Save the Chaldeans and the presence of Christians in the Middle East: a conference in Beirut in February 
A lato, le nevi del Libano: il monte Hermon. Grazie a Bagdadhope per la segnalazione
Sempre da Bagdadhope apprendiamo che la nomina del successore di Mons. Paulos Faraj Rahho, l'arcivescovo di Mosul ucciso in modo atroce un anno fa, è prevista per l'inizo del 2009.
«Il mondo ci aiuti a fermare l’esodo dei caldei» esuli a Beirut
da Avvenire di domenica 28 dicembre 2008
di Luca Geronico
Un accordo international mobilization of the Arab countries, the EU and the UN: meetings, calls, informal consultations ... Chaldean bishopric of Beirut, while continuing the flow of refugees seeking aid in human-ments, is working on a political strategy, "This month, 32 families from Iraq, last month the same: we do have recorded 200 thousand and but many prefer to remain completely in the shadows. Chaldeans at least 5000, many Muslims. But in Syria and Jordan, there are many more and their fate and we know very little about the situation. "
At least 300 thousand Chaldeans fleeing estimated. Rattles off the figures of what in other regions of the world has been called "ethnic cleansing" and two years his daily pressure: the duty of solidarity, but also a challenge: "My mission? Save this people, "says beating his fist on the armrest of his chair in his study Michel Kassarji, the Chaldean bishop of Beirut. It is for the small Chaldean community of Lebanon to accept and to revive those who run away from Iraq this year, aid amounting to 700 thousand dollars and a precious work of the secretariat social half a million dollars a year earlier. But
rescue, treat, not a solution that will meet, "What would you say if you are depopulated in Italy the Vatican? The Iraqi Church is one of the oldest in the world, is spoken in ancient Aramaic liturgy. "
Una vera svolta in negativa, racconta Michel Kasdano – generale in congedo che ora dirige il centro informazioni della Chiesa caldea – è stato l’omicidio lo scorso marzo del vescovo di Mosul Paulos Faraj Rahho: «Da allora chi arriva oltre al dolore della propria famiglia aggiunge: 'Hanno ucciso il nostro vescovo'». E si scappa sempre di più: per le minacce degli integralisti islamici, per le accuse di aver lavorato per gli americani, per le bande di delinquenti che taglieggiano la popolazione. «Ma anche per il virus dell’immigrazione: il miraggio di un futuro in Occidente che in realtà è sempre più misero delle attese senza capire che inevitabilmente così si perde la propria identità», Monsignor Kassarji adds. It is the knowledge that question lies another Chaldean "In the Holy Land Christians are only 0.5 percent. And in Lebanon, the last country with a significant presence of Christians, continue to emigrate, "he continues Kassarji.
Creating conditions to remain, prepare a plan that would allow Chaldeans have in Lebanon - which does not recognize the status of political refugee - a second home to return in the long term in Iraq. So
Chaldeans of Lebanon Maronite Church involved and are preparing an international conference for mid-February with all the religious and political components of the Middle East: a plan to save the Chaldeans and make possible presence of Christians in the Middle East: "It's a symbolic issue, if we like the Palestinian one in the past decades we are asking for a response from the international community," says General Kasdano. Create in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, the conditions for stay and negotiate in Iraq before the Americans withdraw, a special status: "Not a political and administrative autonomy as you wanted in the Nineveh Plain, but to establish an historical area protected by a UN international force. " A hope that becomes a plea to the Christians of the Middle East: "Return, return to your land."
