The Anglican bishops of Southern Africa have condemned financial and military assistance given to the warring parties in the Middle East and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Meeting in Cape Town, the bishops also condemned the denial of food, water and medicines to the people of Gaza and called for the release of all hostages in both Gaza and Israel.
The church's Synod of Bishops expressed concern at the continuing supply of weapons to Israel by Western powers as well as the chocking of the supply of aid to Gaza.
The synod includes the leaders of Anglican dioceses in South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and the island of St Helena.
The Church’s sentiments come after what they claim was a disturbing meeting with four people who were part of a delegation which visited Israel and the occupied West Bank territories in December 2023.
“Their accounts of the arbitrary application of laws against Palestinians and the denial of their basic human right to water, coupled with the steady take-over of Palestinian land, were a reminder of the similarities between what is transpiring in Palestine at present and what took place in South Africa under apartheid,” the Synod of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa said.
They said that in the light of events since the “killings and hostage-taking” on October 7, 2023, the resolutions of their church’s 2023 Provincial Standing Committee, which declared “Israel as an apartheid state and called for better-informed pilgrimages to the land called holy”, seemed prophetic.
They condemned the financial and military assistance being given to all warring parties in the region.
“As the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza approaches 30,000, most of them women and children, we express our particular concern at the continuing supply of weapons to Israel by Western powers,” the Synod of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa said.
“We condemn the genocidal rhetoric of Israeli leaders and the denial of food, water and medicines, and we call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We call for the release of all hostages in Gaza and Israel and for immediate and effective measures to facilitate humanitarian aid to all the people of Gaza, including allowing full access to basic necessities.
“And we commit ourselves to praying for a just peace and to acting as peacemakers.”
IOL