JERUSALEM, Oct. 27, 00 (CWNews.com) - The Latin-rite Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, called for a return to peace talks and an end to violence in the Holy Land as he toured sites of violence this week.
The patriarch was in the West Bank town of Beit Jalla, a Christian village, which has been the centerpoint of Israeli tank fire and Palestinian small-arms action. Israel said the Palestinian Authority was launching attacks from the village in order to draw Israeli retaliatory fire, which would damage Christian properties and elicit sympathy for Palestinians.
Patriarch Sabbah, a Palestinian, called on both sides to return to the negotiating table. He said Israel should end its 33-year-long military occupation and let the Palestinians "have their state and become with the Israelis very good neighbors." The patriarch said Israel's survival and security depends on good relations with neighboring Arab countries. "This is the only salvation, also for Israel itself to convert all of its neighbors to friends. As long as they have enemies they will be afraid, they will have no security," he said.
The patriarch also denied that the four weeks of violence that has left more than 130 people dead has divided Christian and Muslim Palestinians. Several hundred Palestinians, led by Islamic fundamentalists, set fire to a hotel and some Christian-run stores, saying the proprietors sold alcohol in violation of Muslim law. "They were condemned first even by Ahmed Yassin, the leader of the (militant Islamic) Hamas," he said.
Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs
27. oktober 2000