not too much

Christian Churches are unified in their solidarity with the people of Gaza. Episcopal News Service reports a Caritas statement that on July 29, Caritas Jerusalem's President Monsignor Michel Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem -- accompanied by Bishop Munib Younan, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, and Bishop Riah Abu Al Assal of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East, with other religious leaders -- visited the Gaza Strip to show solidarity its people.

The solidarity visit began with the delegation seeking to enter the Gaza Strip from the Erez crossing point, but they were delayed for two and one half hours even though the religious leaders had secured entry permits in advance.

Gaza's Roman Catholic parish priest Manuel Musallam had arranged a full program which had to be cut short due to the delay to enter Gaza. The delegation was not able to visit the most recently devastated areas of Al Maghazi and Atatrah in North Gaza.

(Details of the visit.)

[. . . ] The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, said he was pleased to be in Gaza, pointing out that the visit aims at showing the Churches solidarity with the Palestinian people. He stressed the importance of national unity to reach our goals, affirming that the all aggression against the Palestinian people must stop.

The Bishop of the Anglican Church, Riah H. Abu El-Assal, said the delegation carried greetings of Jerusalem to the people of Gaza despite the attempts to steal our freedom. For his part, the Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, Rev. Mounib Younan, stressed that justice must prevail to make a real peace, pointing out that occupation and walls produce hatred, not peace and love.

Since June 28, 2006, with the beginning of the recent problems in Gaza, Caritas Jerusalem has reached out to 1,074 families in the Gaza Strip with direct assistance and humanitarian food aid. The assistance has been made possible due to the support of numerous Caritas partner organizations that have joined Caritas Jerusalem's Special Operations Appeal.

So far Caritas partners from Australia, Belgium Canada, England, Japan, Spain, Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and France as well as other organizations such as Aid to the Church in Need from Germany and many individual donors have supported this appeal. This appeal was issued in May for almost $1.5 million (U.S. dollars). Since the initial release of the appeal, the situation in the Holy Land has deteriorated dramatically since the end of June.