On Friday , 22nd of April , I participated with the movement in an initiative in which we travel to a village known as “Atfih” , our aim was to emphasize national unity in a village famous for sectarian violence specially after the barbarian burning and demolition of the “Shaheedain” church not too long ago. The church was rebuild better than before but we wanted to rebuild the sense of unity between the people of Atfih .

We reached Atfih around 4 pm , the prayers were just over . We met the army officer the rebels coordinated with , he accompanied us to the church .There we found crowds of people , coming out of a building, wearing the clothes worn by ordinary Egyptian farmers. I didn’t know that they were Christians until I found out that the building they were coming out from was a church !!!!…….. I was actually wondering how could there be sectarian congestion in a village you can barely distinguish it’s one of its people from the other!!!.

At the church we met the bishop and he as well as the servants of the church treated us with great hospitality and generosity . One of them accompanied us for a tour around the church that lasted for about 90 mins. But the same question remained unanswered “why would this village have sectarian congestion?!!”

We found the answer in it’s people . after walking through the village and talking to the people right there we found out that the main problem of the village was not it’s bad services or unemployment ….but the problem was in ignorance . we found out that ignorance dominates the village after we knew from some villagers that the reason for the barbarian attack on the church was rumors (he believed they were not rumors) that the church sponsors the use of magic and protects sorcerers and wizards (bishops and priests !!) , they also believed that Coptic language consisted of words used for casting magic !!!­­­­­

I think that what we can do as Egyptian youth is to try to work on improving the education in Egypt generally and in villages specifically , There must be more educational institutions in villages , there must be more awareness and educational campaigns not only limited to politics and religion . If we seek a new Egypt then we should work on having it ignorance and sectarian free……

The explosion was triggered shortly after noon New Year’s Eve, while devotees were about to leave the church in the district of Sidi Beshr. The Coptic Christian church had been gathered for midnight mass just before the bomb exploded.

The wounded were hastily transported by ambulances to two hospitals near the town where the church is located. Interior Ministry said Saturday morning that the explosion will be investigated.

Initial investigation shows the explosion was caused by a car bomb. The car was parked outside the church and it was assumed that it belonged to someone who frequently visit the church, said a spokesman for the ministry.

The state news agency MENA said that the President was kept informed of developments in the case Friday night. Mubarak asks in a statement that Christians and Muslims must stand together in the fight against terrorism.

Kameel Sadeeq in the Coptic church in Alexandria believes the explosion, al-Qaeda hallmarks. People entered the church to pray to God but ended up being torn body parts. This massacre, al-Qaida’s hallmark, and follow the same pattern as al-Qaida has used in other countries, “said Sadeeq.

Shortly after the attack gathered several hundred Christian Egyptians to a demonstration Some of the demonstrators came together in front of a mosque, and small groups of Christians and Muslims began throwing stones at each other. Several cars were set on fire.
Revealed a source close to Pope Shenouda III, who went to the city of Alexandria during the next few hours to visit the Church of Saints, that he may cancel the New Year’s Day celebrations after the casualties

The Israeli apartheid army tried in vain to prevent the event from happening from preventing a bus company from transporting activists to blocking the road to the village to threatening people in the village. Strong will and creative on-the-spot triumphed maneuvers frustrated the army’s maneuver and all did in through other means to hold a huge demonstration of at least 200 people (Palestinians and Internationals including some Israelis). Not allowing empty buses to come to pick the demonstrators, we still managed to get everyone out safely to go the manger square for the traditional Christmas procession. With over 50 volunteers wearing bright yellow vests (Handala and Free Palestine prominently printed on them), we distributed over 2000 ‘Christmas Cards’ to the Christian pilgrims. The cards referred to the wish for peace with justice and linked to the Kairos document, a call by Palestinian Christians issued a year ago (see here.)

Later in the afternoon, we traveled to Beit Jala where we shared putting-up a Christmas tree at the home of Abu Michel, a Christian whose land was taken over for the apartheid wall. Then onto Aida refugee camp for a meaningful Christmas Eve with refugees. Christmas day was spent mostly in Hebron old city including in a demonstration against the racist settlers who continue to attempt to destroy the old city. The occupation authorities used tear gas and stun grenades and kidnapped two internationals (French and a Scottish, both released later at night). Some Internationals joined us in the candle light march in the Shepherds’ field that evening – over 2000 attended, a marvelous event; here is a video of it:

The next morning, activists went to Qalandia checkpoint and protested the Israeli army preventing Palestinians from entering Jerusalem. A Palestinian and nine French
activists were detained and many were beaten and injured. Video here:

That afternoon, a tree planting event near the wall in Bil’in was met with Israeli tear gas and stun grenades. Video here:

Later in the evening, we had an evening of camaraderie and solidarity despite attempts to politicize the event by some. The next day, the delegation visited Nablus (see photos here) and on the way back stopped by Beitil and had a demonstration against the closure of roads inside the west bank to Palestinian travel (photos here). Two were detained and several injuries were reported due to the Israeli assault on the peaceful demonstration. All detained in these various demonstrations were mistreated but were eventually released.

I urge all to come visit us and see what is happening in the “little town of Bethlehem”: 170,000 people nearly half of them are refugees crowded into 13% of the original district size of Bethlehem and surrounded by 27 ft high walls and electrified fences. Many people describe it as a Ghetto or a Bantustan (and the Israeli government calls such remaining Palestinian areas in the Negev and elsewhere as concentration areas). But on the positive side, the pressure of the occupation and the test of us make us better human beings. The hundreds of internationals that participated in these activities told us how honored and leased they were by having shared a meaningful holiday season with us. Energized, we now planned much bigger activities for this summer (stay tuned). Similarly, the Palestinians who participated in the demonstrations or who even simply hosted internationals in their homes or who even saw us on TV or read about us in newspapers all felt a sense of hope and empowerment. For me personally, having a house full of internationals sleeping everywhere eating together, working together, being attacked by occupation authorities together was the best Christmas gift. Come to think of it, that is what the message of that prince of peace born over two millennia years ago was about. We are the descendents of those first believing Shepherds who saw the star and believed in Jesus. Jesus born in a country called Palestine was thus Palestinian by birth but when he grew up he also challenged a Jewish ruler (Herod) put in place by a Western government. History does repeat itself although with some variation but the message of love and peace will eventually triumph. This Christmas from here in the Shepherds’ field just down the hill from the Church of Nativity, we sang “this in my heart, I do believe.we shall overcome someday” .. Merry Christmas.

For more on us Christians here, please visit this link.

A council of Christian leaders representing churches from multiple locations in Iraq recommended their churches to cancel the public celebrations of Christmas. The recommendation came after al-Qaida Tuesday threatened new attacks on the Christians, according to news agency AP.

“No one can ignore the threats from al-Qaeda against Iraqi Christians,” says the Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk city.

“We can not find a single cause for joy that leads us to celebrate. The situation for Christians is cold, “said Sako.

After the attack on Our Lady’s Salvation Church in Baghdad in late October, the situation has deteriorated further for the remaining Christians in Iraq.

Church leaders in Baghdad and in cities of Kirkuk, Mosul and Basra say they will not hang up Christmas decorations or celebrate midnight mass. They urge Christians not to decorate homes for Christmas. Even an appearance by Santa Claus was abandoned.

- This is to prevent new attacks, but also to show that people are sad, not happy, “said Younadim Kanna, a Christian in Baghdad said.

The threats must have come from a group calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq, which shall be an al-Qaida
But even before Christmas, the Christians in Iraq kept a very low profile. The Christians are living behind locked doors and are forced to be away from work in Mosul and other cities for long periods. The reason should be that they are exposed to danger at work. The universities are almost empty for Christian students. The same schools will be, according to a report from a church leader who assists the Christian Iraqi refugees in Syria. The report is sent to Barnabas Fund.
.Christians must daily be exposed to threats, violations and hurtful graffiti on the walls.

Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, international director of Barnabas Fund, asking for urgent international intervention to help Iraq’s Christians.

The British newspaper The Times writes in an editorial 22 December of Christian Iraqis agony: Should they leave the country in which Christianity took root before the arrival of Islam and fled to Syria and Jordan or the West? Or should they defy the murderers sent by al-Qaida to kill their congregations and stay with families in Baghdad by relying on God and the Iraqi army is protecting them?

Christianity in Iraq is threatened with extinction. Before the war broke out in 2003, lived about 880,000 Chaldeans in Iraq and more than half a million other Christians in relatively stable conditions. As doctors or engineers, they were highly regarded in society, provided they expressed no criticism of the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Meanwhile, their number will have halved.

Support and assistance in Damascus

But has helped just one man, the thousands of Iraqi refugees, Christians now makes courage to stay: Father Farid Botros of the Chaldean Church in Damascus in a German documentary . would find from Iraq fleeing Christians in Syria the necessary help, the minister said in his parish house in the neighborhood of Bab Touma: “More than 2,000 families in Damascus for help from us. They come mainly from the edge of the city neighborhoods Jaramana, Saida Zeinab and Maskin Berzah. ”

“We have organized for Iraqi refugees in Syria, a lot of utilities. 2009 twenty doctors have worked for us,” he explains. “Here in Bab Touma, there is a neighborhood center and a device for people who have come from Iraq, providing humanitarian and medical assistance. We are also handicapped children to the side
St. Thomas brought in the first century AD, Christianity in Iraq. As an offshoot of the Catholic church was built near the religious community of Chaldeans in the first region of Mesopotamia between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, where Iraq is today. Whatever it was, after a 1551 dispute over the succession in office of the patriarch with the Catholic Church had fallen out with him. The fragile balance of social and community groups in Iraq in early 2006 became permanently out of joint, after which the land in 2006 and 2007 was rocked by a series of attacks which brought it to the brink of civil war. Although the Iraqi government promised to protect the Christian minority in the country, an important number of Chaldean church leaders in Iraq were kidnapped and murdered. Mosul, once a city with a thriving Christian population, now sinking into violence and chaos.

On 29 February 2008 was abducted Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, after he had read the Mass in Mosul. Two weeks later, on 13 March, was dead in a shallow grave on the outskirts found his. In June of last year were his Father Ragheed and three subdeacons secretary already been murdered: attacks that are clearly directed against the Christian community. The destruction of ethnic diversity is perhaps the worst impact of the Iraq war has had on the.1987, when the last official survey, 1.4 million Christians lived in the country. A report by the U.S. State Department religious freedom, according to worldwide, there were only 2008 550000-800000 Christians there. Since then the number has probably fallen further.

After the attacks had many Muslim leaders in Iraq expressed its solidarity with the Christian community to express and promised to help, more Christians who are looking for our help center in Syria , but there were also Muslims already there. They all need support n Damascus, the Chaldean Church has for about five hundred children and youth religious education at Sunday from the Iraqi refugees who come to hundreds of thousands across the border many want to continue to a Western country to settle and the Middle East back on the return – the wish for the most people flee from Iraq – not just the Christians. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Damascus, reported last year, only 1179 people would have in October 2008 initiated, voluntary returnees reported for the program. Evidently the people of Iraq not so sure that there did they return. According to the United Nations in Damascus, Syria, the percentage of Christians among the refugees in particularly high.

The political conflicts will pose to the security and stability of Iraq probably remain a major challenge.

One of my earliest memories of interacting with Christians involves going to our Christian neighbors’ houses on what I later would learn was Easter to get colored eggs. A group of us, Muslim boys would get together and go to Christian houses, every year in a trick-or-treat (minus the costumes) style of collecting candy and colored eggs. That was before I even went to school. At school, I had a number of Christian friends, we had a class called, “Islamic Education” and Christians were asked to leave the classroom for that period, that was the “secular” Saddam’s way of saying that Christians don’t have to learn about Islam if they choose not to, but I don’t really remember it to be a choice, I think they had to leave. I am speaking from memory and not as an expert on education curriculum.

In 1991 Iraqi Kurdistan was freed from Saddam’s regime and in the almost two decades that followed, the Christians of this region have thrived politically, culturally and economically. Let me back this up. Kurdish law dictates that amongst the 11 quota seats of the 111-member parliament, 6 must be filled by Christians, one of which is for Armenians. The proposed constitution of the Kurdistan region lists all of the Christian communities of the region as major components of the Kurdistani society.

The Syriac language whose immediate parent language is Aramaic is taught in Kurdistan’s public schools, students don’t merely take one language class in their mother tongue, the whole curriculum is in Syriac. This system applies to all Christian students for all pre-collegial levels of education. TV and radio stations, magazines and newspapers as well as tens of Chaldo-Assyrian cultural centers criss-cross this region.

Nearly all Christian churches have been renovated and tens of new ones have been built, some of the churches in Kurdistan and in the immediate disputed territories date back to the 7th century AD! According to AINA, 66 churches have been bombed in Iraq since the start of combat operations in 2003, far more than 66 churches have been built in the Kurdistan Region since 2003! Zero have been bombed by the terrorists.

The Christian villages that were demolished by the former regime have all now been rebuilt, thousands of housing units have been built by the KRG for Christian villagers across the Kurdistan region. Additionally, large sums of money have been invested by the KRG in Christian areas in the disputed areas of the Nineveh plains.

While Christians are targeted in the rest of Iraq simply for being Christian, the Kurdistan region has opened its arms for thousands of Christian families who now call Kurdistan home. Not only are they welcomed here and enjoy all the rights as the native Kurdistanis, they are also given financial assistance, in the form of monthly stipends, thanks to the KRG-established Christian Affairs Committee headed by Sarkis Aghajan.

Mr. Aghajan is an Assyrian Kurdistani whose contributions to the enhancement of Christians’ living standards in Iraqi Kurdistan have earned him international recognition, including having been knighted by the sitting pope with the award of knight commander in the order of St. Gregory the Great (rarely given to non-Catholics). Once KRGs finance minister, Sarkis, 48 is now retired and last week at his residence in Ainkawa, he told me that he wants to write his memoirs and complete his mission, hoping that ultimately, other governments in the Middle East would look after their Christian minorities.

Alas, so little of this is reported. On the contrary, last fall, Human Rights Watch released a report on the minorities of the Nineveh plains titled, “On Vulnerable Ground” where they shamelessly ignored the Christians’ golden era under the KRG.

KRG officials are not angels, they are politicians, they do not do it because of the “black eyes” of Christians, they do it for votes and popularity, but the end result is that a generation of Christians are now fluent in their mother tongue, that their villages are built, that their political rights are protected, that their culture is thriving and that their golden age in modern Iraq is now, here in Kurdistan.

Just last week, the region’s President, Mr. Massoud Barzani ordered Kurdish universities to accept 2000 Christian college students from Mosul to continue their education here in Kurdistan. Atheel al-Nujaifi, Mosul’s governor was unable to even comment on the Presidents move, mainly because he knows that he cannot protect his Christian citizens, because in Mosul, the terrorist continue to be active and their motto continues to be, “be a Sunni Arab or be dead.”

Although they were granted more representation in Parliament under the new election law that was finally approved in early December, they continued to be besieged on many fronts, especially in northern Iraq.

There has been a notable increase in attacks targeting Iraqi Christians, particularly in the northern restive city of Mosul.

Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province, used to be a main center of Christianity in Iraq prior to the 2003-U.S. invasion.

Christianity came to Mosul and the adjacent Nineveh Plain in the 1st century A.D. and reached its zenith in the 7th century.

There are probably more monasteries and churches in the city and its suburbs than mosques – but unfortunately most are abandoned today.

A bomb placed close to a church went off on Wednesday, killing one Iraqi Christian and damaging part of the church.

Other churches and a monastery were attacked this month, causing material damage but no casualties.

However, several Iraqi Christian have been killed in the city this month, some of them originally living there and others on business trips.

On Thursday, the Christmas eve, one Iraqi Christian youth was killed as he left his home in al-Tahrir district, according to www.ankawa.com, a social and news website specialized mainly in Iraqi Christian affairs.

“Are these the Christmas presents we get?” Said Fr. Faiz Wadia of the Orthodox Christian church that was attacked last week.

“Is this the way they want to congratulate us on Christmas and the New Year?” Fr. Wadia added.

That year, a wave of attacks against Christians in Mosul left 40 dead and displaced more than 12,000, according to the United Nations. Although many have since returned to Mosul, the attacks against Christians and their churches have continued.At least five Mosul churches have been targeted in the past few weeks.

Late 2008 at least 40 Christians were killed and more than 12,000 forced to flee the city.

Analysts say if the anti-Christian attacks continue, Mosul will soon lose its Christian identity and standing as a center for tolerance and co-existence in the Middle East.
They also suffer for political pressures to act as they are living happily in Iraq ,they did not celebrated Christmas this year cause Iraqi shiaa were mourning the death of Alhussien in Ashora ,the government thanked them for there sacravise but the reality is that most people relived when the chirch said we will not celebrate cause they had not intention to celebrate ,cause they were afraid from been looked as acting happy in ashore ,a new custom in Iraq to force people to join you in sadness even on the expense of there religion
Many Christian are flying Iraq ,Holland and Germany still give them asylum ,Norway and Sweden is asking them to go and live in Kurdistan ,as they prefer to believe Iraqi government propaganda than to read UN reports
Other minorities as azydians and sabia are not much better ,no one mention the 5000 bahai and 150 jewish we had in Iraq of course cause according to Iraqi leaders they do not exist
refrences:

azzaman newspaper
ankawa web sit
www.aina.org

As the restless soul he was, he couldn’t stand a carefree life in the US and later became a leading of the Islamic revolutionary movements in the Middle East, organizing and training guerrillas and revolutionary forces in Algeria, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.

After Islamic Revolution, he came back to Iran and was mysteriously killed in action, battling Iran-Iraq war on 1981.

Musa Sadr the Iranian-born Lebanese philosopher and prominent religious figure, was Chamran’s buddy in Lebanon. Chamran helped Musa Sadr and they together found the Amal Movement in southern Lebanon and fought alongside Amal guerrillas in the late 1970s.

Ṣadr was well known as a moderate, demanding that the Maronite Christians relinquish some of their power in favour of the Lebanese muslim community, but pursuing ecumenism and peaceful relations between the groups.

In August 1978, before Islamic Revolution in Iran, Musa Sadr and two other companions disappeared in an official trip to Libya.

They were never heard of again, though there’ve been hearsayes and unconvinsing reports suggesting he’s alive.

However, Chamran and Musa Sadr are not the only ones. Each time there’re similar examples in different countries of the Middle East. From Palestine to Lebanon, Iraq to Saudi Arabia, Egypt to Afghanistan, women or men, poets, writiers, politicians, artists and so on.

Whether directly by CIA, Mossad and whatever western secret service or indirectly via their puppets, everytime someone intelligent is working, writing or fighting for justice to heal the difficult life of people in the region, though moderate, something mysteriously happens. They’re ‘mysteriously’ assassinated, killed or kidnapped.

That’s where story of great men of the ME end up. Or maybe There’s not going to be an end for the story. Maybe “Great men never die” and “The End” is just to start from the beginning.

The tour included both the districts of Karakoush and Tilkeif and villages of these two districts; Burtelah, Karemlees, Alqoush, Al-Sharafia, Telsqof, Baqoufa, Batnaia, Baasheeqa, and Saint Matti monastery. Many bereaved families were interviewed. The majority were employees of the governmental and professionals, such as university professors, teachers and engineers.

Some of these families received direct death threats. Others fled in fear with only the clothes they were wearing after hearing news about the murder of 12 Christian citizens in different areas of the Mosul City, and the bombing of three houses in AL Sukkar district. They could not even take their medicines with them. Threatening leaflets were distributed along with CD’s, death threat letters, messages via cell phones, marking houses, hanging placards with threats and warnings through loud speakers in many quarters ordering Christians to leave at once or face revenge. 1200 families were displaced and the number is increasing.

The delegation met with Mosul City Council member, Ms. Evelyn Enwiya, a number of representatives from the local councils, the Iraqi Red Crescent, clergymen, and dignitaries from the affected areas. Opinions were exchanged in regards to the current situations in Mosul City. There were also discussions on how to provide protection and emergency aid for the displaced.

The delegation sensed the feelings of solidarity and unanimity amongst the locals, expressed through taking the displaced into their own homes and helping in raising donations for them. The churches, monasteries and the houses of priests were filled with hundreds of families as a temporary solution. Schools received the displaced students as guest students. Health care centres dispatched medical groups to the areas in order to offer any medical help required.

The displaced people expressed extremely touching images of solidarity, brotherhood, and love between them and their neighbours, of different religions and ethnic backgrounds, in Mosul City, who helped them during their present ordeal by transporting them to safer havens and guarding their properties.

Many of the displaced confirmed that the deterioration of the situation, the symptoms of which surfaced during the last two weeks, was due to the weakness and laxity of The Security Preservation Forces led by the Federal Government in dealing with the nests of crime and terrorism in the city. The displaced people pointed out with deep concern the fact that there were penetrations within these security forces, and that they were often used as covers for criminal actions. They also expressed their resentment towards these forces for withdrawing, during an earlier campaign, personal arms from the locals, without providing any protection for the city, which led to the spread of theft, and provided convenient grounds for extremists to carry out their crimes.

They believe that this campaign against Christians is a continuation of the criminal acts preceding it against the Azdians and Shabaks. It is an organised operation supported by local, regional and international parties, which is part of a plan designed for the demographical redistribution and the division of Iraq. The weakness in the national will and the absence of trust amongst the ruling political parties, who are competing for power and wealth on the expense of urgent needs of the people, provide the right environment for these actions.

The delegation concluded its visit to the area, with an emotional meeting, in which they listened to the cries for help from Ms. Basima Arminak, a widow, whose house was blown up by terrorists. She pleaded to those in position of responsibility to act without delay, in order to protect her and her family: ‘Where am I to go? My house was flattened to the ground; I’ve been struggling for thirty years for this house, to secure a roof for me and my five children. It took one criminal act to bring it down tumbling. It brings back all the pains of the past endured by our ancestors.’

The delegation left the area, bearing in memory a written phrase on the walls of one of the monasteries;

‘Oh Lord of peace, bestow peace upon Iraq ‘