The recent opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s occupation of Palestine drew little attention in Australia. The silence perhaps reflects Australians’ identification of law with enforcement. By these standards the judgement of the International Court was a mere opinion to which the United Nations General Assembly of the United Nations may Read more
According to a 25-year analysis of global conflicts and arms transfers conducted by the World Peace Foundation (WPF) titled “Who arms War?” all of the largest arms exporting nations continue to sell their weapons to countries even after wars start. It’s akin to pouring gasoline on a fire. “Ethical export policy is a myth,” states Read more
Wars always bring pressure to canonise one side and to demonise the other. It has been no different in the war between Israel and Hamas. People both in the antagonists and in their normal allies are pressed to make a choice. To choose Israel is to see its war against Hamas as just in all Read more
Stop the war! The war in the Holy Land must stop. Now. Please. Just stop. In a joint statement, Bishops from New Zealand’s two biggest Christian Churches – Catholic and Anglican – are begging the warring factions in the Holy Land to stop. Stop the war with the accompanying acts of violence it executes, the Read more
New Zealand’s Catholic bishops are deeply concerned for Palestinians who for decades “have been reduced to the status of refugees in their own homeland”. In a statement released last week, they said: “Attempts to find a lasting peace in the Holy Land that would provide security for Palestinians and the ordinary people of Israel have Read more
In what appears to be a rare public rebuke of U.S. foreign policy, the Vatican issued a statement Thursday, reaffirming its support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and calling on Israel to reside “within the borders recognized by the international community”. ”The communique follows this week’s controversial announcement that the U.S. government is reversing Read more
Pope Francis and Palestine’s president Mahmoud Abbas, who met on Monday at the Vatican, discussed a number of topics including Christian persecution, the status of Jerusalem and a two-state solution for the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The Vatican says the good relations between the Holy See and Palestine were noted during the meeting, “as Read more
Interfaith unity has seen Orthodox Christians and Muslims in the Occupied West Bank join together in a march to remember those who were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last month. Palestinian Orthodox Christians limited their celebrations on Palm Sunday, restricting the occasion to religious rituals to mourn the deaths of 17 Gazans killed in Read more
One hundred years ago, on 11 December 1917, the British army occupied Jerusalem. As General Allenby’s troops marched through Bab al-Khalil, launching a century of settler colonialism across Palestine, prime minister David Lloyd George heralded the city’s capture as “a Christmas present for the British people”. In a few months’ time, we mark another such Read more
On 6 December, Donald Trump officially recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. “It has been the capital of the Israeli people since ancient times,” said the President. “It’s undeniable, it’s just a fact.” Christians in Bethlehem responded to the news by burning photos of the American president. They held signs saying: “Jerusalem, Palestine’s heart, is not Read more