Palestinian youths visit Washington area with message of peace

Published: 2004-11-04

KENSINGTON, Md. (CNS) -- Firas Shomaly was sitting at a small table in the Holy Redeemer School library in Kensington. He was showing the fourth-graders sitting with him a map of Israel but he couldn't find his Palestinian home town of Beit Sahour. "This must be an old map," he said and pointed to Bethlehem. "It's near Bethlehem," he explained. Eager to talk about his Palestinian home, the 13-year-old Shomaly described the unrest in his country. "It's a hard life," he said. "It's a difficult life. So scary." On their way to the United States, six students from the Latin Patriarchate school group, a conglomerate of 50 private schools in the Palestinian territories, were stopped at a checkpoint in Tel Aviv, Israel. Shomaly said the Israeli soldiers singled him out. They took him to a room, made him take off his clothes and searched him. "I'm always scared," he said. The visiting group of six students and one vice principal were sponsored by the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, which works to spread the news to American Christians of the Christian Palestinians' plight.

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