The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah suggests “the peak of the war is behind us”, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem says. Source: The Tablet.
Speaking at a briefing while visiting the United Kingdom last week, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said efforts to build peace in the Holy Land would depend on new initiatives after the end of the current conflict.
“We have to be ready,” he said, adding that this must be a “turning point” for relations between groups who “barely understand one another”.
Both parties were accused of breaching the ceasefire. Last weekend, an Israel Defence Force (IDF) strike on Shama in southern Lebanon destroyed a 2000-year-old shrine known as the Mausoleum of Simon Peter.
The Lebanese authorities have reported 3500 deaths in fighting with Israel, while 1.2 million people have been displaced, many of them now living in overcrowded camps that often lack clean water, heating, and sanitation.
Eight mobile care units run by Caritas visit displaced people in 18 shelters across Lebanon. Médecins Sans Frontières has 22 mobile medical teams that have reported cases of skin infections and respiratory illnesses, particularly among children and older adults.
Discussing the prospect of a wider settlement in the region, Cardinal Pizzaballa warned that both Israelis and Palestinians were “traumatised” and each has a “totally different reading of the situation” behind the violence. “No one is ready to engage.”
He continued: “Hope is a difficult word. It needs content.”
He said the Christian community could offer “something different”.
“I am proud of the community of Gaza, of the parish of Gaza,” he said. “They have every right to be angry, but they are not.”
FULL STORY
Palestinian Christians seek ‘turning point’ in Holy Land conflict (By Patrick Hudson, Ellen Teague, Marko Phiri, The Tablet)
