"More must be dared" ” “for peace” “

“No one is making any move. Everyone is talking but no one does a thing”. These words of Samuel, an Arab Christian in Nazareth, sum up the state of mind and the discouragement that the Christian community in the Holy Land is experiencing at the present time. Europe is accused of excessive diplomatic inertia, far from the tables of a non-existent negotiation. This absence is accompanied by the failure to implement UN Resolution 1042, asking Israel for the immediate withdrawal of her army from the occupied territories. EU, silent mediation? “The solution of the conflict cannot come from inside”, declares Msgr. Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, auxiliary bishop of Jerusalem of the Latins, in an interview with SIREurope. “We need an external pressure. The United Nations could play a role, but has lost credibility and influence, it’s not accepted, in spite of its last positive Resolution. The other two points of reference are the USA and Europe. In particular, the latter has always played a role of mediation, ever since the accords of capitulation. It could and should play its cards now”. “The declarations being made are undoubtedly very fine”, continues Marcuzzo, “but more can and must be dared”. Officially the European Union “maintains excellent relations with Israel”. “It’s not impossible, therefore, to convince Sharon that the EU is not a silent mediator. The European countries are called to review the quality and the level of their relations with Israel. We don’t request a military involvement but an economic and cultural pressure, a pressure at the level of public opinion, and efforts in the diplomatic field”, concludes the bishop. His words echo the latest news from Jerusalem, where on 2 April almost 300 persons – religious leaders, nuns, friars and lay people led by the patriarchs and heads of the 13 Christian Churches in the Holy Land – marched in the pouring rain, praying and singing, to Sharon’s house to appeal for a “peace mediation”, just as the tragic news of the Israeli assault on the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem was breaking. For a free world. “Europe must abandon its silence”, says Samuel. “Words or good intentions are no longer enough if they are not backed up by actions. The situation is rapidly deteriorating. None of us is able to grasp what’s happening. The newspapers report the events in very different ways. We only succeed in being informed about what’s going on by friends and acquaintances. On Maundy Thursday I was in Bethlehem and already a climate of tension could be felt: too many police, too many security measures. An atmosphere of military occupation”. “We know that the European countries have good relations with the Jews, especially as regards trade relations. And at the same time they feel sympathy for the Palestinian people”, continues Samuel. “That’s why we ask and hope for concrete help from them in the hours ahead”. This is an appeal shared, and relaunched to his European contemporaries, by Nabil, 23 years old, a Palestinian Catholic: “Support the Palestinian people, attacked and humiliated by the Israelis, with a global protest movement, for a world free of all forms of occupation”, he urges. Nabil also emphasizes that “Palestine is the last occupied place in the world”. “It’s time for Europe to take in hand the peace process, and substitute the USA which has demonstrated that it does not want agreements of any kind”. Nabil is studying communication sciences at the University of Haifa. He would like to become a journalist and speak of his oppressed people. “I beg European journalists not to go away, but to remain here and tell the world what is happening. We need the support of public opinion and we know there aren’t enough correspondents to cover each event. But the international community must know what’s going on”. Nabil concludes with a thought for Father Giacomo Amateis, the elderly Salesian priest from Cuneo who was at first thought to have fallen a victim to the Israeli assault on Bethlehem. “He was my teacher of religion. I hope he’s well. This situation is really absurd”.