Blair in Lebanon Crisis Talks as Christians Deplore Devastation

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is flying out to Washington DC, USA for urgent talks with President Bush on the Middle East crisis.

|PIC1|The visit to the White House comes as pressure continues to increase on the UK and US to demand an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Blair has also come under escalating pressure as claims emerged that US planes were given permission to use a Scottish airport to transport bombs to Israel; which has sparked anger among Cabinet members. Backbench Labour MPs are now increasingly urging Mr Blair to put aside his refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire.

The UK government has stated that it wants to achieve a lasting peace, not something which only stands for a few days.

At a news conference on Monday, with Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, Mr Blair said of the crisis: "It will not stop on both sides unless there is a plan to make it stop and that's what we are working on urgently."

As the debate over whether a ceasefire should be called for, Christians worldwide have expressed their horror at the number of civilian injuries and fatalities.

The Langham Partnership has released a statement this week saying: “It is all terribly troubling to see the awful onslaught on Lebanon and the scale of destruction and death there and in Israel. We have been able to be in contact with several of our Langham Scholars in the region, and the battles are having a fearful effect on their families.”

The statement continued: “One of our scholars and his family have managed to get to out of the region, since the shelling was uncomfortably close to where they live in Lebanon. Another scholar had only just gone to the USA for some study, before it all began, and is now separated from his family. Others seem to still be in the conflict zones. We have contacted all of them with words of support and prayer, and hoping they will find it possible to keep in touch.”

|TOP|Meanwhile, campaigners are set to march In Brighton this Sunday over the conflict, and are calling for an immediate halt to hostilities. Protestors also have stated that they will march to condemn all those who profit from the attacks, such as the Brighton arms manufacturers EDO MBM.

The Orthodox Archbishop of North America has also expressed his deep concerns over the Middle East crisis.

As the crisis widens, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, Primate of The Orthodox
Church in America, sent letters of support to His Beatitude, Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch and All the East, and His Beatitude, Patriarch Theophilos III of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine, in which he shares the concern and prayers of the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful of the Orthodox Church in America.

In the letter the Archbishop stated: “It is with deep sadness and profound distress that we watch the conflict in the Middle East escalate to such already devastating proportions. We deplore the continuing bloodshed and violence that afflicts those lands rich in Biblical history and Christian ancestry.

|AD|“And we call upon all persons involved to negotiate an immediate cease-fire and to work together for a just, peaceful, and lasting solution, not only to this present crisis, but also to the many problems that are the source of such conflict.”

Bishop Riah, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem has said, “We have seen and we have been the recipients of the generosity of our American and British friends. We cherish the support of everyone throughout the world who stands with us in solidarity.

“As I write to you, I am preparing to leave with other bishops for Nablus with medical and other emergency supplies for five hundred families, and a pledge for one thousand families more.

“On Saturday we will attempt to enter Gaza with medical aid for doctors and nurses in our hospital there who struggle to serve the injured, the sick, and the dying.

“My plan is that I will be able to go to Lebanon next week - where we are presently without a resident priest - to bury the dead, and comfort the victims of war,” said The Rt. Rev. Riah H. Abu El-Assal.