Rameh parish priest fears a spark might set off the northern front with Hezbollah
Fr Raed talks about concerns triggered by the military escalation on the Lebanese border. Social tensions related to conflict are a rising concern, especially in an increasingly radicalised society. The desire to escape does not concern only Christians. "The only solution is an end to the war in Gaza." Dioceses and priests in Italy (and Europe) are urged to promote small “pilgrimages of solidarity”.
Reneh (AsiaNews) – “Everyone is waiting for the spark" that will “trigger open war", even if a "climate of confrontation" already exists, as evinced by recent events, like pagers and portable radios used by Hezbollah in Lebanon exploding, killing scores of people, this according to Fr Raed Abu Sahlieh, parish priest at St Anthony Catholic Church in Rameh, some 40 kilometres north of Nazareth, in the Galilee.
After Gaza, the "northern front" repeatedly evoked by Israeli leaders seems to be the target of a permanent war strategy, explains the clergyman who is also an aide in the Latin Patriarchate school, speaking to AsiaNews.
From his vantage point, he can closely follow the military escalation between the Israeli military and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s largest Shia movement, noting that “Hezbollah does not want an open war with Israel for several reasons. While support for the Palestinians and Gaza is strong, the economic and political situation in Lebanon does not allow a new military adventure, with the destruction of infrastructure and other assets. Fear remains, and the only solution is to end the war in Gaza.”
For the past few weeks, attention in Israel and the international community has been focused on the northern border with Lebanon, where the Israeli government seems bent on opening a new war front whose consequences could be devastating for the entire region.
“Until recently, the area had experienced a period of relative calm,” Fr Raed explains. “It is located a few tens of kilometres from the border with Lebanon but now there is great fear of developments. The whole Middle East does not know what will happen, people are worried, while the two sides (the Israeli military and Hezbollah) are getting ready.”
So far, the military confrontation in the north has been contained, with "missiles that have not reached us for now, but landed in the Golan, the northern villages (which have been evacuated), and near Tiberias where there is an Israeli military base.
“It is clear that the rocket attacks had specific targets and spared, so far, civilians. [But] The 46 villages and settlements in the north are almost empty, with people relocated to hotels in central Israel, Tiberias, and the Dead Sea.
“At least 150,000 Israelis have been displaced from the northern border and from the border with Gaza, staying at reception facilities for almost 11 months, in a difficult situation: families in a single room, tensions caused by overcrowding and uncertain prospects for their children,” before school starts.
The tensions are linked to the war in Gaza, which is little talked about but risks adding to the many problems that grip the country and, consequently, the region.
"Some parishioners work in reception facilities, in hotels in Tiberias,” the priest said. “They tell me about a difficult reality, people who are worried about their things, houses and properties abandoned and at risk of being destroyed, many are already abroad ... According to some sources about half a million but there are no official statistics.”
What is certain is that "more than 62 per cent of Israelis have dual nationality, and those who can leave.”
In Rameh the population is divided between Christians, Muslims, and Druze, about 9,000 people who still live and work together, even if tensions, or at least a spirit of mistrust, is beginning to creep in, like in many other mixed towns.
After all, 11 months of war, the terrorist attack by Hamas and the prospect of the northern front are all factors that undermine dialogue and fuel the radicalisation of respective positions.
“Israeli society has shifted right,” Fr Raed explains. Israelis “want to settle accounts with Hamas and Hezbollah, and there are growing tensions between Israeli Jews and Arabs."
This situation, he warns, “is bringing ruin to everybody,” the result of the direction and political leadership of three people: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The country is at risk of plunging into the abyss not only from a military point of view, but also social and economic.
“Everyone is suffering from the crisis. Just think of this season, which is traditionally dedicated to the olive harvest. In the past up to 200-300,000 workers with permits came from Palestine, but now there are very few. Those who earned money from the harvest risk having no more income. With no money, families cannot pay school fees and children are denied the right to education.”
Such a crisis, such a vacuum is seen everywhere, from Nazareth and Tiberias to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, resulting from the lack of pilgrims who represent the primary source of income for Christians in the Holy Land.
“For some time now, Christians here have been buying houses abroad, in Cyprus and Georgia, in Greece and Romania, but also in Italy out of fear, lack of prospects, a desire to flee. Here in my area at least 20 per cent of families are ready to pack up and go abroad, where they have already acquired a property,” the clergyman notes.
“It is all empty. Today it is possible to visit the Holy Sepulchre and pray for 15, 20 minutes without any hurry, when until shortly before the war one had to wait hours in line to enter and visit.”
The West Bank is also experiencing destruction, as Israeli troops carry out raids and incursions, war scenarios by the Israeli army, “collective punishment”, as Fr Raed calls it. A Palestinian from Zababdeh (West Bank), the priest was born on 25 June 1965.
“Some 24 deaths were reported in Jenin (which the Latin patriarch, Card Pierbattista Pizzaballa visited recently), where everything has been closed for 10 days. Ditches, two-metre deep, were dug to block traffic; going from Jenin to Ramallah is some adventure, amid blockades, checkpoints, and fears of attacks by armed settlers who seem to be the masters.”
Finally, the priest wants to say goodbye with an appeal, or rather a final invitation: “For pilgrims I understand that it is difficult to come, but the holy places can be reached without problems, and they are safe.
“Dioceses, bishops, priests in Italy (and more generally Europe and the United States) can organise solidarity visits with small groups, a few believers, to express closeness and support a bit our economy.
“These are, as I call them, pilgrimages of solidarity that would confirm, once again, the role of Christians as a factor of peace in the Middle East.”
.png)
