Gorilla’s Guides

In the centre of the rebuilt Beirut, the massive old Maronite Cathedral of St George stands beside the even larger mass of the new Mohammad al-Amin mosque. The mosque’s minarets tower over the cathedral, but the Maronites were built a spanking new archbishop’s house between the two buildings as compensation. Yet every day, the two calls to prayer – the clanging of church bells and the wailing of the muezzin – beat an infernal percussion across the city. Both bells and wails are tape recordings, but they have been turned up to the highest decibel pitch to outdo each other, louder than an aircraft’s roar, almost as crazed as the nightclub music from Gemmayzeh across the square. But the Christians are leaving.

Across the Middle East, it is the same story of despairing – sometimes frightened – Christian minorities, and of an exodus that reaches almost Biblical proportions. Almost half of Iraq’s Christians have fled their country since the first Gulf War in 1991, most of them after the 2004 invasion – a weird tribute to the self-proclaimed Christian faith of the two Bush presidents who went to war with Iraq – and stand now at 550,000, scarcely 3 per cent of the population. More than half of Lebanon’s Christians now live outside their country. Once a majority, the nation’s one and a half million Christians, most of them Maronite Catholics, comprise perhaps 35 per cent of the Lebanese. Egypt’s Coptic Christians – there are at most around eight million – now represent less than 10 per cent of the population.

This is, however, not so much a flight of fear, more a chronicle of a death foretold. Christians are being outbred by the majority Muslim populations in their countries and they are almost hopelessly divided. In Jerusalem, there are 13 different Christian churches and three patriarchs. A Muslim holds the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to prevent Armenian and Orthodox priests fighting each other at Easter.

When more than 200 members of 14 different churches – some of them divided – gathered in Rome last week for a papal synod on the loss of Christian populations in the lands where Christianity began, it was greeted with boredom or ignored altogether by most of the West’s press.

Yet nowhere is the Christian fate sadder than in the territories around Jerusalem. As Monsignor Fouad Twal, the ninth Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and the second to be an Arab, put it bleakly, "the Israelis regard us as 100 per cent Palestinian Arabs and we are oppressed in the same way as the Muslims. But Muslim fundamentalists identify us with the Christian West – which is not always true – and want us to pay the price." With Christian Palestinians in Bethlehem cut off from Jerusalem by the same Israeli wall which imprisons their Muslim brothers, there is now, Twal says, "a young generation of Christians who do not know or visit the Holy Sepulchre".

The Jordanian royal family have always protected their Christian population – at 350,000, it is around 6 per cent of the population – but this is perhaps the only flame of hope in the region. The divisions within Christianity proved even more dangerous to their community than the great Sunni-Shia divide did to the Muslims of the Middle East. Even the Crusaders were divided in their 100-year occupation of Palestine, or "Outremer", as they called it. The Lebanese journalist Fady Noun, a Christian, wrote a profound article from Rome last week in which he spoke of the Christian loss as "a great wound haemorrhaging blood", and bemoaned both Christian division and "egoism" for what he saw as a spiritual as well as a physical emigration. "There are those Christians who reach a kind of indifference… in Western countries who, swayed by the culture of these countries and the media, persuade eastern Christians to forget their identity," he wrote.

Pope Benedict, whose mournful visit to the Holy Land last year prompted him to call the special synod which ended in the Vatican at the weekend, has adopted his usual perspective – that, despite their difficulties, Christians of the "Holy Land" must reinvigorate their feelings as "living stones" of the Middle Eastern Church. "To live in dignity in your own nation is before everything a fundamental human right," he said. "That is why you must support conditions of peace and justice, which are indispensable for the harmonious development of all the inhabitants of the region." But the Pope’s words sometimes suggested that real peace and justice lay in salvation rather than historical renewal.

Patriarch Twal believes that the Pope understood during his trip to Israel and the West Bank last year "the disastrous consequences of the conflict between Jews and Palestinian Arabs" and has stated openly that one of the principal causes of Christian emigration is "the Israeli occupation, the Christians’ lack of freedom of movement, and the economic circumstances in which they live". But he does not see the total disappearance of the Christian faith in the Middle East. "We must have the courage to accept that we are Arabs and Christians and be faithful to this identity. Our wonderful mission is to be a bridge between East and West."

One anonymous prelate at the Rome synod, quoted in one of the synod’s working papers, took a more pragmatic view. "Let’s stop saying there is no problem with Muslims; this isn’t true," he said. "The problem doesn’t only come from fundamentalists, but from constitutions. In all the countries of the region except Lebanon, Christians are second-class citizens." If religious freedom is guaranteed in these countries, "it is limited by specific laws and practices". In Egypt, this has certainly been the case since President Sadat referred to himself as "the Muslim president of a Muslim country".

The Lebanese Maronite Church – its priests, by the way, can marry – understands all too well how Christians can become aligned with political groups. The Lebanese writer Sami Khalife wrote last week in the French-language newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour – the francophone voice of Lebanon’s Christians – that a loss of moral authority had turned churches in his country into "political actors" which were beginning to sound like political parties. An open letter to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, warning him to try to turn Lebanon into a "front line" against Israel, was signed by 250 Lebanese. Most of them were from the minority Christian community.

Nor can the church ignore Saudi Arabia, where Christianity is banned as a religion just as much as the building of churches. Christians cannot visit the Islamic holy cities of Mecca or Medina – the doors of the Vatican and Canterbury Cathedral are at least open to Muslims – and 12 Filipinos and a priest were arrested in Saudi Arabia only this month for "proselytism" for holding a secret mass. There is, perhaps, a certain irony in the fact that the only balance to Christian emigration has been the arrival in the Middle East of perhaps a quarter of a million Christian Filipino guest workers – especially in the Gulf region – while Patriarch Twal reckons that around 40,000 of them now work and live in Israel and "Palestine".

Needless to say, it is violence against Christians that occupies the West, a phenomenon nowhere better, or more bloodily, illustrated than by al-Qa’ida’s kidnapping of Archbishop Faraj Rahho in Mosul – an incident recorded in the US military archives revealed on Saturday – and his subsequent murder. When the Iraqi authorities later passed death sentences on two men for the killing, the church asked for them to be reprieved. In Egypt, there has been a gloomy increase in Christian-Muslim violence, especially in ancient villages in the far south of the country; in Cairo, Christian churches are now cordoned off by day-and-night police checkpoints.

And while Western Christians routinely deplore the falling Christian populations of the Middle East, their visits to the region tend to concentrate on pilgrimages to Biblical sites rather than meetings with their Christian opposite numbers.

Americans, so obsessed by the myths of East-West "clashes of civilisation" since 11 September 2001, often seem to regard Christianity as a "Western" rather than an Eastern religion, neatly separating the Middle East roots of their own religion from the lands of Islam. That in itself is a loss of faith.

Robert Fisk: Exodus. The changing map of the Middle East – Robert Fisk, Commentators – The Independent

PARIS (Reuters) – With Christianity dwindling in its Middle Eastern birthplace, Pope Benedict has convened Catholic bishops from the region to debate how to save its minority communities and promote harmony with their Muslim neighbours.

For two weeks starting on Sunday, the bishops will discuss problems for the faithful ranging from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and strife in Iraq to radical Islamism, economic crisis and the divisions among the region’s many Christian churches.

They come from local churches affiliated with the Vatican, but the relentless exodus of all Christians — Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants — has prompted them to take a broad look at the challenges facing all followers of Jesus there.

While conditions for Christians vary from country to country, the overall picture is dramatic. Christians made up around 20 percent of the region’s population a century ago, but now account for about five percent and falling.

"If this phenomenon continues, Christianity in the Middle East will disappear," said Rev. Samir Khalil Samir, a Beirut-based Egyptian Jesuit who helped draw up the working documents for the October 10-24 synod at the Vatican.

"This is not an unreal hypothesis — Turkey went from 20 percent Christian in the early 20th century to 0.2 percent now," he told journalists in Paris. The Christian exodus since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion "could bleed the Church in Iraq dry."

CALL FOR CHANGE

Instead of simply appealing for more aid to Catholics in the region, the experts who prepared the synod call for sweeping social changes to bring forth democratic secular states, interfaith cooperation and a rollback of advancing Islamism.

"At issue is the renewal of Arab society," said Samir, who stressed most Christians and Muslims there are fellow Arabs.

Challenged by western-style modernity, many Middle Eastern societies have fused their Arab and Muslim identities, he said, narrowing religious freedom for non-Muslim minorities.

The working document stated: "Catholics, along with other Christian citizens and Muslim thinkers and reformers, ought to be able to support initiatives at examining thoroughly the concept of the ‘positive laicity’ of the state.

"This could help eliminate the theocratic character of government and allow for greater equality among citizens of different religions, thereby fostering the promotion of a sound democracy, positively secular in nature."

The document pins most of the blame for the Christian exodus on political tensions in the region: "Today, emigration is particularly prevalent because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the resulting instability throughout the region."

It cited the "menacing social situation in Iraq," where about half the estimated 850,000 Christians there in 2003 have since fled sectarian violence and persecution, and "political instability of Lebanon" as further factors driving them out.

The rise of political Islam since the 1970s, especially its violent variations, menaces the whole region, it added, saying: "These extremist currents, clearly a threat to everyone, Christians and Muslims alike, require joint action."

CHRISTIAN COOPERATION

The region’s Christians have also been weakened by age-old splits. The Catholics are divided into Latin Catholic, Coptic, Maronite, Chaldean, Armenian, Syrian and Greek Melkite churches — and they are outnumbered by various Orthodox churches.

Protestants are also present, in older communities founded by colonial missionaries or in newer evangelical groups whose aggressive proselytising — often backed by conservative U.S. churches — has provoked a backlash from Muslim authorities.

The synod document urges the sometimes competing Catholic churches to work with each other and with other Christians to make their voice heard in Middle Eastern society.

Its advice to open up to other churches and faiths, simplify their ancient liturgies and introduce more Arabic into their services echoes the Second Vatican Council reforms that worldwide Roman Catholicism launched back in the 1960s.

Highlighting this openness, the synod has invited an Iranian ayatollah, a Lebanese Muslim and a rabbi from Jerusalem to attend the proceedings and address the 250 participants.

"I don’t think people in the West appreciate to what extent the thematics of the synod are totally new to so much of the Church in the Middle East," said Rev. David Jaeger, a Franciscan and leading Roman Catholic expert on the Middle East.

"The whole discussion of the civic duty of the Christian … is totally new for the region as a whole. For 13 centuries, Christians in the Middle East have been made to live in a kind of socio-economic ghetto," he told Reuters Television in Rome.

As Samir summed it up: "If we can do something with other Christians, it is better than doing it alone. If we Christians can do something with the Muslims, that is even better."

Source: Vatican synod mulls Middle East Christian exodus | News by Country | Reuters

Kirkuk (AsiaNews) – In Kirkuk, the swift condemnation of Catholics of the proposed burning of the Koran, has brought Christians and Muslims closer. According to local sources local Imam’s read the message of Msgr. Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, in the mosques during celebrations for Eid al-Fitr. Together with a delegation of pastors, the bishop visited the local Muslim leaders to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

In his homily, held yesterday in the town mosque, Imam Ahmad said: "Our Christian brothers are always ready to show their solidarity. Their condemnation has reassured us. "

Another religious leader, Foad Al – Rifai, stressed that "the American clergyman [Terry Jones] is not the Christian." "We know the position of Christians in Kirkuk – he said – with the visit of the archbishop and his message. So we thank them for their fraternity and respect their presence. "

The proximity of Christians has been appreciated by the mayor and the civil authorities. Many have heard and praised the positions of the Vatican, broadcasting them on television. Yesterday, Sheikh Ismail Al Hadida in front of the Cathedral of Kirkuk called on all Muslims to protect Christians and the Archbishop.

Despite these words of reassurance Christians are still afraid. If Pastor Jones goes back on his decision, to burn the Koran there will be a backlash on the streets of Kirkuk that no religious leader or civil authority will be able to control.

IRAQ Kirkuk: "Burn the Koran" campaign strengthens friendship between Christians and Muslims – Asia News

HAMDANIYA, Iraq, May 13 (Reuters) – Wailing with grief and rage, Iraqi Christians this week buried the teenage victim of a bombing and  lamented again their vulnerability in the complex stew of Iraq’s sectarian warfare and Arab-Kurd disputes.

Thousands turned out for the funeral of Sandy Shibib, 19, a first-year biology student at Mosul University, who died on Tuesday from head wounds caused by shrapnel when bombers struck buses carrying Christian students in northern Iraq on May 2.

"As students, we were heading to university, not to a battlefield. We carried no weapons. Nevertheless, we were targeted," said Maha Tuma, a schoolmate of Shibib.

"May God rest her soul and give patience to her family," Tuma said, sobbing at Shibib’s burial early on Tuesday at the cemetery of Bahnam and Sara church in Qaraqush.

Numbering some 750,000 in a predominantly Muslim nation of about 30 million, Christians are trapped in the crossfire of sectarian strife and a simmering feud in disputed northern areas over land and some of the world’s richest oilfields.

Hundreds of thousands of Christians — who Pope Benedict called "the most vulnerable religious minority in Iraq" in a Vatican appeal for better security — have left their country since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The United Nations said around 4,100 Christians fled the restive northern city of Mosul, perhaps Iraq’s most dangerous place, between Feb. 20 and 27 after attacks in which eight Christians died; shot in the street, or at work.

The four buses that carried Sandy Shibib and other students were travelling from the largely Christian district of Qaraqush, in the town of Hamdaniya, to Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, when the bombers attacked.

ORIGINAL SETTLERS

Qaraqush is located among the mostly Christian towns of the Nineveh plain. Christians believe they were the first settlers in the area, their roots tracing back hundreds of years before Christ to the Assyrians, one of the most famous civilizations born in Mesopotamia, the historical name of Iraq.

"Christians are the original people of this area," said Louis Marqush Ayoub, a member of the Hamdaniya municipal council. "We Christians have not been a part of any conflict concerning power in Iraq. What is going on is a part of political, foreign and regional agendas."

The Nineveh plain includes disputed areas that Kurds want to fold into the virtually autonomous northern region known as Iraqi Kurdistan. Those demands have been rejected by the central government in Baghdad and by Iraqi Arab factions.

The disputed areas include Kirkuk, a city with an unsettled mix of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and others that sits atop what U.S. officials say may be 4 percent of the world’s oil reserves.

"The majority of Christians are living in the disputed areas. Because of this, they are now under the agenda of the internal groups, especially Kurds and Arab Sunnis," said William Warda, chairman of the Hammurabi Human Rights organization.

‘WEAKEST LINK’

Christians have tried to keep a low profile during the sectarian warfare between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims unleashed by the U.S. invasion but they have come under attack nonetheless. Bombers target churches and kidnappers hold priests for ransom.

It is frequently unclear who is attacking Christians and why. Some see an official hand at work. Others say the motive could be as simple as robbery or extortion.

Sunni Islamist extremists may despise them because they are Christians. Kurdish factions may covet their land or want to prevent them from voting for opponents.

"There is a kind of plan to move the Christians and to put pressure on them … Christians do not have protection, nor do they have a militia," Warda said. "They are the weakest link in the chain."

Because of the attacks, the Christian students of Hamdaniya have stopped going to Mosul University, the only university in Nineveh province. Dozens staged sit-ins this week to press authorities to find them a refuge for final exams.

"Because of physical injuries and psychological damages we suffered from these attacks, we call on the prime minister and the minister of higher education to allow us to take the exams in our town, Qaraqush, or any peaceful and safe place," student Meron Bahnam said.

Source: Bus bombings show plight of Christians in Iraq By Saif Tawfiq Reuters AlertNet

Iraq occupation falls into media shadows

“The Western world that slaughtered Iraq and Iraqis, through 13 years of sanctions and seven years of occupation, is now turning its back on the victims. What has remained of Iraq is still being devastated by bombings, assassinations, corruption, millions of evictions and continued infrastructure destruction. Yet the world that caused all this is trying to draw a rosy picture of the situation in Iraq.”

-Maki Al-Nazzal, Iraqi political analyst

As Afghanistan has taken center stage in U.S. corporate media, with President Barack Obama announcing two major escalations of the war in recent months, the U.S. occupation of Iraq has fallen into the media shadows.

But while U.S. forces have begun to slowly pull back in Iraq, approximately 130,000 American troops and 114,000 private contractors still remain in the country (Congressional Research Service, 12/14/09)-along with an embassy the size of Vatican City. Upwards of 400 Iraqi civilians still die in a typical month (Iraq Body Count, 12/31/09), and fallout from the occupation that is now responsible, by some estimates, for 1 million Iraqi deaths (Extra!, 1/2/08) continues to severely impact Iraqis in ways that go uncovered by the U.S. press.

From early on in the occupation of Iraq, one of the most pressing concerns for Iraqis-besides ending the occupation and a desperate need for security-has been basic infrastructure. The average home in Iraq today, over six and a half years into the occupation, operates on less than six hours of electricity per day (AP, 9/7/09). “A water shortage described as the most critical since the earliest days of Iraq’s civilization is threatening to leave up to 2 million people in the south of the country without electricity and almost as many without drinking water,” the Guardian (8/26/09) reported; waterborne diseases and dysentery are rampant. The ongoing lack of power and clean drinking water has even led Iraqis to take to the streets in Baghdad (AP, 10/11/09), chanting, “No water, no electricity in the country of oil and the two rivers.”

Devastation wrought by the occupation, coupled with rampant corruption among the Western contractors awarded the contracts to rebuild Iraq’s demolished infrastructure, are to blame (International Herald Tribune, 7/6/09). Ali Ghalib Baban, Iraq’s minister of planning, said late last year (International Herald Tribune, 11/21/09) that the billions of dollars the U.S. has spent on so-called reconstruction contracts in Iraq has had no discernible impact. “Maybe they spent it,” he said, “but Iraq doesn’t feel it.”

Last January, the Los Angeles Times ran a story (1/26/09) that highlighted the lack of electricity: “As elections near, people say it’s hard to have faith in leaders when they don’t even have electricity,” was the subhead. But most other large U.S. papers have avoided the topic-unless it is brought up in such a way as to blame Iraqis for the problem, as the New York Times (11/21/09) did with its piece, “U.S. Fears Iraqis Will Not Keep Up Rebuilt Projects.”

Further complicating matters, a drought that is now over four years old plagues most of Iraq. In the country’s north, lack of water has forced more than 100,000 people to abandon their homes since 2005, with 36,000 more on the verge of leaving (AP, 10/13/09).

Corporate media coverage of the ongoing Iraqi refugee crisis-the U.N. estimates that more than 4.5 million Iraqis in all have been displaced from their homes (UNHCR.org, 1/09)-continues to be scant. The stories that do appear tend to be local stories about Iraqi refugees in the newspaper’s home city (e.g., Chicago Tribune, 10/25/09).

For Iraqis who remain in the country, another critical story is cancer. The U.S. and British militaries used more than 1,700 tons of depleted uranium in Iraq in the 2003 invasion (Jane’s Defence News, 4/2/04)-on top of 320 tons used in the 1991 Gulf War (Inter Press Service, 3/25/03). Literally every local person I’ve ever spoken with in Iraq during my nine months of reporting there knows someone who either suffers from or has died of cancer.

The lead paragraph of an article by Jalal Ghazi, for New America Media (1/6/10), is blunt:

Forget about oil, occupation, terrorism or even Al-Qaeda. The real hazard for Iraqis these days is cancer. Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment.

Ghazi reported that in Fallujah, which bore the brunt of two massive U.S. military operations in 2004, as many as 25 percent of newborn infants have serious physical abnormalities. Cancer rates in Babil, an area south of Baghdad, have risen from 500 cases in 2004 to more than 9,000 in 2009. Dr. Jawad al-Ali, the director of the Oncology Center in Basra, told Al Jazeera English (10/12/09) that there were 1,885 cases of cancer in all of 2005; between 1,250 and 1,500 patients visit his center every month now.

Babies born to U.S. veterans of the 1991 war are showing birth defects very similar to affected Iraqi babies (Sunday Herald, 3/30/03), and many U.S. soldiers are now referring to Gulf War Syndrome 2, alleging they have developed cancer because of exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq (New America Media, 1/6/10).

How has this ongoing story been covered by the corporate media? It hasn’t, at least not in the last five years, with the exception of an article in Vanity Fair (2/05) and a few isolated Associated Press stories, like “Sickened Iraq Vets Cite Depleted Uranium” (8/13/06). While smaller publications like the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (11/05) and the Public Record (10/19/09) have taken it on, none of the other big outlets have touched the story.

While U.S. newspapers have been following the lead-up to the Iraq elections, there has been virtually no coverage of the mass arrests Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s government is busy conducting in predominantly Sunni areas of Iraq. As the Iraqi daily Azzaman (1/4/10) reported:

Iraqi security forces have launched a wide campaign in Sunni Muslim-dominated neighborhoods of Baghdad and towns and cities to the north and west of the capital…. The campaign is said to be the widest by the government in years and has led to an exodus of people to the Kurdish north.

Family members of those being arrested are not told where their loved ones are being held, only that those arrested will remain behind bars until after the elections. These sweeps have collected members of the formerly U.S.-backed Awakening Councils, Sunni militias once paid off by the U.S. to stop their attacks on occupation forces. The cutoff of U.S. support for the Councils is another underreported story.

Meanwhile, the hardship for Iraqis continues unabated, along with the need to find alternative sources for accurate information-or any information-about an occupation that continues to involve as many troops as when Iraq dominated U.S. headlines in 2004 (Congressional Research Service, 7/2/09).

Dahr Jamail is an independent journalist who has been reporting about the U.S. occupation of Iraq for more than six years. His most recent book is The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The New ‘Forgotten’ War | Dahr Jamail – Independent Reporting from Iraq and the Middle East

If you had read the independent Iraki newsagency Aswat al Iraq’s English language coverage of Ninewa governorate in general and the disaster that is befalling Mosul’s Christians in particular you would know that that yesterday evening "more than thirty" Christian families had fled Mosul within a space of two days. "More than thirty" —  you could be forgiven for having the the impression that only a few more than thirty families have fled, thirty one, thirty two, thirty three perhaps … … …  "more than thirty".

The reality is catastrophically worse. Hundreds of Christian families have fled their homes in the last two days in Mosul and it’s suburbs in terror for their lives.

If you are a Christian in Mosul today the overwhelming factor in your life is that to fear being hunted down and slaughtered without mercy is an entirely reasonable fear to have. The source of the "more than thirty" quote is Bashar Kiki who is the head of the village council for Tal Keef. However, if you read the report that my colleague Mohammed Al-Hamadani posted earlier today (Arabic language) it becomes very clear that Bashar Kiki¹ was speaking only of families whom he personally had met and to whom he personally offered help.

However when you count all the Christian families who have fled their homes in Mosul in the last few days and not just those who fled to Tal Keef as we have done and as Bishop Emil Shimoun Nona, Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, has done then the scale of the catastrophe engulfing Mosul’s Christians becomes clear.

Speaking from Mosul the Bishop spoke of a "humanitarian emergency" and revealed that in just one day, yesterday, "hundreds of Christian families" had fled the city taking what they could carry leaving their homes and livelihoods behind them. Those families are now destitute.

IRAQ Bishop of Mosul: humanitarian emergency. Hundreds of Christian families fleeing violence – Asia News:

The archbishop of Mosul is concerned about the many families, "hundreds" in one day yesterday, leaving the city. Bishop Nona speaks of an " unending via Crucis” and denounces the "change in methods" operated by the armed gangs. "In the past we said to the Christians to remain closed in the house – he remembers – but now they are even attacked in their own homes”. The reference is to the murder took place last February 23: commandos entered the house of Aishwa Marosi, a Christian of 59, killing the man and two boys. His wife and daughter witnessed the murder but were spared by the criminals.

Bishop Nona confirms the risk that "Mosul will be emptied completely of Christians”, who are fleeing towards the plain of Nineveh and other places considered safer. "Yesterday I visited some families – he continues – I have tried to bring comfort, but the situation is dramatic. The people fled without taking anything with them”. This is why the local archdiocese has launched an initial emergency response, trying to provide "essential supplies and relief", but the danger of "a humanitarian crisis is real."

The archbishop of Mosul plans to travel to Baghdad to meet with politicians and the central government, to demand their intervention. It is difficult to maintain the Christian presence, he continues, and it is likely that the general elections – scheduled for March 7 – no one will vote. The confining of Iraq’s Christians in the Nineveh Plain, victims of a power struggle between Arabs and Kurds, seems an increasingly concrete likelihood, although the Church leaders have always been opposed to this "ghettoisation". So far, the warring factions have used the excuse of religion and armed gangs to drag the Christians into the conflict. "For this – concluded Mgr. Nona – we now need to find a ‘political response’ to the conflicts, the struggle for power.”

Among those hundreds of Christian families who fled their homes yesterday were the families of two Gorilla’s Guides team members. More Christians have fled Mosul this morning. Among those who fled this morning were a further two families of Gorilla’s Guides Christian team members in Mosul.

When I wrote "Nearly One Million Christians – Most Of Them Now On The Run" nearly two years ago, we had twenty five Christian team members and associates together with their families living in Mosul and it’s suburbs. Today February 25th 2010 we have one Christian team member left living in the city. He lives alone having sent his family to stay in the home of another team member far from Mosul for their safety.

The savage murder of the 59 year old Assyrian Christian Aishwa Maroki by a gang of gunmen who smashed down his front door to get at him and then slaughtered him and and his two sons Bassim and Mokhlas in front of his terrified wife and daughter has terrorised many of Mosul’s Christians beyond endurance. As my colleague has reported in the immediately preceding posting (see نزوح اسر مسيحية من مدينة الموصل جراء العنف | Gorilla’s Guides ) The leader of Tal Keef district council, Bashar Kiki, has said that he personally has offered assistance to thirty Christian refugee families and that he expects more Christian refugees to arrive in the next few days.

Mosul’s Christians are the victims of the complete breakdowns in law and order that have taken place repeatedly in Mosul since the American invasion of Irak. They are the victims of several concentrated campaigns of terror against them. There is the campaign by Takfiri extremists and there are the competing campaigns of Arab and Kurdish nationalists. Wherever my Christian brothers and sisters in humanity look in the city that is their home Mosul’s Christians see only threats and predators. The security forces, the Peshmerga now flooding the city, and the American forces who patrol with the Peshmerga do nothing to protect the Christians. Nor do they do anything to protect the other minorities such as the Shabaki and the Yazhidi.

We have many eyewitness reports from witnesses whom we know to be credible of Peshmerga and their American allies standing by and doing nothing while Christians are attacked in front of their eyes. We have reports from people whose testimony we know to be credible of Christians being "fingered" by the new "security" forces flooding Mosul and then being attacked. We are not the only people with thick dossiers of such reports. Every human rights organisation with a presence in the governorate has such a dossier.

The parallels with the death squad murder campaigns of recent years in which the death squads consisting of  "men dressed in police uniform" and "men dressed in army uniform" turned out to be police and soldiers are too clear and too appalling to be missed. As with those campaigns the aim is explicitly political — to remove a political obstacle by forcing an entire community to flee in terror from their homes

When Mosul’s Christians say that they are surrounded by threats and predators in the city that is their home and that among worst predators are those whose duty it is to protect them they are telling the truth.

Like Bashar Kikim, and Bishops Sako and Nona  we in Gorilla’s Guides know that we can expect more Christians to flee in terror as the terror campaigns against them escalate. We expect increased violence against them and the other minority groups, such as Turkmen, Fayli, Shabaki, and Yazhidi in the run up to the election. We expect the violence levels to escalate against them still further as the issues of Kirkuk and the so-called "disputed areas" come once more to forefront of the political arena. This is the second time in recent years that I have burnt with rage and shame that we cannot do more to protect our Christian brothers and sisters. I believe that it is now very doubtful that there will be any surviving Christians in Irak in a few years time.

Mohammed Ibn Laith

Notes and references: 

1. I have met and dealt with Bashar Kiki on occasion as have many other team members and we know him to be a truthful, honourable, upright, and compassionate man.
2. For a background briefing on Iraki Christians see: Nearly One Million Christians – Most Of Them Now On The Run | Gorilla’s Guides I wrote it on March 23, 2008 in it I deal with Iraki Christian history and discuss the legal (Shariah) situation as regards their rights to live and worship in peace and freedom.
3. However the Takfiri campaign against Iraki Christians in general and Mosuli Christians in particular is only one of several campaigns against them. Most of the attacks on them are ethnic cleansing from one group or another. Some of the best coverage is from the Vatican run Asia News who are unafraid of using their excellent local contacts and contacts with local organisations to get at the truth.
   
   • The homepage for Asia News’ English language service is at this link.

   This report explains clearly the basic problem  IRAQ Mosul: targeted execution of Christians continues in media and government silence – Asia News the last part of which I extract immediately below:

   Local witnesses reported that "the murder took place in front of the security forces, who saw all the phases of the attack, but did not intervene." A Catholic in Mosul says that "the tactic is to murder Christians, because the media does not talk about it." A strategy that aims to push Christians towards the plain of Nineveh, "in the silence and indifference of the government and the international community."

   A source for AsiaNews in Mosul, adds that "Christians are living in panic and have begun fleeing from the city". He explains that "these are not normal criminals," but behind them are "specific political plans" that the government is not countering. There is no information from Baghdad "about who is behind attacks on churches and Christians," but the source is confident that the central executive, the governorship of Mosul and the Kurdish leadership "are aware" of the plan against the Christian community.

   "It is easier to attribute responsibility to Al Qaeda – concludes the source – and the fundamentalist fringe. In reality, Christians are victims of a power struggle between Arabs and Kurds".

4. My colleague Ali who has excellent contacts in Mosul and trained our coordinator there made a simlar point om May 13, 2009:

   Suffer The Little Children | Gorilla’s Guides:
   

   There’s a reason why our Christian fellow citizens are fleeing Irak and not coming back. The tragedy of Tony Edward Shiol’s murder illustrates it perfectly — Christians are targets. Sometimes they are targeted as a matter of ethnic cleansing, sometimes because of warped and fanatical religiosity, and sometimes because they are often seen as being a relatively wealthy and relatively powerless minority.

   Irak’s Christians have been through hell, Irak’s Christians continue to endure hell – the figures speak for themselves. As best I can determine the Christian population stood at 1.2 million in 1991, 800,000 in 2003 and is less than 400,000 today. When I talk to the few of my Christian friends who remain in Irak, they are divided. Some dream of a return to old days of an Irak that treats its Christian minority well and cherishes their presence. An Irak in other words that behaves like Syria and Jordan. There are many who have given up and are fleeing to Europe, to America, or to wherever will take them, finally there are some who want their own semi-autonomous region in the Plain of Ninawa.

   This last option the “Ninawa plains project” is fatally flawed. Its flaw is that the Kurds are determined to incorporate the Ninawa plains into what is rapidly evolving from an autonomous region to a de facto state while the governorate authorities and the government in Baghdad are equally determined to prevent the Kurdish land grab. The result is that Christians, especially Christian families with children, are vulnerable to intimidation and coercion from all sides. No wonder they flee.

5. Further coverage can be found here:
   • Pope’s Pain at Christian Killings in Iraq (Vatican Radio)
   • During Lenten retreat, Pope prays for Iraqi Christians and peace in the country (AsiaNews)

Rome, 24 Feb. (AKI) – Pope Benedict XVI and the entire Vatican are deeply concerned about the continuing attacks on Christians in Iraq, a Catholic cleric told Adnkronos International on Wednesday. Mons. Philip Najim, the Vatican’s representative for Chaldean Christians in Europe, said the attacks are being organised by extremists and are aimed at driving out Christians.

"The Pope is very worried about the plight of Christians in Iraq and he has said so many times and has repeated that the rights of this community must be respected," said Najim.

"These are well organised acts by extremist groups and Islamists aimed at driving Christians out of Iraq."

His comments came as the funerals of three Christians killed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul took place, including those of a father and son who were killed at their home.

The Bishop of Mosul, Georges Camoussa, said it was the first time such a "vile act" had been committed against Christians in their own homes.

The killings were the latest in a spate of murders of Christians ahead of Iraq’s key general election on 7 March, which is being seen as crucial test of democracy in a country wracked by sectarian strife.

It is not clear if the spike in attacks against Christians is an attempt at voter intimidation by factions involved in a violent territorial and power struggle between Kurds and Arabs in Mosul or another attempt by Al-Qaeda to derail the election.

Christians number around 250,000 to 300,000 in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is capital.

Najim called on nations to intervene to protect Christians in Iraq.

"This is important. The world is waiting for the results of the election. But if human rights and personal safety are not ensured, there can be no political progress.

"So I appeal to the international community to break its complete silence on the massacre of Christians," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Italy’s foreign minister Franco Frattini said a ‘manual’ will be issued in the next two months to all European Union ambassadors to give guidance on ’sensitive’ countries’ treatment of religious minorities, especially Christians.

"There is a risk of persecution. We are obliged to act, not just make declarations," Frattini told Catholic daily Avvenir

He said he was planning to hold an international conference on religious freedom in Italy "this year".

Iraq: Vatican voices concern at Christian attacks – Adnkronos Religion

Kirkuk (AsiaNews) – Christians in the East are decreasing in numbers due to wars, migration, low birth rates, the expansion of Islam and divisions within the community itself. The threats and pressures to sell land and houses, bought by Muslims and with the support – including economic – of fundamentalists, suggests that the Christian presence in the Middle East is destined disappear.   

The Synod of the Churches of the Middle East can help us avoid this fate if we go to the roots of the crisis. 

The early Church (which was Middle Eastern) was close to people and presented the Gospel message conforming to the culture of the people, proclaiming the faith in their own language, so that the message was attractive and effective. The prophetic role of the Church was manifest and worked in the truth and from it, people were able to derive meaning for their lives and a sign of great freedom and dignity. For this reason, many converted and decided to embrace Christianity.   
Today, the Christian presence is a cultural one, a historical and tradition-bound presence, an ethnic identity according to the millet system, which is a perfected form of the Institute of Islamic dhimma [the pact of "protection" for non-Muslims, which made Christians and Jews second class citizens - ed.] The Apostolic Churches, however, have lost the enthusiasm of their origins in the work of witness: the role of prophecy, love and zeal for the proclamation of the Gospel to others.   

The future of the community depends on several factors, two of which are of fundamental importance: the relationship between Christians, i.e relations between the different Churches and the relationship with Muslims. 

The relations between Christians   

Christians today need to promote, in a continuous and influential manner, a culture of love and dialogue, openness and diversity. Current divisions leave a strong and negative mark on their presence and their testimony. The relationship between the various churches is going through difficult times and seems to move backward.   

The Church is the community of believers who look to Christ and testify to the announcement of Good News, which is continuously renewed. The Church can not merely limit itself to being a sociological, ethnic or cultural entity… Preaching the Gospel means welcoming the Good News with the commitment to live it and correcting erred behaviour. Baptism becomes the culmination of the journey of faith. This should be done not only with the elite, but also with simple people.     

Most churches in the Middle East are small churches and live with an identity crisis because of their dual membership (i.e.: ethnic identity of a political, social and cultural nature and the one linked to the universality of their mission). And groups of evangelical churches: do we call them churches in the nominal sense or are they rooted or tradition?      We need a serious self-criticism and to reconsider our reality and our mission. The future depends on our cooperation, our service and our witness. We are one family, we must overcome the barriers that divide us. We are united in the Word of God, we have the same profession of faith, despite the differences in form, and generally, the same sacraments. We must strive for mutual enrichment and deepen all the peculiarities of our faith in God’s love, forgiveness, the joy that comes from welcoming.   

We all need to be patient and learn to read history, to assess the facts impartially without emotion. The real strategy is to work together Christians of Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. Even the Christian political parties are divided and in conflict, they must unite to support the Christian presence, otherwise our fate will be of wailing and lamentation in front of our land.   

Dialogue with Islam   

Today the affirmation of political Islam is clear. It has made this religious identity the central one in the Middle East. This identity has overshadowed the Arab nationalist ideology (the umma) and political participation derives from the principles of Islam.   

Together Christian churches and not isolated, must talk to face this reality and establish rules of civil coexistence.   

Dialogue with Islam is the only civilian rule, effective for interacting with everyone, taking into account all that has been achieved over the course of history especially during the periods known as the Ommiad (7th – 8th century) and Abbasids (8th – 13th  century).   

Christians have an obligation today to offer theological approaches to the faith in a new and understandable language, the line of biblical theology rather than in a classic, philosophical language. 

In this dialogue, they must be allowed to demonstrate the contribution they have given to the Arab and Islamic civilization, the history of these regions is not entirely Muslim, but pluralistic, and make sure it is recognised that the Christian Arab factor is a source of enrichment rather than depletion . They must clearly state that they had no relation with the Crusaders when they invaded the East; nor with the colonial powers that invaded the Arab countries without taking the national charter into account; nor with the occupation forces in Iraq and Afghanistan; they have always supported the cause of the Palestinians. These points are very important at the level of Muslim public awareness.   
Dialogue is the only way to resolve differences and restore security and stability. The opening up of Christians, their qualifications and skills may be useful for Muslims. For this we must encourage:   

a) adoption of new programs of religious education, based on tolerance and acceptance of others, refraining from all forms of violence.   

b) ensure that all are equal before law with equal rights – without any discrimination of race, religion or sex – which creates trust and improves coexistence, strengthening the sense of responsibility of each individual.   

c) a commitment to promoting and encouraging solidarity with the poor and marginalized, whatever their race, colour or religion, overcoming injustices and wrongs.  

Source: VATICAN – MIDDLE EAST Synod of Middle East Churches: mission and a return to dialogue by Archbishop Louis Sako – Asia News

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – "In a climate of insecurity and lawlessness in Iraq, the Christian community is suffering. To all Christians around the world we say: Do not abandon us." This is the heartfelt appeal made through Fides by Bishop Shlemon Warduni, Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad, recently visiting the Vatican for a meeting with Benedict XVI.

In his trip to Europe, Bishop Warduni is asking for solidarity and material support from Christian institutions for the reconstruction and renovation of churches and pastoral buildings in Baghdad, damaged by the attacks in recent months. Fides was able to ask him a few questions.

What is the current situation of the Christian community in Iraq?

Our situation sparks concern and pain. The context is well-known: for years, Iraq has been ravaged by internal and external wars that have robbed the people of peace and basic social services like health and education. The consequences of the last war and military occupation are tragic. The political instability and anarchy has generated misery and destruction. This is why many Christians – along with thousands of other citizens – have had to leave the country. We have lost about a third of our community. It is a tragedy of vast dimensions, which is witnessed by the world.

Have you noticed improvements in the last year? What do you hope from the new elections?

What has occurred is that the lack of political planning has led to the proliferation of terrorism, which today has its own agenda and destabilizes the country. Legality and security are lacking, the government is weak, and the elections (not yet established with certainty) will have to address these urgent needs, otherwise they will be useless. Meanwhile, attacks on churches and Christians continue: in the last two weeks there have been explosions in three churches in Mosul, not to mention in Baghdad, where three months ago a car bomb outside a church killed two young people and wounded 30, causing great material damage. [For us], tranquility is a small break between two attacks.

How do Iraqi Christians think and feel about the situation?

These episodes have a very negative effect on Christians. They sow fear and rob us of hope. It is not a question of "ethnic cleansing," but looking at the overall situation there is a plan that intends to hurt us. Placing ten bombs in churches on the same day has a precise intention of intimidation. The fear and discouragement that circulates in the community leads to the flight of the faithful who fear for their lives and their families, rightly so.

What does Your Excellency think of the proposal to gather all Iraqi Christians in the Nineveh Plain area?

It is absurd and senseless. It would mean reducing the Christians to a ghetto, putting them in a cage, crushing them in the conflict between Arabs and Kurds. Christ told us to proclaim the Good News to the whole world: we are called to be salt, light, and leaven for the nation. They cannot be confined to a single territory on the grounds of religion.

What do you and your people wish to request from the government?

We ask the government to identify, pursue, and prevent terrorist attacks. We seek protection. We simply want our rights. Iraq is our country, we are Iraqi citizens just like the others. We have been in Iraq since the first century AD, when St. Thomas went to preach in our land. We were in Iraq for 600 years before the Muslims. We do not demand any special treatment, only respect for our dignity, for our freedoms and fundamental rights: to live in peace, proclaim the Gospel and help build our nation.

What appeal do you make to the international community?

We ask the international community to offer stronger and more decisive aid. Strong pressures are needed from Western governments to stabilize the framework of Iraq and restore legality and safety. The governments that promote democracy and human rights, who are ready to defend their economic interests in Iraq, should also work to eradicate terrorism and promote peace and legality in Iraq.

How are you preparing to live Christmas?

Christmas will be a critical time. It is during all the major Christian festivals when attacks occur and the climate of intimidation increases. Our Catholic community is a fervent one, but people are afraid to come to church. We hope that God will grant us peace and help us to celebrate the feast of Christmas with courage.

What do ask from the Pope and from all the Christians in the world?

To support us, to not leave us to our own devices, to raise their voices to defend us in the international community. To all believers in Christ in the world, we say: pray and help the victims of violence, war, and terrorism. Remember the suffering people of Iraq, who have suffered for so many years. The Holy Father, whom I met with yesterday, has assured me of his prayers and support for Iraq and all Iraqis. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 17/12/2009)

Fides Service- Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples