By Nicholas Jubber
JERUSALEM, Jan 28, 02 (CWNews.com) - Despite the focus on gun attacks, suicide bombs, assassinations and reprisal raids, the most violent week in the Holy Land since early December was also marked by positive developments. One of them took place outside Israeli borders; the other involved outside figures. Both represented increased intercessions for peace on the part of religious leaders.
The first event occurred in Alexandria. On January 20-21, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey, the spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglican Christians, presided over a conference that brought together Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders in the Egyptian port city. Their 7-point statement, the "First Alexandria Declaration of the Religious Leaders of the Holy Land," represents the most aggressive engagement to date in the shattered peace process by leaders of the three monotheistic faiths.
The second event is likely to have less influence on the peace process. But it was important for showing local Christians that they have the support of their co-religionists around the globe. From Monday through Thursday, January 21- 24, the spiritual leader of the Holy Land's Catholics, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, hosted ten Catholic bishops from Europe and North America in Jerusalem. They met Palestinian and Israeli politicians (including Palestinian Authority Chairman Yassir Arafat and Israel's former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin), clergymen, diplomats, peace activists, and ordinary residents.
Although both events were pre-arranged, their timing was appropriate. The recent return to violence by the militant Palestinian organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Israeli seizure of an arms consignment in which Arafat aides have been implicated, the Israeli assassinations of Hamas activists, and the strikes on Palestinian towns, not only ensured that the meetings took place amid heightened tension, but also underlined their importance. At the same time as the Pope was leading prayers for peace and religious dialogue in Assisi, the American and European bishops were urging Israeli and Palestinian politicians to break the cycle of violence in the Holy Land.
The Alexandria conference was Archbishop Carey's second visit to the region in six months. Acting as co-chairman of the meeting-- along with the Grand Imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Mohammed Sayid Tantawi-- he united five Christian, four Muslim, and six Jewish leaders in the Montazah Palace. The Christian representatives were a broad cross-section of denominations, emblematic of recent ecumenical progress. Along with the Latin Patriarch, they included delegates from the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Patriarchates and the Anglican and Melkite Catholic bishops.
The Muslim and Jewish representations were also eclectic. Ariel Sharon's deputy foreign minister Rabbi Michael Melchior and Chief Sephardic Rabbi Eliahu Bakshi-Doron joined, among others, Rabbi Menachem Froman. The latter's presence was particularly significant, because he lives in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. The settlers are traditionally opposed to concessions, and are considered by many Palestinians to be a major stumbling block against peace. But Rabbi Froman is more conciliatory than most of his neighbors: he has held peace discussions with Yassir Arafat and Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, and has publicly stated that he would be happy to live under the Palestinian Authority. The most notable absence was the Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, widely seen as Israel's most influential religious leader.
The Muslim delegation comprised supporters of Arafat, including the Chief Justice of the Shari'a courts and Sheikh Tal al-Sidr, a minister of state for the Palestinian Authority. But it did not include the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the most influential Palestinian Muslim leader and a public supporter of suicide bombers.
Despite these significant absences, the conference was supported by Arafat, Sharon, Israeli president Moshe Katsav and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Archbishop Carey himself insisted that the event should have a positive effect: "I hope," he said, "this conference and the declaration the religious leaders have concluded may become a landmark in the quest forpeace and harmony. I hope too it will come to be seen as an historic moment for the cooperation of our three faiths in the region."
The opening words of the declaration manifest the common heritage of those faiths: the signatories invoked "God who is Almighty, Merciful and Compassionate" before acknowledging that "The Holy Land is Holy to all three of our faiths" and calling for respect to the "sanctity and integrity of the Holy Places." They also called on Palestinians and Israelis to "live in the same land," for political leaders to work for peace and adopt the Mitchell and Tenet accords, and pledged themselves to "continue a joint quest for a just peace that leads to reconciliation in Jerusalem and the Holy Land." They did not, however, comment on specific issues, such as the return of refugees, the legal status of settlements or Jerusalem's most hotly contested religious site: the Haram ash-Sharif or Temple Mount. The most tangible outcome was the establishment of a permanent joint committee to fulfill the conference's recommendations.
Although Sheikh Tantawi did not sign the declaration, his presence at the conference was significant. In 1997, when he met Rabbi Lau at Al-Azhar, he was widely condemned in Egypt, and even had a lawsuit filed against him on the grounds of religious violation. But as the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, he represents the most influential arena of mainstream Sunni Muslim thought. His implicit support for a declaration that condemned "incitement and demonization" as well as "bloodshed" represents a concerted effort by a major Muslim figure to convey a more peaceful message of Islam than a loud minority of his co-religionists have recently expressed. Tantawi, considered a moderate in Egypt, counts the Coptic Pope Shenouda III, Egypt's most senior Christian figure, among his friends.
However, Archbishop Carey is under no illusions about the conference: "no declaration", he conceded, "can act as a magic wand-- a panacea for all the ills and injustices, the savagery and inhumanity that have scarred and continue to scar the Holy Land. We are not so naïve. But it is our duty and our desire to do what we can to bring forth good from evil-- hope from despair."
The visit of the bishops to Jerusalem promoted a similar message. Representatives from the US, Canada, England and Wales, Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland, as well as the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe, the Bishops' Commission for the European Union, and Catholic Relief Services, expressed "the need for reconciliation as the foundation of peace" in a statement to the Holy Land's Christians. They pledged to promote and participate in "inter- religious encounters," to "try to improve the public's understanding of the issues here" and to "encourage pilgrims to resume visiting the Holy Land." They condemned both Israel's occupation, and "random attacks on innocent people."
They also wrote a letter to Ariel Sharon, in which they applauded the Israeli government's intervention over the construction of a mosque in the shadow of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. The debate over the mosque has swelled into street violence in the past, and its construction has been condemned not only by the Pope but also by Arafat and Tantawi. The bishops criticized the Israeli police force's inaction during recent clashes, while urging Sharon to "confirm once and for all that this work shall not proceed, so demonstrating that your government is committed to protecting the integrity of Christian Holy Places in Israel."
Catholic World News - Feature
28. januar 2002