The conflict in Israel/Palestine has taken a terrible toll in human life, but also in human livelihoods. The collapse in the local economy is less gut-wrenching than the fate of Hamas hostages and the victims of the bombardments, but it’s important nonetheless. Whereas formerly Palestinians living in Jerusalem and the Occupied Territories could make a living from tourism to the Holy Places and goods manufactured for tourists – anything from jewellery to rosary beads to ceramics – the market has collapsed: there are no tourists and it’s difficult to get goods out of the occupied territories, and money in. The situation is all the grimmer, because tourism had only just recovered from COVID. And so, more Christians will leave – there are estimated to be just 127,000 left in the Holy Land, or just over two per cent of the population.
It is a situation that Pro Terra Sancta (which simply means, For the Holy Land), a charity working in the region, is trying to remedy. Fr Luke Gregory, a cheerful, down-to-earth Franciscan from Sheffield who has worked in the area for 40 years – the Order itself has been there for 800 years – makes no bones about the problem during his visit to London with his colleague, Gabriela Solaro: “No pilgrims, no work, and no goods coming out”, he says. As for the Christian community, he is clear that the conflict will only increase the exodus: “they need security; without it, they’ll leave. And we don’t want people to leave”.
All of which makes the work of the organisation more urgent. It tries to work with all parties – “we try to be at peace with everyone” – which, in the situation, is not a platitude. It supports Christian schools and hospitals, but also tries to train young people in the skills needed for jobs, and to develop sites of religious importance so that local people can have a stake in their heritage. It also funds housing. “Work is essential but it’s not much use giving people jobs if they don’t have anywhere to live”, observes Fr Luke.
And the projects are various. The Custodial Vicar of the Holy Places, an Egyptian friar called Fr Ibrahim, runs an olive wood carving project in Bethlehem – order your crib for next year – and also an ice-cream factory (very good gelati, apparently). An arts centre in Bethlehem run by Action Catholique – which includes cinema and theatre as well as workshops for training ceramicists and jewellers and other tradespeople where tourists can meet the artisans – has reopened (prior to the latest crisis). “It’s also where young Christians can meet their future husbands and wives”, observes Fr Luke.
One important project is the Pro Terra Sancta museum of the Christian life of the area. The existing museum in Jerusalem near the site of Christ’s flagellation offers a perspective on the Christian presence in Jerusalem up to the time of Christ and the destruction of the Temple in 70AD. That opened in 2008. A second museum, focusing on the Christian presence in the Middle Ages, will open shortly near the New Gate of the city. It will employ local people. “I had one donor who said, “we’re interested in the museum, but more interested in funding working in the museum.”
One way and another Christian institutions supported by Pro Terra Sancta employ some 1,400 Palestinians – “not all Christian, but the majority. We try to include Muslims”.
The Christian schools helped by Pro Terra Sancta are popular with Muslims as well as Christians. “We always provide services to both”, says Fr Luke. There are 19 schools in Israel/Palestine and another was just about to open in Cana – where Our Lord turned water into wine. “We provide religious instruction to the Christian children, and an imam comes in to instruct the Muslims.” There is also a music school, Magnificat, which attracts Jewish as well as Muslim and Christian children and teachers.
So, how is it possible to maintain a Christian ethos where so many pupils aren’t Christian? In Jericho about 97 per cent of the pupils are Muslim. “There’s the ethos of the schools”, says Fr Luke. “The children are taught about peace. There are crucifixes and statues and there are monks and nuns in the schools. We’ve got lots of kindergartens run by nuns – very popular with Muslim parents – and we’ll build more.”
The organisation’s remit extends beyond the Holy Land to the whole region, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Rhodes, where Fr Luke is based. Rhodes is a destination for migrants heading for Europe, and while Fr Luke is keen to help people stay in their homes, he has to meet the human need. “This is my dilemma. I want to help them where they live, but there are 1,000 in Rhodes and they are my neighbour; this is essential. Once, I brought the migrants a donation of 500 blocks of soap – and you’d think I was giving them gold bullion, they were so grateful.” He also provides sanitary towels for refugee women – previously, they had to wash bloody rags.
But he doesn’t neglect the local poor either – and there are many poor Greeks. Every Tuesday he hands out food bags with essentials to 700 people, and the queue begins at 5.30am.
In Syria, Pro Terra Sancta works with some of the most neglected victims of the war. The most heartbreaking are the children of girls raped by IS jihadist mercenaries during the war. “These were girls of 14, 15, 16”, he says. “There were thousands of them”. As well as providing therapy, the organisation also obtains identity documents for the children – fatherless, and rejected by their mothers’ families. They don’t have papers, and as Gabriela Solaro observes, without documents, work isn’t possible. But one thing they can’t do – track down the rapists and bring them to justice.
For now, the focus is on the work in the Holy Land. “We want to keep the living stones there”, says Fr Luke. “We’ve got the stone stones, the buildings, and we’ll always be inside, but we want the living stones”, that is, the Palestinian Christians.
https://www.proterrasancta.org/en/take-action/#donaora
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