A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 36 - Tuesday, September 7th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Holy Land Begins Renewed Cycle of Violence By Maria C. Khoury As I have returned to Taybeh, the one and only all-Christian village left in Palestine, we have begun, again, a renewed cycle of violence. The Christian voices are silenced one more time as fanatics on both sides of the Israeli Palestinian conflict define our future and our identity of total bloodshed and daily war. Every time bombs go off in Israel we are too scared to even leave our homes in the West Bank not knowing how the Israeli army will retaliate or how severe the collective punishment might be each and every time another young person wastes their life away killing innocent people. On September first, one million Palestinian children started school with a heavy heart, not only another year under brutal military occupation but many behind the 26 foot Wall that has made the Holy Land into a hell on earth. This bloodshed will not stop with the building of an Apartheid Wall because dividing and separating the people does not lead to a just peace in the region. The Wall has affected 75% of the children and teachers in areas where it is being built. Many communities have been literally sliced in half, leaving schools and hospitals on one side of the wall with people's houses trapped in no man's land. These Palestinians cannot have services in their regular communities and the Israeli army will not give them permits to have access to Israeli schools and hospitals as more Palestinian land has been confiscated and placed on the Israeli side. The Apartheid Wall is literally forcing a transfer of Palestinian people from their homeland. With the current awful daily conditions, I do not see that the Wall will stop the suicide bombers also known in this area as the freedom fighters. We have reached rock bottom where it is so much easier to recruit more young people to give their lives as "martyrs." The total hopelessness overcomes so many people where it fosters hate and rage. This is not something that needs to be taught in a book. It is a reflection of being violated each and every day by the Israeli army. Many might be asking what is the role of Christ's peace in this sacred land? This will be another academic year where the Christian community must struggle to teach our children the values and traditions of our Christian faith and peaceful resolutions to the brutal and cruel treatment we receive every day. Living in the Holy Land is the ultimate test of practicing turning the other cheek. It is the ultimate test of truly trying and making every effort to love your neighbor and your enemy. Please help us love and pray for our neighbors and our enemies so that Christ's peace can overshadow the evil that was sparked on September 28, 2000 but it was really the boiling pot since the creation of Israel in 1948. "Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness; thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer." (Psalm 4) The beginning of September is also the blessed first day of the church year. May the ecclesiastical year be a blessed one for you filled with many fruits of the Holy Spirit. With best wishes from the Holy Land where local Palestinian Christians still serve as witnesses for Christ for over two thousand years. Witness to Christ's command of Love one Another.
Note: Maria Khoury is the author
of Witness in the Holy Land and the new children's
book Christina Goes to the Holy Land. |
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