Bahai faithful unshaken by rockets in Israel

by Michaela Cancela-Kieffer Thu Jul 20, 11:14 AM ET
HAIFA, Israel (AFP) – The Bahai believe that Moses, Christ, and Mohammed are all messengers of God and unlike their holy city of Haifa their faith in coming world peace is unshaken by Hezbollah’s rockets.
Dozens of Hezbollah rockets have exploded in this port city, 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Lebanese border, since the militia last week captured two Israeli soldiers and
Israel responded with a massive bombardment.
Streets may be deserted, but the rockets, which killed eight railway workers in Haifa on Sunday, matter little to 100 pilgrims from the Bahai faith who arrived on Monday for a nine-day visit.
The Bahai, who believe in “the fundamental unity of all the great religions”, was founded in
Iran’ in the 19th century by their prophet, Baha’u'llah.
Haifa is home to the Bahais’ governing body, the sparkling white Universal House of Justice, as well as the shrine of the Bab, he who announced the coming of Bahaullah.
His remains are housed in a splendid hillside mausoleum overlooking Haifa bay, amid spectacular and well-manicured terraced gardens, which the movement says was visited by half a million people in 2005.
British couple Gillian and Anthony Henderson have come on pilgrimage from their home in Vancouver, Canada.
Anthony is easy to spot in the near-deserted city, wearing a Scottish kilt, indicative of the diversity of the varied Bahai cultures — spanning 75 nationalities and several million followers — so says the movement.
“We decided we would come because we waited many, many years,” says Anthony. “You have to apply (to come here on pilgrimage) most of the time you wait for five or six years.”
“It’s hard to put it into words, it is the most holy place in the world for us,” says Gillian. “To be able to visit is the biggest blessing. We have to do it at least once in our life.”
The Bahai, banned and persecuted in Iran, are not involved in politics, but have great affection for the
United Nations’ United Nations. Their founder banned proselytizing in Israel, the Jewish state.
Albert Lincoln, the Bahais’ “secretary general” as the movement has no clergy, will not comment on the current conflict but explains his community has “a message of peace and unity for the human race.”
Gillian says all the pilgrims prayed together on Monday.
“It was very emotional considering the situation, we prayed very much for mankind and peace and we hoped for a peaceful resolution for all people.”
The British couple, who have left six children at home, have not been in a conflict zone before and have had to adapt to a life of air raid sirens and rocket blasts.
Some 700 volunteers and 150 employees work in the luxurious complex, built with donations from the faithful, all white marble and Persian carpets.
Followers believe in the coming unification of humanity even if the world must first go through difficult times, such as those that started with the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah on July 12.
“The world is getting darker and darker, but we have a more long-term vision,” says French architect Daniel Caillaud who has lived in Haifa since 1988.
During a visit to the pristine gardens “whose beauty shows the optimism of the Bahais” according to Indian follower Elisa Rasiwala, 53, the air raid siren shrieks once more, heralding the next rocket attack on Haifa.
“Our holy places are currently in the middle of the world in every sense. This is the eye of the storm,” says the 59-year-old. “There’s no doubt. The future is promising.”

LOVE Crisis in the Mideast

A rabbi conducts a wedding ceremony for Israeli couple Shlomi Bouskila, 30, right, and Maya Lougasi, 28, second left, inside a bomb shelter where they’ve been living for over a week, in the town of Kiryat Shmona, in northern Israel, Thursday, July 20, 2006. All residents of northern Israel have been ordered by the army’s Home Front Command to stay nearby shelters until further notice.

 Rocket barrage rains fear in dozen towns
 
Thursday July 20, 2006
HAIFA – A fresh Hizbollah rocket barrage across a

swathe of northern Israel killed one person and

wounded at least 14 others, medics said.
 
A man in the town of Nahariya was killed just after

he had helped some of his family into a bomb

shelter and was returning for others when a

Katyusha hit him, Israeli media said.
 
Eli Bein, director of the Magen David Adom

ambulance service, said the sight was reminiscent

of the scenes of suicide bombings as the rocket hit

the man directly. “It is a terrible sight,” he told

Army Radio.
 
Rockets hit at least 12 towns and villages,

including four in Haifa and at least two in

Tiberias. Also hit were Safed, Acre, Kiryat

Shemona, and Gush Halav region near Safed.
 
Israeli military officials say more than 700

Hizbollah rockets have now landed in Israel since

the crisis began, killing 13 Israelis.
 
Israelis, stunned by Hizbollah rocket attacks, have

told pollsters they want their Army to smash the

guerrillas. “We are killing those we need to kill,”

said civilian Hanna Dehan, speaking near Haifa.
 
But in a sign that life goes on even under extreme

pressure, the booms of Hizbollah rockets in Haifa

have not distracted one couple preparing for their

nuptials. Dressed in their full wedding regalia,

Imad Mousa and his fiancee Anita Mishal smiled

sweetly as their wedding photos were taken

overlooking Haifa’s crystal bay.
 
“I am a bridegroom under fire,” Mousa said. “The

noise bothers us, but what is more important than

getting married?”
 
They plan to get married on Saturday in Mousa’s

village of Kfar Yasif in the northern Galilee,

which has also come under attack from the Lebanese

guerrillas. Mishal comes from Haifa and wanted

wedding pictures from her home town.
 
The couple, Arab citizens of Israel, bemoaned the

bloodshed. “War is bad for everyone,” said Mousa.
 
- REUTERS