All sides must work together to ensure that Israel and Palestine step back from the precipice of annihilation, says John Pontifex.
“We need medicine. Many hospitals have been destroyed. Our school has also been damaged but we’re not leaving.”
Contacting us from northern Gaza, Sister Nabila was defiant: “People have nothing, not even the basic essentials. Where would we go? To die in the street? There are old people here, the Missionaries of Charity are with us as well, with a group of disabled and elderly. Where can they go? We will stay with them.”
As the deadline to evacuate to southern Gaza approached, Sister Nabila and the other Sisters of the Rosary declared that not only would they stay but that they would do everything to help the people come what may.
At the time we heard from Sister Nabila, she was among 150 Catholics talking shelter in Gaza’s only Catholic parish, dedicated to the Holy Family. Also being looked after there were some 350 Greek Orthodox Christians whose parish is close to Holy Family Church.
For the Holy Land’s tiny Christian community, in common with so many others, what happened on October 7 and subsequently has been little less than the realisation of their worst nightmare. The spiralling conflict triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel immediately brought to the surface one of the greatest fears of Christians and others across the region, namely the threat of a major Israeli ground offensive, culminating in an invasion of Gaza.
Fr Gabriel Romanelli, one of the two priests caring for Roman Catholics in Gaza, told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the Catholic charity for persecuted and other suffering Christians, that many parishioners had no option but to stay. He said the parishioners believe “they are safer with Jesus. And that’s why together they pray, they pray and hope that the Lord will protect them and that the people who are working and praying for peace will change the decision to strike the church that has always been an oasis of peace.”
An expert on the situation, who asked not to be named for secur-ity reasons, highlighted not only the threat of a high death toll resulting from an Israeli ground offensive but also the deadly reaction to be expected from Hamas. Stating that Hamas had thousands of missiles, he said: “Even though 85 per cent of [the missiles] are intercepted by the protection system and radars, the rest are enough to do terrible damage to the population in Israel, including here in Jerusalem.”
Hence the necessity for the Church to do everything in its power to lobby for peace or, at the very least, stop the conflict from escalating.
When Pope Francis made Mgr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, a cardinal on September 30, little could he have known how soon the red colour of his new rank – symbolising the blood of the martyrs – would become such a vivid reference point in his newfound role of peacemaker. His willingness to offer himself in exchange for children taken hostage by Hamas demonstrates how far the Church is willing to exert its diplomatic leverage in the cause of reconciliation.
It takes courage to be a Christian in the Holy Land, especially when the numbers of faithful are so few. Christians in Israel and the Palestinian Territories number about 217,000 or 1.5 per cent. Experiencing proportionate decline, Christians have been increasingly marginalised not only by Jews and Muslims with much higher birth rates; they have also been caught in the crosshairs of long-standing tension between their more dominant neighbours.
For this reason, the fear and trepidation of Christians in the region in the aftermath of October 7 quickly spread far beyond Gaza and southern Israel. Christians in the West Bank, an estimated 37,000 in total, are in a state of total shock. Latest reports show 90 per cent of pilgrim groups and visitors have left the country, with tours already cancelled as far as Christmas and beyond.
This is a terrible crisis for many Christian families as 70 per cent work in tourism. Many work as bus drivers, hoteliers and religious artefact makers and retailers, often crafting pieces of olive wood into rosaries, crosses and cribs. Many were already poor; now they fear abject poverty.
We spoke to one such religious artefact manufacturer, based in Bethlehem. “We are blocked inside the house,” he said, describing how shipment of his goods was now impossible with the closure of roads and the cancellation of flights.
Fear of loss of business is one thing but the terror of an escalation of conflict is quite another. He said: “Everyone is worried. Everyone here is speaking about a Third World War. We just hope that somehow that won’t happen.”
Just down the road from Bethlehem is Beit Jala where Aid to the Church in Need recently supported the creation of a spirituality centre. Inaugurated just a few weeks ago and intended as a venue for programmes involving the nearby Latin seminary and the local community, immediately after October 7 the building had to be repurposed as an office of the Latin Patriarchate.
The reason: staff could no longer make the five-mile journey to Jerusalem because checkpoints had been closed.
The situation is little better in East Jerusalem, home to 10,000 Christians. About 40 per cent of them have made their living in the tourism sector and many have now lost their jobs.
Hotels are empty and tourists have left. Many of the buildings are being used as barracks for the reserve army. From the Cenacle in Jerusalem, Fr Artemio Vitores, a Spanish Franciscan, told ACN that he didn’t want to be “too pessimistic but very little about this situation involves peace. Jerusalem should be a sign of peace and harmony for everybody; it is the holy city of God for Jews, Christians and Muslims. This is so difficult. Peace is a gift from God but it requires people’s cooperation.”
And then there is the community of Christians scattered in other parts of Israel. Many of them, including visitors from abroad and those with dual citizenship, have experienced the fear of terrorist attacks, and the terrible pain and anguish of family, friends and work colleagues.
One of them is Holly, a US national who was in Jerusalem when the world as she knew it changed beyond recognition.
She told us: “These last few days have been terribly long and tiring.” Reflecting on the 1,400 killed in the October 7 attack by Hamas, she said the death toll was “really unimaginable”.
Further afield, Christians are acutely conscious that neighbouring countries could get drawn into the conflict.
Visiting the international head-quarters of ACN, Melkite Greek-Catholic Patriarch Youssef Absi, based in Lebanon and Damascus, reminded staff that securing a long-term future for Palestine was key to peace in the region.
Patriarch Absi wrote: “Without a solution for the Palestinian situation, there is no situation for the Middle East.”
For Pope Francis, the dangers ahead could not be clearer. Pleading that everything be done to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe, he declared: “War solves no problems. It only sows death and destruction, increases hatred, multiplies revenge. War erases the future.” The Pontiff was speaking at his weekly audience just a few days after he picked up the phone to Sister Nabila, the nun from Gaza determined to stay with the suffering people there.
The Holy Family Church where she is sheltering had recently held a candlelight vigil in which the community celebrated the baptism of a little child, Daniel. Whatever lies ahead for Daniel, the other Christians and all those in the Holy Land, their very future depends on all sides working together to ensure the region steps back from the precipice of annihilation.
John Pontifex is head of Press & Public Affairs, Aid to the Church in Need (UK)
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