Jerusalem
and the Middle East
Church Association

Bishop Mouneer and Bishop Derek lead the Palm Sunday procession in Cairo

Article

Obituaries

Kathi McDonald, the College Warden, writes:

Refugees pour in

We often hear that the Lord works in mysterious ways. When the war between Israel and Lebanon started, many people cancelled their courses at the College, leaving us with no programmes until after 1st September. That was a blow. However, we have been really full, not with course members, but with refugees from the war. They would not have had a place to stay in the College if our courses had not been cancelled.

The war affected many people in Northern Israel, who found themselves on the receiving end of Hezbollah rockets. Thousands more came south to escape the danger, and some came to St. George's.

The College is a wonderful facility and can accommodate forty comfortably, two adults to a room. For several nights though, we had as many as sixty people with us - fathers, mothers, teenagers, children and infants. We had beds, sleeping bags and mats in the rooms, football in the halls, parties in the common room and games in the reception area. I was amazed at the grace and dignity of those who stayed with us, not knowing what was happening to their homes and businesses, and families left in the North. The cease-fire went into effect on Monday 14th August, and by Tuesday our refugee guests were on their way home.

How will Lebanon rebuild?

Now that the fighting is over, we all have many questions. Will the cease-fire last? Why was there a war in the first place and what did it accomplish? How will the families cope with the deaths of their loved ones, more than one thousand in Lebanon and more than two hundred in Israel? How will Lebanon rebuild the roads and bridges and power plants that were destroyed? As the answers to these questions are debated, Arabs and Jews begin again the long and difficult process of trying to make peace.

Please keep the Middle East in your prayers. There are still many places where fighting and deprivation are a way of life. When the Israelis were fighting in Lebanon, they were also fighting and bombing in Gaza. The situation there is worse now than before the war. There is virtually no electricity; the destroyed power plant has not yet been rebuilt. Gas, food, water and sanitation are scarce. It is a crisis affecting nearly one million people.

Information on the Diocese of Jerusalem