“Let us work together to replace despair with HOPE, fear with human SECURITY and humiliation with DIGNITY”

International Delegation of Bishops Visit Gaza, for Archbishop Fontana “A Devastated Situation”

The group of 16 Bishops who make up the Holy Land Coordination (Hlc), a body that brings together Bishops and representatives of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe and North America (see Fides 07/01/2015), began their visit to Palestine and Israel with the sufferings and hopes of the people of Gaza.

"On Sunday afternoon, after an 8-hour break at the Erez crossing" refers to Agenzia Fides Italian Archbishop Riccardo Fontana, head of the diocese of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro "we arrived in Gaza, we celebrated Mass and we immediately met some families. We had the impression that we are in a devastated situation. They told us of the three children who died in the cold. There is electric current only for a few hours. And one is grief-stricken to see that everyone, starting from the children, realize that they are victims of violence, and know who is responsible for this injustice. A third grade girl told us: they have destroyed our houses, but mostly they have taken children away from their mothers and mothers from their children. An older boy warned us: people come here to ask us if we need food and aid. But we only need the one thing that no one promises us: to be treated as men, recognized in their dignity".
In order to enter the Gaza Strip, the delegation of Bishops had to overcome many difficulties: at the Erez crossing, the Israeli authorities denied the delegation permission to enter the Strip. The prelates then began a long negotiation, and eventually they got permission to enter in groups of three. The program of the visit also includes a meeting with the people of Sderot – the Israeli settlement reached by the launch of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip during the military campaign in July – and a stop at the Cremisan Valley.

Source: Fides News

2016-10-24T07:19:23+00:00 January 12th, 2015|Categories: News|