Israel says its military operation, in which 70 people were reportedly killed Thursday, July 20, is in response to massive rocket attacks fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon, and the Islamic militant group’s refusal to release two captured Israeli soldiers.
"The missiles have been hitting the Arab villages too," Hani Shehadeh told The Jerusalem Post Christian Edition from his home just four miles (6.4 kilometers) south of the Lebanese border.
He spoke a day after two young Orthodox children died in Jesus’ hometown Nazareth following a Hezbollah rocket attack. The two brothers, aged 3 and 7, were from an Arab Orthodox family, a sign locals said that the militant group Hezbollah attacks both Arabs and Jews.
NO EYES
"As Bibi Netanyahu told the Knesset the other day, a Katyusha doesn’t have eyes to see
whether it’s a Jew or an Arab," said Shehadeh who pastors an Evangelical congregation.
He sent an open letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, calling him "a man of peace" and assuring that Arab Christians in the Galilee are praying for Israel’s leaders in this crisis, the Jerusalem Post Christian Edition reported.
"I am writing while my home and church building are being shaken by the rockets, yet we are not afraid, for we believe in the protecting hand of the Lord of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," he wrote. "We are aware of the difficulties that you are facing mostly caused by the Islamic extremists."
He added that the war "is not about politics as much as spiritual warfare," he added. "We believe the God of Israel is going to watch over this nation." British Prime Minister Tony Blair was among the few world leaders who sounded apocalyptic Monday, July 17, when talking to reporters about the Middle East crisis.
NOT "COINCIDENTAL"
"This whole business is not coincidental," said Blair, a Christian himself. "Something is happening here which is creating instability and conflict in one the most sensitive parts of the world, because if this continues and it spirals, the situation is really dangerous," he said in remarks monitored by BosNewsLife News Center at the end of the Group of Eight Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Galilee Arabs have reportedly complained that that there are no shelters or air raid sirens in Arab villages, and no materials in Arabic instructing them on what to do in emergencies.
In addition over 2,000 South Lebanese refugees still living in the Galilee who fled their homes six years ago, according to estimates. "As they weather Hizbullah attacks on northern Israel, friends and family back home face Israel’s counter-attacks," The Jerusalem Post Christian Edition commented.
FIERCE RESISTANCE
It came as Israeli troops met fierce resistance from Hezbollah militants Thursday, July 20, as they crossed into Lebanon to seek tunnels and weapons for a second straight day, and Israel hinted at a full-scale invasion, The Associated Press news agency reported. Thousands of Europeans and Americans continued to be evacuated to Cyprus, the largest evacuation since World War Two.
Israel reportedly warned residents staying behind to "immediately" flee a nearly 20-mile (32 kilometer) swath of south Lebanon along the border. Its warplanes also launched new air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, shortly after daybreak, followed by strikes in the guerrillas’ heartland in the south and eastern Bekaa Valley, AP said.
There is growing pressure from the United Nations, Russia and Europe on Israel to embrace a ceasefire, but the United States has so far suggested it wants to give Israel time to end terrorism. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Israel and Lebanon. (Stay with BosNewsLife for continues coverage on the Middle East crisis).
