UK Christian groups to rally for peace and justice in the Holy Land
-03/05/06
Christia
UK Christian groups to rally for peace and justice in the Holy Land
-03/05/06
Christian agencies plan to rally in central London later this month, to call for a just peace in the Holy Land ñ which remains a site of bitter struggle between Israelis and Palestinians.
Pax Christi (the international Catholic movement), the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Amos Trust will gather in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 20 May. Marchers will meet at the Embankment at 12 noon.
The demonstration has been called in response to the news that Palestinians are now on the brink of starvation and many people have already died as a result of shortages of medicines – caused by the withdrawal of aid following the election of Hamas.
Recently, Dov Weisglass, the Israeli prime minister’s adviser, joked: “It’s like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die.”
But the church-sponsored Amos Trust, whose supporters include singer Garth Hewitt, doesnít appreciate the joke. It points out that according to a January 2006 United Nations report, 64% of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are living below the poverty line.
In Gaza, 40% of children also suffer from malnutrition because of the Israeli occupation. John Ging, director of UN operations there, says, ìThis is the first time bread has been rationed. There’s no sugar, oil, milk, the basics.î
The Trustís statement coincides with a report commissioned by the BBC which concludes that the corporationís coverage of the region has been deficient, and could be accused of failing to highlight the plight of the Palestinians and the true disparities of power and wealth between the respective parties.
A UN report in September 2005 said that 60 Palestinian women had given birth at Israeli checkpoints since 2000 and 36 of their babies died as a result. Quite a number more have died since.
Moreover, since September 2000, over 3,800 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army and settlers, and over 29,000 injured ñ many more than have died on the other side of the conflict, though the Christian organisations stress that they deplore all killings and injustice, not least suicide attacks.
The Amos Trust is concerned that when Israelís separation wall is complete, it will annex East Jerusalem and almost half of the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians imprisoned in a series of ghettos.
Over half of the Palestinian population were expelled from their homes in the 1947-49 war, and a second wave of refugees was created in 1967. Today, two-thirds of Palestinians are refugees.
The Amos Trust is appealing for Israel to abide by international law, to acknowledge Palestine’s right to exist, to recognise the democratically elected government of Palestine (just as it has calls to be recognised), to end the illegal occupation, to remove settlers and to dismantle the wall.
Anglican Bishop Riah, himself a Palestinian, has long argued that the Holy Land will only become properly holy once more when both Israelis and Palestinians recognise the need to live side-by-side in peace, and when the three religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) commit to it being ìthe land of the Holy Oneî rather than an exclusive claim or property.
Similarly, Melkite priest, Israeli citizen and Palestinian Arab church leader and philanthropist Elias Chacour says that peace and justice requires that the two populations recognise each other in their historical woundedness as ìtwo wronged peoplesî.
UK Christian groups to rally for peace and justice in the Holy Land
-03/05/06
Christian agencies plan to rally in central London later this month, to call for a just peace in the Holy Land ñ which remains a site of bitter struggle between Israelis and Palestinians.
Pax Christi (the international Catholic movement), the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Amos Trust will gather in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 20 May. Marchers will meet at the Embankment at 12 noon.
The demonstration has been called in response to the news that Palestinians are now on the brink of starvation and many people have already died as a result of shortages of medicines – caused by the withdrawal of aid following the election of Hamas.
Recently, Dov Weisglass, the Israeli prime minister’s adviser, joked: “It’s like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die.”
But the church-sponsored Amos Trust, whose supporters include singer Garth Hewitt, doesnít appreciate the joke. It points out that according to a January 2006 United Nations report, 64% of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are living below the poverty line.
In Gaza, 40% of children also suffer from malnutrition because of the Israeli occupation. John Ging, director of UN operations there, says, ìThis is the first time bread has been rationed. There’s no sugar, oil, milk, the basics.î
The Trustís statement coincides with a report commissioned by the BBC which concludes that the corporationís coverage of the region has been deficient, and could be accused of failing to highlight the plight of the Palestinians and the true disparities of power and wealth between the respective parties.
A UN report in September 2005 said that 60 Palestinian women had given birth at Israeli checkpoints since 2000 and 36 of their babies died as a result. Quite a number more have died since.
Moreover, since September 2000, over 3,800 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army and settlers, and over 29,000 injured ñ many more than have died on the other side of the conflict, though the Christian organisations stress that they deplore all killings and injustice, not least suicide attacks.
The Amos Trust is concerned that when Israelís separation wall is complete, it will annex East Jerusalem and almost half of the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians imprisoned in a series of ghettos.
Over half of the Palestinian population were expelled from their homes in the 1947-49 war, and a second wave of refugees was created in 1967. Today, two-thirds of Palestinians are refugees.
The Amos Trust is appealing for Israel to abide by international law, to acknowledge Palestine’s right to exist, to recognise the democratically elected government of Palestine (just as it has calls to be recognised), to end the illegal occupation, to remove settlers and to dismantle the wall.
Anglican Bishop Riah, himself a Palestinian, has long argued that the Holy Land will only become properly holy once more when both Israelis and Palestinians recognise the need to live side-by-side in peace, and when the three religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) commit to it being ìthe land of the Holy Oneî rather than an exclusive claim or property.
Similarly, Melkite priest, Israeli citizen and Palestinian Arab church leader and philanthropist Elias Chacour says that peace and justice requires that the two populations recognise each other in their historical woundedness as ìtwo wronged peoplesî.