Christian refugees from Syria living in Lebanon need the support of
their Western counterparts, according to an Eastern Catholic bishop who
is himself a native of Syria.
“They live in rented homes, sometimes with multiple families in a single
home or a set of rooms … most of these Christian families, however, are
in need of the very basics of daily life – food, educational
opportunities for their children, medical care,” Archbishop Issam John
Darwish of the Melkite Greek Archeparchy of Zahle and Fourzol told the
charity Aid to the Church in Need last month.
“Many of them are in bad shape, emotionally and materially – they left
everything behind and came here with literally nothing. Jihadist rebels
came to them at night and forced them to leave immediately – they are
traumatized, because they were unable to mourn and pray for their dead.
We try to support them emotionally and financially.”
These refugees are fleeing the now 33-month long Syrian civil war, which
has forced 2.3 million Syrians to flee their homes for Lebanon, Jordan,
Turkey, and elsewhere.
The war has internally displaced another 6.5 million, and more than 115,000 have died in the violence.
Archbishop Darwish explained that most of the refugees in camps run by
the U.N. are Muslim, and that Christian refugees are reluctant to
register themselves for benefits out of fear of identification and
reprisal.
“They don’t want to be involved whatsoever in the war; they worry that
their names will be given either to the Syrian government or the rebels …
I don’t believe they have real reason to be afraid, however, and we
have tried to help matters by organizing meetings between the families
and representatives of the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.”
He explained that he had encouraged the agency to work directly with the
Melkite Church, “but officials apparently are not too eager to do so,
but we are making some progress.”
There are more than 800,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, a country home
to fewer than 5 million people. Much of the Lebanese population is
reluctant to provide new housing to refugees, fearing a sense of
permanency.
According to a New York Times report of Dec. 11, the country has banned
“box shelters,” housing units of plywood walls and zinc roofs which
measure 250 square feet, “regarding them as a threat to this already
fragile nation.”
Archbishop Darwish said “we help the poorer Christian families pay their
rent,” adding that the archeparchy also tries “to find work for the
young men and adults.”
In the Beqaa Valley, where Zahle is located, December brought freezing
temperatures along with snow, rain, and high winds. Zahle itself is
sheltering 800 Christian refugees.
Zahle is located within 15 miles of the Syrian border, where nationwide
demonstrations sprang up March 15, 2011, protesting the rule of Bashar
al-Assad, Syria's president. That April, the Syrian army began to deploy
to put down the uprisings, firing on protesters.
The war is now being fought among the Syrian regime and various rebel groups, including moderates, Islamists, and Kurds.
Archbishop Darwish criticized the characterization of the Syrian
uprising as part of an “Arab Spring” which toppled governments in
Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen.
“There is no Arab spring,” he said, “there is no push for democracy – it
is a push for theocracy, as we saw with the revolution in Egypt that
brought the Muslim Brotherhood into power. Jihadists from all over the
world are coming into the region – just consider the various radical
factions in Syria, like Al Nusra. So far, the moderate opposition to the
old regimes has been weak.”
The archbishop indicated that “Christians have an important role to
play” in the establishment of societies open to dialogue in the Middle
East, saying, “what we can do is collaborate with moderate Muslims, here
in Lebanon, in Syria, and in other countries of the region. Quietly, we
have begun doing so, because there definitely are partners for dialogue
within the Muslim community.”