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Patriarch Rai celebrates Mass among South Lebanon Army veterans

Refugees in Israel, many of them want to return home, but fear possible reprisals from Hezbollah, whom they fought against. The visit to the Christian villages of Kufr and Bir'im Iqrit , evacuated by the Israeli army in 1948 and to which the residents want to return.

5/29/2014
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Patr...g-South-Lebanon-Army-veterans-31214.html

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Beirut ( AsiaNews) - Hundreds of people (pictured ) attended the Mass that the Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai yesterday celebrated in the church of St. Peter in the village of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of ​​Galilee. The Maronites who welcomed the cardinal are part of the thousands of Christians who were part of the Christian South Lebanon Army ( SLA) - organized by the Israelis - and who fled to Israel in 2000 when the Tel Aviv army withdrew from southern Lebanon.

The stop at Capernaum is one of the stages of the pastoral visit that the Patriarch is making among the Maronite faithful in Palestine and in Israel as well - justified by his duty as the head of the largest Catholic Church in the region to welcome the Pope - was harshly criticized by two newspapers close to Hezbollah and Syria, As-Safir and Al-Akhbar, who had spoken of a "historic shame" since his visit to Israel pointed to a "normalization " of relations with a country with which Lebanon is still formally at war. For this reason, it is forbidden for Lebanese citizens to go to Israel and or have economic relations with the Jewish state. Maronite clergy are excluded from this ban, given the presence of about 11 thousand Maronite Christians in Israel. Among them veterans, and their families, of the Christian South Lebanon Army.

But, according to some of the veterans , the historic visit of Card. Rai will not change their situation. "The Patriarch cannot guarantee anything,"one of them told AFP. "We - he added - never wanted to leave our country, Israel is not my home and I want to go home". In Israel they are permitted to perform low-paid jobs in factories, restaurants or cleaning companies. They want to return to their homeland but fear possible retaliation by Hezbollah, which fought against the SLA.

Another veteran, however, said he was "very happy" in his new life.

Yesterday, after Mass, Patriarch Rai visited the Christian villages of Kufr and Bir'im Iqrit. They were Christian villages not far from the Lebanese border that the Israeli army forced to evacuate in 1948, six months after the creation of the Jewish state. Since then those who inhabited them have never been able to go back and now live in the surrounding area. They asked the Cardinal for help. "We want the Vatican and Pope to help - they told him - so that the world hears of our plight".

Patriarch Rai: Reconciliation with Lebanese of South Lebanon Army, they "are not criminals"

The exiles in Israel "Lebanese as much as others, even more so�. For Rai, they did not fight against the Lebanese state or institutions. Indirect criticism of Hezbollah, who are blocking the election of a new president in Lebanon. The ordination of a bishop in Haifa

5/31/2014
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Patriarch-Rai:-Reconciliation-with-Lebanese-of-South-Lebanon-Army,-they-are-not-criminals-31235.html

Haifa ( AsiaNews) - The Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai has assured that he will work for reconciliation between the Lebanese state and its citizens who fled to Israel in 2000. He has stated that they are neither "criminals" nor "collaborators" (with Israel).

On the last day of his visit to Israel yesterday, the Patriarch celebrated mass in the church of Saint Louis of Haifa, for the ned of the Marian month of May, and conferred the title of Cor Bishop on Fr. Salim Estephan Soussan, a Maronite born in Kfar Bar'am before the exodus of 1948.

The city of Haifa is home to one third of the 10 thousand Maronites living in Israel. Several of them are wives and children of Lebanese who fought in the South Lebanon Army, which during the war in Lebanon, allied with Israel against the Palestinians and Hezbollah. In 2000, they withdrew to Israel and are currently condemned to a life that is often stunted and without a future.

In an interview with LBCI TV, the patriarch said that it is time for "reconciliation" with this part of the population, since they are neither "criminals" nor "traitors". " Had they fought against Lebanon? Had they fought against the Lebanese state? Had they fought against Lebanese institutions?" Rai asked rhetorically " They - he added - are Lebanese like others, in fact maybe more so" because they are not the ones who have "impeded the presidential election", have not created refugees and poverty, nor have they "created an economic and social crisis in Lebanon".

The allusion is to the Hezbollah and its allies who are blocking the work of the parliament, delaying the election of Lebanese president with serious consequences on the nation's economy and stability.

In fact, Hezbollah has strongly criticized the Patriarch's visit to Israel , calling it "a shame" that threatens to "normalize" relations with the Israeli state .

In theory, Lebanon and the Arab nations are at war against Israel. However, the Patriarch claimed the freedom of a Pastor of the Church to visit his flock wherever it may be, and stressed that his visit to the Maronite community in Israel has a "religious purpose".

On a visit to an Arab Druze village in Isfiya he reiterated: " I did not come here to make political deals ... I did not come here to make commercial, economic, military or security deals. I came here to see our loving people".