by Mauro Fresco
“Beyond the Void of Humanity” is the title of the conversation between Ibrahim Faltas, a Franciscan friar and vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land—a firsthand witness to the drama unfolding between Palestine and Israel—and Alessandro Zaccuri, a journalist and writer, on Sunday, October 19th, at 6:30 pm in the Esedra Cinema Theater, a historic venue in the parish of Jesus of Nazareth in Turin, entrusted to the Doctrinaries. The conversation was as part of the “Turin Spirituality” program. You can read the full story and listen to the full recording of the evening on the parish website, https://www.gesunazareno.it/?p=8299
Fra’ Ibrahim Faltas, Franciscan, director of the eighteen schools of the Custody of the Holy Land and Vicar of the Custody: ‘Those who want war govern, and those who want peace do not govern; this is the massacre of many desired by a few who do not touch one another’.
‘The terrible attempt to dehumanize the enemy to do what one wants with him has once again become news. We run a terrible risk: getting used to the void of humanity and accepting it. Instead, we must feel involved, regardless of personal and political opinions or religious beliefs. The righteous repeated during the Second World War: do not let evil enter your door’. These are the words of Alessandro Zaccuri, journalist and writer, contributor to the daily newspaper Avvenire.
“Beyond the Void of Humanity,” the dialogue on Sunday, October 19, at the Esedra Cinema Theater, the historic hall of the Parish of Jesus of Nazareth in Turin, as part of Turin Spirituality, can be summed up in these terrible, seemingly hopeless statements, which effectively portray the two years of war following the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023—approximately 1,200 deaths among Israeli soldiers and civilians and 250 kidnapped—and the subsequent invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel. Ibrahim Faltas, encouraged by Zaccuri, recalled the dramatic experience he lived in May 2002, when during the Second Intifada a group of armed Palestinians barricaded themselves in the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which was immediately besieged by the Israeli army.
‘I have lived in the Holy Land for 36 years, between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. In 2002, a group of armed Palestinians, pursued by the Israeli army, attempted to enter the Basilica. I prevented them, but they entered from the Franciscan side, breaking through a glass door. I then stopped the army to avoid an armed conflict, and with the other officials of the Basilica, Greek and Armenian Christians, we decided not to let the 240 Palestinians leave. Negotiations ended after 39 days; we were occupied and besieged outside, with shortages of water and food. Eight Palestinians who attempted to reach the internal garden to obtain food were killed, and another twenty-eight were injured. We then experienced, on a small scale, what happened in Gaza, where death came in many ways and many died of hunger, especially children’.
Zaccuri thus explained the terrible meaning of the new acronym coined for the children of Gaza, WCNSF, Wounded Child No Surviving Family. According to the first grim counts by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), 2,596 children have lost both parents, and 53,724 are orphans of either a mother or a father.
‘Children have paid and are paying the highest price,’ Father Faltas said. ‘25,000 have been killed, with between 30,000 and 40,000 wounded. Children died from bombs and bullets, but also from hunger, cold, and heat. Not even the truce has stopped the massacre: since it was declared, another 150 people have died, almost all of them children’.
Zaccuri recalled that many Palestinians are Christians, and Father Faltas clarified that Palestine is not an Islamic state where Sharia law is in force: ‘Palestinian Authority President Abu Mazen condemned the Hamas attacks with harsh words, especially when spoken by a head of state: “They are terrorist sons of dogs”’ The president has always worked for peace, he spoke out against the Second Intifada, he participated as coordinator in the negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords, and he has always been very close to the Christians of the Holy Land’.
Two years ago, 5,000 Christians lived in Gaza; today, there are 500, forced to take refuge since the conflict began in the Latin Church of the Holy Family and the Greek Orthodox Church. When the truce was called, they left, but found nothing: Gaza is covered by 70,000 tons of rubble, and underneath it are estimated to be the bodies of 10,000 Palestinians; it will take at least twenty years to rebuild the city. The situation is also difficult in Bethlehem: the city relied on tourism, and for two years everything has been at a standstill. 185 Christian families have left, while 7,000 Christians remain in Jerusalem, compared to 90,000 Latin Christians alone in 1948. Israelis have also left the capital, 800,000 expatriates who had declared themselves against the war. These numbers convey the idea of a tragedy that has shaken the Holy Land, and the only solution, according to Father Faltas, is “’o return to the Oslo Accords for the creation of a Palestinian state. But the Israelis, who were opposed, killed Rabin—just as the Muslim Brotherhood had killed President Sadat, the protagonist of the Camp David Accords—and everything came to a standstill, the war returned, the massacre resumed’.
So “the only instrument of peace is forgiveness,” as Alessandro Zuccari reiterated, quoting Pope Leo XIV. ‘Those who want war don’t know the word forgiveness, only the word revenge,’ Father Faltas responded. ‘In Jerusalem, Arabs and Israelis no longer speak to each other; they live in fear of each other. Pope Leo will come to Jerusalem as soon as conditions allow. I was fortunate enough to welcome John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis. The people’s joy has always been enormous. On October 4th, Muslims thanked Saint Francis for Hamas’s positive response to Trump. Next year will be the year of Francis of Assisi; we hope it will also be the year of peace. We no longer want words of peace: we want actions of peace for the entire Holy Land’.
At the end of the conversation between Zaccuri and Faltas, a woman in the audience asked to close the meeting with the simple prayer of Saint Francis. Father Faltas began in Italian, then continued in Arabic.
A sign of faith and hope after an hour’s journey into the massacre.
Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem
