministry officials and insurance agents visited the western Galilee on Wednesday afternoon to inspect the damage caused by the storms. Large numbers of greenhouses in the area sustained damage in the storms, the radio said, in particular avocado, lychee and summer fruit crops. The village of Julis in the Galilee suffered hundreds of thousands of shekels of damage in Tuesday's strong winds. Homes in the village had broken...