West Bank Students March to Call for Palestinian Unity

BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank — Some 100 students, teachers and parents from two Christian schools marched together in a candlelight procession to call for Palestinian unity.

"We are here to let everyone hear our voice asking (the Palestinians) to stop killing each other. We are brothers," said Rojeece Qumsieh, a teacher at the Beit Sahour Latin Patriarchate School.

"Palestinians will only succeed through unity," said Amer Abu Eita, an 11th-grader and student council president at the Catholic school. "After all we have been through, being killed by Israel, will we now start to kill each other?"

With the Shepherd's Boy and Girl Scout Troop Marching Band in the lead, students of the Beit Sahour Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran schools joined parents and teachers on a march through the Old City of Beit Sahour to the city hall June 22, just over a week after militant forces of Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. The takeover by Hamas, which fought against Fatah forces, politically split the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. The two territories are separated geographically by about 30 miles of Israel.

Qumsieh said she did not believe the violent Hamas-Fatah divisions would reach the West Bank.

"Our culture here is different from that in Gaza. They are in a prison that is not open to the world. We hope our culture will reach them and put a stop to what is going on," she said. "When we have differing opinions here, we know how to deal with it."

"We are so upset. It is a very miserable time for us," said one 15-year-old girl who asked that her name not be used. Expressing the concerns of her friends, she said she thought she would not see peace in her lifetime, with the internal Palestinian fighting making it impossible to reach a peace agreement with Israel. "It is so bad that they are Palestinians and are fighting each other. It makes it worse for all Palestinians."

Palestinian police closed off roads to allow the group to march. Teenagers mingled, lit flares and carried banners with the slogan "You Are My Brothers, and Brothers Do Not Separate."

At the city hall, marchers were greeted by Beit Sahour Mayor Hani al-Hayek; Father Faysal Hijazen of Our Lady of Fatima Parish; Tom Garofalo, country representative for Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank for the U.S. bishops' Catholic Relief Services; and others.

Students at both schools had been participating in a CRS program to democratize the school environment.

"We pray that all the children in the West Bank and Gaza may have peace and that there may be understanding among us. We pray for a halt to the violence," said Father Hijazen, denouncing the attack on the school and convent in Gaza of the Rosary Sisters of Jerusalem during the Palestinian fighting. "The sisters in Gaza must be respected for the sacrifices they have given to the people of Gaza."

Sister Rosaria, a member of the Rosary Sisters and a teacher at the Latin Patriarchate School who asked that her last name not be used, said there was one message she was trying to give to her fellow Palestinians: "Peace without God is nothing.

"What happened in our convent in Gaza is very, very difficult," said the nun. "We serve the Muslims and ask for nothing in return. Just for respect. It was a small group that found a way to hurt us. Thank God nobody was there at the time. ... Some people have hate in their heart."

This article was reprinted with permission from Catholic News Service (CNS).