Archbishop laments ‘incomprehensible’ suffering in Gaza conflict
by Jennifer Gold
Posted: Saturday, January 17, 2009, 11:16 (GMT)
The Archbishop of York has told of his profound sorrow over the suffering being experienced on both sides of the conflict in Gaza.
Dr John Sentamu said in a statement on Friday that he had held back from commenting on the situation so far because he had been reduced to silence by the extent of the suffering.
“I have received letters, calls and e-mails asking me why I haven’t spoken out in the situation in Gaza,” he wrote on his website on Friday.
“The answer is that up until now I have not known what to say. The incomprehensible suffering of the innocent leaves one in a place of profound sorrow and silence in the face of such suffering.”
Palestinian officials say at least 1,105 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 5,000 wounded since Israel launched a military offensive to stop rocket attacks by Hamas militants on its territory.
Hospitals in Gaza City say they are struggling to cope with the high volume of wounded civilians in the face of severe shortages of medicine, power and other basic necessities.
The Archbishop called on people to pray for the situation in Gaza.
“It is essential at such times that we engage in prayer even if we feel in the light of such suffering that our prayers are going straight into a concrete bucket, unanswered and unheard. But suffering ultimately calls for a response and that response is prayer.”
He added that God was in the midst of the suffering.
“When people ask where is God in all of this, all I can say is that whenever people experience violence at the hands of others, God is there with them, being violated and blasphemed.”
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Added: Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 5:13 (GMT)
Would not how we respond, not only in the call to desist [which we have little control in], but in prayer, and more so, in deed and in the compassion of Christ be of great importance? Let Christian medical, Christian fund and Christian effort be forthcoming to His call :
"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."
"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"
Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."
kopiong, Jakarta, Indonesia
Added: Monday, January 19, 2009, 22:55 (GMT)
With large gas deposits recently discovered off the coast of Israel (Jerusalem Post, 16/01/09), don't hold your breath that any recognision of Israel as a State, by Islamic states, will happen soon.
Especially as this will allow energy independence and wealth for Israel for the time being.
Prior to 1948, Palestine was quite the wasteland, barely developed by the Arabs, nor either the Ottomans nor the British empire, until the State of Israel was created, rolled up their sleeves
and made the desert green.
When Israel withdrew from the West
Bank, they left behind a thriving and productive greenhouses, agriculture, manned by proficient Arabs, and decent housing with full amenities, and when Fatah, led by Arafat, came in, they destroyed them, and continued to promote the 'victimhood' of the Palastinian, took Western aid and pocketed the difference, and blamed the 'bullying' tactics of Israel. This is a pattern repeated by Islamists, and sanctioned by their leaders and the Koran and Hadiths.
Both the energy greedy Western Europe, desperate for a non-Russian source of gas, and the US will have their eyes opon this situation, the Russian will want to either control or disable the prospects of Israeli gas, as it could reduce Russian profits, and the Islamic states will be both envious and worried about their prospects, for where there is natural gas, there is often oil. The US will be very interested in this development, themselves desperate to free themselves from the dependence they have on Arabic oil. And the US is still Israel's friend.
You do the math.
As for the UK, well, we'd better wake up, politically. This credit crisis the West is embroiled in will be nothing to what is to come. We'd, politcally speaking, had better make up our mind as to where we stand concerning the Middle East, and with Israel, specifically.
The human tragedy in Gaza is bad, and tragic, but is nothing to what Scripture says is to come. We are to pray, not ignore the signs, and do what we can to help, in the Name of Jesus.
Chris Maguire, Ventnor, IOW, UK
Added: Saturday, January 17, 2009, 18:00 (GMT)
Global warming, eh? We just set another record for cold temperatures. The bergs at the north pole have always been morphing, and renewing themselves, and no the oceans are not rising and more than usual and then rescinding. Why don't you just come out and say you want a world government with more greedy beaurocrat humanists to take over everything- that's what will happen soon - thanks to the antichrist agenda. Of course you know about that don't you? What the world needs is some more Billy Grahams preaching from the Bible not from the CFR or Jesuit's agenda.
linda drake, pekin, il. usa
