Skip to content

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Unholy political positions in the Holy Land

Free World Class Education
FREE Catholic Classes

As the minds and hearts of Christians throughout the world focus on the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, we naturally think of the Holy Land.

Throughout much of history, in the land where the world's savior taught human beings to love one another as he loved us, instead of experiencing love, Palestinians have often experienced the great pain and suffering of injustice, war and foreign occupation.
   
And today the story is sadly much the same.

In the Occupied Territories of the West Bank in Palestine, Israeli government and military oppression is very real, and yet under reported by corporate owned U.S. media sources.

According to B'Tselem (www.btselem.org) - an Israeli human rights organization comprised of academics, attorneys and members of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) - tens of thousands of hectares of the West Bank, including farm and pasture land, has been seized from Palestinians by Israel, so that hundreds of thousands of Israelis could populate the more than 200 Jewish settlements and settlement outposts established in the Palestinian West Bank.

The Palestinian West Bank came under Israeli control as a result of its conquest during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. For all practical purposes, due to the Israeli settlements, much of it has become a permanent part of Israel - in violation of international law according to the International Court of Justice.

The same court ruled that the Israeli separation barrier of walls, barbed wire and trenches in the West Bank is also illegal. This barrier - built overwhelmingly in occupied territory - effectively takes more land away from the Palestinians, and prevents many Palestinians from normal access to their vineyards, olive groves and fields.

A friend of mine, Dusty Tyukody, participated in an educational trip to the West Bank sponsored by Friends of Sabeel North America (www.fosna.org) - an ecumenical Christian peace organization. She emailed me a photo she took showing Palestinians herded like cattle into a narrow passageway where they stood for a long period while waiting to pass through an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron.
 
Another injustice according to B'Tselem is that Israelis living in the West Bank enjoy an unlimited supply of running water all year round, while Palestinians are allotted a small fixed amount, resulting in constant water shortages.

In many ways the situation in Gaza is even worse. With an Israeli land and naval blockade in place, Gaza is known as the world's largest outdoor prison. 

And last year's Israeli military offensive against the militant group Hamas in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,462 civilians, including 495 children according to the United Nations. This offensive also leveled much of Gaza, leaving many with little to no water, food, or habitable shelter.

While Hamas has been immorally responsible for firing rockets indiscriminately from Gaza into Israel, the collective punishment of the entire Gaza population by Israel is totally unjust and gravely immoral.

The U.S. annually gives Israel approximately $3 billion - mostly for military aid - with virtually no conditions. Instead, the U.S. should demand Israel end all injustices towards the Palestinian people, and commit to a timetable towards the finalization of a viable independent Palestinian nation and a secure Israel.

Please go to the "US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation" (www.endtheoccupation.org) and sign the petition. 

You can also help those in the Holy Land by donating to Your Catholic Voice Foundation.

And visit www.holylandprinciples.org and click "join the campaign."

At the conclusion of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2009, he said "Let it be universally recognized that the State of Israel has the right to exist, and to enjoy peace and security within internationally agreed borders. Let it be likewise acknowledged that the Palestinian people have a right to a sovereign independent homeland, to live with dignity and to travel freely. Let the two-state solution become a reality, not remain a dream."

[Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. Please contact your diocesan newspaper and request that they carry Tony's column. Tony is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings about Catholic social teaching. His keynote address, "Advancing the Kingdom of God in the 21st Century," has been well received by diocesan gatherings from Santa Clara, Calif. to Baltimore, Md. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net.]

---


'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'


Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online

Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Lent logo
Saint of the Day logo

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Catholic Online Logo

Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.

Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.