To the
Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI
and
faithful brothers in Christ
And to
all men of good will all over the world
Grace
and peace to you.
We,
Arab Christians in Gaza - Palestine, we
followed the trip of His Holiness Benedict
XVI to Germany
and listened carefully to His speech in
Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. He
said:" In our own day we risk seeing
other “concentration camps” perhaps with a
different name, other places of terror and
intolerance where man strikes man to
annihilate him”. And He added:"
Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could
you tolerate all this?" Heaven
remained silent even towards His Holiness.
Gaza,
Jerusalem, Bethlehem and all the West Bank,
are in our own day, the new concentration
camps the world feared to see in the 21
century.
The tragedy of the
Shoah was ended in Europe and began
immediately in Palestine: Seven million
Palestinian were sent to Diaspora and three
million are under occupation, humiliation,
hunger, thirst and prison for years and
years. We called out in a loud voice:" How
long Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until
you judge the inhabitants of the earth and
avenge our blood?" We received an answer to
the angel of Palestine :" wait a little
longer , until the number of (your) fellow
servants and brothers who were to be killed
as they had been was completed"( Rev 6: 10-
11)
Ovens
in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp
were really "places of horror, crimes
committed against God and man".
The
world,
in World War
II, to defend
5,700,000 Jews victims of the Holocaust
(a)
sacrificed:
·
Members of
armed forces 24,350,000 (b)
·
Civilians
25,100,000 (c)
But
for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,
ovens created by the intelligent bombs sent
from the aircrafts are worse. Thousands of
men, women, innocents and children are burnt
and torn without judgment and the world kept
silence:"
Why, brothers, did you remain silent? How
could you tolerate all this?"
At the height of the
Holocaust, Pope Pius XII made known to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, his
opposition to Palestine becoming a Jewish
homeland, according to a letter from the US
Archives obtained by The Jerusalem Post from
the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
"It is true that at one time Palestine was
inhabited by the Hebrew Race, but there is
no axiom in history to substantiate the
necessity of a People returning to a country
they left nineteen centuries before," the
letter reads.
"If a 'Hebrew Home' is desired, it would not
be too difficult to find a more fitting
territory than Palestine. With an increase
in the Jewish population there, grave, new
international problems would arise."(Dated
June 22, 1943, the letter sent by A. G.
Cicognani.)
How could it turn to call us terrorists and
those who arose, grave, new international
problems are called democratic people?
Holy Father,
Today, Israeli tanks are in Gaza. Warplanes
are bombing every where: roads, bridges,
homes, water supplies, electricity,
children, innocents, men, women and ill
persons are targeted. Gaza is living hate,
humiliation and death.
Our boat is in the sea. A squall is up and
the waves are breaking over our boat, so
that we are nearly swamped. You can calm
this storm. Teacher, we know that you care
if we drown. Please, rebuke the wind and say
to the waves:" Quiet! Be still" (Marc
4:35-39).
Holy Father,
The
Catholic Parish in Gaza with 200 believers
your children and the orthodox community
with 3000 friends and 1 300000 Muslims your
brothers hearing that next year 2007 Your
Holiness will start your pilgrimage to
Jerusalem. We cordially invite you to help
us to repair and open our Airport in Gaza so
that you can land among us and experience
the exodus from the land of captivity to the
Free Holy Sepulcher.
Holy
Father
Within us, with us and
among us you can find the RISEN LORD.
"Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with
those who mourn" (Rom 12: 15)
Were
Charity and Love there is God and the Church
Fr. Musallam Manuel
Catholic Priest
Gaza - Palestine
(a)
(source: www.shoa.de)
(b)(source
F.W.Putzger, “Historischer Weltatlas”,
Velhagen & Klasing)
(c)
(sources F.W.Putzger, “Historischer
Weltatlas”, Velhagen & Klasing)