September 02, 2013
Bethlehem – Once again, the drums of war are sounding in our region. Once again, the US is leading the campaign for this war, this time on Syria. And once again, the US and some European and Arab countries are justifying it in the name of democracy, human rights, and humanity itself. We have heard all this before… Many American and European-led wars have been waged in these lands, and are still being waged, under the same pretexts. All of these wars have failed to bring about peace, security, and democracy. On the contrary: they have sowed political and social instability and encouraged more extreme movements to flourish and expand their reach.
The anticipated but dreaded war on Syria, being justified on the grounds that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, will only intensify the suffering of the Syrian people. Kairos Palestine that stands against injustice is horrified by and concerned about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, as we await the UN investigation committee’s conclusions on the perpetrators of this crime. However, we are certain that any military response will merely escalate the situation and increase civilian disaster?
We must remember the tragedy of Iraq and the war launched against it in 2003. The US initiated this war under the pretext that the Iraqi regime possessed weapons of mass destruction – which, as former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has since admitted, was utterly false, and was used to justify the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the occupation of Iraq. The ensuing war killed, injured and displaced millions of Iraqis. More than a million Iraqi Christians left the country. From all perspectives, the tragedy is far from over.
Read more: Kairos Palestine statement on Syria.pdf