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REP. SCHIFF: The Plight Of Syria's Christians

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  • REP. SCHIFF: The Plight Of Syria's Christians

    REP. SCHIFF: THE PLIGHT OF SYRIA'S CHRISTIANS

    http://asbarez.com/117001/rep-schiff-the-plight-of-syria%E2%80%99s-christians/
    Wednesday, December 4th, 2013

    U.S. Representative Adam Schiff

    BY REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF

    As winter descends upon the Middle East, the plight of Syria's people,
    who have endured nearly three years of savage civil war, grows more
    desperate with each passing day.

    Fighting rages on throughout much of the country and, with government
    forces making headway in recent months, many of the rebel groups have
    splintered, turning on each other. As in wars throughout history,
    it is civilians - especially children - who have borne much of the
    suffering. More than nine million Syrians are in need of humanitarian
    assistance and a quarter of these, two point two million, have fled
    the country, mostly to neighboring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Half
    of those refugees - more than one million people - are children.

    Another six point five million Syrians are internally displaced,
    having fled their homes but remaining inside the country, often in
    parts of Syria that have changed hands on multiple occasions and with
    attendant civilian suffering.

    While all of Syria's people have been affected by the fighting,
    it is Christians, who make up about ten percent of the country's
    population, who are at greatest risk, given their small numbers and
    the increasingly religious nature of a war that started out as a
    broad-based secular movement that sought to change the character of
    the Syrian regime - but not the regime itself.

    For two millennia, Syria has been home to one of the oldest
    Christian communities in the world, a population dominated by the
    Eastern churches, but also including smaller numbers of Catholics
    and Protestants. Syria's Christians have been comfortably and fully
    integrated into the economic, political and cultural life of modern
    Syria and, despite their small numbers, are well-represented among the
    country's elite. Tragically, this long, peaceful coexistence has been
    shattered and half a million Syrian Christians - nearly one in four -
    have fled the country since the fighting began.

    Like minorities the world over, Syria's Christians have tried to avoid
    getting dragged into the fighting that has gripped their homeland. But
    with their top two population centers, Aleppo and Homs, having seen
    some of the most savage fighting of the war, Christians have been
    unable to avoid being drawn into the conflict.

    While the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad did not
    start out as a sectarian conflict, it has increasingly taken on a
    religious tone as many of the rebels have wrapped themselves in the
    mantle of fundamentalist Islam.

    Initially, the Free Syrian Army and other larger rebel groupings,
    distanced themselves from the more religious rebels factions, some of
    whom are linked to al Qaeda, but even they have adopted an increasingly
    Islamist tone in recent months. This has exacerbated the plight of
    the Christians, who are increasingly targeted simply because they
    are Christian and because they are seen by many Muslims as backing
    the government.

    The truth is that Syrian Christians, many of whom have family members
    among my Armenian-American constituents, did not rally to the regime.

    Syrian Christians, like most other Syrians, simply wanted a freer and
    more open society and a greater voice in their own government. It is
    a testament to the depth of Christian desperation that atrocities
    perpetrated by radical Islamists have done more to test Christian
    neutrality than the use of chemical weapons and war crimes by Assad's
    forces.

    Ending the civil war through a negotiated solution represents the best
    outcome for the Christian community, and the international community
    must insist that any agreement reached at the upcoming peace talks
    in Geneva or thereafter will guarantee the safety of Syria's minority
    populations.

    In the meantime, America can do more to help those seeking refuge.

    That is why I have been working for much of the past year to convince
    the Administration to allow humanitarian parole for the nearly six
    thousand Syrians with approved immigrant petitions to the United
    States.

    As hundreds of millions around the world prepare to celebrate the most
    joyful day of the Christian calendar, the international community must
    intensify its efforts to end this terrible war, to protect Syria's
    Christians and to insure the continued vitality of this two thousand
    year old community.

    Representative Adam Schiff represents California's 28th District in
    the U.S. House of Representatives, and serves on the House Intelligence
    Committee and Appropriations Committees.



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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