Syria - The Fear Within Christians and Other Minorities

Please take the time to watch this whole video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqIhZLcVn38&feature=em-uploademail

The Fight for Aleppo - A Look Inside the Current State of Aleppo, Syria

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1EDgLSC_w&list=UUqnbDFdCpuN8CMEg0VuEBqA&index=1

Persecution of the Christians: Syrian minority fear the end of fighting more than war itself

In his final dispatch from Syria, Patrick Cockburn reports from Maloula on the plight of the country's Christian minority, who fear an end to the fighting more than the war itself

Patrick Cockburn

Two masked men armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles tried to kidnap a businessman called George Alumeh in the ancient Christian town of Maloula, north-west of Damascus, last week. It was not the first kidnap attempt on richer members of the Christian community here and Mr Alumeh was prepared. He fought back, first drawing a pistol, hurling his car keys away so his car could not be stolen, and then trying to escape. He got away, but was hit by a burst of gunfire from the kidnappers which has sent him to hospital with stomach, leg and hand wounds.

Father Mata Hadad, the priest of the Convent of St Tikla built into the mountain wall that towers over Maloula, tells the story to illustrate how life has become more dangerous for Christians, particularly for those thought to have money. The 10 per cent of the Syrian population who are Christians are debating with trepidation the likely outcome of the Syrian crisis and its effect on them.

The omens are not good. Every country in the Middle East seems to be becoming more Islamic and more sectarian. Syrian Christians have seen since 2003 how an outcome of the invasion of Iraq was the destruction of Christian communities in Iraq that had survived for almost 2,000 years. If the opposition National Coalition, recognised by 130 countries as the legitimate government of Syria, does ultimately take power then its most effective fighting force will be Jadhat al-Nusra, with an ideology similar to al-Qa'ida. It is prospects like this that fill Syrian Christians with alarm.

Maloula is a good place to talk about these fears. It is an hour's drive from Damascus, some 20 miles from Lebanon, and occupies a spectacular site in a cleft in the mountains. Its rocky defiles have always been a place of refuge. It was here that St Tikla, fleeing imperial soldiery, took refuge in a cave high up in the cliffs.

Maloula's isolation helped preserve its Christianity and also gave it the distinction of being the only place where Western Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken by Christians.

There is a mood of uncertainty about the future. So far there have been four kidnappings that the Syrian army post just beyond the entrance to the town has not been able to do much to prevent. Religious tourism has disappeared. "I used to sell guide books and souvenirs," says Samir Shakti, gesturing towards his small shop, "but now I sell fruit and vegetables".

Another sign of edginess is the bursts of anger against foreigners, in the present case myself, as a symbol of European powers accused of arming Islamic fundamentalists. Even the Mother Superior of the Convent, Pelagia Sayaf, demanded to know why the Europeans were aiding "people who kill with the knife". She said many people were leaving the town (though this was denied by some others in Maloula).

Mother Superior Pelagia looked strained. She has been at her post for 23 years, ruling over 14 nuns and 33 orphans from Christian families all over the Middle East. The orphans wear a red uniform and tartan caps, giving them a surprisingly Scottish appearance. "It is going to be a sad Christmas in Maloula," the Mother Superior said. "Sanctions are punishing the people, not the government."

Christians may feel more frightened than other Syrians, but everybody feels vulnerable. There was no fighting on the road from Damascus to Maloula, but there are many wrecked buildings from battles in the past couple of months. Once the main road to Homs was crowded with car showrooms, but these are now closed and their plate glass windows are protected from blast damage by hurriedly built walls of concrete blocks.

Better-off Christians are able to escape abroad, but for those with little money this is a difficult option. One Armenian, who did not want his name published, said "we can go to Lebanon, but it is expensive to stay there, jobs are difficult to get and Lebanese don't like Syrians much because our army was there for so long". He himself was seeking Armenian citizenship.

As with others in Damascus the degree of danger felt depends on precise location. Many Christians live in Jaramana district that is now dangerous from snipers and bombers. The Christian parts of the Old City are safer, but there are electricity cuts and a shortage of diesel. So far the sufferings of the Christians of Syria are no worse than those of the Muslims, but they feel that whatever the outcome of the civil war, their future will most likely be worse than their past.

What’s Next for Syria’s Christians?

Mark Movsesian


This week, the United States recognized the Syrian National Coalition, an umbrella organization of groups opposed to the Assad regime, as the government of Syria. Now, as everyone knows, the SNC relies heavily on fighters from the al-Nusra Front, an Islamist group that the United States has designated as a terrorist organization. There is very little chance that al-Nusra and other Islamists won’t play a major role in a post-Assad Syria, and the fact that the US calls them terrorists isn’t likely to change things. Already, in fact, the head of the Syrian opposition has called on America to reconsider its designation of al-Nusra as terrorists – and this while the SNC still needs American support in a life-or-death struggle with Assad.

What does all this mean for Syria’s Christians? Frankly, nothing good. Although the Syrian opposition has pledged to respect the rights of religious minorities, the minorities do not appear persuaded. And for good reason. All Christians have to do is look to Egypt, where, in the aftermath of a democratic revolution, Islamists have pushed aside Christians and secularists to draft a new, pro-Islamist constitution. Why should Christians believe that Syrian Islamists will behave differently? The fact that the Syrian opposition has made common cause with the Islamist government of Turkey, the historical persecutor of many of the Christian communities in Syria, only makes Christians more worried about their future.

For a sense of how Syria’s Christians perceive things, it’s worth reading this article from the New York Times about Syria’s Armenian community. Armenian Christians have been in Syria in numbers since the Genocide of 1915, when they fled or were forced out of neighboring Turkey. They have integrated into Syrian society and feel that Syria is their home. Yet they worry that the religious toleration they have known will cease if Assad falls and Islamists come to power. They could stay to see what happens, but, as one member of the community tells the Times, referring to the 1915 Genocide, “We lost 1.5 million people to this mentality that it will all work out.” Armenians feel they have no choice but to leave. Many have relocated to Armenia, a place which most of them have never seen and where cultural adjustments can be very difficult.

Or watch this elegiac documentary from Swiss television about the Syriac Orthodox community across the border in eastern Turkey. In the film, a Syriac Orthodox family that fled Turkey for Switzerland in the 1980s returns to see what has become of their village. What few Christians remain keep their heads down. They explain about phony land disputes and other strategies the Turkish state has adopted to make their life difficult. “Turkey is supposed to be secular,” someone explains, “but in practice it’s not like that.” Christians who can do so have escaped – to Europe, mostly. If this is the model for the future of Christian communities in Syria, it’s no wonder Christians are trying to get out while they can.

According to the New Testament, the followers of Jesus were first called Christians in Antioch, in Syria. It is hard to escape the feeling that one is witnessing the end of one of the world’s oldest religious civilizations in the place of its birth.

Mark Movsesian is Director of the Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s University.

Syrian Armenians leaving Aleppo...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/world/middleeast/syrian-armenians-seek-shelter-in-armenia.html?pagewanted=1&tntemail1=y&_r=0&emc=tnt

Road Map Drawn Up by Syrian Traitors to Serve Imperialists, Gulf Monarchies

Monday, 10 December 2012 13:22By Noureddine Merdaci, Truthout | Op-Ed

The following is a translation of an article originally published in The Sham Times. 
It will perhaps take months, if not years, before we will be able to reconstruct the process by which Syria found itself trapped in this civil war. Obviously, Damascus had not measured the danger, not only for the regime in power, but even for Syria itself, now in danger of disappearing as a nation-state. However, the veil begins to lift on the circumstances of the "conclave" held in Doha in early November, which saw a heterogeneous "opposition" - divided, without a program and without perspective - provide itself with a leader, Moez Ahmed al-Khatib, and a "coalition."
But to achieve this, according to sources familiar with the matter, the Syrian "opponents" were ordered by Qatar to "find" an agreement, sine qua non, before leaving the room they were provided. This means that the "Syrian opposition" had a gun to its head, forcing it to reach this minimum agreement. Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, took a personal interest in the proceedings. In reality, the "revolt" in Syria, totally managed by foreign countries and their intelligence services, was a proxy war against the Syrian national state, a war which needed "Syrians at their service" only to serve as "local color."
In Syria, it is fighters coming from many Arab countries, elements of al-Qaeda, jihadists from Afghanistan, Somalia and Pakistan - well-armed - who kill Syrian civilians and fight against the Syrian army alongside a handful of deserters. So, in Doha, it was necessary to "unify" the opposition, whose credibility was placed in question, even by one of its main sponsors, the United States, which has applied its full weight to restore a semblance of consistency and visibility to an opposition created completely by France, Qatar, and the United States in particular, and supported by Turkey, which "persuaded" NATO to install "Patriot" missiles on its territory - more precisely on the borders with Syria. Doha has been a refocusing of a rebellion that had not been able to achieve the goals ordered by its sponsors.
In fact, we can better understand the situation when we know the terms of the "Doha Protocol," a document we have been able to consult, which contains the following 13 points:
1. Syria should reduce the number of soldiers of the Syrian army to 50,000;2. Syria will assert its right to sovereignty over the Golan only by political means. Both parties will sign peace agreements under the auspices of the United States and Qatar;3. Syria must get rid of, under the supervision of the United States, all its chemical and biological weapons and all of its missiles. This operation must be carried out on the land of Jordan;4. To cancel any claim of sovereignty over Liwa Iskenderun (Alexandretta) and to withdraw in favor of Turkey from some border villages inhabited by Turkmens in "muhafazahs" in Aleppo and Idlib;5. To expel all members of the Workers Party of Kurdistan, and to hand over those wanted by Turkey. This party should be added to the list of terrorist organizations;6. To cancel all agreements and contracts signed with Russia and China in the fields of subsurface drilling and armaments;7. To allow Qatari gas pipeline passage through the Syrian territory toward Turkey and then on to Europe;8. To allow water pipes to pass through the Syrian territory from the Atatürk Dam to Israel;9. Qatar and United Arab Emirates pledge to rebuild what has been destroyed by the war in Syria on the condition that their companies have the exclusive access to contracts for reconstruction and for exploitation of Syrian oil and gas;10.To terminate relations with Iran, Russia and China;11.To break off relations with Hezbollah and with Palestinian resistance movements;12. The Syrian regime should be Islamic and not Salafi;13. This agreement will come into effect as soon as power is taken ((Algerian) Editor's note: by the "Opposition").
This is the price of foreign pressures and of resignation and treachery on the part of Arab states. A high price, an exorbitant price for Syria that persons calling themselves "Syrian" have endorsed. Indeed, this agreement, or rather "Protocol," is thus the price that the Syrian opposition will have to pay once installed in power in Damascus, as stated in Article 13 of the "Doha Agreement."
In this way, each of the sponsors of the "revolt of the Syrian people" has helped himself according to his own interests and appetite. The United States, by disarming Syria and distancing the nation from its friends; Turkey, by retrieving Syrian villages and modifying the common borders according to its interests; Qatar, by being granted contracts for the "reconstruction" of the country; and Saudi Arabia, by the establishment of an Islamic regime of its devotion.
This is a virtual castration of Syria, to be stripped of its sovereignty just as Egypt was by the Camp David Agreements in 1979. Actually, it is as if the "opposition" - supported at arm's length by Qatar - were to demand the immediate recognition of Israel, with, however, as in Article 2 of the Doha protocol, a negotiated settlement.
This is a sharing of Syrian hoard! Nowhere is there any question of democracy, freedom, human rights, building a new Syria in which the Syrians, whatever their ethnicity, religion and belief, enjoy the same rights. Instead, each of the "sponsors" served himself first, taking whatever he wanted.For those who know the turbulent history of the Ottoman Middle East, everything is explained, and Doha was the point of no return for a Syrian opposition that no longer had a voice. It was only to justify the "syrianity" of the events. This was clearly seen in Cairo when the new "boss" of the "coalition," Moez Ahmed al-Khatib, arrived in the baggage of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani for the Arab League meeting that took place in the mid-November.
In Syria, the scenario acted out for Libya is surpassed, and there is now danger of a general destabilization of the world, even that fragmentation for which American civilian "experts" and military have been working without interruption. We should consider this situation seriously!Translated by Chrysanthie Therapontos, edited by Henry Crapo, translators for Humanité in English.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Brief Report about the Zaitari Camp in Jordan

As  many of you already know,our main concern is for the  well-being of the children of the Camp, especially in this cold winter time; more than 80% of the children we met were still wearing slippers, and had no winter Jackets, neither hats, gloves, nor socks .

 

Our support for the children of this camp will  be in securing rain boots for as many as is possible, and hopefully a winter Jacket .

 

We were able to talk with many of the children. We asked one girl what does she need,  and she said "watani Syria ." Watani means 'my home land '.

 

It is very sad how these  children become adults in the way they express themselves.  We  asked another boy why isn't he at school and he said I can't sit on a chair , I keep on remembering my friends who were killed in one of the Syrian villages.

 

Many of the children were sociable, and thirsty to see people and talk to them; they expressed their needs, of a school bag, which was noted, as many were carrying their books in a plastic bag or by hand .

 

We visited the School ( a donation from The Bahrain Government ) , which operates on two shifts , first come the girls, and then by 11:30 the boys arrive.  Some of the pictures  attached demonstrate their morning exercises, and we could feel that there is now some kind of a routine happening and more discipline  was well noticed .

 

This visit made me see the hungry, the naked, the stranger, and the sick amongst us, calling upon us to cloth, receive, embrace and feed.

 

I pray  may peace be on earth , and may God Grant us all the strength to pray and offer our help and assistance.

 

Aleppo: How Syria Is Being Destroyed By Charles Glass

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/dec/20/aleppo-how-syria-being-destroyed/?page=1

A Visit to the Holy Valley of Lebanon

The Qadisha Valley is a valley that lies within the Becharre and Zgharta Districts of the North Governorate of Lebanon. The valley is a deep gorge carved by the Kadisha River, also known as the Nahr Abu Ali when it reaches Tripoli. Kadisha means "Holy" in Aramaic, and the valley, sometimes called the Holy Valley, has sheltered Christian monastic communities for many centuries.

The long, deep Qadisha Valley is located at the foot of Mount al-Makmal in northern Lebanon. Through it the Holy River, Nahr Qadisha, runs for 35km from its source in a cave (grotto) a little way below the Forest of the Cedars of God. The sides of the valley are steep cliffs that contain many caves, often at more than 1000m and all difficult of access. The most scenic section of the valley stretches for approximately twenty kilometers between Bsharri, the hometown of Kahlil Gibran, and Tourza. It is here also that the Holy River, Nahr Qadisha, flows, its source being in a sacred mountain celebrated in the Scriptures.

The Qadisha Valley’s many natural caves have been used as shelters and for burials back as far as the Palaeolithic period. The Aassi Hauqqa (cave) in particular, near Hawqa, Lebanon, has yielded archaeological items indicating Palaeolithic, Roman, and medieval periods of use.

Since the early centuries of Christianity the Holy Valley has served as a refuge for those in search of solitude. Historians believe that the Kadisha Valley has had monastic communities continuously since the earliest years of Christianity. It was also at times a destination for Muslim mystics, or Sufis, who also visited it for meditation and solitude.

Early Christian communities fleeing persecution found refuge in the Kadisha. Among these groups were the Jacobites (Syrian Orthodox), Melchites (Greek Orthodox), Nestorians, Armenians, and even Ethiopians. The Maronites, however, are the dominant Christian group in the valley. From the late 7th century, Maronites fled to the valley from their original areas of settlement in the Levante. At that time, they feared persecution from the Jacobites, who were non-Chalcedonian, and who persecuted Chalcedonian Maronites, and from Islamic attacks. Maronite settlement intensified in the 10th century following the destruction of the Monastery of St Maron. The Maronite monks established their new center at Qannubin, in the heart of the Qadisha, and monasteries quickly spread over the surrounding hills. Early Maronite settlement in the valley combined both community and eremitic life.

The Mameluk sultans Baibars and Qalaoun led campaigns in 1268 and 1283, respectively, against the fortress-caves, monasteries, and the surrounding villages. Despite these attacks, the Deir Qannubin monastery was to become the seat of the Maronite Patriarch in the 15th century and to remain so for 500 years. In the 17th century, the Maronite monks’ reputation for piety was such that many European poets, historians, geographers, politicians, and clergy visited and even settled in the Valley. The first printing press in the Middle East was built in 1610 at the Monastery of Qozhaya in the Kadisha valley. It used Syriac characters. Also this printing press was the first to print in the Arabic language.

The Kadisha (Holy) Valley is the site of some of the most ancient Christian monastic communities of the Middle East. The valley’s natural caves, being comfortless, scattered, and difficult to access, provided monks and hermits sufficiently isolated and inhospitable conditions to live out Christian solitude, contemplation, and devotion. Many of the caves and irregularities in the cliff-sides were adapted to serve as individual dwellings (cells), chapels, and monasteries, and such buildings were further carved out of the cliff faces of the valley. Some have interiors covered with frescoes and facades. Around the caves there are terraced fields made by the hermits for growing grain, grapes, and olives.

Message on Christians in Syria

“We don’t want to become refugees, but to live in peace and with full citizens’ rights and duties in our own land”, says the General Secretary of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches, and resident of Homs, to the General Assembly of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe.

Rosangela Jarjour has drawn attention to the dramatic predicament of Christians in the Middle East. “I dream that one day, when I wake up, I will be able to say ‘I bring good news’, but for the time being that is just not possible”, said the General Secretary of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches on Friday 21st September to the General Assembly of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE) that is currently meeting in Florence. The situation for Christians has “never been worse”, and the future for Christians in the Middle East is acutely endangered, explained the General Secretary, who herself lives in Homs, Syria. Everyday life for Christians, who in the past were able to lead quite secure lives, is now fraught with fear. Christians are now finding that they are no longer allowed to practise their religion and that their civil rights to freedom and free speech “are constantly violated, whilst previously secular matters are consumed by Islam.” More than 50,000 Christians have fled Egypt alone since the onset of the revolution there. Her own family has been forced to leave their home town of Homs. “Christians have lost their homes, livelihoods and churches and been the victims of widespread looting, destruction and arson”, Jarjour reported, showing delegates shocking images of decimated churches in Syria.

Jarjour called upon western Churches “to raise their prophetic voice and not simply follow their governments’ lead”. “In Syria’s case too it is imperative to seek the real truth of matters and look beyond the pictures shown on TV”, implored the General Secretary of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches, that in all represents some 2 million Protestants from 17 Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican churches. The feeling amongst Christians in the Middle East is that “the West has simply forgotten them”. “If things don’t change”, warned Jarjour, “any remaining Christians will be wiped out.”

The demonstrations in Syria had begun quite peacefully, but quickly turned violent. “Many of us don’t believe that this stems from our fellow countrymen”, she pointed out. At first, Christians and Muslims took to the streets together, but as the level of violence increased, so the Christians felt forced to retreat. “This was no longer a popular movement, but instead Syria has become the battlefield for various external forces”, the General Secretary declared, voicing her conviction that “democracy cannot be established by means of weapons and money from Saudi Arabia or Qatar”.

“Not a single Christian” approves of these developments in Syria, she said, her personal desire being “for a peaceful solution. All we ask from whoever ends up ruling Syria is that they grant us Christians basic freedom, security and peace.” The Syrian national, who is currently based in Beirut at the head office of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches, is keen to emphasise the strong desire of many Christians to stay in their home country: “We don’t want to become refugees, but to stay where we belong – in dignity and in possession of full civil rights and duties.” Until Christians “learn of the eventual new leaders’ agenda and what treatment they will face in the future”, many of those who were able to live undisturbed lives under Assad’s regime will not wish to venture into uncertain terrain.

The General Assembly of the CPCE had keenly awaited this particular address by General Secretary Jarjour. “The CPCE is part of a wide international network”, said its President Thomas Wipf: “By inviting Ms Jarjour to the most comprehensive assembly of European Protestantism we wanted to demonstrate our collective allegiance with the Protestant Churches in the Middle East.”

Presbyterian church in Aleppo destroyed by bomb attack Radical Islamist groups suspected

According to the church’s pastor, “two-thirds of the building collapsed, including the sanctuary. The whole place will have to be taken down.”

Aleppo has been the recent scene of intense fighting between the Assad government in Syria and a loose coalition of opposition groups seeking the end the Assad’s family 40-year grip on power in the country.

In an email to Presbyterian World Mission officials here, the Rev. Nuhad Tomeh ― regional liaison for Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Gulf and associate general secretary for the Middle East Council of Churches ― “It is believed  that the radical Islamic groups who have been lately attacking the Christian neighborhood have done this.”

No further details are available at this time .

There are 20 Presbyterian congregations in Syria. They are part of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, which was established by Presbyterian missionaries more than 150 years ago and has been in close partnership with the PC(USA) ever since.

French Bishop: Syrian Soldiers Face Foreign Fighters, Mercenaries, and Terrorists

http://www.globalresearch.ca/french-bishop-syrian-soldiers-face-foreign-fighters-mercenaries-and-terrorists/31260

11,000 fled Syria in past 24 hours

About 11,000 Syrian refugees have fled to three neighbouring countries in the past 24 hours, the largest exodus in "quite some time", the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.  The latest exodus into Turkey (9,000), Lebanon (1,000) and Jordan (1,000) brings to 408,000 the total number of Syrian refugees registered or being assisted in the region, Panos Moumtzis of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.  "It just indicates a significant crisis, the continuation of the conflict," Moumtzis told a news briefing in Geneva after aid agencies held a Syria Humanitarian Forum. "In Turkey, we know from most refugees that they come from Aleppo or Idlib or northern areas. That has been the trend so far."

If I knew Goodness

By Gabrielle Worley

With these hands

I may break bread

and bones

Carve the wise face in marble

and names

into headstones

Lower babies into a mother’s arms

and a mass grave

Build temples

and human cages

Slice apple pies

and appendages

Shoot hoops

and pistols

Braid hair

and electrical wires

Wave flags

and drape them

over coffins

Direct orchestras

and armies

Light candles

and torch homes

Throw snowballs

and grenades

Bury seeds

and landmines

Sign love letters

and security contracts

Release the white dove

into wind

and capture it

Fold fingers into a prayer for God’s justice

to be done here on Earth

and presume to know what that means

Dispensary outing for elderly women's group

The Our Lady Dispensary took our group of elderly women living in the area for a special trip to the mountains.  All the women are from the Syrian Orthodox or the Assyrian Church.  We took them to a monastery called "Mar Charbel" or "Saint Charbel".  Saint Charbel was a monk from the mountains of Lebanon who lived a holy life and performed many miracles.  As we walked around the monastery, many women were calling out to God and Saint Charbel to heal and protect Lebanon.  In the bus, as the women prayed, one women turned to me and said, "There is no country like Lebanon.  It is the most beautiful place in the world but, these people don't know.  They don't understand."