Palestinian priest Rev. Munther Isaac warns that Christian communities in Gaza and the West Bank are facing extinction amid Israel’s ongoing genocide and deepening restrictions.
Palestinian Lutheran priest Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac has warned that Christian communities in Gaza and the West Bank are facing extinction amid the ongoing Israeli genocide and intensifying restrictions on Palestinian life.
“For the second year in a row, we celebrate Easter amidst the war of extermination against our people in Gaza, who are still walking the Via Dolorosa,” Rev. Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, said in an interview with the Anadolu news agency.
“Palestine is still walking the path of suffering and is suffering from the siege and the Israeli policy of apartheid. The same violence that killed Christ still exists on our land today.”
“The silence of many church leaders… is too loud.”
Palestinian Christian pastor Munther Isaac says this is the second year in which Christians in the occupied West Bank “mark Easter in the shadow of the genocide unfolding in Gaza”.
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Rev. Isaac’s stark remarks come as the Christian presence in Gaza has been decimated.
“Christianity in Gaza is threatened with extinction, and this is no secret. Their numbers have halved,” he said. “Some have been killed and displaced, some fled at the beginning of the war, and some have died due to the lack of food, medicine, and basic necessities of life.”
Rev. Isaac linked the decline of Christian life in Palestine to a larger policy of displacement. “We emphasize that it is not emigration as much as it is forced displacement… This is a plan for displacement and ethnic cleansing that affects us as Palestinian Christians,” he said.
In the occupied West Bank, Christians face their own struggles. Speaking from Bethlehem, Isaac highlighted Israeli efforts to isolate Palestinians from Jerusalem, particularly during religious holidays.
In his Easter message, Pope Francis has called for a ceasefire and the release of hostages from Gaza. https://t.co/cyQazwFhHt
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Meanwhile, on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis delivered his message and blessing Urbi et Orbi, “extending his closeness to the people of Gaza and to the Christian community in the enclave,” Vatican News reported.
“I appeal once again,” he said, “for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, for the release of the hostages… and for access to humanitarian aid.”
The pope also called on the international community to act and “come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace.”
Ongoing Genocide
Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.
On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 51,000, wounding more than 116,000, with over 14,000 still missing.
Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.
Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.
(PC, AJA, Vatican News)
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