Palestinian Christian leaders warned that the war in Gaza and worsening conditions in the occupied West Bank are deepening despair among Palestinian communities and prompting some to consider emigration.
The warning came from A Jerusalem Voice for Justice, an ecumenical Christian group whose signatories include Latin Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah, Lutheran Bishop Emeritus Mounib Younan and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Attallah Hanna.
In an appeal reported by AsiaNews on Aug. 24, the group cited deaths and displacement in Gaza and settlement expansion, checkpoints, closures and restrictions on movement in the West Bank. Jesuit Father David Neuhaus, also a signatory, released the appeal.
“We cannot remain silent,” the group said.
The appeal warned against becoming accustomed to the suffering in Gaza, where it said two million people face starvation and hardship amid destruction and the collapse of health care.
“The danger today is that we become accustomed to this tragedy,” the signatories said.
They called for “the protection of civilians, guaranteed access to humanitarian aid and an end to the killings, destruction, hunger and fear.”
The group also warned that conditions in the West Bank were pushing Muslim and Christian Palestinians into “ever-deepening despair” and leading some to consider emigration.
“What is happening in Palestinian cities and villages, including Taybeh with its significant Christian presence, concerns us all,” it said.
The appeal urged churches and Christian institutions to make helping Palestinians remain in their homeland a priority, including through support for jobs, education and housing.
It also addressed Palestinian Christians directly. “We tell you: do not let fear dominate you, suggesting that you are strangers in your own land. Do not let despair cloud your future,” the signatories said.
“We are not relics of the past,” they added, describing Palestinian Christians as “an integral part of its people, of its past, its present and its future.”
The group called on political decision-makers, particularly in the United States, “to assume their responsibilities, working to put an end to the killings, displacement and destruction.”
“This land is not only the land where our ancestors lived; it is also the land where we want our children to live,” the appeal said.
