Sunday, Feb. 17 – Arabic newspapers throughout Palestine carried the story today of Bishop Younan’s condemnation of the recent bombing of the Gaza YMCA. A rough translation of the Al Quds story follows:
Bishop Munib Younan has denounced the ugly crime that took place recently in Gaza, the bombing of the library of the YMCA. He said that this atrocity only provokes division and aims to harm the brotherly and sisterly relations between the Palestinian Muslims and Christians. He said such an act is not just a crime against the YMCA but against the whole Palestinian people.
The Bishop said “We in the church strongly condemn this cowardly atrocity that aimed at a national institution that serves Muslims and Christians alike without any distinction. What happened harms everyone. I really am shocked how the hands of some people dare to explode a library that has thousands of books especially for children.”
Bishop Younan added that such events sound an alert that violence is increasing and the rule of law is decreasing. He called on the authorities to act quickly before all of us reap the bitter consequences. He said that recently such crimes have not been investigated well, such as some attacks on some institutions or the killing of the late Rami Eyyad, the Christian bookseller who was recently killed in Gaza. This has encouraged those who commit these crimes and act contrary to the national interest of the Palestinian people to continue, he said. For this reason, Bishop Younan demanded that the responsible authorities act urgently and not give in until those responsible are caught and brought to justice.
For the full documents, clickhere.