Now, it seems that Israel is beginning its last phase of conquest, after ordering a million and a half people to take refuge in Rafah, a border town with Egypt.

Soon, there may be almost no one left in the rest of Gaza.

There have been several wars in Gaza, but this time there are thousands of human victims, and ruins like never before, and peace does not seem to be near.

More than suffering, more than the loss of men and women, children and babies, humanity is lost.

Making war

Why this new war?

The immediate cause is the horrific Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

But another direct cause is the permanent siege imposed upon all Gazan territory in 2007, when the Hamas political party became the governing authority of the enclave.

Since then, the entire territory—2.5 million people over an area of 141 square miles​​—has been under total military siege imposed by Israel and Egypt.

And since Oct. 7, Israel's military operations have limited even the most necessary humanitarian aid for Gaza, to the point that it now stands on the cusp of famine.

The real cause is the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, begun in 1948, which no peace agreement has been able to end and which the international community seems to have neglected.

Under Israeli military occupation, Gaza — and all of Palestine — has suffered thousands of deaths, thousands more taken as political prisoners, demolished houses, military checkpoints on all roads that disrupt freedom of movement and daily life, and a paralysed, dependent Palestinian economy.

In short, we are in a permanent state of war.

This is the root cause of all wars in Gaza, including the one following Oct. 7.

And despite the useless, inhuman violence of the present war, more will come if a just and lasting peace is not reached between the two peoples.

The war must stop without further delay because it is no longer a war. It is a massacre.

But what comes after the war?

Making peace

Israel, as the occupier of Gaza, must take responsibility for seeking a sustainable peace with equal justice for all.

Otherwise, we will see an unnecessary defeat for all. It is time for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be put back on the international agenda and for the global community to take responsibility for building peace, which has seemed impossible until today.

Peace means the security of Israel and, at the same time, the security of the Palestinian people.

In fact, the fundamental question that arises today is: Do the Palestinian people have the right to stay at home, on their own land, in their own towns and villages?

To this question, the current government in Israel has said no.

Instead, Israel has been trying to forcibly displace the Palestinian people, making it virtually impossible for them to live a normal, humane life and raise their families on their own land.

That cannot be a path to peace or security for anyone.

To achieve peace, we must simply admit that even in this conflict, human beings are equal. Israelis and Palestinians are equally created by God, in the image of God, and are capable of loving as opposed to killing.

On this holy land, there is room for both peoples to exercise the same political rights: two states, each at home, independent, free and capable of resisting a return to war.

We have experienced war for decades; we now need a new way of thinking that brings about a lasting peace.

The peacemakers

Who is responsible for building this peace?

First, the two peoples themselves, Israeli and Palestinian.

Then, the international community, the friends of Israel and Palestine.

The true friends of Israel are those who help Israel achieve peace.

Making Israel militarily stronger, to win wars but remain insecure, is not friendship or true help to Israel.

One can ask the question: Are the two peoples capable of living in peace, each in their own state?

Why not?

There is much suffering and injustice in living memory, that is true.

But there is also the will to live and the fundamental goodness that God has placed in everyone.

God created the human being capable of life rather than death, love rather than killing.

The surest path to peace is direct engagement with the enemy, especially when two enemies share the same land. A sustainable peace cannot be brokered by outside forces. Read more

• Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah (pictured) served as the archbishop and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008, the first native Palestinian to hold the office for centuries.
• Editor's note: "America," the original publisher of this piece, is committed to publishing diverse views on the pressing issues of our time. For additional perspectives on the war in Gaza, read "There Is a Right and Wrong Way for Catholics to Criticize Israel," by Karma Ben Johanan, and Gerard O'Connell's interview with David Neuhaus, S.J.

Blessed are the Peacemakers
Violence is something we live with on a daily basis. It can be felt as an unkind word, experienced as a physical injury or extreme hunger, or seen in spectacular actions of armed killers on the television screen. The threat of unexpected violence can mean we live in fear and insecurity, or the shock of violence in far flung places can stop us from understanding what life is like for people living in other places. Fear creates a barrier between peoples and can fuel further violence, prejudice and injustice.

For Christians, called to be peacemakers, violence creates an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity is to express our faith through actions to end such violence. The challenge is to overcome the fear and discern the best action to take. Jesus talked often of peace. He affirmed the importance of peacemaking in the Beatitudes (Matt 5:9). Biblical shalom is peace with justice. Jesus, named the Prince of Peace, is concerned with the full spectrum of peace from the inner self to justice for the planet.

Promoting just peace in an age where there is increased competition over shrinking resources and a greater than ever capacity for violence requires renewed global action. In the Pacific peace remains a priority issue, especially for those countries seeking self-determination and dealing with the continuing damage from nuclear testing. Churches were very much part of the action that led to the nuclear free legislation being passed into New Zealand law twenty-five years ago this year. There is more to be done.

Peace Sunday
This year Peace Sunday falls on August 5. We remember the terrible damage unleashed by the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by a US B-29 bomber on August 6, 1945. Three days later another followed hitting Nagasaki on August 9. Images and tesimony of those who witnessed and survived remind us of the magnitude of the human potenial for destrucion present in such technology. The testing of nuclear weapons has also created long term damage. Decades after the first nuclear test on Moruroa Atoll on 2 July, 1966, the workers are sill seeking some compensaion for the many cancers and health problems caused by the 193 tests on Maohi land. Moruroa E Tatou coninues to campaign for fair compensation for the workers and their families through the courts. Cracks in the atoll pose continuing ecological hazards. Read more

Sources

• Christian World Service
• Image: Peace on Earth