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Easter messages from Jerusalem--end Palestinian suffering
Episcopal News Service
Issue:
Section:
2003-083-5
Posted: Wednesday, April 16, 2003
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In their Easter messages, the Christian leaders of churches in Jerusalem reflect on the war in Iraq and repeat their pleas for an end to Palestinian suffering.
The Latin (Roman Catholic) Patriarch of the Holy Land, Michel Sabbah, issued a warning about the consequences of the war in Iraq, urging the international community to find ways to 'limit' the use of power and act 'to save humanity from the threat of new world wars.' He said that 'the positive which will come from this war, we are waiting to see. What we have seen so far is war and more evil to the people of Iraq after this war. Instead of having freedom, they have anarchy and confusion.' Sabbah pointed to the suffering of the people under 12 years of international sanctions.
Christians take heart from the Easter story and their belief in the Resurrection, said the patriarch, a Palestinian and the highest ranking Catholic in the Holy Land. 'Therefore we keep hoping that one day the Holy Land will be for all its inhabitants, a land of Resurrection and no more a land of death and hatred.' He expressed hopes that the so-called 'road map' for peace created by the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations may yet provide a solution because it calls for a Palestinian state by 2005.
'If the road map gives back to the Palestinians their rights, their freedom, their dignity, it can work,' he said. 'The question is whether the Israelis will accept the road map. This is a positive proposition to bring and end to the conflict.'
The Lutheran bishop in Jerusalem, Munib Younan, also focused on the war and the plight of Palestinians, describing the war as one of the 'huge and heavy stones' that had been placed in the way of peace. He said that the war 'is creating a big divide between cultures. What will happen with Christian-Muslim relations that we have built for a long time? No wonder we are filled with hopelessness. Just when we thought we had succeeded in bringing mutual understanding among cultures and civilizations, we see this huge stone in front of us,' he said.
During his Palm Sunday trip to Jerusalem, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said that, as a result of the suffering and fear among Palestinians in recent months, 'there is small hope of lasting reconciliation in the wider world. And now, with the repercussions of military action in Iraq still echoing around the region, new fears have been aroused in the hearts of many.'
Williams said that at Easter Christians should pray 'that those who hold power may know how to take the risk of giving it away for the sake of greater peace and those who have no power may take the risk of stepping out of helpless resentment into something new.'
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| © 2004, The Episcopal Church, USA. Episcopal News Service content may be reprinted without permission as long as credit is given to ENS. |
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