by emad » Thu Jan 12, 2006 1:18 pm
Prophet of doom's message costs him Bible theme park<br>From Ian MacKinnon in Jerusalem<br> <br> <br> <br>AS ARIEL SHARON lay fighting for life hours after suffering his massive stroke, the veteran US evangelist Pat Robertson told an estimated million viewers that the Israeli Prime Minister had been struck down by divine retribution for his withdrawal from Jewish settlements in Gaza. <br><br>But Mr Robertson faced his own retribution yesterday when the Israeli Tourism Ministry pulled the plug on a £40 million partnership with the controversial preacher to build a biblical theme park on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus was said to have performed many miracles and most of his public ministry. <br> <br>Mr Robertson was one of the key backers of the project. But his remarks to viewers of his syndicated 700 Club programme prompted protests around the world. Yesterday Abraham Hirschon, the Tourism Minister, a close Sharon ally and among the first to back his Kadima party, said that the Government would cancel its agreement to provide land. <br><br>The project, which would have linked 125 acres of sites where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, urged his disciples to become “fishers of men” and was said to have fed the 5,000 from five loaves and two fishes, is now in jeopardy. <br><br>At the Jerusalem hospital where Mr Sharon is being treated doctors said yesterday that they had been heartened by his progress, but he was still expected to spend several months recuperating. <br><br>Mr Robertson’s criticism of the Prime Minister was backed by biblical quotations: “God considers this land to be His,” he said. “You read the Bible and He says, ‘This is my land’. And for any Prime Minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says: ‘No, this is mine’.” <br><br>Mr Hirschon was outraged. The Government would no longer work with the preacher on the theme park project despite his enthusiasm for the idea, which he believed could draw in an extra 1.5 million Christian tourists annually. <br><br>Uri Dagul, the head of the steering committee and author of the project, is likely to seek other avenues to finance the project. The park’s focus is the heritage centre on the banks of the Sea of Galilee’s northern shore, with computerised, interactive displays and scale models of villages to illustrate how Jesus and his followers lived. <br> <br> <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1980838,00.html">www.timesonline.co.uk/art...38,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <p></p><i></i>