In an interview with Vatican News, the vicar general of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem calls for continued attention to Gaza and the West Bank as “two million people are still suffering.”
By Roberto Paglialonga “Gaza is forgotten. Today all attention is on Iran and southern Lebanon, but in the Strip, two million people are still suffering: the issue is unresolved.” Speaking by phone to Vatican News, Bishop William Shomali, vicar general of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem since 2021, made an appeal to keep focus on what is still happening in the Strip. The economy there is collapsing, and many basic necessities remain scarce: medicines, antibiotics, medical equipment. “Security is lacking,” he warned. “Every day Palestinians in Gaza are killed, while the Rafah crossing does not function as it should.” The bishop lamented that in regards to reconstruction, “no one talks about it anymore.” Yet “80% of the infrastructure is still destroyed.” Those who can, and manage to, flee the enclave. He said many go to Australia, where around 50 families have been welcomed. Settlements in the West Bank Tensions are also high in the West Bank, in the State of Palestine, Bishop Shomali explained “a major problem: that of settlements.” Currently, there are 200, but the numbers continue to rise. “Israel’s idea is to limit the presence of Palestinians to just three areas, build settlements around cities to occupy the land, and thereby move toward annexation of the West Bank under the name of Judea and Samaria,” he said. “They want people to forget that there is a Palestinian population that will gradually become a minority. The whole purpose of this is to prevent the birth of a Palestinian state.” No land available for building The three areas where Israelis want to confine Palestinians, the Bishop explained, are Hebron-Bethlehem, Ramallah, and finally Nablus and Jenin. “Meanwhile, along the north-south corridor, settlements continue to multiply.” Israel then blocks “the growth of cities because it is difficult to find land for construction: 53% of Palestinian territories are in Area C, where building is prohibited,” Bishop Shomali said, “because it is occupied territory under full Israeli control. Settlers build wherever they want in this zone.” Christian communities also targeted by settlers The Bishop also highlighted how Christian communities are at the center of violent incidents. In Taybeh, settlers “enter whenever they want, set fire to vehicles, and prevent farmers from working their fields” during the olive harvest. But these are examples of abuses that have now become daily occurrences. “In other places they kill, like in the villages of Bir Zeit or Aboud.” In the West Bank and Jerusalem, the bishop described the Christian community as few, around 50,000. Settlers “use any pretext to provoke violence: a young person reporting to the police that someone threw a stone at them is enough. They are violent; people are afraid,” he recalled. A “new settlement will now be built near Bethlehem, in Beit Sahour, in an area called Osh Ghrab, on land that belongs to Christian families. They cannot even approach it.” All of this “blocks the future of the emergence of a Palestinian state,” he concluded. A declining Christian presence Bishop Shomali also noted that “the percentage of Christians” shows an almost constant decline, which will likely continue: “We were a majority in the early centuries, from the 4th to the 7th,” but “afterward we began to decrease.” After the fall of the city of Saint John of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291, there was no longer a patriarch in Jerusalem, and the title was gradually assigned to prelates of the papal court in Rome. Then in 1847 when the Latin Patriarchate was reestablished, “we were 10% of historic Palestine (about 21,000 people). In numbers we were few, but the percentage was high. Now we live a paradox in reverse: we are more numerous—Arab-speaking Christians across Israel, Gaza, and Palestine number at least 180,000—yet the percentage is low,” he explained. Nevertheless, Bishop Shomali expressed his confidence that “the Lord will not allow the Church to disappear from the Holy Land, but we will be a small flock near the Holy Sites. This is my sense. We will remain, but at less than 1%.” Easter celebrations will take place Thanks to the agreement reached with Israeli authorities, after the “misunderstandings” of Palm Sunday, it will now be possible—within security limits—for Christians to celebrate the Triduum. The vicar general clarified that “two weeks ago the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, sent a letter requesting permission to celebrate even with small numbers. Now the police have said they intend to respond to that letter. No one can go against the Status Quo; it is a reality to be respected internationally.” He shared that the Holy Week celebrations will take place with a maximum of 10 people. “They will open the door of the Holy Sepulchre and close it after entry. Once the ceremony is over, when people have left, the door will be closed again. The same will happen for the Oriental rites.”