May 23, 2003

JERUSALEM - 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.

ELCA News Service