Bishops see no end to Holy Land hostilities

Bishops issue urgent global call to action, reports Luke Coppen
THERE Is little prospect of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, an international delegation of bishops has concluded after a three-day visit to the Holy Land.
The bishops issued their gloomy assessment after separate talks with the Israeli President Moshe Katsav and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat.
In a statement, the bishops from North America and Europe expressed solidarity with local Christians and committed themselves to "work without ceasing" to improve the living conditions of Christians in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.
The bishops. who included Archbishop Patrick Kelly of Liverpool, said that conditions had deteriorated visibly in the Holy Land since their last visit a year ago.
Addressing the Christian community, the bishops said: "A year ago, you shared with us your sufferings and spoke of your yearnings for justice and peace. To our great sorrow, as we return a year later, we have heard not of greater peace and hope. but only of even more violence and deeper despair.
"Security measures have become more oppressive; unemployment has increased; poverty of body, mind and even spirit is ever greater. We have also witnessed peoples dread and dismay at the threat of war in Iraq.
"It is clear that fear and mistrust grip many more besides you, our Christian sisters and brothers.
"No one can remain indifferent to the injustice of which the Palestinian people have been victims for more than 50 years. No one can contest the right of the Israeli people to live in security. However, neither can anyone forget the innocent victims, on both sides, who fall day after day under the blows of violence. Weapons and bloody attacks will never be the right means for making political statements to the other side. Nor is the logic of the law of mediation capable any longer of leading to the paths of justice.
"We renew the promise we made a year ago. Until God grants the peace for which we all long, we promise to work without ceasing to help sustain you. our brothers and sisters in faith in Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel and Jordan. To you who first witnessed the risen Christ and seek a rightful share in the peace which can be found only in him, we pledge our love and solidarity."
Archbishop Kelly told the US Catholic News Service that the bishops were "distressed" to see that "fear and distrust has increased".
"It is clear something is profoundly wrong. Politics are not our expertise. Ours is a different task. We are here to work with the local church. We need to find new ways to strengthen [Christians]," he said.
The archbishop said the international Christian community could best assist Holy Land Christians through solidarity and advocacy.
"It is the walking with the people and encouraging them. It is the value of this." he said.
At the end of their visit, the bishops urged the world's bishop's conferences to coordinate support for the Holy Land's Christians. They called for increased contact between conferences and the Church in the Holy Land and more communication between conferences on Holy Land issues.
They also appealed to Church leaders to encourage pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to urge the faithful to give money to the Church in the region. The bishops also called for renewed commitment to ecumenical and interfaith initiatives.
Meanwhile, the Latin Patriarch was forced to miss a Vatican meeting last weekend after problems with Israeli security.
Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem was unable to attend the meeting of the Pontifical Council for lnterreligious Dialogue because of security difficulties at Ben Gwion International Airport.