As a Catholic from Asia, what I can say is: If what you said is true, then: Merci, Monsieur Juppe.

"NATIONAL" SELF-INTEREST: THE HOLY SEE SEEKS TO PROTECT CATHOLICS AROUND THE WORLD, ITS OWN POSITION OF INFLUENCE, AND ITS VAST WEALTH. THE VATICAN'S SUPPORT OF SADDAM HUSSEIN RESULTS FROM ITS DESIRE TO PROTECT 600,000 IRAQI CATHOLICS FROM ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM; ITS REFUSAL TO PUBLICLY CRITICIZE CROAT NATIONALIST CLERGY IN BOSNIA STEMS IN PART FROM THE CROAT CHURCH'S STAUNCH DEFENSE OF THE FAITH DURING THE COLD WAR;

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2001/07/01VATICAN3507.html

Worry about your own minorities Frenchie.

Mr. Juppe seems to think Arabs are really stupid, or maybe he thinks Syrians are particularly stupid.

I wonder if Mr. Juppe reads his history. Did he read the chapter when French troops bombarded Damascus in 40s' to stop Syrians from demanding their freedom. Did they take particular care to avoid killing christians? What about Algeria? did he forget the millions killed there by French troops to quell the demand for a free Algeria.

Mr. Juppe leads us to believe France is the champion of Arab christians and we can depend on our friend. So France should be allowed to arm Moslem Brotherhood rebels and Salafi thugs to fight an army, which by the way is lead by a christian General.

Does Mr. Juppe draw a line that says, chritians in the middle east are special and therefore France will defend them. Does he know Palestinians include many christians yet France is one of Israel's biggest supporter, or did he forget how France helped the Zionists in 1947 by shipping them arms.

Hypocrisy seems to have become a new French charater. Let me ask you Mr. Juppe. Did you not hear your President Sarkozy suggest that christians should consider leaving the middle east, is this how the French support middle eastern christians, suggesting they abandon their "2000 years" of existence.

With France's help, the Moslem Brotherhood is making gains and killing many Syrians, whether they are pro or against the Government. Some are christians too, but Mr. Juppe doesn't want ot talk about those. When the brotherhood takes over like they did in Egypt and start killing christians, will Mr. Juppe cry out, "mon dieux" we screwed up, again.

Finally i would like to ask Mr. Juppe, since he cares so much about the freedom of Syrians. Why has France provided a safe house for Rifaat Assad and Khaddam, the butchers of Hama. French hypocrit.

Dancing With Men
By Oreet Ashery
Live Art Development, £15

The Novel of Nonel and Vovel
By Oreet Ashery and Larissa Sansour
Charta Art Books, £30

Art books tend to be glossy affairs, full of rich colour illustrations which attempt to replicate as far as possible the experience of seeing the works of art in the original. But what if, as in the case of Jerusalem-born artist Oreet Ashery, your practice is rooted in performance art? Surely DVDs are the only way to appreciate this kind of work.

Well, Dancing With Men, about Ashery’s work, covers 10 years of her interactive performances, interventions and other artworks, and includes photographs and four new essays exploring Ashery’s work in detail.

In her introduction, Lois Keidan, director of the Live Art Agency, describes how Ashery has developed “a language to talk about the complexities of cultural, religious, gender and sexual identities”.

Ashery makes much of her outsider status. “I was brought up in Jerusalem, somewhere between the Arab village Shoafat and the Orthodox Jewish neighbourhoods beginning with Bar Ilan Boulevard. I was all too aware that, as I was trespassing both geographical boundaries on separate occasions, these two alien territories equally exclude me,” she writes.

Ashery often takes on an alter ego in her performances to explore these feelings of exclusion and the book is named after perhaps her best known work, when, dressed as a character she has many times inhabited — Marcus Fisher, a young Orthodox male — she joined thousands of Orthodox men commemorating the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, on Mount Meron.

There she felt completely accepted although she was an imposter. Other works discussed include Central Location, in which Ashery offered free head-shaving in Berlin to the public to denote both the act of head-shaving that took place in the concentration camps and the choice of the shaven head as the contemporary neo-Nazi hairstyle.

In Ashery’s most recent performance, she explored the life and relationships of the 17th-century false Messiah, Shabbetai Zevi, whose “strange acts” Ashery views as performance art and which she recreated at last year’s Whitstable Biennale.

In one recreation — of Zevi pushing a fish around in a pram — Ashery was unsurprisingly greeted with incomprehension by local youths. Fascinatingly, as well as yelling abuse when she started to kiss the fish, the boys also reached for their mobile phones to photograph and record the performance.

A number of Ashery’s works explore the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and she has tried to work with Palestinian artists — though this has become increasingly difficult over the years.

But Ashery’s other new publication, The Novel of Nonel and Vovel, sees Ashery and Jerusalem-born Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour transformed into superheroes to solve the problem.

The book makes clear that their efforts are all wishful thinking as Ashery admits at the close when she says: “It would seem a bit odd if we had actually managed to solve the Palestinian problem just by dressing up in capes and tight suits.”

But the story in which the artists contract a virus which gives them superpowers but compromises their creativity is diverting and entertaining — as are the other photographs, artworks, essays and trivia which punctuate the pair’s narrative.

What I found most intriguing — and would have liked to have heard more of — was the similarity of experiences in the lives of Ashery and Sansour, both of whom came to England in their teens and had difficulties settling into their new environment.

Julia Wiener is the JC’s art critic
thanks
professional web design

To which I am compelled to say "vive la France".

French outreach in the middle east is an imperialist ploy. This so-called French protection is nothing but a power grab. With this protection scam Juppe is ANGLING TO BUILD SPHERES OF INFLUENCE FOR ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL LEVERAGE. It is an old french game. Obviously, french think that US is loosing ground and time is ripe for them make their move. France is unwelcome in the middle east.

eom

Fine that the Foreign Minister states concern for the Copts in Egypt and Iraqi Christians but no mention of the situation in Israel and Palestine. The current Israeli government is intent on driving out the remaining Christians from israel and the Occupied territories. You cannot pick and choose in this matter, if you are concerned about Christians in Iraq and Egypt you better be concerned about those in the region of Christ's birth.

I can say save human. In the world there are many countries where some people are is under threaten. Specially in muslin country , Hindu and Christians are under threaten and respectively Muslims are also in other countries.
So i think we should save our humanity.

jessacoulter

I am a christian too. I think that, Christians in the Middle East as well as the christian allover the world need to be protect. Christian have developed over 2000 years and it has brought a good, fresh and warm wind. It have made so many people become better. Christ has worked base on peace tend and make the world become more beautiful and significant.