A bishop in Jerusalem has warned that the foundation causes of the Israel-Hamas conflict have yet to be addressed, despite the start of a ceasefire last week.
Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need, William Shomali, Auxiliary Bishop of Jerusalem, said, “The war between Hamas and Israel has ended however the conflict with its underlying causes didn’t end.”
His words echo the concerns of humanitarian organisations who last week warned that and not using a lasting peace agreement, the conflict was sure to flare up again.
William Bell, Head of Middle East Policy & Advocacy at Christian Aid, warned, “Returning to the old establishment will doom Palestinians and Israelis to more tragedy.”
Since 2008 there have been 4 notable military conflicts in Gaza, although essentially the most recent has been by far the bloodiest.
Despite the appalling history of the region, Bishop Shomali urged Christians to maintain praying as “nothing is inconceivable to God”.
He said, “An answer to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict needs to be reached in response to the international resolutions. It isn’t easy yet not inconceivable.”
Gaza’s only Catholic church, Holy Family Church, gave thanks for its first Sunday without bombs going off. A lot of church parishioners were killed within the conflict, while its priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, was injured when an Israeli shell hit the church.
At least 57 Christians died through the two yr conflict, mostly Catholics and Orthodox.
In his Sunday address Father Romanelli called for reconciliation and forgiveness for many who had failed.
“This ceasefire, God willing, will grow to be the top of this atrocious war,” he said.
“The long-awaited day has come to start the implementation of the peace process or peace agreement … May God, in his goodness, grant the Holy Land – and particularly this a part of the Holy Land, which is Palestine, Israel – that we may begin to live in peace, in justice, in reconciliation.”
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