Holy Land: International bishops visits Cremisan Valley

Cremisan monastery in danger

The 16 Bishops of the Holy Land Coordination that brings together Bishops and representatives of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe and North America are visiting Palestine and Israel. Yesterday, Tuesday,13 January they reached the Cremisan Valley, at the centre of a long legal dispute between the owners of the land and the Israeli authorities.

During the visit the Bishops were welcomed by Fr Faisal Hijazin, pastor of Beit Jala, and exchanged views with lawyer Raffoul al-Mutawakkil of the Society of St Yves - an organisation for the protection of human rights connected to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem - and with some of the 58 owners of agricultural land threatened by the continuation of the work. The route of the security wall in the Cremnisan valley jeopardizes also the spiritual and educational work carried out by two Salesian religious institutes.

Already last year, at the end of January, the Holy Land Coordination had launched an appeal for "justice in the Cremisan valley" and the necessity to affirm the need to set aside or review the project.

"We recognize the right of Israel to security and secure borders", the Bishops wrote in their appeal, reiterating, however, that the route of the security wall falls largely on Palestinian territory and clearly diverges from the Green Line - the internationally recognized boundary line, which separates Israel and the Palestinian territories conquered in the Six Day War in 1967 - and even this was defined as illegal by the international Court of Justice.

Source: Fides