Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese citizens are displaced from their homes, taking refuge in public school buildings, parks, and some even located on sidewalks as the sound of bombs and sight of smoke remind them that the Lebanon-Israel war has continued into its third week.
“Within this dramatic and unbearable disaster, we await either peace or death,” said Najla Chahda, director of the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre, according to a report released by Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) on Thursday.
“There are many who wish to leave but cannot,” Chahda added. “We have started to envy those who were able to travel. Still we say this is our Lebanon we cannot leave it.
“And we hope that we will rise with Lebanon again. We call upon the whole world, governments, organisations, institutions, United Nations: please stop this war. Stop killing us,” said the Caritas director.
The 17-day clash between Israel and Hezbollah has killed up to 600 people, according to Lebanon. More than 700,000 have been displaced with an unknown number isolated in villages close to the border with Israel, reported Reuters.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday she will return to the Middle East to work with other officials on how to end the Middle East violence, but did not say when. Rice had been expected to return to the region this weekend.East at any time that I think we can move toward a sustainable ceasefire that can end the violence," according to Reuters.
"The key ... is the extension of Lebanese government authority throughout the country, the ability of the Lebanese government to control all forces, all arms in their country – there should be no militias – and that Lebanon can have the assistance of a U.N.-mandated international force," she said.
Rice attended a closed-door Middle East conference in Rome on Wednesday that ended without a cease-fire agreement.
Meanwhile, some well-known U.S. Christian leaders are calling for Washington to give greater support to Israel. Last week, some 3,000 delegates gathered in the nation’s capital to defend Israel, calling Hezbollah’s attack “a war against western civilisation.”
Christians United for Israel spokesperson included Pastor John C. Hagee, senior pastor of the 18,000 member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas; Pastor George Morrison of Faith Bible Chapel in Denver and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Promise Keepers; the Rev. Dr. Jerry Falwell, founder and chancellor of Liberty University; Gary Bauer, president of American Values and former president of the Family Research Council; Stephen Strang, founder and president of Charisma Magazine; and Janet Parshall, host of the nationally syndicated program Janet Parshall.
