Aid to the Church in Need: Holy Land Church leader’s dismay as Gaza crisis deepens

Holy Land Church leader’s dismay as Gaza crisis deepens

Posted by Press Release on 6/7/2009, 10:52 am
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Press Release, Monday, 6th of July 2009 – HOLY LAND

Let them rebuild their lives

Holy Land Church leader’s dismay as Gaza crisis deepens

By John Pontifex

THE Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem has hit out at the Israeli government for imposing an embargo on materials urgently needed for the reconstruction of Gaza.
His Beatitude Fouad Twal complained that tens of thousands of people whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed in the post-Christmas 2008 violence have been prevented from rebuilding their lives.
In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need in Rome at the close of a meeting with organisation working in the Holy Land, Patriarch Twal stressed the disastrous impact of Israel’s ban on the supply of cement, glass, iron and other building materials.

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem His Beatitude Fouad Twal

He quoted statistics from Israeli reports showing that during the Gaza conflict which lasted 22 days, up to 22,000 buildings were destroyed in damage estimated to be worth US$1.9 billion (€1.36 billion Ł1.16 billion).
Patriarch Twal said: “Up till now, the Israeli authorities are still not allowing construction materials to enter Gaza and thus it is useless to talk about construction.
“The impact of this on the people is terrible. They are so tired. They just want to live in peace. Besides all the frustration they feel, they have no confidence in anybody.”
The Patriarch went on to warn that the ban on construction materials would feed extremism and cause more people to support Hamas, the powerful Islamist movement.
He described pitiful scenes during his visits to Gaza, with “donkeys acting as taxis” staggering through bombed-out streets carrying supplies or pulling people in carts.
But the Patriarch went on to thank ACN and other organisations for the emergency food, clothing, blankets, medicine and other materials saying that these urgent supplies were allowed in by the Israeli authorities.
“We are very grateful for all the help from people in West. What they have done is so important to help get the people through these very sad times.”
“What we want above all is peace – to live like normal people. We don’t need any more martyrs. Please pray for us.”
He stressed the impact of the violence on young people, saying that of the 1,300 hundred people reportedly killed in Gaza, a third were children.
The Patriarch added that many young people desperately needed trauma relief but again he said getting help through was difficult.
In Hamas’ attacks on Israel in the same period, 13 people died of whom 10 were in the military.
He said that Israel had justified the ban saying that otherwise Hamas would smuggle in armaments and other weapons of war.
“The Israeli authorities think that making the people suffer will weaken Hamas but it’s completely the opposite.
“Hamas are able to get the materials through secret tunnels [linking Gaza to Egypt]. It’s the people who suffer. It makes people less likely to support Mahmoud Abbas [President of the Palestinian National Authority] and moderates and more likely to support extremists like Hamas.”
He went on: “I am sure the Israeli authorities are well aware of what is going on in Gaza.
“I am sure that if Israel continues to follow this policy they will never win peace. As long as they rely on armies and intimidation and don’t follow the international laws, they will never win any kind of real peace.
“What is needed instead is to break down the walls of hatred inside people’s hearts and help them to find other ways to solve their differences.”
The Patriarch said Pope Benedict XVI’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in May was a sign of hope for the future.
He went on to signal that Barak Obama’s speech in Cairo on 4th June was a positive step forward, especially the US President’s statement about the need for Palestine to be recognised as a state in its own right.
But he added: “The fact that Obama spoke about a “two-state” solution in the Holy Land is something but what type of state does he mean? That needs to be clarified before we can go very much further.”

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 130 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 46.5 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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