CHURCH leaders in Jerusalem have renewed calls for an end to hostilities in the Middle East, where “hundreds of innocents are weekly killed or severely wounded by indiscriminate attacks”.
“Countless others continue to endure hunger, thirst, and infectious disease,” the Patriarchs and heads of Churches write in a statement issued on Monday. The group comprises the leaders of the main Christian denominations, including the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, Dr Hosam Naoum.
On Wednesday, Palestinian officials reported that Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank had killed at least nine people.
Reuters reported that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations took place in Jenin, Tubas, and Tulkarm, all in the West Bank, on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
The Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, described the operations as being to “dismantle Iranian-Islamic terror infrastructures”.
In their statement, the church leaders call for “a rapid agreement for a ceasefire resulting in the end of the war, the release of all captives, the return of the displaced, the treatment of the sick and wounded, the relief of those who hunger and thirst, and the rebuilding of all public and private civilian structures that have been destroyed”.
It is “just as important”, they write, that “diplomatic discussions addressing longstanding grievances” begin, to “promote a just and lasting peace in our region” with a two-state solution.
The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, this week deplored the situation facing Palestinians, including Christians, in the occupied West Bank. Since 7 October, there has been an increase in incidents of harassment and dispossession by Israeli settlers.
“What’s happening to Palestinians in West Bank must be seen and named,” she wrote on X about “Christians being driven out of Bethlehem”.
The Dean of St George’s College, Jerusalem, Canon Richard Sewell, highlighted the case of the Kisiya family: Christians who lived on a valley farm in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem.
“Earlier this month they were dispossessed by a group of Jewish settlers, and now live in a campaign tent nearby. The details of this are deeply disturbing and help must come,” Canon Sewell wrote on X.
Friends of the Holy Land this week launched an appeal for World Water Week. “Despite the fact that Bethlehem sits on one of the largest aquifers in the area, on my last visit to Bethlehem, in May, most families were receiving a mains water supply only two days a month,” the chief executive of the charity, Brendan Metcalfe, said.
Last year, the Palestinian human rights group B’Tselem reported on inequality in access to water in the West Bank. Israel’s control of critical infrastructure means that the Palestinian Authority cannot effectively distribute water around the territory, the group said.
Owing to the unreliability of the mains water supply, most Palestinian households in the West Bank have a water tank on the roof. Friends of the Holy Land has been involved in replacing some of the older tanks and installing solar-powered equipment and pumps to head and circulate the water.
The average cost of an installation is £1000, and provides work to “Christian businesses [which] have been devastated, as construction activity has stalled due to the uncertainty and lack of income experienced by all”, according to a statement from the charity.
The Middle East representative for the RC aid agency CAFOD, Elizabeth Funnell, issued a statement on Thursday of last week, demanding an “immediate, permanent ceasefire”. CAFOD’s work with partners in Gaza was continuing, “despite immense challenges” in the territory, Ms Funnell said, where “food, water, shelter, and sanitation needs” were at critical levels.
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