Christmas Music from Bethlehem Now

I'm sure you'll agree that music is one of the best things about Christmas! I remember those Christmas albums that mom used to drop as a stack on our hi-fi stereo console system. We used to sit and watch the lights on the tree dance as we listened to the John Denver Christmas. Fantastic! One album later it was Gene Autry and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or perhaps Bing Crosby singing chestnuts roasting on an open fire or maybe one of those True Value Hardware albums...Great! Great! Here, until recently, I had to depend on the kindness of my friends at home -- Holly sent me an "Elvis Sings Christmas" CD last year, and Nelson and Judy's iPod is loaded with the "Very Special Christmas" music, which I love. My good neighbor Ed still invites me down to sit in near darkness and absorb the Christmas spirit from his string of lights and his own Christmas mix tape.

But now I have another option. There's a new radio station in Bethlehem, Radio Isis 95.9 FM on your radio dial. I realize that you might not have a 12,000 foot antenna that is able to receive radio broadcasts from Bethlehem. But you're in luck! Radio Isis is the first Palestinian radio station to broadcast over the Internet! So if you want to hear traditional Christmas Music from Bethlehem -- right now,

http://www.radioisis.net (Live Radio from Bethlehem!)

If you're unlucky enough to catch the broadcast during the English news, you might hear my country-boy twang. If you hear a very professional and polished voice, it is not me -- but perhaps my good neighbor, Ed. He's a real pro at it. The station manager quickly picked up that I was from the "village," while Ed was from the city.

I'm not great at reading the news, but I consider it an honor to share some of the news stories. Tonight I had the privilege of reporting that five Israeli high-school graduates refused to serve in the Israeli army to make an "attempt to bring about a change in Israeli policy in the Palestinian Territories." I call these five high-schoolers heroes. It's not easy for an Israeli to make a stand opposing serving in "an army of occupation." These young men were convicted of refusing to serve and might face a maximum sentence of three years in prison. They've already spent months in jail before their trial even began. If you're interested in over a thousand Israelis who refuse to serve in occupied Palestine, check out the links below:

The following banners count signers on all three refusenik pledges, and the Pilots' appeal, as well as refuseniks who were imprisoned for following their conscience and are not signed on one of the lists. See How Many Refuseniks for details on the numbers and more information about the refuseniks add this to your site Courage To Refuse Yesh Gvul Shministim Pilots Refuser Solidarity Network