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Fr. Faltas: The West Bank bleeds, listen to the Pope’s appeals to stop the violence
Fr. Ibrahim Faltas, Head of Schools of the Custody of the Holy Land, deplores the situation in the West Bank and issues a warning both to those who fuel the violence and to those “who fail to intervene to stop this endless spiral.” He expresses hope that the elections announced in Israel and Palestine will bring “new balance and genuine justice to both peoples.”
By Fr. Ibrahim Faltas*
Once again, violence is intensifying in the Holy Land—a violence that has never left this land.
It escalates into further acts of revenge, lengthens the lists of the dead and the destruction, narrows the prospects for peace, and shuts minds and hearts behind barbed-wire fences.
The West Bank is burning, bleeding, crying out in pain and suffering.
Like Gaza, the West Bank has become a territory that has lost its scale and its spaces, a place that is no longer recognizable—a land physically and socially divided, scarred by deep wounds, and affronted in its historical identity.
Every corner of this land suffers violence and destruction every day; every inhabitant endures deprivation, restrictions, suffering, and humiliation that grow worse with each passing day.
People are dying in an unofficial war, undeclared but that continues, constant and widespread.
There have been countless fires in homes and on land. It is no longer possible to travel from one city to another – even if they’re very close – whether for medical emergencies, to work, to help relatives, or to defend small family properties that have been illegally occupied and seized by aggressive and violent settlers.
I receive countless requests for help regarding needs that have become serious, dangerous, and increasingly difficult to address. The numerous checkpoints—now more than a thousand—and the many temporary roadblocks have become part of a landscape that once represented the history and daily life of the Palestinian people: farming the land, the endless olive groves, grazing livestock, and towns and cities filled with sounds, colors, and life.
Over the years, settlements have surrounded every village, every sign and symbol of community life. They encircle Palestinian life without embracing it—they suffocate it.
They suffocate the hopes of young people, who can no longer even imagine their own future. They destroy the expectations of those who worked hard to build the past and the present. They shatter the smiles and dreams of children who see their land burned, restricted, and drained of color.
Parents are unable to bring children who need regular medical treatment to hospitals. Sons and daughters cannot reach their elderly and sick parents. Fathers are stopped at roadblocks that prevent them from going to work. These are situations that have persisted for months, even years, in the West Bank.
The people are desperate and terrified by the countless raids carried out by settlers who, with impunity, are able to spread fear and terror among the poor people, who can no longer find refuge or safety even in their own homes.
The Holy Father’s strong appeals to end the violence must be heard—both by those who perpetrate it and by those who fail to intervene to stop this endless spiral.
The elections that have been announced and are due to take place in the coming months in Israel and Palestine must bring new balance and genuine justice to both peoples.
The hope that the course of history might change direction never leaves those who have faith and trust in the Lord.
*Head of Schools of the Custody of the Holy Land
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