Ana Torres Fonseca
The situation of Christians in the Middle East has been extremely delicate for years, but since last February 28, it has become even more so.
The increase in military escalation between the United States, Israel, and Iran, violence, mass emigration, fear of extremism, and the economic crisis have all led to a spiral of conflict—a spiral from which Middle Eastern Christians are trying to escape.
A few days ago, a video went viral showing a man pushing a religious sister in the Holy Land and then striking her after she had fallen to the ground. Others came to her aid but the assault leaves little room for indifference.
MARÍA LOZANO
Press Director, ACN International
So I believe that the level of persecution and oppression our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land are suffering has reached another level. I think this cannot continue. Is it racism? Well, I don’t know. That is something the Israeli security forces would have to explain to us.
Discrimination and religious persecution exist across the Levant and Middle East—to varying degrees depending on which parts. However, they are not the only problems Christian families are facing.
FR. TONI ELIAS
Maronite parish priest in southern Lebanon
ENTREVISTA PADRE TONI LIBANO
At the beginning of the war, around, what should I say, roughly 3,000 inhabitants left, mainly for work reasons. Perhaps some had sick family members, serious illnesses requiring them to be closer to the hospital in Beirut. Because, I repeat, here in the area we no longer have hospitals. If something terrible happens, we do not know where to go. So we are practically in a closed-off zone.
This priest is the parish pastor on the border between Lebanon and Israel, in Rmeich, the last Christian village in the area—a place where the bombings do not cease and where the situation is becoming increasingly unbearable.
MARÍA LOZANO
Press Director, ACN International
Families have lost everything. Tourism has disappeared. In Israel and Palestine, it was clear that many Christian families lived from tourism and pilgrimages: all of that has vanished. Then also in southern Lebanon, many had plantations, olive groves and other kinds of crops. All of this has been destroyed; sometimes the trees were even cut down indiscriminately.
And what these communities need most at this time to survive in the region is humanitarian aid, which is something that is becoming increasingly difficult to administer because of the ongoing conflict.
MARÍA LOZANO
Press Director, ACN International
I think the reason aid is not reaching the south has a lot to do with restricted access and the fact that the area is being heavily bombed. Last weekend there were nearly 80 attacks in Lebanon. So it is not easy to bring aid there.
FR. TONI ELIAS
Maronite parish priest in southern Lebanon
But in these situations, where everything is extremely expensive, even transporting goods requires insurance because they are being brought into a war zone. Everything has increased—not doubled, but tripled in cost. So we try to help, but it is nothing. It is nothing compared to what they need.
Without a lasting ceasefire, experts warn that the humanitarian crisis will not be the only issue: coupled with endless conflict and various forms of persecution, middle eastern Christian communities could all but disappear from these territories.
