Father Newhaus: United for the future of peace and equality for Palestine

Roberto Cityra – Vatican City

Although the life of Christians in the Holy Land is characterized by difficulties and suffering (see number Roman observer On Thursday, April 3), the seeds of the social and ecclesiastical emergence that opens a new hope. This is the case of the recently formed group in Jerusalem, which calls itself “a voice from Jerusalem for justice.” Among the organizers, the Father Jesuit, David Newhaus, a professor of the Holy Bible at the Latin Patriarchate symposium in Jerusalem and the former patriarchal deputy of the Hebrew and immigrants, who talk here about a “group of spontaneity”. Honorary Patriarch of Latinians Michel Sibat.

“We have created a kind of ecumenical thought – explaining the Jesuit father – who wants to witness the Christian profession in the Holy Land that enhances the activity of just peace and equality between Israel and Palestine. We are deeply dismayed by what is happening, due to the continuous death and destruction that carried out Gaza and the Northern Bank, for many dead and wounded, many of the displaced and hunger. We would like to listen to our churches to scream stronger against these crimes. “We will do this for our people, to awaken our leaders and the international community, and above all, to hesitate to the desperate calls of Pope Francis.”

Father David, I published a first document entitled “From the deepest climate for you”, such as the beginning of Psalm 130. What do you mean?

Which – which Start He really says everything. We add: “We live in a moment of deep crisis, we write to everyone because we believe that our faith can illuminate dark moments like this.” This is a phrase we take from the comment made by Reverend Martin Luther King, a civil rights defender in the United States, about the story of the good Samaritan. The priest and the metaphor who passed through him did not stop helping the injured traveler because they were afraid. They asked, “What can happen to me if I stop?” Instead, the Samaritan asked: “What can happen to me if I don’t stop and continue?”

Who go with this document?

In three groups. Meanwhile, our Palestinian brothers and sisters in places where violence was more intense, and whom we refer to: “We do not go, we do not forget them, but we sympathize with you, and we take them in our prayers. We cry with you. And let us try to hear your cry in a world that should vibrate through the complicit self -insufficiency. After that, specifically, we go to everyone in the world who remain silent. We realize your fear. They may think another person will stop on the way to help. But no one stops. Recently, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced that he will soon announce a stable future for our land. We are afraid that the inclusion of Palestinian territories by Israel is imminent. It is time to insist that the Palestinians have the right to live in their land, and to join all those around the world who want the future of peace, equality and justice for both Palestinians and Israelis. Finally, we go to all those who believe that the will of God was erased from the map and their lands related to Israel. We want to tell you that they are confused, because we all, the Israelis and the Palestinians, were created in the form of God and the like, and he himself is in dignity and rights. Our God is the god of love, who rejects violence and loves all his children indifferently. “I love your neighbor as yourself” (the Book of Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 23:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Romans 13: 9): The Palestinians are “posters” today. The experience of the Palestinians, in this sense, is not a crime, it is sanctification.

Father David, do you really think that this terror can end soon?

I will answer you frankly: I personally do not see much hope on the horizon. But as a group we strongly assert Christian hope. As we approach the Christian Easter, let’s pray in order to overwhelm this humanity that is lost today in the dark. But “in it is eternal life, and this life illuminates all humanity.