Caritas Internationalis says the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on 24 November should act as a moment for reflection on how to rekindle the peace process in the Holy Land.

Caritas had hoped that the 31st Day of Solidarity would be one of celebration for all people with the creation of a Palestinian state and an end to the cycle of violence in the Holy Land. However, efforts by the international community to push for an independent Palestine in the context of peace for all by 2008 has failed.

Caritas believes that the UN General Assembly’s special committee must increase efforts to push for peace with Member States and improve monitoring on the ground.

Head of Caritas Internationalis Delegation in New York Joseph Cornelius Donnelly said, “”This reality check is essential if anything more than another year of dashed hopes leading to another commemoration for the thirty second year. Without the political will to reach new demanding levels of local and regional partnerships, the acts of patient waiting can be cast aside as pathetic distractions from peace.

“Without substantive engagement to address the well known root causes of this struggle for an independent state, Palestinian lives remain captive, barely existing in their anguished survival, mentally as well as physically.”

The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people are defined by law as the right to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty, and the return of Palestine refugees to their ancestral homes and lands. They are integral parts of the long search for a truly comprehensive, just and durable settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The consequence of this failure are clear for Palestinians - especially notable in the exceptional deprivation of 1.5 million people in Gaza. Severe shortages of food, water, fuel, electricity and medicine due to the blockade of Gaza have deepened a humanitarian crisis there. The consequences are also clear for all people in the Holy Land whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim trapped in a cycle of violence and for the Middle East region.

Caritas Internationalis stands in solidarity with its colleagues in Caritas Jerusalem and their partners who have repeatedly spared themselves to address daily human needs in the occupied Palestinian territories - while also painstakingly seeking the peace needed between Israelis and Palestinians.

Caritas Jerusalem works with other Caritas organizations and international partners to support the sick and the vulnerable, for example by helping to bring doctors into an isolated Gaza to carry out surgical procedures at an affordable cost and by sending food parcels and medicines to needy people. The organization runs education assistance and family support programmes, obtains rehabilitation equipment for people injured in military actions and carries out needs assessments in the West Bank and Gaza.

Please call Patrick Nicholson on +39 06 698 79 725 or +39 334 359 0700 or email nicholson@caritas.va with any requests