Rafic Nahra is auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and “patriarchal vicar” of Nazareth, which makes him the representative of the Catholic Church in this city in northern Israel, where Jesus, according to Christian tradition, spent his childhood. . He is visiting Paris this Sunday, May 5, on the occasion of the Eastern Christians Dayorganized by L’Œuvre d’Orient.
Pascal Gollnisch is, for his part, general director of this Catholic institution providing support for projects (educational, humanitarian, health or cultural) carried out by Christian communities in the East, from Ukraine to India, including the Levant, Armenia, the Horn of Africa, but also Israel and Palestine. In an interview with Worldthe two prelates provide a critical inventory of the situation in the Holy Land, that of Christians and the entire population.
Almost seven months after the massacres of October 7 and while the war in Gaza seems to have no end, do you still believe in peace?
Rafic Nahra: The outlook, at the moment, is extremely difficult: there is such an accumulation of mistrust, violence and resentment on all sides. Palestinians can no longer wait for their right to self-determination. Today, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is unimaginable, incredible violence is being committed in the West Bank. Palestinians feel their dignity violated.
The Israelis, for their part, suffer from repeated terrorist acts and experienced October 7, 2023 as an unprecedented national tragedy, especially with the taking of hundreds of hostages, and as a real humiliation. They feel abandoned by the whole world.
Add to this the fact that Israeli society was already extremely divided: several months before October 7, huge demonstrations were taking place against the government, every week, sometimes every day. Israelis strongly disagree about the society they want. This was reinforced with the question of hostages and with the speeches of the far right. All of this creates an extremely strong feeling, making rational discourse no longer possible. There is a lot of desperation on both sides. The war broke what trust remained, especially in relations between Jews and Arabs – as an Arab, I feel this every day.
A war with such serious consequences cannot end with small victories here or there, for this or that side: important decisions are needed to ensure that all this does not happen again. We do not see how there could be an outcome without a viable solution for the 5 million Palestinians. It will take courageous, realistic and frank leaders with their people to move in this direction. There have been some in the past. But today, are there still any?
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