Monday, December 24, 2007

In Bethlehem

From the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in Ha'aretz:

"A new peace effort was begun these last few weeks. In order for it to succeed, there must be a firm willingness to make peace. Until now, there has been no peace, simply because there has been no willingness to make it: "Peace, peace! they say, though there is no peace" (Jer 6, 14).

The strong party, the one with everything in hand, the one who is imposing occupation on the other, has the obligation to see what is just for everyone and to carry it out courageously. "O God, with your judgment endow the king," with your justice endow our governments so that they can govern your people with justice (Ps 72).

In recent times, there has been some talk about creating "religious" states in this land. But in this land, which is holy for three religions and for two peoples, religious states cannot be established because they would exclude or place in an i
nferior position the believers of the other religions. A state that would exclude or discriminate against the other religions is not suitable for this land made holy by God for all of humanity."


This year's Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem saw a modest recovery in tourism, but life in the Palestinian city has certain unshakable facts.

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1 comment:

Kelly said...

This first part, "A new peace effort was begun these last few weeks..." . I love it! Human society is so strange, running in circles century by century on so many things. I wonder if people do want peace? It's like two friends: when something good happens to one friend, there is this deep, dark place inside the other that is somewhat not happy for them (envy?). I wonder if there is an innate draw in humans to make things unsettled.