Interview with Carla Benelli
"Hello everyone, my name is Carla. I have been living in Jerusalem for many years and I collaborate with the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land and with the Pro Terra Sancta Association to preserve the holy places of the region."
Restoring while everything around is collapsing: madness or hope?
"It is never madness to restore while everything else is collapsing. If that were the case, we would have no chance and we would have stopped thinking about the future. The future exists, and therefore it is necessary — in fact, perhaps especially in moments of great crisis and deep despair — to maintain hope and do everything possible to preserve what can be preserved is particularly important."
Is your proposal effective for a young person who wants to leave?
"On the contrary, I would say it is one of the ways to counter the exodus of Palestinians who are trying to find a future by leaving the country. As much as we can do very little — our projects have a small impact on people —, some of the people who work with us stay precisely because we manage to provide them with work."
If everything were destroyed tomorrow, would you do everything you are doing all over again?
"Of course, I am a historian. The importance of history remains. Things can be destroyed; what matters is that the memory remains."
