Patriarchs call for peace and end to occupation Thursday, 20th December 2007. 5:57pmBy: Matt Cresswell.A JOINT Christmas message from the Patriarchs and heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem calls for freedom and the end of the Israeli occupation.
Signed by the three Patriarchs, their message talks of the gospel of peace and instructs politicians in the Holy Land to examine their conduct and decisions in the light of God’s laws. “In this Land, we ask for our freedom, and for the end of the Occupation,” the statement reads. “We mention the difficulties coming from ‘the Wall of Separation’ that has transformed our cities in to big prisons.”Calling on politicians they say: “We pray for our political leaders that God may inspire them and make them examine their conduct and demands in the light of God’s commandments always remembering their own accountability to him, in this very life and in the process of the conflict itself.”Palestinians can draw comfort from the gospel, the message urges. Although many face ‘unemployment, poverty and frustration’ every day they must listen to St John who said: ‘may the peace of God rule in your hearts’ and ‘the word of Christ dwell in you richly.’Their message thanks Christians around the world who have visited the Holy Land. They say: “To our Sisters and Brothers across the world: we are greatly encouraged by your continuing pilgrimages to this Land: we thank you for your presence with us.”But the new Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt Rev Suhail Dawani, this month claimed that Palestinian Christians were in danger of being wiped out within one generation. Bishop Dawani was addressing a pilgrimage when he said that Palestinian Christians were a minority and were in danger of being wiped out. The Rev Nick Wallace who led the pilgrimage said: “He told me that unjust travel restrictions make it virtually impossible for Christians to move freely from villages, towns and cities,” he told Portsmouth’s diocesan newspaper the Pompey Chimes. “We in the UK take for granted that clergy can move freely between parishes.” Mr Wallace’s pilgrimage visited St George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem, where they met the Bishop. He said: “As Bishop Suhail has urged, please pray for all who live within the borders of Israel-Palestine. Please pray for the Christian church in the Holy Land.”Christians Aware also spoke-up about the Holy Land this Christmas. The organisation, of which Archbishop Rowan Williams is president, remarked on the establishment of Israeli flats, the demolishment of housing and the nine-metre-high Jerusalem-Bethlehem wall. Their Christmas message said: “The horrors of suffering are there and the Christ is also there, both with and in the people of all the faiths, and it is there that we may meet him and share the challenge to work for change and good news.”middleeastdesk@religiousintelligence.com
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