Back home, Sfeir calls assembly of Maronite bishops
On his return from the United States, Sfeir gave assurance of US hopes that a "reasonable" ceasefire will be reached. Shelling continues in Beirut and south Lebanon, while in northern Israel, 50% of the people were forced to leave their homes.
Beirut (AsiaNews) Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir returned to Lebanon yesterday and has called a special assembly of the Maronite bishops for this afternoon. The aim of the meeting is to assess what the church can do in the very difficult situation the country is passing through, which the patriarch said "I followed day in, day out, hour after hour".
Cardinal Sfeir returned to Bkerke at the end of a pastoral visit of a few weeks to Maronites in the United States. During his stay there, he had talks with the vice president, Dick Cheney, and also with the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
Talking about these meetings, Cardinal Sfeir gave assurance that the United States was following the Lebanese plight closely and hoped to manage to impose a ceasefire "under reasonable and acceptable conditions".
The patriarch returned by American helicopter and was met at the heliport of the US embassy by the justice minister, Rizk, and the US ambassador Jeffrey Feltman. Cardinal Sfeir then traveled to the patriarchal seat in Bkerke by car.
Today, in Lebanon, people are eagerly awaiting developments following the statement of Olmert, who left open the possibility of creating humanitarian corridors, and for tonight's meeting between Rice and UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, although no one has any information about this. As people wait for the arrival in the Middle East of the American Secretary of State, they are naturally hoping for Israel's acceptance to call a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, in Beirut and south Lebanon, shelling, rocket launches and the flight of foreigners continue. The fear of bombs has touched not only Lebanon; Haaretz reported that in the north of Israel, 50% of the people were forced to leave their homes. In the cities of Naharya (57,000 residents), Kiryat Shmone (22,000) and Safed (26,000), the percentage of displaced people is 50%. In Karmiel (50,000) only 30% of residents left their homes. There are no proper figures for Tiberiade (40,000) as yet, although hotels "have emptied completely". The daily did not manage to find out how many of Haifa's 267,000 residents were still in town.
In Nazareth, Israel's main Arab city, calm has returned after the launch of a rocket by Hezbollah that killed two Muslim children on 19 July. The population is however on alert, because it feels "unprepared" to face possible new attacks. Sources of AsiaNews said people were now expecting Olmert's government to provide facilities like tents and medicines to tackle a possible emergency. Today, the leader of the "Party of God", Hassan Nasrallah, apologized to families of the two victims of the rocket attack, saying it was "unintentional". Even analysts on the spot held that the attack on Nazareth was accidental and did not aim to target a Christian symbol to get a message across to Europe, as many immediately claimed.
Meanwhile, a statement by the Lebanese defence minister, Elias Murr, on Al Arabiya satellite television, confirmed the differences between the government of Beirut and Hezbollah. Declaring that if the Israelis invaded the country, "the army will fight", the Lebanese minister said the army "has no contacts and no coordination with the resistance" and the government "will not allow the resistance to fight in the place of the army nor will the army fight alongside anyone."
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