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Gaza: Ceasefire Now Let’s Heal the Roots

17 January 2025
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Gaza: Ceasefire Now Let’s Heal the Roots
Gaza: Ceasefire Now Let’s Heal the Roots

With the ceasefire in Gaza announced, a faint hope for stable peace returns. Questions and conflicting interests remain. While waiting for the truce on January 19, the necessary aid is being prepared, but the real challenge is another.


They are celebrating in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, they are celebrating the ceasefire which, if it holds, will come into force on Sunday 19 January after 15 months of bloody war. It is certainly an important step, but it is only the beginning of a long path of reconciliation so full of obstacles that it could be interrupted even before it begins.


Now it is time to intervene, to get aid to arrive, to bring relief, to medicate; And it seems that there is a good chance that at the end of the three phases envisaged by the agreement, a political peace will be reached. But even then we will only be at the beginning.


The 15 months of war have changed everything. In addition to the destruction and wounds, the conflict has incinerated relations and completely overturned any option for a political solution prior to October 7, 2023. So new ones will have to be found. Yet, again, we will still be at the beginning.


Because "we are aware – as the heads of the Churches of the Holy Land have also declared – that the end of the war does not mean the end of the conflict. It is therefore necessary to address the root causes, in a serious and credible way, of the profound issues that have been at the origin of this conflict for too long. Genuine and lasting peace can only be achieved through a just solution that addresses the original causes of this prolonged confrontation. This requires a long process, a willingness to recognize each other's suffering , and a trust-oriented education that leads to overcoming the fear of the other and the justification of violence as a political tool ".


Only then will you really start walking. It has never been more evident than in a recent mission made to the Holy Land to shoot a special project that we will soon tell you about; for example, under the blanket of apparent normality in Jerusalem, tension remains very high. It takes nothing to unleash violence, a misinterpreted gesture, one too many puffs to be kidnapped, beaten or even killed. It has always been like this, despite the fact that there has often been talk of peace and hundreds of agreements have been signed: the deep hatred that divides people has always exploded in very violent episodes , exacerbating even more the centuries-old wounds, but today there are no more limits.


The situation is even more serious in the West Bank. Where at least every ten kilometers new flying check-points have been installed where you can pass without too many problems, but guarded by sight by a sniper who aims directly at the cars.

Healing roots in the Holy Land


And so, as the declaration of the heads of the Churches of the Holy Land says, the only real possibility for real peace is to heal at the roots. But what does it mean? Surely there will be a need for countless moments of meeting that will only be possible with great international support.


At the same time, however, there is a need to accompany everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, on a journey of rediscovery of themselves and their roots. This can be done concretely, for example, through the discovery and study of the historical and human heritage of this land. We have repeated it many times and perhaps it is really difficult to bring out the true value of this type of activity.

The truth of the common heritage


But in practice it is a unique opportunity for many reasons. First of all, because often the same historical and archaeological heritage is used as a propaganda tool and as a weapon wielded by this or that to justify its existence. Telling a different story, that is, that if you look at the testimonies you find everything except the exclusive presence of one people over another. No one says this, while it could be a concrete basis from which to start.


Working on heritage by involving local young people and teaching it to children is a way to give back a truth to people, a meeting point from which to start to look in the face those who have been my enemy until now. It is a way to rediscover mutual humanity and move from a logic of exclusivity of presence, of right, but also of pain to a sharing of all these aspects. This pro Terra Sancta together with the Mosaic Center Jericho, has been doing it for years, constantly and silently, but the fruits of the work are beautiful. Now is the time to do it with even more determination.

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