Catholic World News News Feature

Jerusalem Patriarch raps both Israelis, Palestinians May 18, 2004

"For the moment, humanly speaking, there is no prospect of peace," admits the Latin Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, Michel Sabbah.

Speaking on Vatican Radio on March 18, Patriarch Sabbah lamented that the combatants in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle are exploiting religious beliefs, and invoking democratic principles, in an attempt to justify violent conflict. That approach can not possibly succeed, he said; "the paths to peace are not those of death and hatred, those that lead to the destruction of the other party."

The Palestinian prelate-- who is in Rome this week for meetings of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, of which he is a member-- said that the conflict today is fired by ignorance, as Jews and Palestinians "take each other for enemies," without an effort to find common ground for a negotiated solution to their problems.

The result of that approach, Patriarch Sabbah said, is that both sides are subject to domination by world powers which may intervene in the region to serve their own interests, "not taking into due consideration the rights and dignity of others."