South African Bishops' condemn barrier construction in Cremisan Valley

(Vatican Radio) The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of South Africa has issued a statement condemning the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to resume the construction of a security barrier in the Cremisan Valley.

The construction of the West Bank separation wall has already begun in the south of Jerusalem and about 50 olive trees, some dating back 1500 years have been uprooted.

The South African Bishops’ note that “the separation barrier will affect the livelihoods and quality of life of 58 Christian families.”

They also draw attention to the fact that the wall will separate the community from the “pastoral and spiritual care of the Salesian Sisters and the Monestary which will remain in Palestinian territory.”

Over the past ten years there has been a legal battle to prevent the building of the barrier. Last April a previous Supreme Court ruling blocked the Israeli government’s plan to extend the separation wall through the Cremisan Valley.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, visited the Cremisan Valley earlier this year. He said, he and his fellow Bishops were very saddened by the turn of events.

Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s full interview with Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town.

The Archbishop added, that for the people who are living there, they are being “squeezed  more and more into a much more limited area by the separation barrier.”

When he thinks of the current situation, the Archbishop said, he recalled memories of the years of apartheid in South Africa when black people where simply “forced off their own land, forced into townships, told where they must live…”

The South African Bishops’ have stressed that “peace can only be achieved by seeking justice for all ” and Archbishop Brislin underlined that they will continue to show their solidarity with the Christians living in the Holy Land