GAZA CHRISTIANS LIVE IN FEAR

Palestinian Christians Live in Constant Fear - Father Raymond J. De Souza
Unidentified gunmen blew up the YMCA library in Gaza on Friday. While no one was hurt, two guards were temporarily kidnapped while the offices were looted, a vehicle stolen, and all 8,000 books destroyed. Sources in Gaza said the attack was in response to the reprinting of the Muhammad cartoons in Danish newspapers last week.

There are only some 3,500 Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox, in Gaza. Over the past two years, al-Qaeda-affiliated groups have claimed responsibility for attacks against Christian figures and institutions with the stated goal of driving Christians out of Gaza. Christians in Gaza and the West Bank try to live quietly, never knowing whether a newspaper in Denmark or a papal speech in Germany or nothing in particular might be the pretext for violence coming to their doors. (National Post-Canada)

ISRAEL AND BETHLEHEM: NONE OF THE CREDIT, ALL OF THE BLAME

Muslims Driving Christians Out of Bethlehem, But Media Blame Israel - Aaron Klein
The mainstream media descend upon Bethlehem every year to ignore rampant Muslim intimidation of Christians and instead blast Israel - often with completely inaccurate information - for ruining Christmas. In fact, Bethlehem's Christian population started to drastically decline in 1995, the very year Arafat's PA took over the city. Bethlehem was 80% Christian in 1948, but since Arafat got his hands on it, the city's Christian population dove to below 25%. Some Christian leaders said one of the most significant problems facing Christians in Bethlehem is the rampant confiscation of land by Muslim gangs. "There are many cases where Christians have their land stolen by the (Muslim) mafia," said Samir Qumsiyeh, a Bethlehem Christian leader. (Ynet News)

Bethlehem Basks in Calm and Cheer - Dalia Nammari
Encouraged by renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Christian pilgrims from around the world converged on Bethlehem Monday to celebrate Christmas - a palpable contrast to the sparse crowds of recent years. (AP/Washington Post)

See also A Merry Christmas in Bethlehem - Ali Waked
This year, for the first time since the second intifada broke out, the celebrations seemed to have recovered their traditional grandeur, as the improved security situation kindled optimism and hope among visitors and locals. (Ynet News)

See also Christians Stream Out of Gaza for Christmas
Hundreds of Christians in Gaza flocked to the Erez border crossing with Israel on Monday after securing permission to leave the Hamas-run territory for Christmas. Most were hoping to pray on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem. (AFP)

MEDIA'S ANNUAL "ISRAEL AS THE GRINCH" BASH

The Grinch That Destroys Christmas (HonestReporting)

It's that time of year again - the media prepares to take a festive bash at Israel.

Writing in The Times of London, Michael Gove observes:

There's one invariable sign that Christmas is almost upon us - a story about how Bethlehem is suffering at the hands of wicked Israel.

It has become almost as much a feature of seasonal journalism as stories about how Nativity plays are being subverted and commentaries on how commercialism is snuffing out the true meaning of the festival....

Indeed, HonestReporting has covered the media's less than festive reporting from Bethlehem in 2006, 2005 and 2003 and we have no reason to suspect that this year will be any different, with National Geographic kicking off the season.

CHRISTIANS IN THE HOLY LAND - THE REALITY

In the rush to blame Israel for the precarious position of Christian communities in the region, the foreign media has almost ignored the increasing pressures on Palestinian Christians, particularly since the rise of Hamas and other extremist Islamist forces. Here are some recent stories you may have missed:

• In December, Muslim gunmen tried to kill a Palestinian Christian in the Gaza Strip following the kidnap and murder of another Christian in October. "The latest incident is aimed at sending a message to all the Christians here that we must leave," said a Christian leader. "Radical Islamic groups are waging a campaign to get rid of us and no one seems to care."
• The only Christian TV station in the Holy Land stopped its broadcasts at the end of October due to security and financial problems. For over a year the director and owner of The Nativity TV station reportedly received death threats and intimidation. His five siblings have already moved abroad and he is expected to follow them once the station is closed.
• In October Pastor Isa Bajalia, a Palestinian-American Christian working in Ramallah, fled to Jerusalem following threats and demands for protection money.

REPORT: CHRISTIANS TO DISAPPEAR FROM PA IN 15 YEARS

A report by the JCPA's Justus Weiner concludes that Christians in the West Bank and Gaza are likely to dissipate completely within the next 15 years as a result of increasing Muslim persecution and maltreatment. The Jerusalem Post comments:

Trying to survive under the Muslim thumb, PA Christians keep a low profile, strive to give no offense and often even toe the most extremist Arab line to evince loyalty and remove the threat from themselves. Many publicly blame Israel for their plight, while murmurs of protest against Islamic domination grow ever-fainter, presumably for fear of making things even worse for beleaguered Christians.

The silence of Christian Arabs and Christians abroad in the face of the desecration of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity by Muslim terrorists who invaded it a few years back was a case in point. Israel was condemned for seeking to remove the raiders, when it was the violent intruders who should have been denounced. Fanatical Arabs are dreaded. Israelis are not.

This pattern persists. Weiner noted that Bethlehem's ills are often ascribed to the security fence, because church representatives "sing the PA's tune" and are quick to censure Israel for everything.

The temptation to do so will increase in the Advent to Christmas, whose celebration in Bethlehem will to no small extent depend on the goodwill of Muslim PA overlords, who make a point of attending the midnight mass each year, all but appropriating the festivities. The grand entries made by Yasser Arafat have still not faded from memory; nor has the empty seat left posthumously for him in the Church of the Nativity, as if elevating him to singular spiritual status.

Like Arafat, his successor Mahmoud Abbas often poses in the guise of Christianity's protector, implying that it, along with Islam, is menaced by Judaism. Yet false and brazen though this cynical affectation is, it goes unquestioned in most of the world.

Click on the image above to see Justus Weiner talking about his report on CBN News.

As Michael Gove continues:

The truth is very different. The parlous position of Palestinian Christians, indeed the difficult position of most Christians across the Arab world, is a consequence not of Israeli aggression but of growing Islamist influence. Israel goes out of its way to honour sites and traditions sacred to other faiths while the radicals who are driving Palestinian politics seek to create an Islamist state in which other faiths, if they survive at all, do so with the explicit subject status of dhimmis. But when it comes to Israel's position in these matters it's still a case of O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see them lie.

THE ROLE OF SABEEL

If the above represents the reality of Christian communities in the Holy Land, then why does Christian anti-Israel sentiment continue to appear in the media and elsewhere? One driving force behind this is the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. According to NGO Monitor, Sabeel is active in promoting an extreme anti-Israel agenda in Protestant churches in both North America and Europe. Sabeel's efforts have promoted the campaign to isolate and delegitimize Israel through the divestment campaign, which have recently been adopted by some church organizations.

As noted in a detailed study by Robert Everett and Dexter Van Zile, and cited in their Jerusalem Post article of July 10, 2005 "Reawakening the teachings of contempt", Sabeel is a major factor in extremist Christian anti-Israel activism. Sabeel's statements consistently highlight Palestinian suffering and place blame on Israel, while ignoring such issues as corruption within the Palestinian Authority, violence perpetrated against Israelis and Palestinians alike by armed Palestinian militias, and attacks against Christian Arabs.

Sabeel director Naim Ateek employs classical antisemitic theological themes, as reflected in the 2001 Sabeel "Easter message": "it seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him. […] The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily." In similar messages, such as a February 2001 sermon, Ateek accuses Israel of killing Jesus (the Palestinians) as infant, prophet and messiah: "Israel has placed a large boulder, a big stone that has metaphorically shut off the Palestinians in a tomb. It is similar to the stone placed on the entrance of Jesus' tomb…"

For more on Sabeel, see CAMERA's recent analysis.

________________________________________________

ON DECEMBER 19, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WILL AIR, "THE LAST CHRISTIANS OF BEHTLEHEM." HERE'S HOW THE FILM IS DESCRIBE AT THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WEBSITE:

In a time of mystical believers, fundamentalist doctrine, occupation and religious persecution, the most famous birth in human history happens. Here in Bethlehem, a boy is born whose brief life will transform the world forever. His followers build a shrine on the site of his delivery. And through the millennia, this shrine will bear witness to hope, wonder, violence, severe conflict and death. This is the story of the last Christians of Bethlehem. Caught between an Islamic majority amongst their Palestinian brethren and a wary nation of Israel who has cut the West Bank off from Jerusalem in order to keep its citizens secure, the Christians of Bethlehem have fewer reasons than ever to stay and protect their holy sites. EXPLORER delves deep inside the history of the Church of the Nativity, the Christians that protect it, and the indelible conflicts that this church has witnessed.

I HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM, BUT I EXPECT IT TO BE FAIR. I KNOW THE FILMMAKER.

MUSLIM GUNMEN TARGET CHRISTIANS IN GAZA

Muslim Gunmen Target Christian in Gaza - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Over the weekend, four masked gunmen tried to kidnap Palestinian Christian Nabil Fuad Ayad, who works as a guard at a Gaza City church.   Nabil's cousin, Rami, was kidnapped and murdered two months ago by the same group, members of the radical Islamic Salafi movement, local sources said.

The gunmen tried to force Ayad into their car as he was walking in the street, but he managed to escape to a nearby shop. The assailants fired several shots into the air as they fled the scene.   The Salafis, who have become very active in Gaza in recent months, are totally opposed to common Western concepts like economics, constitutions and political parties.

They refer to the 2,500 Christians in Gaza as Crusaders and have vowed to drive them out.   "The latest incident is aimed at sending a message to all the Christians here that we must leave," said a Christian leader. "Radical Islamic groups are waging a campaign to get rid of us and no one seems to care."

TO BE A CHRISTIAN IN THE P.A.

Holy Land's Only Christian TV Station Shuts Down - Ethan Cole

The only Christian TV station in the Holy Land, "The Nativity" (Al Mahed in Arabic), has been broadcasting since 1996, but the station in Bethlehem closed due to death threats to director and owner Samir Qumsieh, trouble with the Palestinian authorities, and overwhelming financial debts. (Christian Post)

See also Report: Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society - Justus Reid Weiner (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

NO CHRISTIANS IN P.A. IN 15 YEARS

'Christian groups in PA to disappear' (JPost)
The ever-dwindling Christian communities living in Palestinian-run territories in the West Bank and Gaza are likely to dissipate completely within the next 15 years as a result of increasing Muslim persecution and maltreatment, an Israeli scholar said Monday.

"The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs," said Justus Reid Weiner, an international human rights lawyer in an address at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, where he serves as a scholar in residence.

He cited Muslim harassment and persecution as the main cause of the "acute human rights crisis" facing Christian Arabs, and predicted that unless governments or institutions step in to remedy the situation - such as with job opportunities - there will be no more Christian communities living in the Palestinians territories within 15 years, with only a few Western Christians and top clergymen left in the area.

"Christian leaders are being forced to abandon their followers to the forces of radical Islam," Weiner said.

Facing a pernicious mixture of persecution and economic hardships as a result of years of Palestinian violence and Israeli counter-terrorism measures, tens of thousands of Christian Arabs have left the Palestinian territories for a better life in the West, in a continuing exodus which has led some Christian leaders to warn that the faith could be virtually extinct in its birthplace in a matter of decades.

The Palestinian Christian population has dipped to 1.5 percent of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, down from at least 15% a half century ago, according to some estimates.

No one city in the Holy Land is more indicative of the great exodus of Christians than Bethlehem, which fell under full Palestinian control last decade as part of the Oslo Accords.

The town of 30,000 is now less than 20% Christian, after decades when Christians were the majority. Elsewhere in the Palestinian territories, only about 3,000 Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox, live in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, out of a strongly conservative Muslim population of 1.4 million.

"In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving," he said.

SLOPPY MEDIA BIAS

'Tis The Season (BackSpin)

Journalists beat a path to Bethlehem every December to associate the woes of Christian flight and dwindling tourism with Israel's security fence and checkpoints.

Too often, the picture they paint ignores or downplays Islamic intimidation and general lawlessness.

National Geographic kicks off the annual coverage. No ho ho hos here.

THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ARTICLE IS WRITTEN BY MICHAEL FINKEL.  AND WHO IS MICHAEL FINKEL?  HE WAS FIRED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES A FEW YEARS AGO FOR FABRICATING HIS NEWS REPORTING.  WHY WOULD NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HIRE SOMEONE WITH SO LITTLE CREDIBILITY TO REPORT ON SOMETHING SO CONTROVERSIAL?

PALESTINIAN SECURITY THREATENS CHRISTIAN PASTOR IN WEST BANK

Palestinians Threaten Arab-American Christian Pastor in Ramallah- Etgar Lefkovits (Jerusalem Post)
An Arab-American evangelical pastor said Wednesday he was threatened by a Palestinian security official in Ramallah, and fled to Jerusalem for safety. Pastor Isa Bajalia, 47, a U.S. citizen born in Birmingham, Alabama, who has been living in Ramallah with his family since 1991, said he had been threatened over the last two months by a Fatah security official from the Tanzim militia who also demanded $30,000 in protection money.

CHRISTIANS NOT WELCOME IN HAMAS' GAZA

Christians Are Persona Non Grata in Gaza - Conal Urquhart
The murder on Oct. 7 of Rami Ayad, who worked at Gaza's Bible Society, has persuaded many in the 3,000-strong Christian community they are no longer welcome in Gaza. He had been stabbed several times and shot in the head. The Bible Society is primarily involved in offering charity to Muslim families, but Ayad had nevertheless been threatened several times.
Christians have been in Gaza since the fourth century, but Ayad's murder follows a series of incidents that has shaken the community's desire to stay. "Everything has changed. In the times of my father and grandfather, there was no difference between Muslims and Christians," said Ibrahim Ayad, a brother of the victim. "The Islamic revival has also brought intolerance in its wake." He estimated that 70% of the Christian community would leave when they had the opportunity. He said many Muslims perceived Christians as "kaffirs," or unbelievers, which meant they were not subject to the same laws as Muslims. (Guardian-UK)

CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST ASSASSINATED IN GAZA, MEDIA YAWNS

Christian activist killed in Gaza (AP)
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A prominent Palestinian Christian activist was found dead on a Gaza City street Sunday, sending a shudder of fear through a tiny Christian community feeling increasingly insecure since the Islamic Hamas seized control last summer.

The body of Rami Khader Ayyad, the 32-year-old director of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, bore a visible gunshot wound to the head, and an official at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital said he was also stabbed numerous times. Ayyad had been missing since Saturday afternoon.

Ayyad regularly received anonymous death threats from angry people who accused him of missionary work, a rarity among Gaza’s Christians. His store, which is associated with a Christian group called the Palestinian Bible Society, was firebombed in April.

“We feel Rami was killed for his Christian faith,” said Simon Azazian, a spokesman at the Bible Society’s head office in Jerusalem.

Murder in Gaza, One Paragraph in The Post (CAMERA)

“Christian Activist Slain in Gaza” read the headline over a one-paragraph item in The Washington Post’s Oct. 8, 2007 “World In Brief” section. Here’s the item, from news services:

“A prominent Palestinian Christian activist, Rami Khader Ayyad, was found dead on a Gaza City street, sending a shudder through a tiny Christian community feeling increasingly insecure since the Islamic movement Hamas seized control last summer. Ayyad, 32 and director of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, was shot in the head and stabbed, an official said. He had received anonymous death threats accusing him of missionary work. His store, which is associated with a Christian group called the Palestinian Bible Society was firebombed in April.”

Now imagine the coverage if a prominent Israeli Arab activist, Christian or Muslim, was found shot and stabbed on an Israeli street after receiving death threats for “missionary work” and having his or her place of business firebombed. A news brief, one paragraph, four sentences? Don’t bet on it. CAMERA’s September 24 Washington Post-Watch, “Old Habits Die Hard, If At All,” noted that “bad, if important, news about the Palestinian Arabs is not a Post priority.”

Christians in the Gaza Strip feel “increasingly insecure” not only because “the Islamic movement Hamas seized control last summer.” Oppression by Muslims of Christians has fueled emigration from what is now the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), Gaza, and Jordan for more than a century. The exodus accelerated after creation in 1993 of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. That’s why there are only about 3,000 Christians are left among the roughly 1.4 million Arabs in the Strip. That’s why, in the West Bank, Christians as a percentage of Bethlehem’s population plunged from 85 percent in 1948 to 12 percent last year, even without Hamas rule.

The Post is hardly the only media minimizing bad news for Christian Arabs. The somewhat longer Reuters and Associated Press dispatches were actually misleading. Each claimed that Christian-Muslim relations in Gaza have been “generally good.” “Good,” if the dhimmi (Jew or Christian as a “protected” second-class citizen under Islamic law) knows his place and keeps it, and keeps quiet, or leaves if things get worse anyway. — E.R.

ABBAS MAKES A DAMAGING ADMISSION

In Heated Speech, the Truth Spills Out (CAMERA)

IMRA notes "Mahmoud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen, in a moment of anger, admits that the Arabs now known as 'Palestinians' came to the region with the Arab invasion." MEMRI's translation of Abbas' raging speech against Hamas includes this rare admission that Palestinian Arabs are not indigenous to the region:

[Indeed,] even the churches were not spared. One of the oldest churches in Palestine, which stood long before our arrival [in the region], was looted and set on fire.

Note: We tried to find a picture of the desecrated Gaza churches , but Hamas did an effective job keeping these images away from the media.

JIHADIS TO GAZA CHRISTIANS: CONVERT OR DIE

"Christians Must Accept Islamic Rule" - Aaron Klein (World Net Daily/Ynet News)
Christians can only continue living safely in Gaza if they accept Islamic law, including a ban on alcohol and on women roaming publicly without proper head coverings, an Islamist militant leader in Gaza said in an interview. Christians in Gaza who engage in "missionary activity" will be "dealt with harshly," he said.

The threats come two days after a church and Christian school in Gaza were attacked following the seizure of power by the Hamas terror group. "I expect our Christian neighbors to understand the new Hamas rule means real changes. They must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza," said Sheik Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya, an Islamic outreach movement that recently announced the opening of a "military wing" to enforce Muslim law in Gaza.

GAZA'S CHRISTIANS UNDER SEIGE

IT'S NOT JUST INTERNET CAFES THAT HAMAS OBJECTS TO. IT WON'T BE LONG BEFORE THE STONINGS AND "HONOR KILLINGS" OF WOMEN SOAR IN GAZA AND CHRISTIANS FLEE. THIS IS WHAT THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE VOTED FOR.

Gaza’s Christians fear for their lives. (JPost)
Christians living in Gaza City on Monday appealed to the international community to protect them against increased attacks by Muslim extremists. Many Christians said they were prepared to leave the Gaza Strip as soon as the border crossings are reopened. The appeal came following a series of attacks on a Christian school and church in Gaza City over the past few days.

Father Manuel Musalam, leader of the small Latin community in the Gaza Strip, said masked gunmen torched and looted the Rosary Sisters School and the Latin Church.

“The masked gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to storm the main entrances of the school and church,” he said. “Then they destroyed almost everything inside, including the Cross, the Holy Book, computers and other equipment.”

Musalam expressed outrage over the burning of copies of the Bible, noting that the gunmen destroyed all the Crosses inside the church and school. “Those who did these awful things have no respect for Christian-Muslim relations,” he said.

Hamas Activists Burn Gaza Church - Jonathan Dehoah Halevy (News First Class-Hebrew)
Hamas activists broke into a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza, stole its contents, and set on fire an adjacent monastery. They also attacked a school for nuns. PA Chairman Abbas condemned the attack as a "barbaric act" and called on the Palestinian people to unite against Hamas. He added, "Now they are attacking holy sites and places of prayer."

REUTERS LIES ABOUT WHY CHRISTIANS ARE FLEEING PA AREAS

Reuters Lies About Why Christians Are Fleeting PA Areas By Ryan Jones (JNW)
Reuters on Monday reported matter-of-factly that Israeli oppression is fueling a Christian exodus from Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, when in fact the evidence points to Muslim intimidation as the primary culprit.

Reporting from Bethlehem, special correspondent Alistair Lyon wasted no time in setting the anti-Israel tone of his piece, starting it thus:

Despairing of life under Israeli occupation, many Palestinian Christians are moving abroad, threatening their ancient links to Bethlehem and the land where Jesus was born.

Though very few of the Christians who spoke to Lyon explicitly blamed Israel for their situation, the reporter left his readers with no option but to view Israel as guilty by:

1. Painting Israel's security fence, which surrounds much of Bethlehem, as an arbitrary measure aimed primarily at oppressing and humiliating the "Palestinians"; and

2. Stating, again in a matter-of-fact manner, that no one he spoke to indicated that there is any Muslim intimidation of local Christians.

In so doing, Lyon completely and brazenly ignored reams of reports over the past few years regarding Muslim intimidation of local "Palestinian" Christians and the shrinking effect it is having on that community.

Just in the past three months there have been numerous reports in the mainstream media citing "Palestinian" Christians under attack from the Muslim majority.

To list just a few examples:

• Jerusalem Post correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh interviewed several families in January in a shocking revelation of the conditions under which Christians live in the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Sahur.

  Said one elderly Christian woman after "Palestinian" Muslims forcefully took over her land and then beat her husband for asking for it back:

  We are very concerned because we're not the only ones suffering from this phenomenon. Most Christians are afraid to speak, but I don't care because we have nothing more to lose.

  Added a neighbor:

  When I see what's happening to Christians here, I worry a lot for our future. They are targeting Christians, because we are seen as weak.

• George Rabie, a Christian taxi driver from another Bethlehem suburb, had this to say to Britain's Daily Mail this past December:

  Every day, I experience discrimination. It is a type of racism. We are a minority so we are an easier target. Many extremists from the villages are coming into Bethlehem.

• Also in December, a Bethlehem businessman had this to say in response to reports that the PA was going to bring back a group exiled Muslim gunmen :

  I'm aware that most Christians living here are afraid to speak publicly about the issue, but the overwhelming majority was not unhappy when these thugs were deported from the city. Now some people here are once again worried because of the reports that they will return. They remember all the bad things that happened to the Christians when these gunmen were roaming the streets.

• In one of the more serious spates of Muslim persecution of "Palestinian" Christians, at least five churches were attacked and burned last September in response Pope Benedict XVI's condemnation of Muslim fanaticism.

Somehow, all of these examples and the hundreds more that are not listed here escaped the attention of Reuter's Alistair Lyon, leaving him free to conclude that "Israeli oppression" is behind the dwindling number of Christians living in the Holy Land.

For more on the issue of "Palestinian" Muslim persecution of local Christians, read the latest briefing by Professor Justus Weiner.

MUSLIM PERSECUTION OF BETHLEHEM CHRISTIANS

Bethlehem Christians Describe Muslim Persecution - Khaled Abu Toameh
A number of Christian families have described Muslim persecution of the Christian minority in Bethlehem after increased attacks over the past few months. Samir Qumsiyeh, owner of the Beit Sahur-based Shepherd TV station, said he has documented more than 160 attacks on Christians in recent years. He said thieves have targeted the homes of many Christian families and a "land mafia" has seized vast areas of land belonging to Christians. One Christian businessman said the conditions of Christians in Bethlehem had deteriorated ever since the area was handed over to the PA in 1995. "People are running away because the Palestinian government isn't doing anything to protect them and their property against Muslim thugs. Of course not all the Muslims are responsible, but there is a general feeling that Christians have become easy prey." (Jerusalem Post)

See also Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society - Justus Reid Weiner (JCPA) (1.4M pdf file)