.- The
13 patriarchs and heads of Christian Churches in Jerusalem launched in
their joint Easter message a powerful appeal for reconciliation between
Israel and Palestine and called on the international community not to
boycott the Palestinian people by stopping aid, reported AsiaNews.
The Christian
churches in the Holy Land—Orthodox, Armenian, Latin Catholic, Copt,
Syriac, Anglican and Lutheran—will celebrate Easter on April 16 or 23.
Their leaders call on their faithful to see the proximity in dates as a
sign of the need for greater solidarity and shared witness of the
resurrection of Jesus.
“It seems
nowadays that we face an unknown path or impasse in political life
(sic) between the new Israeli government and the new Palestinian
government,” they said in their message.
The Church
leaders reproached the international community for withholding aid from
the Palestinian people. “It is not permitted to boycott a people on
whom oppressions and injustices were and are imposed, while the
international community remained so far paralyzed in putting an end to
these oppressions, and therefore this paralysis gave birth to violence,
terrorism and the humiliation of the human person [sic],” they said.
“Instead of
boycotting, we appeal to the International Community to seize the
opportunity of this phase in history of the conflict in order to try
seriously to put an end to the suffering,” they said.
In their appeal,
Church leaders also addressed the leaders of Israel and Palestine,
saying that security, justice and peace are possible if there is a
sincere will on their part.
Finally, the
Church leaders appeal to Christians around the world who they say share
with their leaders “the responsibility of reconciliation in this Holy
Land.”
The leaders
urged them to put pressure on their respective governments and their
national media to help bring about reconciliation and to reflect on the
impact the Security Wall that Israel is building is having on the
dignity of the people.
The appeal is
signed by Greek-Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, Roman
Catholic Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, Armenian Orthodox Patriarch
Torkom I Manooghian, Custos of the Holy Land Fr. Pierbattista
Pizziballa, OFM, Coptic Orthodox Archbishop Anba Abraham,
Syrian-Orthodox Archbishop Swerios Malki Murad, Ethiopian Orthodox
Archbishop Abouna Grima, Maronite Archbishop Paul Sayyah, Anglican
Bishop Riah Abu el-Assal, Lutheran Bishop Mounib Younan,
Syrian-Catholic Bishop Pierre Malki, Armenian Catholic Rev. Raphael
Minassian, and Greek Catholic Archimandrite Mtanios Haddad.
Jerusalem Church leaders urge int’l community not to boycott Palestinians
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June 18, 2013
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