Thursday, February 07, 2008

First the Saturday people, now the Sunday people

In his article in Asharq-alawsat, 'A great loss', columnist and businessman Hussein Shobokshi acknowledges that the exodus of the Jews from Arab lands marked the end of the multicultural Levant. Now, he notes with alarm, it is the turn of the Christians to flee the Middle East.

"The Levant was a model example of coexistence among the followers of different religions; you could witness examples in classrooms, business companies and art or cultural projects. This was the case until the first wave of displacement of Jews from Arab states started to occur.

"However, this also coincided with the declaration of the Zionist state to which security agencies in some of the Arab countries reacted to foolishly; Arab governments began to deal with the Jewish communities with suspicion and concern. The outcome was that the Jews were subjected to forced migration (that is not to neglect the malicious practices* that the Zionist aid agencies used to undertake to instill fear among the community to compel them to go back to Israel).

"This had a hugely detrimental impact on the social and economic diversity in the Arab world. It was also the practical downfall of the understanding of tolerance, coexistence and the acceptance of others.

"Today, there is a blatant codified mobility for the "second exodus", meaning the evacuation of Christian citizens from the Arab world. The percentages of Christians leaving Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Sudan, and Syria have reached staggering heights. Palestine, in particular, is subjected to a "blueprint" to evacuate all the original national Christians living on its territories."

Read article in full

*It is not clear to which 'malicious practices' the author refers. The myth of the 'Zionist bombs' in Iraq has been discredited here.

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