Palestinian Christians demonstrate for justice

[joanne_h]

04.01.09 - 14:59 Beit Sahour / PNN – Throughout Palestinian Christian communities services focused today on peace and justice for the Gaza Strip. Christians in Gaza are holding limited organized events as Israeli forces continue to pummel the Strip by both air and land.Beit Sahour, to the east of Bethlehem, hosted a march beginning at the Greek Orthodox Church on Sunday.Walking toward the central market, demonstrators chanted against the Israeli occupation and the massacre on Gaza, the year and a half siege and the ongoing closure.The nonviolent Palestinian resistance movement has been active for decades in Beit Sahour, working against Israeli settlement policy and occupation.This morning 200 people called to tighten the Palestinian ranks and dismantle the last vestiges of internal divide. Father Issa spoke at the rally gathered near a black mourning tent in the Beit Sahour square. He said that as the Christian community prepares to mark the Latin Christmas, “these days of blessing have been turned into bombing, murder and destruction.”The Father initiated a denunciation of “violence practiced against Palestinians in Gaza.” He said, “We reject the exploitation by Israel of some of the internal arguments to launch a war on the Strip. In the last few days we have seen the number children who are being killed in Gaza rise. We reject the killing of Palestinian women and the elderly, all of the civilian sector, and call for the world to stand beside us as we pause in dignity and pride, demanding that the international community pressure Israel to stop the aggression against the Gaza Strip.”Demonstrators raised black flags of mourning alongside Palestinian flags and those of political party. Banners called for an end to Israeli occupation and negotiations, for internal Palestinian unity.President Abbas is being severely criticized for not taking a stronger stand against the Israelis in the past and for continuing to negotiate them throughout the year and a half siege and month and a half closure that preceded the bombings.Latin priest Father Faisal Hijazeen said that all people of Beit Sahour are standing with their brothers in Gaza. Sit-ins are daily at the mourning tent, he added, with the participation of a group of Italian activists.Residents are called to gather every day at 6:00 pm until the Israeli military ends its major operation on the Strip.