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Holy Land
Palestinians appeal to Rome
Seek condemnation of Israeli brutality
Palestinian officials have appealed to Pope John Paul II to condemn Israel for a pattern of aggression against Palestinians. The appeal also includes a suggestion that the Vatican should summon Christian leaders to support a renewed peace process.
At least 127 people, all but 8 of them Arabs, were killed in the first month of new fighting that erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on September 28.
Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, general-secretary of the Palestinian Authority, said, “We appeal to the Pope and all Christian churches in the world to hold an emergency meeting that would expose the false image of Israel, its occupation and aggression against the Palestinian people,” he told Voice of Palestine. “This image should be exposed, because it covers up what is really happening against the Palestinian people.”
On the very day that the Palestinian statement was made public, the Vatican’s permanent observer at the United Nations stated that the present crisis demonstrates how the violation of human rights “can lead into a cycle of violence which often becomes uncontrollable.”
Bishop Giuseppe Bertello, speaking at a UN conference on human rights in Geneva, left no doubt that the Holy See was criticizing the Israeli government for its failure to acknowledge the rights of Palestinians. He deplored “the absence of respect for certain fundamental human rights, such as the right to have a state and an independent government, as well as the rights of security and free expression for one’s own culture and history.”
The Vatican representative recalled that when Pope John Paul II visited the Dheisheh refugee camp, near Bethlehem, during his March visit to the Holy Land, he had lamented the “degrading conditions” in which Palestinian refugees live. “When people cannot enjoy their inalienable rights, there are always tense situations,” Bishop Bertello said. “There can be no true and lasting peace unless it is based on international law, justice, and respect for the rights of all people.”
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