{"id":12303,"date":"2021-05-20T15:48:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T19:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/ca\/?p=12303"},"modified":"2024-06-27T10:58:06","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T14:58:06","slug":"violence-begets-violence-turmoil-and-fear-in-the-holy-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/ca\/violence-begets-violence-turmoil-and-fear-in-the-holy-land\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Violence Begets Violence\u2019: Turmoil and Fear in the Holy Land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cYesterday was a very difficult and dangerous day for Jerusalem, especially for those of us who live in the Old City,\u201d wrote Sami el-Yousef in an email early Tuesday morning. \u201cNow Gaza is in flames and with the next few days, we will probably see further escalation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen will all this madness stop?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have known Sami for years. A native of the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Sami\u2019s family is among the oldest Christian families residing there \u2014 his roots reach to the earliest years of the Christian community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each year on Holy Saturday, according to the Julian calendar, Sami bears a family standard that for centuries has been a part of the Ceremony of Fire held in the rotunda erected over the site of Jesus\u2019 tomb. But each year, the burden becomes heavier, as the descendants of those first families depart the region, leaving Sami with the responsibility of finding some collateral relative to maintain the privilege and the tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Greek Orthodox layman, Sami serves Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, as his chief executive officer, after years of distinguished service to Bethlehem University and to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, or CNEWA, an agency of the Holy See founded to serve the Eastern churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Educated in the United States, as are his wife, daughter and two sons, Sami\u2019s voice is calm, measured and rarely shaken. But hunkered down in his home with his family, located at a busy intersection not far from the New Gate, the fear in his words was palpable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For, just hours before on Monday, the Israeli police had invaded the grounds of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Firing rubber bullets, they dispersed the worshippers who had gathered there for prayer on one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar. The holy day for Muslims coincided with Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the Israeli capture of East Jerusalem and the Old City during the Arab Israeli War in 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 10 is fraught with tension every year, as the narrow streets of the Old City become the parade route for extremist Jewish groups whose actions are described as increasingly confrontational and provocative, designed to elicit violent responses. While Israelis celebrate the military victory as a unification of their ancient capital, Palestinians lament it as a de facto divorce of the city from the West Bank, the vast majority of which remains occupied by the Israeli Defense Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The confrontation at the mosque and its grounds \u201cviolate the sanctity of the people of Jerusalem and of Jerusalem as the City of Peace,\u201d wrote<\/a> the heads of the Christian churches. They stated further that these actions undermine the safety of worshippers, noting, \u201cThe special character of Jerusalem, the Holy City, with the existing status quo, compels all parties to preserve the already sensitive situation in the Holy City of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe growing tension, backed mainly by right-wing radical groups, endangers the already fragile reality in and around Jerusalem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Israeli officials eventually announced alternative Jerusalem Day parade routes \u2014 to avoid more violence and bloodshed \u2014 some marches continued nevertheless, the chants demonstrating \u201cfull-scale racism and hatred … with the backing of the government,\u201d said one Palestinian Christian observer, who asked to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of May 17, since the escalation of violence, BBC News reports<\/a> that 197 people have been killed in Gaza, including 58 children and 34 women, with some 1,230 others being wounded. At least 205 Palestinians were wounded<\/a> on the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on May 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven Israeli civilians and one soldier have been killed and hundreds injured as Hamas, the Islamist militant group in control of Gaza, has launched rockets and mortar shells into Israeli civilian centers, including for the first time Jerusalem itself. As many as 17 members of the Israeli police who stormed the grounds of the mosque were injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rescuers
Rescuers carry Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, as they pull her from the rubble of a building at the site of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on 16 May. (CNS photo\/Mohammed Salem, Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After reciting the Regina Caeli before hundreds of people in St. Peter\u2019s Square on Sunday, May 9, Pope Francis expressed his concern<\/a> about the growing violence between Palestinians and Israelis. \u201cWith particular concern I am following the events that are happening in Jerusalem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added, \u201cI invite everyone to seek shared solutions so that the multireligious and multicultural identity of the Holy City is respected and fraternity prevails. Violence begets violence. Enough with the clashes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shallow roots of the current violence involve the responses of Palestinian youth to recent Israeli actions. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n