Appeal for humanity
pax christi delegates’ meeting votes for immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine
pax christi condemns the heinous massacre by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists and is deeply concerned about the explosion of violence in Israel and Palestine.
Our sympathy is with the people who have lost loved ones and are mourning them, with the injured, with the displaced, including children and the elderly, and their families, and with all those who live in fear.
After the deaths of over 1,400 people from Israel and over 5,700 people from Gaza, including over a third of children (figures from the UN aid organization OCHA until 24.10.2023), we understand the pain, bitterness and anger on all sides. All people in the region have a right to live in security and peace.
(Editor’s note: Figures from the UN aid organization OCHA up to 15.12.2023: over 18,787 people from Gaza have been killed, including around 70 percent women and children; around 50,589 people have been wounded according to the report. Many people are still missing).
Together with our friends from Israel and Palestine, we are concerned that the renewed vicious circle of violence and the reliance on security through military superiority will destroy the prospect of a life in peace. With them, with the churches in the Holy Land and with UN Secretary-General Guterres, we call for an end to the bloodshed, an immediate ceasefire, the release of the hostages and negotiations to establish a lasting, just and secure peace for both sides. We call on the German government to stop blocking these demands in the EU.
The catastrophic humanitarian situation suffered by vulnerable people requires immediate and unrestricted access to water and food, as well as to hospitals, medical clinics and medicines, fuel and electricity. Humanitarian organizations must also be given access in order to save human lives.
We call on the Israeli government to end the displacement of the civilian population, especially families, and the call to flee, and to allow them to return. Hunger, denied supplies and displacement must not be a weapon of war. International humanitarian law, and in particular the protection of civilians, applies to all people.
With Pax Christi International, we call on the international community to ensure the protection of the civilian population and in particular to ensure the protection of the vulnerable people in Gaza through international observers, peacekeepers and humanitarian corridors.
Only the future prospects for both peoples with Israel’s right to exist and the creation of an independent Palestinian state and serious political negotiations with the support of the international community support our hopes for a lasting peace in the region.
This appeal was adopted by the pax christi delegates’ meeting on 29.10.2023 in Mainz.
You can also find the message on https://paxchristi.net/2022/10/04/pax-christi-co-president-supporting-pope-francis-call-for-a-ceasefire-in-ukraine/
Contact
pax christi – German Section e.V.
Tel. 030.200 76 78-0
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