Archbishop laments incomprehensible suffering in Gaza conflict

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.”

Dr Sentamu held a special service of lament on Friday at the chapel in his official residence, Bishopthorpe Palace.

“Friday is a holy day of prayer for Muslims and the beginning of the Sabbath for Jews. Today it is a day when God weeps for the acts of the children of Abraham in Gaza and Israel.”

He called on Israel and Hamas to end the violence, saying that peace would only come when both sides looked to the shared Abrahamic roots of their faiths.

“Sending rockets into Israel will not achieve those aims of Hamas for an end to illegal settlements and a return to the pre-1967 land agreements. The state of Israel will not achieve an end to the smuggling of arms and armed resistance through the bombing of Gaza from land, sea and air,” he said.

“Peace will only be found in the mutual recognition that they are both children of Abraham, the father of faith for Christian, Jew and Muslim alike, who calls each of us to the patient adventure of faith with our hearts always looking to that Holy City whose builder and maker is God.”

The Archbishop said it was “high time” that people in the Holy Land recognised the right of the State of Israel to exist and the need for the creation of a viable Palestinian state.

“Therefore the international community must redouble its efforts to bring about this reality and a lasting peace. We have all been guilty to ignore the danger signs over the last eight years,” he added.

Israel and Hamas have so far ignored calls from the international community to halt the violence and begin peace talks.

US international humanitarian agencies, rights groups and church bodies called this week on President Bush, the UN, and Israeli and Egyptian ambassadors to do more to protect Gazan civilians.

“It is…incumbent upon Israel and Egypt to immediately open their borders and provide full rights and protection to [Gazan] civilians under international law attempting to flee violence and persecution,” read the letter signed by Church World Service/Immigration & Refugee Program, The Episcopal Church in the US, and Amnesty International USA among others.

Thousands of people are expected to take part in protest marches across the UK on Saturday to press for an end to Israel’s military strikes on Gaza.