Can the church botch dialog with Israel any better?

Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch

Michel Sabbah,  the Holy Land’s Roman Catholic leader:

“God made this land for all three of us, so a suitable state is one who can adapt itself to the vocation of this land,” said Sabbah, who was born in Nazareth, a town where Christians believe Jesus was raised and which is now part of Israel.

“If it’s Jewish, it’s not Muslim or Christian.”

Now the response from Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East Sr. Ruth Lautt, Fair Witness National Director stated:

“Jews, like any other people, defined in terms of a shared ethnicity, language, history, culture and/or religion, have the right to constitute an autonomous, sovereign political community. We have been very concerned about recent attacks on the legitimacy of a Jewish state. It is dismaying to see Patriarch Sabbah jump on this bandwagon and take the position that a Jewish state is somehow inherently discriminatory.”

From Pax Christi web site:

The year 2007 marks the 40th year of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. The impact of this occupation, which includes poverty, violence, social disintegration and internal conflict, continues to this day. As part of this occupation, Israel began the construction of a 700-kilometre wall that cuts through Palestinian communities, dividing families and their lands, keeping farmers from their crops, children from their schools, the sick from urgent medical care and denying people freedom of movement. The International Court of Justice declared the wall to be illegal in 2004 and instructed Israel to dismantle it. Nevertheless construction continues. Pax Christi International needs your help to send a strong message to the Israeli government to halt construction of the wall and dismantle the part that has already been built. All member organisations are invited to support a petition suggested by Trocaire, one of our CIDSE partners active on Israel & Palestine.

It’s hard to tell what is the modivation behind this appeal. On the one had I feel for the Patriarch because the Christians in the Holy Land are getting killed (literally and figuratively) from both sides.Israel has historic rights IMO from the Bible. I am much more concerned about Dhimmitude and Christians forced to submit to Sharia law then I am about Israel suppressing Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land.

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