Middle East: Catholic and Anglican bishops to the British government and Westminster, preventing Israeli annexation of the West Bank

(London) The Catholic and Anglican bishops of the Holy Land Coordination group asked the British government and the members of Westminster Parliament to prevent the annexation of the West Bank, which might start on July 1st. Ten days ago, Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, and Vincent Nichols, cardinal archbishop of Westminster, had already written to the Israeli ambassador, Mark Regev, and to the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to express their opposition to the Israeli government doing anything towards annexation. “From our dialogue with the Holy Land communities, we know that the situation is rapidly deteriorating, and the local Christian leaders warned us that the annexation of the West Bank would remove any hope of success for the peace process”, Declan Lang, Catholic bishop of Clifton and president of the Holy Land Coordination group, and Christopher Chessun, Anglican bishop of Southwark, write in the release. “Such annexation would only aggravate the conflict, the pain and the divisions. The British government has a duty to take action and do all it can to persuade the Israeli government not to annex the West Bank in breach of the international laws. This week, we have protested with the Government and the MPs about such situation. We will cooperate with the other churches and religious groups about this essential matter of justice and peace”.
Valentina Bombelli