CNA Staff, Jan 24, 2021 / 06:01 am (CNA).- A group of Christian leaders who advocate for the Holy Land this week reiterated a call for Israeli and Palestinian authorities to negotiate directly for the sake of peace in the region. They also encouraged Israel to make COVID-19 vaccines accessible to Palestinians.
The Holy Land Coordination group, which was founded by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, is comprised of bishops from the U.S. and Europe, as well as a bishop of the Church of England. Since 2000, the group has taken an annual trip to the Holy Land, and promotes awareness, action, and prayer for the region.
During the bishops’ January 2020 trip, they visited Christians in Gaza, East Jerusalem, and Ramallah. The bishops met virtually in January 2021 with Christians in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel.
Due to the pandemic, this year is the first since the group’s founding that the bishops have not been able to meet in the Holy Land.
“The Christian community, though small, is an important guarantor of social cohesion and a bearer of hope for a better future. We eagerly await a time when Christians from across the world can once again make pilgrimages to the Holy Land to witness and support this first-hand. Until that point, we encourage our communities to provide any assistance that may be possible and hold all the region’s peoples in our prayers,” the group wrote in a Jan. 22 communiqué.
The delegation included Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, chairman of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace.
The delegation noted that the absence of pilgrims to the Holy Land in the past year has exacerbated unemployment and poverty.
The bishops concluded that these factors, along with continuing political conflict, culminate to mean, “there is today less cause for optimism than at any time in recent history.”
Security borders have impaired Palestinians’ ability to work and travel, including travel to Muslim and Christian holy places, while Jewish settlements in the West Bank are a continuing source of tension.
Israel suspended the annexation of some parts of the West Bank during August 2020 as part of its normalization of relations with the United Arab Emirates, but tensions remain.
“The lack of political progress, along with relentless expansion of illegal settlements and the impact of Israel’s Nation-State law, continues to erode any prospect of a peaceful two-state solution,” the bishops wrote.
The “nation-state law” refers to a 2018 measure which defined Israel as the “historic homeland of the Jewish people” who have “a singular right to national self-determination within it.” The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has criticized the law as discriminatory against Israel’s Christians.
The bishops also encouraged Israel to make COVID-19 vaccines accessible for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has one of the highest per-capita rates of COVID-19 vaccination in the world, but until this week was not allowing vaccines into Gaza or the West Bank.
The Vatican recognized the state of Palestine during May 2015. During May 2020, the Holy See reaffirmed its support of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, and respect for the borders internationally recognized before 1967.
In a July 2020 statement, released in response to possible Israeli action to annex Palestinian territories, the Holy See reiterated that Israel and the State of Palestine “have the right to exist and to live in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders.”
Then-US president Donald Trump and Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu in January 2020 proposed a two-state peace plan for Israel and Palestine, which included an independent Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem.
Trump insisted that Jerusalem would also remain “Israel’s undivided— very important— undivided capital.” The United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in 2017.
Under the plan, none of Jerusalem’s Old City or territory within the current security wall would be ceded to the Palestinian state. The agreement also preserves the status quo policy regarding control of various religious sites, including the site of the Temple Mount and Al Aqsa Mosque, and, under the proposal, Muslims would still have access to the site.
Trump’s proposal for peace called for the creation of a Palestinian state, but gave Israel sovereignty over 30% of the West Bank. The Palestinians reject this.
Palestinian leaders, the United Nations, and European and Arab countries oppose unilateral action from Israel and consider Israeli settlements on land captured in 1967 to be illegal, Reuters reports. Israelis who back annexation cite biblical, historical, and political roots in the West Bank territory.
The plan also proposes the construction of a “West Bank-Gaza Tunnel” to connect the two halves of Palestine, and that a third of the Gaza Strip be designated as a “high-tech manufacturing industrial zone.”
As part of the plan, Trump also pledged money to the Palestinian state for job creation and poverty reduction. Trump said that if Abbas and the Palestinian Authority “choose the path to peace,” that the United States and other countries “will be there, we will be there to help you in so many different ways.”
Newly-inaugurated President Joe Biden is likely to reverse some of Trump’s policies in the Middle East, pledging as a candidate to restore humanitarian aid to Palestinians and opposing Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, NPR reports.
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Don’t start wars and the consequences can be avoided. Obviously that reality didn’t cross the minds of Islamic terrorists and their supporters.
I think the whole purpose of October 7th was to disrupt peace attempts & power structure in the region. The well being & best interests of Gazan residents was not the terrorists or Iran’s first concern. It never has been.
Nor is the well-being & best interests of people ever the first concern of that which remains the ultimate motivator of Islamic terrorists, which is Islam, the religion of barbarity. Moreover, Islamic terrorists are not simply “radical Muslims” as dishonest apologists for Islam continue to gaslight the rest of the world about instead of telling the truth about Islam that is published in black and white in all of their authoritative documents. Islamic terrorists are faithful practitioners of Islam in their actions of brutal violence they inflict on others based on that aspect of Jihad which calls for violence to further the goals of Islam, which is the entire world under the rule and domination of Islam.
Of course, the reality of Islam and the fact that gullible people are easily misled about Islam due to some favorable encounters with individual Muslims does not justify in any way any abuse or violence visited directly upon non-combatants, and to the extent this is being done in Gaza by anyone is morally reprehensible.
Tell me how you are not reacting exactly as the Hamas terrorists calculated. Show how you are not playing directly into their hands.
Tell us, why are you supporting and defending Hamas?
Gaza residents elected Hamas. Now we are beginning to see some regret and resistance to their tyranny among Gazans.
Be careful to whom you provide support.
Hamas is the ruling party in Gaza.
Calls for the destruction of Israel can be found in Hamas’ founding documents.
There is no peace because peace is not the objective of Hamas. Never has been.
In fact Israel used to occupy Gaza. They gave it up some 30 or so years ago in hopes of securing peace.
Upon taking possession, the Palestinians immediately started to lob rockets from Gaza into Israeli cities.
The Catholic pastor cannot say what needs to be said: That there will be no peace in the Middle East until the Muslim leaders there want peace.
What was that quote? I think Golda Mier said it: There will be no peace until the Palestinians love their children more than they hate us (the Jews)?
Hear, hear!!
(meant to reply to this post first time around fyi)
That has nothing to do with the Christians or the many Muslims who have nothing to do with Hamas. The Baptist Church and Holy Family Catholic Church have had a long presence in Gaza without any problems from their neighbors.
Advise the Ishmaelites to repudiate their Fatwa against their infidels that includes Western civilization in particular with a special venom reserved for the Jews between the river and the sea.
Does anyone know a truly reliable charity that will forward aid and donations to the poor Christians in Gaza and Fr. Romanelli? Is it even possible to get aid to them?
Thanks
Over an eight-year period, I resided in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, during which time I traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and North Africa. This experience afforded me the opportunity to engage with diverse Muslim communities, observe their cultural practices, and develop a nuanced understanding of the region. While my interactions were predominantly positive, and I have undertaken studies of Islamic texts, including the Qur’an and Sahih al-Bukhari, I do not claim expertise in Islamic theology or jurisprudence.
The assertion that ‘an Islamic terrorist is nothing less than a faithful Muslim’ presents a problematic generalization. While some interpretations of Islamic texts may be used to justify violence, it is crucial to acknowledge the diversity of Islamic thought and practice. The term ‘radical’ may be imprecise, but it attempts to differentiate between those who adhere to interpretations that condone violence and those who do not. The claim that moderate Muslims exhibit ‘laxness’ in their adherence to Islamic teachings is a subjective assessment that requires careful consideration of varying theological perspectives. It is a simplification to suggest that the adoption of a ‘faithful path’ inevitably leads to the acceptance of terrorism, ignoring the complex interplay of socio-political, economic, and individual factors that contribute to radicalization.
That’s what the Salafis believe. However, there are other disciplines of Islam. I lived in Cairo in 2005 for almost 5 1/2 months on a research project working with a group of Christians and Muslims who all socialized together. The Muslims were of the Hanifi school of thought. When the Copts were at Mass it would be a Muslim couple who would drive me to English language Roman Catholic Mass.
Through the years I kept up with these people. Thanks to the internet during the reign of the Islamist Morsi the I was able to witness the “people’s uprising” against this Islamist regime. When Christians worshiped Muslims came from all over Cairo and locked arms standing outside, surrounding the church to see that none of Morsi’s cohorts could enter. I’m sure you could search for the uprising against Morsi.
Unfortunately, the Christians in central Egypt were and are still suffering under Salafi rule.
Re Hamas rule: Fatah won the election. The elected Fatah leaders were dragged up onto roof tops and hurled off by Hamas which also happened in Egypt under Morsi’s brief rule. By the way, the most powerful supporter of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood was Barak Obama who was president at the time.
Life is never black and white; it is full of intricacies and contradictions.
For some doses of reality, Catholic World Report readers can check the following from a most informative website:
https://thereligionofpeace.com/pages/articles/jesus-muhammad.aspx
https://thereligionofpeace.com/pages/myths/index.aspx
https://thereligionofpeace.com/pages/games/index.aspx
>>>>>
“Fantasy Islam: A game in which an audience of non-Muslims wish with all their hearts that Islam was a ‘Religion of Peace,’ and a Muslim strives to fulfill that wish by presenting a personal version of Islam that has little foundation in Islamic Doctrine.” -Dr. Stephen M. Kirby
“terrorist group Hamas and Israel” should be reworded to “terrorist group Israel and Hamas”
May God bless Israel & God’s chosen people at Passover.
May the Church start praying for Israel’s conversion.
The Church seems to be more involved in the Gaza war. Iran is more emboldened by the delay of religious attention. The Pope’s appeals are 2 years old. That is a long time given the disaster at hand and the loss of thousands of innocent lives.
I have suggested that all religions assemble to present a united front and confront the murderous “religious” Ayatollah to help him understand his mortal sin and plead with him for sanity.
The Pope made “frequent calls” to the parish in Gaza?? Thats nice. But I wonder if he made frequent calls to the families whose children were murdered or kidnapped on October 7th? Somehow I doubt it. And I wonder if he ever pondered how it came to pass that this place is the LAST surviving Catholic/Christian parish in all of Gaza? I’m pretty sure its because almost every last Christian was driven out of the place.