"In the end, said Martin Luther King, we will all remember, not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"./"Where there was protest it made a difference"/'Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor" Lev. 19:16 (chief Rabbi Lord J. Sachs)
"The exodus, mostly taking place within the past six weeks, is part of what respected news sources describe as an "ongoing ethnic cleansing of Christians" by militant Islamic groups with links to Al Qaeda."
* Until now, Homs has been home to one of Syria's largest Christian populations,
* Islamists have reportedly gone from house to house in the Homs' neighbourhoods of Hamidiya and Bustan al-Diwan, forcing Christians to leave without giving them a chance to take their belongings.
* "The people we are helping are very afraid."
News from AINA:
The mass exodus of 50,000 or more people to villages and towns around the city comes amid reports that the homes of Christians in Homs have been attacked and seized by 'fanatics'.
Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, which announced on Monday 26th of March an urgent $100,000 aid package providing food and shelter, has been told that 90 percent of Christians have left Homs.
The exodus, mostly taking place within the past six weeks, is part of what respected news sources describe as an "ongoing ethnic cleansing of Christians" by militant Islamic groups with links to Al Qaeda.
Until now, Homs has been home to one of Syria's largest Christian populations, and Church sources have said the faithful have borne the brunt of the violence, escaping to villages many of them in mountains 48 Kms outside the city.
Islamists have reportedly gone from house to house in the Homs' neighbourhoods of Hamidiya and Bustan al-Diwan, forcing Christians to leave without giving them a chance to take their belongings.
According to other reports, Christians have left their homes voluntarily, in effect making way for others to occupy them to shelter from the violence.
Desperate for food and shelter, the displaced people taking sanctuary in the Wadi Alnasara region and Marmarita and other villages, are to receive aid as part of the $100,000 ACN aid programme.
The assistance will provide each family with US$60 each month for basic food and lodging, with the hope that by the summer they can return home.
ACN is also helping families caught up in a car bomb explosion last Sunday (18th March) which targeted the Christian quarter of Aleppo, close to the Franciscan-run Church of St Bonaventure.
Overseeing the aid programme, Bishop Antoine Audo SJ of Aleppo told Aid to the Church in Need: "The people we are helping are very afraid."
Speaking today (Monday, 26th March) from Aleppo, the bishop added: "The Christians don't know what their future will hold. They are afraid they will not get their homes back.
"It is very important that we do whatever we can to help the people."
In his application for ACN aid, the bishop stated: "Please speed up the implementation of the project because of the difficult circumstances that Christians face in Syria."
The bishop, who heads Aleppo's Chaldean diocese, paid tribute to ACN benefactors, adding: "Thank you for helping us. Pray for us and let us work together to build peace in Syria."
His comments come as fears grow of Syria becoming a "second Iraq", following a similar pattern of church attacks and forced expulsion and kidnapping of Christians.
If the attacks continue, Syria could suffer the same fate as Iraq where Christians have plummeted from 1.4 million in the late 1980s to perhaps less than 300,000 today.
In both cases, the Church has been targeted for perceived close links with regimes under fire from opposition parties and rebel groups.
The Homs crisis has prompted increased fears that Islamists are gaining influence in the region, filling the power vacuum left when decades-old regimes across the Middle East were overthrown at the start of the so-called Arab Spring.
By John Pontifex
www.aidtochurch.org
http://www.aina.org/news/20120326195829.htm
http://www.persecution.org/2012/03/27/church-fears-ethnic-cleansing-of-christians-in-homs-syria/
The exodus of more than 50 000 Christians...
http://www.persecution.org/2012/03/28/syrian-violence-drives-50000-christians-from-homes/
We should always remember The Holocaust (Shoah) - Chief Rabbi Lord J. Sachs (2012):
"In the end, said Martin Luther King, we will all remember, not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2C-k4q_wLI&feature=share
Amos 5:7 "Ni förvandlar rätten till malört och slår ner rättfärdigheten till marken."
Amos 5:24 "Låt rätten flöda fram som vatten och rättfärdigheten som en ständigt rinnande ström."
Joel. 2:13 "Riv sönder era hjärtan, inte era kläder, och vänd om till HERREN, er Gud."
Foto: Kerstin L.
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