Bethlehem sermon calls for peace in the Middle East by Joseph Krauss Mon Dec 24, 9:11 PM ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) - The Catholic leader in the Holy Land again called for peace in the Middle East on Tuesday as he addressed thousands of Christians gathered at the traditional site of Jesus's birth. This land of God cannot be for some a land of life and for others a land of death, exclusion, occupation, or political imprisonment, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah said in a sermon for the Christmas midnight mass.All those whom God, the lord of history, has gathered here must be able to find in this land life, dignity and security, he said, addressing thousands of Christians from all over the world in a sermon delivered in his native Arabic.Sabbah, who last week said that peace in the Middle East depended on Israel, reiterated that message in a less direct way on Tuesday.It is not up to the weakest to submit themselves and continue to live a life of deprivation; it is up to the strongest, to those who have everything in hand, to detach themselves and to give to the weakest what is due to them.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas attended the mass fresh from last month's international conference in the US city of Annapolis, where he formally relaunched the peace process with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Thousands of people gathered in front of the Church of the Nativity hours ahead of the traditional mass given on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born in a stable after Mary and Joseph were turned away at an inn.Steam billowed from carts selling boiled corn and stands sold tea and coffee to the holiday makers gathered in the crisp temperatures under garlands of colourful lights strung across the square.Palestinians hope the number of tourists and the income they bring will make it the best Christmas since the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000 and the building of Israel's massive barrier through the West Bank.Celebrating Christmas in Bethlehem is a dream come true. We have waited for this for years, said Alice Lyons, a Briton touring the Holy Land over the holidays.But the festive atmosphere has not hidden the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.Last night when we came in, there was a banner wishing us a happy Christmas and it was hanging under barbed wire, her friend, Kathleen Joyce, said.An eight-metre (25 foot) concrete wall erected by Israel in the wake of the uprising encircles much of Bethlehem, but the city was still set to welcome 30,000 to 40,000 visitors this year, twice the number that came last year.
Last year, there were a lot of problems, security problems. God willing, this year will be better, Adnan Sobh, a souvenir shop owner, told AFP.The renewed sense of calm convinced Jacques Keutgen, a Belgian-born director at the local Holy Family Hospital, to bring his entire extended family of 17 to celebrate Christmas in the West Bank city just south of Jerusalem.The security situation is much better than it has been in years, said Keutgen, who has been based in Bethlehem for four and a half years.
But it was important to show his guests that life remained grim for many Palestinians, he added.They have to see the wall to know how the Palestinian people are affected by this political situation, Keutgen said. Israel says its 650-kilometre (410-mile) security barrier is needed to stop potential attackers. The Palestinians say the apartheid wall is part of a land grab aimed at undermining the viability of their promised state. The barrier has confiscated farm land, uprooted olive trees, isolated Bethlehem from Jerusalem and helped to quicken emigration and keep unemployment at more than 50 percent. But at Tuesday's midnight mass Sabbah urged Christians -- whose numbers across the Middle East have dwindled considerably in recent decades -- to remain in the region where their faith was born and work for peace there.
Being Christian means sharing the concerns of all, building peace with everyone else, and accepting the sacrifices this implies... the difficulties of daily life, of occupation, of the wall of separation, he said. All of this is our common fate, and all of us together, by our sacrifices, we must build peace for everyone.
