-Hunting, churches and firecrackers in Lebanon

Bullet shells, shattered windows and a dead bird. That's what the priest found in Saint Joseph Church of Bqosta, a village 10 kilometers uphill from Sidon last Sunday morning before mass.

Saint Joseph Church overlooks the whole village of Bqosta. One has to pass through the village to reach the church, and then walk another 300 meters, because the road was sealed with a thick chain after the incident. The church's iron door is locked.

The church was shot sometime on Saturday night, according to Hanna Ajram, a municipality police agent. "Nobody knows who shot at it. The police and the Army Intelligence are investigating with all the hunters in the village," he told NOW while locking up the small grocery store he owns. "It's not a big deal, it's the fourth time they attack that church. Probably because it stands there alone and nobody can see them," he said.

Saint Joseph was nearly destroyed during the civil war when the Lebanese Forces militia members fought Palestine Liberation Organization fighters in the area. It was rebuilt in 1996 but has been victim to several small attacks.

"I doubt they will ever find anybody. They haven't found anybody the other times the church was robbed or broken into," Ajram said.

"This is really not a big deal. We should talk about the new church that we are trying to build here in the village," said Ajram's wife, who was with him at the store. "We've been trying to build it, but the owner of the land around it keeps stopping us."

"It's not the owner, he's Druze and he's related to [Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid] Jumblatt. He donated the land for the church to be built," Ajram explained. "It's this Syrian man who they hired as the keeper of the land. He keeps causing us trouble. He has this long beard and we keep seeing other people with long beards visiting him," he said, hinting that the Syrian might be a Salafist. "He's a strange man, don't talk to him."

However, the man they spoke of, Mohammad al-Bashir, was cleanly shaved. He said he was from Idlib and moved to Bqosta five years ago to work as a custodian of the land for Walid Jumblatt's cousin. "We are happy here, there is work. But some people in this village are really mean to us," he said while he sipped his coffee with his wife and daughter. He explained how some boys from the village lit a box of firecrackers and left it on his doorstep two nights ago. "It was 1 a.m. We were all asleep, and by the time I got to the roof to look who they were, they had driven away. Here's the box," he said.

"I don't know who shot at the church, but I know it's not the first time it happens. There is a hunting field around it, people go there to hunt birds," he explained, adding that his employer gave the municipality the land to build a new church right next to his house. But he also stressed that he had to call the police because the builders were trying to enlarge the church and steal land. "They want more land, they want me to move from this house because they want to build a parking instead of it. But I am just doing my job. I can't let them move into the land of my employer," he said.

"Some of these boys harass my wife and my daughters. When they put the firecrackers two nights ago, I called the mayor. He came, he looked at what happened, but convinced me not to press charges because the situation would get worse."

Jamil Ajram, the president of the municipality, told NOW over the phone, "I don't know anything about the shooting at the church. I am not a religious person, I don't go to church. There is a great hunting field up there. If you were here you could taste our birds," he joked. "This is a calm town. It only has love and prosperity," he insisted, stressing that he had no idea of any conflict between the villagers and Mohammad al-Bashir. "There is no problem there. Just a few days and construction will resume." 

 

For his part, the village priest, Father Maroun Jeha, agreed that the shooting was not at all a big deal and that the story had been exaggerated. "There has been no incident before, just breaking in and stealing. I don't think the shooting has anything to do with the conflict over the new church," he said.

Agnes Helou contributed reporting to this article. 

To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=442351#ixzz28F54uUUe 

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