Judith Sudilovsky

As the new United States embassy was inaugurated in Jerusalem May 14, violence broke out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers. International media reported that in Gaza, at least 52 people were killed, including five under the age of 18, and some 2,000 were injured. 

A refugee's life is one of constant uncertainty and confusion.  Yet in their faith the refugees have found strength and refuge, said Father Rafic Nahra, priest of the St. James Vicariate, which ministers to the asylum seekers and migrant worker community in Israel.

A new Israeli law that allows the government to revoke the permanent residency status of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem is contrary to international law, said the director of a Catholic legal aid center.

The Israeli government has set up a negotiating team to resolve a municipal dispute with Jerusalem churches over property taxes.

Protesting several recent actions they described as a "systematic campaign ... against the churches and the Christian community in the Holy Land," the heads of Christian churches announced Feb. 25 they were closing of the doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for an undisclosed period of time.

The heads and patriarchs of Christian churches in Jerusalem strongly denounced the city of Jerusalem's plan to force churches to pay property taxes.

The U.S. suspension of $65 million in aid to the U.N. agency that deals with Palestinian refugees alarmed advocates who work with Palestinians living in camps.

Building walls can only serve to separate people and create more isolation, said Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo of Seattle.

Even when a situation is hopeless, people must not lose hope, Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, South Africa, told parishioners at the Gaza Strip's only Catholic parish.

With tensions still high in the Old City following weeks of violence, Fr. Firas Aridah completed his work at the Latin Patriarchate early so he could leave Jerusalem for his West Bank parish before any possible violence began."There were many (Israeli) police and soldiers, closing many roads," Aridah told Catholic News Service in a phone interview once he was back in Jifna's St. Joseph Parish July 28.

A heat wave in Israel and the Palestinian territories in July and near-record electricity usage — where it was available — are indications that, despite the continuous political tensions here, Christians, Muslims and Jews are facing a common enemy that needs to be confronted in a united manner.