Image Credit: Dan Palraz – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=126107180
Anne-Marie Clements, Catholic Social Teaching Engagement Officer at Justice and Peace Scotland and a Pax Christi Scotland executive committee member, reflects on the tragedy of the Holy Land this Christmas
On Saturday, 16th December, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem reported that IDF snipers carried out the seemingly deliberate killing of two Christian women who were sheltering in the Catholic parish of the Holy Family in Gaza. Nahdia Khalil Anton and her daughter, Samar Kamal Anton, tragically join the list of names belonging to thousands of Palestinian civilians who have lost their lives in Gaza over these past months. The Communication Office of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said the women were staying on church premises alongside many other Palestinian Christians who have been seeking shelter and safety in the parish since the war began. It described the attack on both the church itself and the adjacent convent as a senseless tragedy, while simultaneously expressing an inability to comprehend how such an act could have occurred: “No warning was given, no notification was provided. They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the Parish, where there are no belligerents.”
Each and every life lost through the ongoing cycle of violence in The Holy Land is one that is precious in the eyes of God. This holds true whether one is Palestinian or Israeli, whether Jew, Muslim, or Christian. The killing of Nahdia and Samara while they were seeking refuge in the premises of a Catholic church, however, may evoke a personal sense of hurt or anger for us as Christians, not least of all because of the harrowing poignancy of the parish being named in honour of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and, while the Universal Church prepares to welcome the Holy Family into our hearts in the days ahead, the family of the Christian community in Gaza has lost two of its members in violent and unjustifiable circumstances.
Any sense of personal hurt and anger we may feel in response to a deliberate attack on members of our faith community exists in union with the hurt and anger felt by Israeli families who mourn the killing of loved ones on October 7th, or who fret for the safety of family members held in Gaza against their will; it exists, too, in union with the hurt and anger of Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank who grieve daily as the death toll climbs ever higher. Violence, war, and conflict devastates lives, families, and communities on all sides. It is our duty as peace activists to act on the words of Pope Francis to spread the message of non-violence in our parishes and communities: “Wars are always a defeat, always. There is never a total victory. One side wins over the other but behind that there is always defeat in the price that has to be paid.” We must, therefore, be persistent in calling for a ceasefire and in persuading influential political leaders to act as mediators to replace war and conflict with dialogue and lasting resolutions. As long as the cycle of violence continues to perpetuate itself, the loss, grief, and trauma will continue to take root in the hearts of Palestinians and Israelis alike. No one is a victor.
Nahdia and Samara’s killing and the targeting of a Catholic church remind us of a fact that is sometimes lost in the competing accounts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: this is not a religious war of theological incompatibilities exclusively between Palestinian Muslims and Israeli Jews. Incorrectly viewing the scenario through this false binary not only erases from the narrative the witness and experience of the Palestinian Christians who have remained steadfast in the region since the days of the Early Church; it also causes people to become despondent in acting to resolve the conflict if they believe it is rooted in unresolvable differences of belief. It is important, therefore, that we graciously challenge this misconception when we encounter it.
The indiscriminate killing of civilians and the loss of all human lives in The Holy Land must stop. As we prepare for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, we cannot be silent in the face of the continual bloodshed in the land where He was born. Instead we must re-commit ourselves to advocating for a non-violent, lasting solution that realises peace and justice for all.