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LEBANON
Happy with withdrawalPope sees hope for lasting peace
After Israeli troops pulled out of southern Lebanon late in May, Pope John Paul II called upon all parties involved in the conflict that has shaken that region to “respect the rights of individuals and of peoples,” and to avoid actions which could “endanger the lives of persons and the coexistence of communities.”
In a message addressed to the Patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir , the Pope expressed the hope that there would be no “new massacres” as Israeli forces left the region. He also said that “the sovereignty of all countries” should be guaranteed.
The Vatican’s top foreign policy official said the Israeli withdrawal was a case of “better late than never.” Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Secretary for Relations with States, told a Vatican Radio audience that the Holy See is deeply concerned about the immediate future of the people in southern Lebanon. But he said that the Vatican is “rejoicing that, after so many years, the resolution of the UN Security Council is being applied.” Shortly after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1978, the UN body called for the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
The archbishop pointed out with regret that the Lebanese government has not yet resumed control of the territory in the country’s southern region, leaving the situation unsettled. He said that Church officials are hoping that there will be “no acts of vengeance, which would bloody the lives of the people” in the area. And he voiced the hope that those who had been forced to leave their homes in the region would now be able to return “in freedom and dignity.”
Christians in danger
Israeli pullout leaves a power vacuum
Christians in southern Lebanon have said they are fearful following the withdrawal of Israel from its self-imposed security zone in the area, which was accompanied by the withdrawal of the Christian militias that had been Israel’s allies.
Leaders of the Syrian-backed Hezbollah paramilitary faction, which was quickly establishing its own hegemony in southern Lebanon, tried to reassure Christians that they had nothing to fear from the change in control. In the mostly Christian village of Qlaiaa, Hezbollah’s representatives met the Maronite Catholic pastor, Father Mansour al-Hkayim, who had earlier called off Sunday Mass at his St. George Church because he said that he feared militia attacks on his congregation. “He who attacks the residents of Qlaiaa, attacks Hezbollah and he who violates the people of the south, violates the resistance,” a Hezbollah spokesman told a crowd outside the church. The militia spokesman then went on to criticize Father Hkayim, saying that the decision to cancel Mass was irresponsible. After a closed door meeting, Father Hkayim said the Mass would be celebrated.
Qlaiaa and a cluster of Christian villages are in an area taken over by Hezbollah and other Muslim and leftist guerrillas in the wake of Israel’s withdrawal and the collapse of its Christian-led South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia. While there have been no direct, organized attacks on Christians as some feared, residents remained fearful because the region was the center of support for the SLA. “We are here praying because we are scared. During the night gunmen come to our homes and take things away; in the morning they act as if nothing happened,” a sobbing old woman at the church told the Reuters news agency.