Please pray above all for the Christian Arabs in South Lebanon. They were Israel's allies in the war against the PLO (Arafat's terrorists) and Hizb'Allah. Then, however, Ehud Barak betrayed them with his cowardly withdrawal in 1982 that left them to be persecuted by the Hizb'Allah & the PLO. Some opted for asylum in Israel, but many went back after a while because of the low priority their well-being had been for the Israeli government - something like Arial Sharon's victims, the evicted settlers. Now it seems that the Hizb'Allah is purposely trying to block the Christians from escaping the bombing of their villages and homes -- that are being used as missile silos.
Shabbat Shalom
Philip Blom
News & Analysis from the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem
Thursday, 20 July 2006
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Special News Feature
Christian Edition Exclusive
The Untold StoRY: Galilee Arabs under Hizb'Allah fire
Lena Kachinski, ICEJ News
HAIFA - A week into the current shooting war with Hizb'Allah, little attention had been paid to the Arab communities of northern Israel. They make up half of the one million residents of the Galilee and Haifa areas forced to flee or hunker down in bomb shelters under the barrage of Katyusha rockets. But few outside Israel knew they were also being targeted? that is until a rocket struck the landmark Christian town of Nazareth and killed two young brothers from an Arab Orthodox family, aged 3 and 7.
"The missiles have been hitting the Arab villages too," Dr. Hani Shehadeh told The Christian Edition from his home just four miles south of the Lebanese border. "As Bibi Netanyahu told the Knesset the other day, a Katyusha doesn't have eyes to see whether it's a Jew or an Arab."
Shehadeh, who pastors an Evangelical congregation, just sent an open letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, calling him "a man of peace" and assuring that Arab Christians in the Galilee are praying for Israel's leaders in this crisis.
"I am writing while my home and church building are being shaken by the rockets, yet we are not afraid, for we believe in the protecting hand of the Lord of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," he wrote. "We are aware of the difficulties that you are facing mostly caused by the Islamic extremists."
"This war is not about politics as much as spiritual warfare," he told The Christian Edition. "We believe the God of Israel is going to watch over this nation."
Like so many other Galilee Arabs, he also has relatives in Lebanon that he worries about. "My Granny is Lebanese and we all have family there. Of course we pray they're all safe."
In Haifa, the Hebrew-speaking congregation Beit Eliyahu has been taking in elderly neighbors without bomb shelters. Shmuel Aweida, the congregation's Arab pastor, narrowly missed a rocket that landed on the highway some 50 yards in front of his car.
Aweida notes the rare agreement across the country on the necessity of this war. "We can't remember the last time there was such a consensus in the Israeli society and leadership on a war as in this case. Hizbullah is like a deadly tumor that has to be removed."
Not all Galilee Arabs are as patriotic. Many complain that there are no shelters or air raid sirens in Arab villages, and no materials in Arabic instructing them on what to do in emergencies.
"Sakhnin has no bomb shelters, and I think this is the case for 98 percent of the Arab villages in the north," Sakhnin resident Laithi G'naim told The Jerusalem Post.
There are also reports that some local Arabs have been seen on rooftops quietly cheering when Katyushas land in nearby communities.
Also forgotten in this war are the over 2,000 South Lebanese refugees still living in the Galilee who fled their homes six years ago As they weather Hizbullah attacks on northern Israel, friends and famil back home face Israel's counter-attacks.
"Part of me lives in Israel. Let's say it's my second country," said ex- SLA officer Nabih Abou Raseh from his home in Ma'alot along the border. "The other lives in Lebanon. I hurt on both sides."
It hasn't been easy watching an army ravage his homeland, but he still wants the IDF to press ahead. "It hurts me when I see my country falling apart? but the price that we're paying in northern Israel and in southern Lebanon is less than the price if we don't do anything and Hizbullah continues to strengthen itself," he said.
Some South Lebanese refugees are also living in shelters provided by Evangelical congregations like Beit Yedidya, in Nahariya. Relatives calling from south Lebanon say Hizbullah militiamen are taking over Christian homes to hide rockets and fire them at Israel.
If Israel's military objective of weakening Hizbullah to the point it can be disarmed is met, the south Lebanese refugees may soon be able to finally go home in peace.
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Posted by Editor
at 4:19 PM
