wfn.org | End Occupation for Middle East Peace, Says Catholic Patriarch

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 23, 2003

END OCCUPATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE, SAYS CATHOLIC PATRIARCH
03-105-JB

     JERUSALEM (ELCA) -- The only way to begin to develop a lasting
peace for all people in the Middle East is for the State of Israel to
end its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, areas inhabited by
Palestinians, said His Beatitude Michael Sabbah, Latin Catholic
Patriarch for the region.  Sabbah made the comment in a one-hour meeting
May 23 with the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
     Hanson is leading an eight-member ELCA delegation in a visit to
the Holy Land.	The visit is being coordinated by the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Jordan (and Palestine), led by the Rev. Munib A.
Younan, the Lutheran bishop in Jerusalem.
     Sabbah, a Palestinian, condemned terrorist attacks against
Israelis.  However, he said, "terrorism has a cause.  The cause is
occupation."  With occupation, Palestinians have been deprived of their
land and their freedom, he said.  If the occupation ended today, there
would be peace, Sabbah said.
     Protestant and Catholic churches, which have defended the rights
of Palestinians and condemned terrorist attacks against Israelis, have
been "misunderstood or misinterpreted," Sabbah said.
     ""For many, we are pro-terrorist churches," he told the ELCA
delegation. "We say it is not this. We want peace."
     One way many churches are trying to help Palestinians is through
an ecumenical accompaniment program administered through the World
Council of Churches (WCC), Geneva, Switzerland.  Through that program
church representatives from throughout the world come here and live for
a short time, observing and documenting how the occupation affects
Palestinians and Israelis. Sabbah said the church presence is useful,
but there is a perception that the program is only with Palestinians.
     "A similar presence is needed to give trust to the Israelis," he
said.  "They say the churches are anti-Israeli.  The WCC is anti-
Israeli, they say."
     Despite the new "Road Map" for peace offered by the United States,
the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, Sabbah said he
doesn't believe peace is close because of the heightened tensions here.
"It's very far," he said of the prospect for peace.
     Christians, Jews and Muslims are leaving the Middle East because
of the unsettled political situation and fear for personal safety,
Sabbah said.  The situation is especially critical for the survival of
Christianity here, whose members make up about 2 percent of the
population in Israel, he said.
     Christians must keep insisting that one commandment -- "to love
one another" --  be the guiding force for people who live here, Sabbah
said.
     "Israelis cannot survive if they are surrounded by enemies. The
only way they can survive is to be surrounded by friends.  If the
Palestinians say they are friends with Israel, then all of the Arab
world will be friendly with Israel," he said.
     Hanson said it is difficult to get Americans to do some serious
thinking about the causes of unrest in the Middle East in light of the
terrorist attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.	"To
break through the complexity of that is a great challenge for us," he
told Sabbah.
     "We keep hoping," Sabbah said.  "Because we believe in God, we
keep hope.  I wonder how one who does not believe in God can live in
this country."
     Hanson and the ELCA delegation also met briefly with His Beatitude
Ireneus I, Greek Orthodox Patriarch, and His Beatitude Torkom Manoogian,
Armenian Patriarch.  He presented them and Sabbah with commemorative
medallions displaying the ELCA emblem.
-- -- --
     Photos from presiding bishop's trip to the Middle East can be
found at http://www.elca.org/co/news/mideast on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html