by Lidia Ginestra Giuffrida
The sun’s rays reflect on the Damascus Gate, the entrance to the old city of Jerusalem and the heart of the Holy City, a synthesis of the three monotheistic religions but also a symbol of the Israeli occupation. East Jerusalem, which includes the Arab-Palestinian part of the city, therefore the Muslim and Christian part, was occupied by the Israeli army in 1967, following the Six Day War, together with the West Bank. From here settlers and the army have never left, and since the beginning of the Israeli offensive in Gaza their violence has increased exponentially, making the life of the Christian and Muslim faithful increasingly difficult. It is in Jerusalem that we interview Father Alessandro Barchi, monk of the Piccola Famiglia dell’Annunziata, founded by Don Giuseppe Dossetti. Born in 1955 in Reggio Emilia, father Alessandro moved to the Middle East in 1981 and has lived in Ramallah, in the West Bank, for three years.
What is the task of a man of faith here in the Holy Land, a place that is the synthesis of the three monotheistic religions but also, according to Dossetti, of the physical and interior frontier?
«I think it’s about bringing different worlds inside yourself, creating bridges and relationships. These worlds, the Israeli one and the Palestinian one, are increasingly separated and one does not want to know the other. This prevents dialogue, communion, understanding and instead favors hostility, the vision of the other as an enemy. The duty of a man of faith here is to cross the borders that block you in one world opposed to another.”
Does the word peace still have a meaning for you today?
«I hope it still makes sense. Even if peace, like forgiveness, requires many other things. Peace cannot exist without justice, otherwise it will be a peace like that of the times of the Roman Empire, imposed by force. Our hope cannot be for an imposed but shared peace, which guarantees coexistence, growth and respect for the two parties.”
Continues….
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