By Nelson Alcantara (eTN)
Christians are being urged by Open Bethlehem to help call for the end to European sanctions for end to EU sanctions as Bethlehem faces disaster.
Citing the current situation in Palestine, which has been deemed to be approaching a humanitarian crisis, Open Bethlehem on Monday called on “church leaders, clergy, lay Christians and all who care about peace and justice to speak out against the EU sanctions and support the people of Bethlehem at this critical time.”
According to a release from Open Bethlehem, over 70 percent of the population of Bethlehem now lives below the poverty line and unemployment has soared to more than 60 percent. “Once a prosperous middle class town, Bethlehem has been economically suffocated and the post-election sanctions have brought the local population to the brink of disaster.”
Open Bethlehem director Leila Sansour states: “Bethlehem is imprisoned by a wall which separates us from our farmland, our water supplies and our fellow countrymen. We are resisting this attempt to erase us from history, but we feel isolated and abandoned. The sanctions exacerbate the crisis as our hospitals run out of medicine and we are plunged into a manmade humanitarian disaster. We ask the international community and all who care about Bethlehem, to support us at this extremely difficult time.”
The vice chancellor of Bethlehem University (the only Christian University in the area), Brother Daniel Casey, said: “We are very concerned for our students and their families – especially those whose parents are teachers and social workers and other government employees. Thirty percent of the University’s budget comes from student tuition fees. Families are having great difficulty in making these payments. They are struggling to buy food, medicine, and their basic needs, never mind their tuition fees.”
Open Bethlehem, citing Christian Aid, said in two years, almost three in four Palestinians (74 percent) will be living below the United Nations poverty line of an income of £1.10 a day – worse than Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Angola.
Last month, the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem (a body representing all the main Christian churches) said, "it is not permitted to boycott a people on whom oppressions and injustices were and are imposed...we appeal to the international community to seize the opportunity of this phase in history of the conflict in order to try seriously to put an end to the suffering of our land and of all its inhabitants.”
Open Bethlehem also said, the United Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that withholding aid “places road blocks to a two-state solution to the conflict, impairs relationships with non-Hamas moderate Palestinian leaders, and seriously compromises aid programs by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) providing assistance to the Palestinian people.”
At the national rally last Saturday, May 20, Open Bethlehem joined the voices of thousands across the political and religious spectrum calling for a humane and moral response to this humanitarian crisis.
Based in Bethlehem, Open Bethlehem describes itself as “an international project created to save the city of Bethlehem.” It has offices in London and Washington. It claims to be working hand-in-hand with all Bethlehem civil institutions.
