Religion, Nationalism, and Terror

“Gaza is quite a dynamic place now”: an interview, openDemocracy, 29 – 01 – 2008
Eyad Sarraj

The breach of the Gaza-Egypt barrier is changing the region’s political calculations, the psychiatrist Eyad Sarraj tells the bitterlemons project.

bitterlemons: How has the border breach affected the situation on the ground in Gaza?

Eyad Sarraj is a founder and director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP)

This article was first published in the independent website BitterLemons.org

Eyad Sarraj: Well, most people are not in Gaza at the moment. Some say that almost 700,000 people have been traveling in and out of Egypt. Gaza is flooded with the things that Israel did not allow us to have before and people are swarming to the markets to buy computers, cement, lamps, oil, fuel and even windows. When Israel bombed the deserted Palestinian interior ministry (on 18 January 2008), all the windows in the surrounding buildings were shattered. With no windows allowed in from Israel, they could not replace them before, but now there are new windows in place.

Everything is available in the market now. From forty NIS ($10.8) a packet, cigarettes are now down to six. There is chocolate for the children. People are almost euphoric since they can get out of the prison, even if it is only for a short respite. People go to El-Arish for a picnic, eat fish there and spend a couple of hours. Families sometimes go for the day and come back at night. Gaza is quite a dynamic place now.

Archbishop Christodoulos paid a historic visit to the Vatican in 2006

Greeks flock to mourn church head, BBC, January 31, 2008

Thousands of mourners have lined the streets of Athens for the funeral of Archbishop Christodoulos, head of the Greek Orthodox Church.

The archbishop died on Monday, aged 69, after suffering from cancer.

The funeral, with full state honours, comes after four days of official mourning across the country.

Thousands of people have already paid their last respects to the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, whose body lay in state at Athens’ cathedral.

The spiritual leader of the world’s 250 million Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, led the funeral service at Athens’ main cathedral.

It was also attended by other senior Orthodox officials, Greek President Karolos Papoulias and Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. A delegation from the Vatican was also present.

Outside the cathedral, thousands of mourners waited as the funeral cortege wound its way to Athens’ cemetery.

The archbishop’s open coffin was carried on a gun carriage, accompanied by priests, government officials and a large military guard of honour.

“I cried when he died and I am crying today, mourning the loss of our spiritual father,” Spyridon Georgantis was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“He safeguarded our faith and our Greekness,” he said.

Schools, courts and public services were closed on Thursday.

Archbishop Christodoulos was a colourful and controversial figure, says the BBC’s Malcolm Brabant in Greece.

Archbishop Christodoulos paid a historic visit to the Vatican in 2006

He defended the Church’s pre-eminent role in the state and upheld Hellenism – the national character and culture of Greece, our correspondent says.

But critics said that under Archbishop Christodoulos, Greece remained a country which discriminated against those who were not Orthodox, including Catholics and worshippers of other branches of Christianity.

Elected as church leader in 1998, Archbishop Christodoulos was known as a fierce and outspoken defender of Greece and the role of the Orthodox Church within it, our correspondent says.

The archbishop once said that when ancient Greeks were creating the lights of civilisation, Europeans were living in trees.

He said Greeks lived in paradise compared to other Europeans because they had a strong faith, built churches, followed traditions and resisted globalisation.

Archbishop Christodoulos opposed Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union, describing the Turks as barbarians.

AFP: Afghanistan may plunge into ‘failed state,’ experts warn, January 30, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Insurgency-wracked Afghanistan will become a failed state if urgent steps are not taken to tackle a deteriorating security situation and lackluster reconstruction and governance efforts, experts warned in separate reports Wednesday.

The reports came amid new concerns over the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s commitment to providing more troops to fight a resurgent Taliban militia, with Canada’s prime minister warning in talks with US President George W. Bush that it might pull troops from Afghanistan unless NATO boosts support.

“Urgent changes are required now to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a failing or failed state,” cautioned one report from the Atlantic Council of the United States, led by retired Marine Corps general James Jones.

Taliban control of the sparsely populated parts of Afghanistan was “increasing” and civil reforms, reconstruction, and development work “have not gained traction” across the country, especially in the south, it said.

“To add insult to injury, of every dollar of aid spent on Afghanistan, less than ten percent goes directly to Afghans, further compounding reform and reconstruction problems,” the report said.

Southern Afghanistan has seen the worst violence since the Taliban were ousted from power in the US-led invasion in 2001 following the September 11 terror attacks masterminded by Al-Qaeda, whose leaders were given sanctuary by the Taliban.

As US and NATO-led troops wage an uphill battle now to keep the Taliban at bay, civil sector reform “is in serious trouble” despite immense resources poured into the country and nearly seven years of efforts, the report said.