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This story online at http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2006/06615.htm.
06615
November 22, 2006
Murder of Lebanese Christian political leader raises tensions in Beirut
Renewed fear of reprisals fuels already volatile situation
by Toya Richards Hill ACT International
BEIRUT, Lebanon * The packed rush hour streets of Beirut were even more frantic today as residents scrambled for safety following the news that Christian politician Pierre Gemayel had been brutally gunned down in the streets of a Beirut suburb.
Horns blared, sirens screeched and a thick air of apprehension hung over the streets as people struggled with the news. Many mobile phones were even inoperable for a time as scads of people tried to dial out at once.
The 34-year-old Gemayel's murder was especially jarring for some in the diverse Christian community here, and reaction was a mixture of anger, disbelief and fear that the assassination will lead to more violence.
"We have had enough!" said Suad Hajj Nassif, director of the humanitarian relief arm of the Middle East Council of Churches, an ecumenical body that represents several Christian denominations.
"The first thing that comes to people's mind is the war," she said, referring to this summer's conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. "We don't want to live in tensions and in worries all the time."
Gemayel, the industry minister who was a Maronite Catholic, was shot at point-blank range in a Beirut suburb. He was a supporter of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, and the killing only heightens political tensions that were already near the boiling point.
Pro-Syrian factions led by Hezbollah have been in a power struggle to gain more authority in Lebanon's government, while at the same time Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government has backed a United Nations' international tribunal investigating the alleged Syrian participation in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
All of this comes in the wake of a 34-day conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in July and August, a clash that left South Lebanon's infrastructure, in particular, crippled and the whole country emotionally traumatized.
The expectation is "that this will bring something else, something bad, because people will react to this," said Nassif, whose staff has been actively responding to aftermath of the Israeli-Hezbollah crisis. "We are afraid that this will lead to internal problems."
"Now, the situation is critical," she said.
Mary Mikhael, president of the Near East School of Theology located in Beirut, is equally as concerned.
"Of course whenever somebody dies like this it is a loss for the Christian community and for the country," she said. "The sense of loss is there, but also the sense of fear and anxiety."
"Every time something happens we think this is the last time, and then it is repeated again."
"It is very frustrating and very sad," said Mikhael, whose school is an interdenominational institution within the Protestant community.
In a statement not long after the assassination, Gemayel's father, former Lebanese president Amine Gemayel, called for a night of prayer to think and reflect about what has happened.
He also called for calm, saying, "We don't want reactions, we don't want vengeance."
Toya Richards Hill is a reporter for the Presbyterian News Service of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She has been seconded to Action By Churches Together (ACT) International team working in Beirut, Lebanon, through PNS and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, a member of ACT.
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