Fr. Ibrahim Faltas OFM – Director of the Schools of the Custody of the Holy Land
Once again, violence is escalating in the Holy Land, a violence that has never truly left this region. Violence breeds further acts of vengeance, lengthens the list of the dead and of destruction, pushes the prospect of peace further away, and locks human minds and hearts behind barbed-wire fences.
The West Bank is burning, bleeding, and crying out for help. Like Gaza, it is today a territory that has lost its space and identity. It has become a land beyond recognition—divided physically and socially, marked by deep wounds, and stripped of its historical identity.
Every corner of this land experiences violence and destruction on a daily basis. Every one of its inhabitants struggles with growing shortages, restrictions, suffering, and humiliation.
People are dying here in a war that has never been officially declared, but which continues unabated—continuous, omnipresent, and devastating. It is no longer possible to count the burned houses and fields. Increasingly, it is even impossible to travel between neighboring towns to get medical treatment, reach a workplace, visit relatives, or defend small family farms illegally occupied by aggressive and brutal settlers.
Every day I receive numerous requests for help regarding matters that have become dramatic, dangerous, and extremely difficult to resolve. More than a thousand checkpoints and numerous mobile roadblocks have now become part of a landscape that was once associated with the history and life of Palestinians: working in the fields, olive groves, grazing herds, and towns full of sounds, colors, and life.
For years, Israeli settlements have encircled almost every Palestinian locality, every sign and symbol of social life. Yet they do not surround the lives of Palestinians with care—they stifle them. They rob young people of hope, as they can no longer even imagine their own future. The dreams of those who spent years building their present are fading, and children watch as their land burns, shrinks, and loses its colors.
Parents are unable to take sick children to the hospital for regular treatment. Children cannot reach their elderly and ailing parents. Family breadwinners are detained at checkpoints and cannot get to work. Such situations in the West Bank have been repeating for months, and even years.
People live in despair and fear because of the constant raids by settlers who spread terror with impunity. Even within their own homes, many residents no longer find shelter or a sense of security.
The Holy Father’s strong appeals to stop the violence should be heeded both by those who provoke it and by those who fail to take action to break this endless spiral.
The elections announced for the coming months in Israel and Palestine should bring a new balance and true justice to both peoples. The hope that history can change its course does not leave those who believe and place their trust in the Lord.
