wfn.org | Despite violence and hatred, Holy Land's Christians still hope for

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Note #6213 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

peace
13-October-2000
00351

Despite violence and hatred, Holy Land's Christians still hope for peace

by Ross Dunn
Ecumenical News International

JERUSALEM -- Church leaders in the Holy Land have condemned "provocative
actions" by Israeli politicians and the "excessive" use of force by the
military to put down the current Palestinian uprising. The leading Catholic
prelate here said the recent violence drew attention to Palestinian claims
for a sovereign state, claims which, he said, should be granted.

	Representatives of various Christian churches agreed in interviews with ENI
on  October 11that the clashes which have claimed nearly 100 lives were
sparked by the visit of the Israeli politician, Ariel Sharon, to a site in
Jerusalem's walled Old City, holy to both Muslims and Jews.

	To Muslims, it is the Haram as-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary, home to the Dome
of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques, the third holiest place in Islam after
Mecca and Medina.

	To Jews, it is the Temple Mount, site of their holy temples in biblical
times and the most sacred place in the Jewish world.

	The Anglican Dean of St George's Cathedral in Jerusalem, Michael Sellors,
told ENI it was clearly wrong for Sharon to visit the site during sensitive
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians over the future status of
the shrine. Even worse, he said, was Israel's use of live ammunition against
the rioting that subsequently broke out, resulting in the deaths, mainly of
Palestinians and also of some Arab citizens of Israel.

	"I think a number of acts have been deliberate confrontation, and I also
think that the shooting [of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers] is inhuman,"
Dean Sellors said. "When children are shot, when people are shot in the eye,
that is not self-protection [as Israeli authorities have claimed]."

	Sellors said the stoning of the troops by Palestinians did not justify such
force. "This is something that is not new to this land," he said. "If you
read your Old Testament, pent-up feeling expressed itself in throwing
stones."

	But he added that despite the violence there was still hope for
reconciliation between Arabs and Jews. "I still believe that there is a
ground-swell of opinion among ordinary people who want to live at peace, but
that can be only so when we have mutual respect."

	Bishop Munib Younan, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Palestine and
Jordan, told ENI that in order to reach this goal both sides must refrain
from acts which could incite violence.  "We Christian leaders are against
any provocative actions," he said. "And we believe that there have been
provocative actions. Neither provocation nor violence will bring just peace.

	"Secondly, I am personally displeased that they are turning from
territorial disagreements to a religious war.

	"Thirdly, we are sorry that children are killed with live bullets."

	But Bishop Younan said that, despite the recent disturbing events, both
sides should set their sights again on achieving peace. "What is the
alternative?" he asked. "If it is total harm, the losers will be everybody.
In just peace, everybody will be a victor, but war means that all of us are
losers. Weapons and arms will not bring a just peace, only dialogue can do
that."

	The highest-ranking Catholic leader in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch
Archbishop Michel Sabbah, said in a statement this week he had no doubt that
Israel should not have allowed Sharon to visit the shrine.

	"The painful and bloody events which we are living today, following the
provocation of religious feelings in the Haram as-Sharif, tells one thing:
the Palestinian people's claims for life and freedom," he said.

	Archbishop Sabbah, himself a Palestinian, said that the Palestinians dying
in the clashes were taking part in a crusade for justice. "Those, young and
old, who are offering their lives are not doing it to aggress anybody: they
are only defending their holy places, their freedom and their life," he
said. "Blood today is crying to God, claiming justice and human dignity."

	Archbishop Sabbah said the fighting must end and the peace talks resume
with the aim of establishing an independent state for the Palestinian
people.

	"Enough bloodshed. The people should be given their right to live and to
self-determination," the Latin Patriarch said. "The Palestinian state must
be born and have stability which allows it to reorganize its own affairs,
external and internal."

	He said that Jerusalem should also be a road to peace and not division. The
city should become the capital of two countries, the eastern side of the
city for an independent Palestine and the western side for Israel. "The Holy
City should be the city of reconciliation, after installing justice in it:
Palestinian Jerusalem should be the capital of Palestine, as the West
Jerusalem the capital of Israel," he said. "And above all that, it should
remain the ‘holy city', and its holiness protected and respected by its own
governors, and by the requirements which its sanctity imposes on the entire
international community."

	A committee of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), which includes
major churches in the region, has condemned Israel's military actions and
the policy of "apartheid" against Palestinians. MECC's committee for
Palestinian refugees, meeting this week in the Jordanian capital, Amman,
said that Israel's policies and actions were destroying prospects for peace
and harmony in the region, putting at risk the security and stability of the
Middle East. The committee expressed support for recognition of the
Palestinian people's right to self-determination, the establishment of a
Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and the right for
Palestinians abroad to return to their homeland.

	The World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP), which includes
representatives of the world's major faiths, has announced a plan to urge
religious communities in the Middle East to adopt a common "moral code of
conduct".

	WCRP's moderator, Prince El Hassan bin Talal, of Jordan, said in a
statement from WCRP headquarters in New York on October 11 that the three
principal religions of the region, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, shared
similar moral values.

	"These shared moral concerns can and need to be identified and reshaped as
a common ‘code of conduct' that enshrines the deep senses of humanity and
obligation shared by each of the religious traditions. The wide propagation
and engagement of a common code of conduct is essential to under-gird the
search for peace and to sustain it. Perhaps most importantly, a common code
of conduct would allow all sides to disagree in human terms, without
resorting to violence and without adding to the humiliation or
paranoia of one group or another." 

	Prince Hassan urged Israelis and Palestinians to stop the violence and
"show the other [side] that restraint will be met with restraint, for that
is the logic of peacemaking".

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