Reacting to resignation” “

The need to help the peoples of the Holy Land to react against resignation and to foster hope with concrete signs of communion and solidarity. For, in spite of the political impasse, peace is still possible, and the vast majority of the population is on the side of those who have the courage to achieve it. These are the first comments of the members who participated in the international meeting of European and American bishops in the Holy Land from 13 to 16 January. Overcoming resignation. “I am convinced that peace is possible and will be achieved in this country too: but the road is long; and we Christians must help to keep hope alive with our particular commitment”. So says Bishop Reinhard Marx of Trier, following his recent visit to Jerusalem as representative of the German Episcopal Conference to the third international meeting of bishops on the situation in the Holy Land. Interviewed by the weekly of the diocese of Trier “Paulinus”, Bishop Marx, vice-president of the “universal Church” commission of the German Episcopal Conference and president of the German “Justitia et Pax” Commission, pointed out: “I have reflected on how promising the situation seemed in the spring of 2000 and how intransigent the fronts have since become”. “Fear, mistrust and violence have grown on both sides”, he added, and “any genuine dialogue seems remote. The scepticism of some on the possibility of the peace talks resuming spontaneously seems to me wholly justified”. According to the bishop, “the relation between Islamic and Christian Palestinians” also seems to have deteriorated. “But just for this reason it is so important – he added – that we as Christians, just as we as bishops, be witnesses of hope. We must react against this terrible resignation that has gained hold of the Christians of the occupied territories and of the other Palestinians”. The specific measures being promoted by the German Episcopal Conference include the support of Christian schools, funded by Church-run aid organizations and by the dioceses; such schools are, in Marx’s view, an “important nursery of the Christian identity in the Holy Land”. He sums up the commitment of the episcopate as follows: “As bishops we wish to constantly remind people of the situation in the Holy Land, invite prayers for peace and use our political contacts to help clarify the situation”. Prayer too is important: last year, the Episcopal Conference made various appeals for peace in the area; it reaffirmed the right to existence both of Israel and of a Palestinian State and repeatedly invited the faithful to pray for peace in the Holy Land. Peace, still possible. In this situation, apparently hopeless, what help can the Church give? The bishops attending the meeting in Jerusalem tried to reply to this question. “There are many ways – summed up John Coughlan, spokesman of the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community (COMECE) – through which affection and solidarity can be expressed in practice. Pilgrimages, for example, do not only help the spiritual conversion of the pilgrims themselves, but support the hope of the Church in the Holy Land. Pilgrimages, moreover, bring an important source of material aid to the population, which has seen many of its own sources of income swept away by the violence. In Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is almost deserted, many of the shops of the Old City have been closed. In Bethlehem the situation is even worse. Nonetheless the most useful thing for the population of the Holy Land would be to put an end to the violence. This aspiration may seem idealistic, but, in actual fact, there is wide consensus of what needs to be done to obtain peace. The Israelis ask for security, the Palestinians wish for the end of the occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel ought to pull out of these territories and permit the Palestinians to form an independent state. The vast majority of the population of both sides support this solution, but the political leaders don’t have the courage to pursue it. The Church offers the hope that peace is possible”.