"The Strip is a huge prison, impossible to get in or out. People are seized by terror and hit hard by destitution. The fights have to be stopped to bring in aids". The thought of Father Pierre Grech, secretary general of the Conference of the Latin Bishops in the Arab Regions (Celra), in these hours in which Gaza is upset by the war between Hamas and Fatah with dozens of people dead or wounded on the field, goes to the Palestinian population, who, says the priest, "is the most exposed to suffering". Without passing any political judgement on the inter-Palestinian crisis, Father Grech states to SIR that he "does not believe in the potential extension of the conflict to Cis-Jordan and the Occupied Territories. The armed factions are not so strong as in Gaza. In these areas he explains people live on tourism. An extension of the conflict would have serious repercussions on the already-afflicted economy of Palestine and would jeopardise the pilgrimages, which are going back to excellent levels". About this, Father Grech appreciates "the proactive attitude of the dioceses that in hundreds, from all over the world, are coming back to the Holy Places which are far from Gaza. The pilgrims are safe. The hotels are fully booked all through next summer and until October and November".
