Dans ce JOURNAL je partage de temps en temps un aperçu de ma vie de chrétien catholique et de prêtre pour rejoindre d'autres qui désirent contribuer au bien commun et pour faire avancer l'ouverture personnelle à Dieu qui fait vivre toute l'humanité et veille sur nous. G.S.
----------------------------------------------------------------
CCCB President the Most Reverend Bishop William T. McGrattan has just published a very reasoned statement on behalf of the Roman Catholic Bishops and faithful of Canada on the recent escalation of conflict in the Holy Land. You can read the short statement here.
Sadly, what usually remains unsaid or concealed in the shadows is the behaviour of the successive Israeli governments towards their Palestinian inhabitants since 1948, when there was a transfer of authority from the British protectorate to self-governing Jewish bodies.
It is well documented that the new State of Israel proceeded methodically and without relenting to the removal of Palestinian inhabitants, turning their homes, vineyards, and gardens over to Jewish settlers. This policy continues to this day unabated. Those who were displaced and not killed were resettled in one of the 68 refugee camps in various places - in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip - which became rather like gettoes. This is because Israeli military and security have kept them hemmed in, so as to prevent them from returning to their former homes.
When I led two pilgrimage groups to the Holy Land in September 2000 and September 2013, our pilgrims met many Palestinians who are actually Israeli citizens. However, they shared with us the ways in which they are treated by the State of Israel as second class citizens. They are deprived of normal government services: no street repairs or maintenance, and many other services we take for granted are simply not provided; even though they pay their full share of taxes like their Jewish neighbours.
It is this unrelenting and ever encroaching Israeli policy over the past 75 years of taking over Palestinian land to create new Jewish settlements that makes it impossible for peace to ever be realized between these two peoples. This is no doubt a factor in the extreme policy of groups like Hamas, which is dedicated to the elimination of the State of Israel.
So, where does that leave us, the rest of the world? We share the same helplessness of the just and righteous people on both sides: just and humane Jewish people in Israel who lament their country's harsh and merciless policy towards their Palestinian neighbours, and just and longsuffering Palestinian people - both Christian and Muslim - who are held hostage by violent groups like Hamas who take it upon themselves to champion the Palestinian cause; even though those they claim to represent abhor their violent policies and terrorist acts.
This is a riddle which will only ever be resolved by our Creator God, who hears the prayers of all his children, whether they be Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, or Christian.
Sadly, to sum up, there is the tragic violence of military campaigns and terrorist actions. However, there is also the equally tragic violence of government policies intentionally designed for displacing people, seizing their land, and establishing in their place new settlements. True, at the time of the Exodus, God Almighty led his people into an occupation of Canaan, defeating and displacing people, but they were not entirely driven out or exterminated. The proof is that time and again God had to call on his people to repent of imitating those other people in their practices of idolatry.
In our time, the State of Israel seems to have adopted a policy of systematically displacing people from their homes, apparently inspired by the original occupation after the Exodus. We believe this to be an erroneous interpretation of God's will for his people in our day. We are all children of Abraham, which makes us brothers and sisters of one father, and it is high time to find ways to live together in peace, which will require abandoning any number of ambitions.
"Lord, have mercy on all your children."
Dans ce JOURNAL je partage de temps en temps un aperçu de ma vie de chrétien catholique et de prêtre pour rejoindre d'autres qui désirent contribuer au bien commun et pour faire avancer l'ouverture personnelle à Dieu qui fait vivre toute l'humanité et veille sur nous. G.S.
----------------------------------------------------------------
© 2004-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2004-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
+ + + + + + + + + + + +
