News,
articles and documents from the Holy Land
Issue No. 88 - Saturday, 4 August, 2001
Dear
Friends, Brothers and Sisters,
Since this evening and while I am preparing this Olive Branch, I am
hearing from my office in Jerusalem the continuous sound of shootings and
bombardments in Bethlehem area, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour which are more than
10 Kms far from here. I called our Seminary there to have some details and they
told me that it is the hell falling down from Gilo (the nearby settlement).
Maybe some Palestinians shoot some bullets from Beit Jala toward Gilo which
didn’t even reach there, but I don’t understand this heavy shelling against
Beit Jala with all kind of modern weapons made in the USA. I hope that this
night will pass without casualties and human losses even if it will leave a lot
of damages on houses which were shelled already tens of times during the last
ten months. But my concern goes to our small kids who will not be able to sleep
this night because they are terrorized and have no refuge. I am sure that these
children will need psychological healing afterwards and we will need experts in
this field. This is very bad, but worst, is the moral and spiritual damage on their
hearts and souls, while hatred will increase and within time they will not be
able to forget and forgive which will complicate the process of healing and
reconciliation which is much needed if we want to reach a real and lasting
peace in this region of the world. Any way, we still hope and pray for an end
of this sad and difficult situation for the best interest of both peoples.
Yesterday, our Patriarch Michel Sabbah left to the United States in a
round which will include several visits to our Arabic speaking communities in
Los Angeles and San Francisco were we have hundreds of families who are
originally from our diocese in Jordan and Palestine. Two of our priests Fr.
Labib Kobti and Fr. Hisham Dhabaen are serving them, the third Fr. Sami Totah
is in Younkers New York. It will be an occasion to meet these people who left
the country years ago looking for better future with some more stability even
if they are still linked with their homeland and parents here in our parishes
hoping maybe a better time to return back even if this will be very difficult
for the second and third generations which will loose their links with their
country since they don’t speak any more Arabic. The Patriarch will continue to
Washington where he will meet Cardinal Theodore Macarrick who is a close friend
of our Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Then the Patriarch will be the guest of
Archbishop Robert Carlson of Sioux Falls, a diocese which is linked in a
relation of twinship with one of our parishes. This visit will strengthen the
relationship of the church of Jerusalem with our brothers and sister churches
in the States which already very strong since long time.
You will find in this Olive Branch some more articles and documents:
1)
Two news about the late visit of Mr. Arafat to
Castel Gondolfo were he met the Pope. As you see from the attached photo, this
was a very sympatic meeting in which both Arafat and the Pope expressed their
deep desire for peace and called for an end of violence and return to the
negotiation.
2)
I send you also the Archbishop of Canterbury’s address
at St George’s Anglican Cathedral, when he visited Jerusalem last 28 July 2001.
3)
I send you the press release of the INTERNATIONAL
SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT in which they are calling for an International Protection Force for Palestinians.
4)
On June 14-16, 2001 the American bishops held
their Spring General Meeting in Atlanta at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel. Randy
Engel covered the meeting for Catholic
Family News and filed this report that I send you after obtaining her
permit to publish it since she is speaking about the Olive Branch Fund also,
hoping that this will give good fruits and help us to help our people in this
very difficult time.
We always appreciate and thank for every small and simple sign of
solidarity with us, and we really notice that this is growing all over the
world hoping that you will help us to achieve peace which will be the best gift
to our both peoples, because we are really in a deep need to have some rest
after all this troubled history.
With my best wishes and prayers to all of your from Jerusalem Fr. Raed
Abusahlia
Pope Insists on Rejection of All Violence in Mideast
Receives Arafat at Castel
Gandolfo
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 2, 2001 (Zenit.org).-
John Paul II today stressed to Yasser Arafat the "absolute necessity"
of an end to all forms of violence in the Middle East as an indispensable
condition for peace in the area.
During a 25-minute audience in his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo with the
leader of the Palestinian Authority, the Pope made no distinctions when he
condemned the attacks that have bloodied Israel and the territories of the
Palestinian Authority for almost a year, the Vatican Press Office said in a
statement.
"In expressing his sorrow over the victims, caused to date by the repeated
confrontations, His Holiness firmly reiterated the absolute necessity that an
end be put to any form of violence, whether the result of attacks or
reprisals," said Father Ciro Benedettini, assistant director of the press
office.
At the same time, the Vatican statement continues, the Pontiff called for
negotiations, "the only means capable, with the help of the international
community, of giving hope to attain peace."
Arafat arrived at the papal residence shortly after midday in a convoy of four
dark cars. He was received in the courtyard by Bishop James Harvey, prefect of
the pontifical household.
Over Vatican Radio, Father Benedettini said that the meeting between the two
leaders "was very cordial." It was the 10th time the Holy Father met
with Arafat on Vatican premises. Today's audience was of a private nature.
"Arafat himself said during his visit to Rome that he feels great esteem
for the Holy Father and hopes to receive much help for the peace process in the
Middle East," Father Benedettini said.
In February 2000 the Vatican signed an agreement with the Palestinian Authority
making the Church's presence in the Palestinian Autonomous Territories official
and registering the Vatican request for the creation of an international
statute guaranteeing religious liberty in Jerusalem's Holy Places.
Arafat's visit to the Holy Father came at a time of acute tension, two days
after Israelis killed eight Palestinians, including two children, in a missile
attack on the city of Nablus. The Israeli government described the attack as a
defensive move.
Today, a 23-year-old Palestinian was killed near Nablus, bringing to 687 the
total number of deaths since the intifada began last September. Of the total,
540 were Palestinian victims and 128 Israeli.
Arafat Praises Pope as Defender of Rights
Asks Italy to Accelerate
Arrival of International Observers
ROME, AUG. 2, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Yasser
Arafat praised
John Paul II for
his advocacy for justice in the Mideast
conflict.
His comments appeared in an interview in the Italian
newspaper La
Stampa, on the same day the Palestinian
leader was
received in audience at the papal summer residence
of Castel
Gandolfo, southeast of Rome.
"We are very proud of the special relations we have with the Holy
Father," Arafat was quoted as saying. "The Pope came to visit us and
participated with us in the celebrations of the Jubilee of the Year 2000; he
has always taken a firm position in favor of justice and peoples' rights."
To end the Mideast conflict, the Vatican previously proposed that
"priority be given to dialogue; to the application of international
decisions, especially U.N. resolutions; and to the need for an internationally
guaranteed special status for the holy places of the three monotheist
religions."
Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, Vatican secretary for relations with states, made
this proposal a year ago with then U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright,
following the failed Camp David talks.
The leader of the Palestinian Authority told La Stampa that his 24-hour visit
to Italy was to ask the government to help accelerate the arrival of
international observers, as called for by the recent G-8 summit, despite the
fact that Israel is opposed to this measure.
Asked about Ariel Sharon's accusations that Arafat failed to control
extremists' violence, the Palestinian leader noted that Sharon has not been
able to control his own army's violence, nor was Italy able to control the
violence at the G-8 summit in Genoa.
The Archbishop of Canterbury
Address at St George’s Anglican Cathedral, Jerusalem
28 July 2001
No one can deny the power of the right words spoken at the right time and in the right place. Such is the power of the words I have chosen as my text from Micah 6:8: ‘He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’
A Roman Catholic friend of mine recounted some years ago that, when he was a student in a South American country in the late Sixties, a priest colleague had been arrested for protesting with students against the dictatorship then in power. The priest was released after a severe beating. The following morning he celebrated Mass and -- instead of a sermon -- he read a succession of passages from the prophets, culminating in this wonderful passage: ‘What does God require of you, but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ He was immediately re-arrested for sedition! Such was the enduring power of these words written more than two and a half thousand years earlier.
We gather today as brothers and sisters from different Christian communities to share our common faith and assist one another in our common mission to seek justice, and mercy and to walk with God. I bring you greetings from the Anglican Communion to which Bishop Riah and his diocese belong. I represent those many Anglicans in so many different parts of the world who want to say through me to the Church here: ‘We are aware of your sufferings and pain. We share in your desire to build a new future and we share in your dream that someday this your land so important to three great faiths will be a place where all people will feel they are welcome and can live safely.’
But in what way might a timeless reading like that from Micah speak to us here and now?
Yesterday we arrived and we visited Beit Jala, and spoke to several of the people about their pain. Today after prayers in the Holy Sepluchre, we went to Gaza, and we saw something of the devastation, and again we spoke to many people. In what way may such a passage speak to us, and somehow interpret to us what is going on in our lives.
Although Micah the prophet was speaking to a society very different from ours, we can all identify with its great message of justice, mercy, and humble obedience. Indeed, Micah’s great words have inspired and shaped so many people and nations. In England, Thomas Huxley, the great 19th century scientist, said they expressed the ‘perfect idea of religion’; in America, they are inscribed in the Library of Congress; and in Rome, they were set to music by the 16th century composer Palestrina.
Part of these words’ continuing power, it seems to me, lies in the strength of the verbs: we are told what to do, what to love, and how to walk. That is, they direct our actions, our affections, and our attitudes.
First, what to do. We must do justice. Micah was mostly concerned about the oppression of the poor by the rich. He rebuked the powerful for their mistreatment of others and told the religious who came to worship piled high with sacrifices that their sins mocked the Covenant God of Sinai. Justice, we see, is a practical virtue. It is not merely something we admire from afar in legal theory; it must be demonstrated in action; in the way we behave, in the way we live, in the space we give to strangers as well as to our friends.
However many times I have been here and notwithstanding so many Jewish, Muslim and Christian friends, it is not for me as a stranger to state with precision what justice might mean to this beloved land with all its problems. But this much I know, it involves entering another person’s world of pain and fear, and understanding it as much as you yourself would like to be understood. My colleague and friend Robin Eames, the Archbishop of Armagh, who is here with me, knows better than most the practical difficulties of doing justice when communities are estranged, traumatised and bitterly locked in disputes that go back hundreds of years. We as Christians can only put ourselves – ourselves, I say – under the power of Micah’s words and ask: ‘How may we seek justice for everyone?’ Bombings, shootings, killings and all such violence serve only to extend and deepen conflict. Striving together to do justice – the justice that brings peace and reconciliation – is a harder way, but the better way. At such times we must look for models, and it seems to me that we all have one in the towering figure of Nelson Mandela. He could so easily have returned from Robben Island, after twenty seven years in captivity with grudges and scores to settle, and terrible violence would have been the probable result. Instead, he forsook vengeance, and reconciled his country from the injustices of its past. The result is a land where different communities are travelling together on the same road, certainly not without difficulty, but equally certainly not without hope.
But as I am addressing Christian leaders I am bold to ask a particular question which arises from our common task to lead the people we believe God has given to us. It is: ‘What is the task of leadership in communities when people on both sides are convinced they are right and where room for manoeuvre seems so small?
Our response, surely, is that even when we find ourselves passionately committed to one side of the dispute, we must always side with justice, love and peace. We are mandated to find solutions which enable different peoples to live together in harmony; we are mandated to encourage political leaders to seek the pathway of dialogue; and we are mandated to challenge the often-assumed position that concessions and compromises are signs of political weakness.
So we are commanded first to do justice. And then we are told, secondly, to love mercy. I am well aware that it may be that the prophet was talking about ‘devotion’ or ‘kindness’ but I believe he was also trying to show that love – like justice – has a practical purpose. It results in action and, possibly, mercy is as close to the meaning as we can get in English. When we love mercy we find a place for the poor, the victimised, the child in distress and those marginalised in all our societies. Mercy implies that the strong have a particular obligation to the weak; and the powerful have a particular responsibility for the powerless. After all, mercy has its fullest meaning when someone is helpless and vulnerable.
How might that apply to these times so terribly disfigured by acts of hatred and images of bloodshed? It is important to remember that we are all told to ‘love mercy.’ There will always be times when our enemies come within striking distance and are helpless. At that very point, the Scriptures command us to love, and to love with compassion and mercy. To love with forgiveness and not to hate. To love when it is difficult to find reasons to love. And that is why on the one hand we can acknowledge the legitimate cause of a powerful partner, and yet urge caution in how that power is exercised. Such is the tough and wonderful way of the Covenant God whose love is defined for us in Jesus Christ.
So we are told first to love justice, second to love mercy, and third and finally to walk humbly with your God. There is in Micah’s words a call to walk together, to share a journey in sweet fellowship with our God.
Might it not be possible, one day, for Jewish believers, Muslim believers and Christian believers – in spite of deeply held differences – to walk humbly together in mutual tolerance and deeper respect towards a Jerusalem both full of peace and holy to all.
I am often distressed by anti-Jewish feelings just as much as I am distressed by anti-Palestinian feelings. As Christians, our journey compels us to deplore racism in any shape or form, and encourages us to engage with our society in a deep and meaningful way.
Our pilgrimage together as Jews, Muslims and Christians, resonates with that pilgrimage of men and women of faith to the Holy Land. And it is my hope next year to lead a pilgrimage in order to share in the story of that incomparable One known to Christians as Jesus the Christ. It is sad that recent conflict has led to cancelled pilgrimages. I heard at the Christian information Centre this morning that of 600 pilgrimages planned last November, only one tenth have taken place. So many have been cancelled. It means we have lost opportunities to join our brothers and sisters here and to say we are still walking with you. So I want to encourage many Christian pilgrims from around the world to come. Come to the Holy Land and support the Christians, Jews, and Muslims here who long and pray for peace.
Let me close with a story which I heard just a few weeks ago:
A Rabbi asked his disciples to define that moment we call dawn when the morning prayers may be said.
One disciple said: ‘It is dawn when you can tell a horse from a donkey.’ Another said: ‘It is dawn when you can tell an olive tree from a fig tree.’ And the rest all offered their best guesses.
At last the Rabbi said: ‘It is dawn when you can look a stranger in the face and see your sister or your brother.’
The dawn we all long for will come when we see not first and foremost Israeli or Palestinian – or Christian, Jew, or Muslim – but brothers and sisters living in peace and harmony. And oh, how we shall greet the dawn that day…that day when Micah’s threefold command ‘to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God’ will finally be fulfilled.
INTERNATIONAL
SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
Wednesday, August 01, 2001
For Immediate Release
Press Conference
An International Protection Force for Palestinians
(Beit Jala) Today the International
Solidarity Movement held a press conference at the Inad Theater in Beit Jala to
discuss the implications of their International Protection Force initiative,
which has been underway since last Monday, July 23.
After the deployment of Israeli
tanks in Beit Jala and the shelling of Palestinian civilian homes, foreign
civilians put their lives at risk and stayed with Palestinian families in those
homes that had been targets of Israeli fire, with the aim of drawing
international attention to the gross human rights violations and the bombings,
shelling and abuse that continue to be executed by Israel on the Palestinian
people.
The group that stayed in Beit Jala
and witnessed the shelling of civilian targets last night was comprised of 18
American citizens. A spokesperson
for the American delegation, Mr. Bill Durland recounted the experience of
spending a night with his Palestinian hosts under shelling, and expressed
dismay at the unjust practices of the Israeli military. The spokesperson for the International
Solidarity Movement, Heidi Arraf explained: “while we hope that our presence
has a mitigating effect on Israeli violence, our main purpose is to serve as
witnesses and work to encourage action on the part of the international
community. We are not a substitute
for a formal international protection force that the United Nations is obliged
to provide.”
Also introduced at the press
conference was a joint Palestinian/International campaign of active resistance
to the occupation, scheduled to begin next week. A call to action has been put
out to foreign nationals to come to Palestine and stand with the Palestinians
in their struggle for freedom. Activities that Internationals are scheduled to
participate in throughout August include: helping Palestinian farmers harvest
their crops, where soldiers, closures and settler attacks are preventing them
from doing so, removing roadblocks, and demonstrating against checkpoints and
closures.
For more information, interviews
with participants or a detailed program of the August campaign please contact: Heidi
Arraf: +972-52-290-173 ; Neta Golan: +972-52-481-261; Palestinian Center for
Rapprochement: +972-2-277-2018; Or email: pcr@p-ol.com
An American
Catholic Commentary on the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The
Bishops’ Collective
A
Report and Commentary on the NCCB/USCC Atlanta Meeting
-
By Randy
Engel
[Editor’s
note: On June 14-16, 2001 the American bishops held their Spring General
Meeting in Atlanta at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel. Randy Engel covered the
meeting for Catholic Family News and
filed this report.]
Introduction
In mid-June, 265 American bishops assembled in
suburban Atlanta, Georgia for the 61st general meeting of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the United States Catholic – for
the last time! As of July 1, 2001, the American bishops’ preverbal dual
collective known as the NCCB/USCC will be merged into a newly restructured
single organization to be known as the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops (USCCB).
Traditionally more informal in nature with a
lighter agenda than the November meeting in Washington, DC, this year’s
semi-annual Spring meeting covered a wide variety of issues from the sacred to
the profane – from the sublime to the ridiculous.
The Plight of Christians in the Holy Land
At a conference where the pre-arranged agenda
has already been masticated and digested by NCCB/USCC periti and bishops’ committees ad
nausem and where bureaucratic hamburger is typically served up as filet
mignon for the bishops’ consideration and approval, it is not unexpected, that
the most moving and important presentation of the three-day conference was
given, not by an American member of the Roman Catholic hierarchy but by a
visiting guest from the Holy Land – His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, the Latin
Patriarch of Jerusalem. “Patriarch” is an honorary title bestowed upon bishops
certain historically important sees and the Latin Patriarch is the bishop of
those Middle Eastern Catholics who follow the Western Catholic liturgy.
Born in Nazareth on March 19, 1933, H.B. Michel
Sabbah attended the Latin Patriarchal Seminary of Beit Jala (Bethlehem) and was
ordained in Nazareth in 1955. A specialist in Arabic philology (historical
linguistics), he studied at the University of St. Joseph in Beirut, Lebanon and
at the Sorbone. In 1980 he was appointed President of the University of
Bethlehem and in 1987 he became the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
No stranger to controversy, H.B. Michel Sabbah
made international headlines in March of this year when Israeli soldiers
prevented him from entering the village of Ein Arik near Ramallah to celebrate
Mass in clear violation of diplomatic law and of Holy See accords with the
State of Israel. This action is one of many official but illegal and immoral
measures instituted by the Israelis government as a form of collective
punishment against the Palestinians.
The Patriarch open his talk to the Bishops with
a words of gratitude for their solidarity and generosity to the Church of
Jerusalem and then began an assessment of the current Palestinian-Israeli
conflict with the words of Jeremiah, ‘“Peace, peace.’ They say, but there is no
peace.” (Jer.6: 14) He condemned violence as a means of resolving the conflicts
and he mourned all the victims – Palestinians and Israelis, Christians, Muslims
and Jews. “I am particularly saddened for the death of children and the young
on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians,” he said.
“The mandate of the Gospel is clear: we must be
peacemakers, hunger and thirst for justice, love our enemies, and pray for
those who persecute us,” the Patriarch noted gravely. Then he reminded the
bishops of the November 2000 public affirmation of the patriarchs of Jerusalem
that “it is the right and duty of an occupied people to struggle against
injustice in order to gain their freedom.” But he also reiterated the
patriarchs shared conviction that “non-violent means remain stronger and more
efficient as well as morally superior.”
These remarks set the stage for the main theme
of his talk. “The media and the politicians try to reduce the conflict to
various manifestations of violence, as if quelling the violence is sufficient
to resolve the underlying problem,” the Patriarch said. “We repudiate violence.
But we must understand that violence has a cause and the most effective way to
remove the violence is to address the cause,” he continued. “THAT CAUSE IS THE
ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINIAN LAND.” (emphasis added).
This singular statement – so clear – so precise
– struck me like a thunderbolt and from the looks on the faces of the bishops
that I could see from the press gallery, I would say it affected them likewise.
This reaction is not surprising.
For more than fifty years, the state of Israel
working, through American Jewry, has waged a continuous media blitzkrieg in the United States so that
like Pavlov dogs we have been automatically conditioned to associate
Palestinians with terrorists and Israeli security forces with freedom fighters
defending their home land. Now we have the Patriarch of Jerusalem standing
before us charging the state of Israel with unjust territorial occupation. All
of a sudden the proverbial “victim” (Israel) has become the aggressor and the
proverbial “terrorist” (Palestinian) has become the victim. Truth is indeed
stranger than fiction! Now let us return to the specifics of the Patriarch’s
charge against Israel.
“The state of Israel today includes 78% of
historic Palestine,” he explained. Having conceded this much of their ancestral
land to the Israelis, “Palestinians now claim the remaining territory as their
rightful homeland,” he said, and this claim has in fact “been supported by
United Nations resolutions calling for the exchange of land for peace.”
The possibility of full transfer of remaining
22% of Palestinian lands to the Palestinians for the establishment of a viable
Palestinian state, the Patriarch said did not materialize late last year and in
the interim, “Israeli annexations, confiscations, settlement-building, by-pass
road and security zone construction” paved the way for the intifada and another period of violence between Palestinian and
Israeli forces. “God willing, inshallah,
the new cease-fire will make way for genuine peace,” he said.
The Patriarch then shifted his attention to the
particular problems facing Christian Palestinians whom he said were one with
their people in their claim for land and struggle for freedom. “To treat
Palestinian Christians as purely a religious community without any legitimate
national aspirations or distinct culture dehumanizes them,” he warned.
He then described in some detail what life is
like for Christian Palestinians living under Israeli rule for the last eight
months.
“…Christian towns or villages (Bethlehem,
Beit-Sahour, Beit-Jala, Ramalla, Zababdeh) have been bombed… our Latin seminary
and church in Beit-Jala were shelled for three hours… in the village of Abboud,
lands have been confiscated and thousands of olive trees cut… by the (Israeli)
army and settlers,” the Patriarch lamented.
He then described how Palestinian towns have
been turned into mini-concentration camps where the people are deprived of
employment and essential services including water and medical care. “Normal
life is impossible,” he said. Also, “ the siege has made access quite difficult
for the Patriarch, the Bishops and parish priests,” he continued, and has
affected “the running of schools and the transportation of teachers and
students,” as well as a decline in school tuitions and support.
Patriarch Sabbah then brought his talk to a
close with specific recommendations for the role of the Church in the
resolution of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
He stressed the need to keep the pressure on the
international community to accept its responsibility in bringing the conflict
to and end – a conflict in which it has play a major role in bringing about. He
reminded the bishops of the Holy Father’s identification of “contempt for
international legality,” an obvious reference to Israel’s continued
intransigence and will to power in face of numerous United Nations resolutions
condemning:
·
Acts of unjust aggression against its
neighbors especially its military actions in Lebanon.
·
The establishment of illegal Israeli
settlements in occupied lands of the West Bank and Gaza strip.
·
Israel’s military actions against
Palestinian civilians and demolition of their homes and villages and places of
worship.
·
The refusal of Israel to permit the
repatriation of thousands of Palestinian refugees now herded into over-crowded
concentration-like camps without central sewage or access roads or living abroad
in Jordan and other Arab states.
·
The illegal confiscation and
expropriation of Arab-owned land in East Jerusalem combined with failure to
make restitution for these illegal seizures.
·
The over-all denial of the cause of
self-determination for the Palestinian people.
Of
course this continual and virtually codified refusal on the part of the Israeli
government to recognize the legitimate claims and aspirations of the
Palestinian people would not have been possible without the thirty plus vetoes
cast by the United States in the United Nations Security Council since 1972 to
shield Israel from the consequences of its unjust actions and by the U.S.
government’s multi-billion dollar ($6.1 in 2000) foreign assistance program to
Israel - virtually none of which filters down to the Christian Palestinians.
He also reminded the American bishops of their
role in advocating for the future of the Holy City of Jerusalem especially the
forging of statutes backed by international guarantees that will protect the
holiness of the city.
Patriarch
Sabbath concluded his talk to the bishops with a prayer for just peace and a
secure Christian presence in the Holy Land. I think the essence of his message
can be summarized thusly – “The
Palestinian people clamor for life and freedom. And they will have life and
freedom sooner or later. We hope it is sooner rather than later.” [Letter of
Patriarch Sabbah on 2 October 2, 2000 from Jerusalem.]
Following a shorter but well-stated speech by
Ambassador Dennis Ross, the former US special envoy to the Middle East, the
bishops returned to their deliberation of the draft proposal of the NCCB
Committee on International Policy chaired by Cardinal Bernard Law titled Resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian Crisis.
Among the first speakers to address his fellow
bishops on the current crisis in the Middle East was Cardinal William H.
Keeler, Archbishop of Baltimore who appeared, in an almost comical fashion,
most anxious to get to the microphone to defend Israeli interests.
In the written text of his presentation “Notes
for the NCCB Panel on the Middle East,” the Cardinal assures International
Jewry that “Opposition to anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism is not a task we as a
bishops’ conference have ever backed away from, and it is a task in which we
remain resolute.” This explains perhaps why Catholics in the United States
remain so abysmally ignorant of the realities of the Palestinian/Israeli
conflict as enunciated by Patriarch Sabbah.
As I listened to the Cardinal’s brief oral
remarks explaining the long years of Jewish-Catholic “dialogue” and
inter-religious initiatives in the United States, I wondered if this
on-going “dialogue” with American
Jewry ever included a serious discussion of Israeli apartheid/racist policies
which reduce Palestinians – Moslem and Christian alike – to second-class
status?
I
wondered Keller and Company ever demanded an end to the toleration, if not
tacit approval of anti-Christian (and Moslem) actions by Jewish fundamentalists
including the 1996 incident in which a female Israeli Zionist extremist
produced a painting which depicted both the Prophet Mohammed and the Virgin
Mary as farm animals?
I
wondered if they ever spoke of the thousands of Palestinian children who suffer
from clinical post-traumatic disorder due to the terroristic shelling of their
neighborhoods by the Israeli army?
I
wondered if, in any discussion with International Jewry concerning the World
Jewish Restoration Organization’s efforts in support of returning stolen
property to its rightful owner especially Jewish property restitution in
Europe, the American hierarchy ever dared to inquire when the Israeli
government intended to make restitution of the billions of dollars to the
Palestinian people for property illegally confiscated during the founding of
the state of Israel?
Clearly, the state of Israel has been suffering
from a bad collective conscience for more than half a century because of its
unjust treatment of the indigenous people of Palestine. That is one reason I
believe it lives in such fear of its Arab neighbors. There is an old saying
that confession is good for the soul. Perhaps the American bishops can play a
role in convincing the Israelis of this truth. Only then can a true healing
begin in this war torn land.
As for the Palestinians – what has violence
achieved for them? In the long run – nothing.
Why use violence, I ask, when you have the force
of truth on your side – backed by international law? Truly – non-violence is
the way.
Perhaps Father Raed Awad Abusahlia, Chancellor
of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem has given the best advice the Christian and
Moslem Palestinians will ever hear - “Love your enemies and pray for those who
hate you. For loving our enemies does not mean submission and weakness or
relinquishment of our rights, but rather claiming those rights with the force
of love.”
As
a follow-up to Patriarch Sabbah’s Presentation in Atlanta, I contacted Father
Raed about the best means of materially assisting our Christian brothers and
sisters in the Holy Land especially the young and the elderly. He told me that he has established the
Olive Branch Fund under the auspices of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
In
addition to your prayers, readers who wish to contribute to fund can send a
bank wire or transfer to:
Mercantile
Discount Bank
East
Jerusalem Salah Edin
Branch
No. 638
Latin
Patriarchate-Olive Branch Fund
Account
No. 982-01-946915
Checks
endorsed in the name of Latin Patriarchate – Olive Branch Fund can be mailed
to:
Fr.
Raed Abusahlia
Latin
Patriarchate of Jerusalem
P.O.
Box 14152
Jerusalem
91141 - Israel
For
additional information e-mail tengel@bellatlantic.net
Fr.
Raed Abusahlia’s web page address is http://go.to/nonviolence
|
Important note to our dear readers We really hope
that you enjoy what we try to send you and find it useful, and if you need
any further information, please feel free to contact us:
nonviolence@writeme.com * But, you have to take in consideration
that this newsletter is not an official newsletter of the Latin Patriarchate
of Jerusalem; * Only the documents signed by the
Patriarch himself, express an official position, but all the other news,
articles and documents express the personal opinion of their authors; * I remain the only responsible of the
presentation and the editorials of this newsletter, which is wanted to be a
simple instrument of information without any pretension; * We don’t side with anybody, we only
side with the truth, and strive for human rights, justice, peace and
reconciliation for everybody as usual. Thank you for your understanding & Best wishes from Jerusalem Fr. Raed Abusahlia |