Praying Is Not Enough

When Pope BenedictXVI visits Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth between 8-15 May, he should do more than just “pray for the precious gift of unity and peace”. He could use his combined influential power as head of one of Christian Churches, and of the Vatican State which is a UN member, to discuss with the Israeli authorities the issue of aggression in the occupied territory, especially in the West Bank and Gaza. He could ask them to stop building barrier walls to separate Palestinian communities from each other, and to conduct obstructive road blocks that makes life difficult for people to move around earning their living. The Pope can also use his good office to persuade members of the Israel Government to get the Jewish settlers out of houses built in the occupied Palestinian lands, and to stop building new ones, as part of taking seriously the implementation of the International Peace Plan, known to the international community as “the Road Map”. The Vatican can also cooperate more actively with the UN humanitarian efforts to help civilians, victims of Israel violence acts, and the protection of Civilian Data Center. Thanks to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, information on civilian Palestinian casualties are available to us via the Internet to find out for ourselves what is going on over there. I find the website useful in having information that I need from OCHA’s new Gaza Crisis Section. The Vatican officials can make use of the reports and published resources in this website on the suffering of the people living in Gaza to prepare briefings for the Pope to use in discussing with the Israeli leaders whom he will meet on this trip.