Catholic Bishops Criticize Israel On Palestinians

JERUSALEM — A high-level delegation of Roman Catholic bishops criticized Israeli polices in Arab sectors of Jerusalem on Thursday and called for more contacts between ordinary Israelis and Palestinians.

The group of eight bishops from North America and Europe said violence, insecurity, the route of Israel's West Bank separation barrier, home demolitions and other policies threaten peace prospects and endanger the dwindling Christian presence in the Holy Land.

The issue of Jerusalem – home to holy sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims – remains the most flammable in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinians claim the city's eastern sector as the capital of their future state. Israel, which captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war, insists the city will never be divided.

In a statement issued at the end of their annual visit, the bishops called for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

"For us, this is not merely about politics; it is an issue of basic human rights," the statement said.

During their visit, the bishops visited Christian institutions in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, talked with Palestinians about their lives and listened to presentations from Israeli and Palestinian experts. It was unclear if they met with ordinary Jewish Israelis.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev disputed the group's criticisms of Israel's east Jerusalem policies.

"Only since reuniting Jerusalem in 1967 have the holy places of all faiths been protected under law and freedom of religion has prevailed," he said.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the bishops spoke of watching Palestinian children cross Israeli checkpoints to return from school and the humiliation Palestinians say they feel at such places. Israel says the crossings are necessary to prevent attacks.

Bishop Gerald Kicanas, vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the human rights situation for Palestinians in the Holy Land has gotten worse during the 20 years that he has been visiting the region.

Kicanas, also the bishop of Tucson, Arizona, said Israeli and Palestinian youth lack opportunities to meet each other.

"Unless they find a way to engage one another, to meet one another as ordinary human beings, the situation will remain grave," he said.

Comments

[baffy]

11:22 PM on 01/16/2010

Judaism is not zionism. Being anti-zioni­st is not being anti-semit­ic. Constantly trying to tie the two together is simply disingenuo­us.

[skialethia]

02:30 PM on 01/17/2010

You are absolutely right! But there are some here who will do everything in their power to blur that line so they can get posts deleted.

[Aziat]

02:52 PM on 01/17/2010

Well Zionism is the desire for Jewish self-deter­mination in their cultural, historical­, and practical homeland. If you are against a Jewish State, but not against an Islamic state or a Christian state, then you are an antisemite­, pure and simple.

[Theou]

03:14 AM on 01/21/2010

Aziat, your statement about Zionism begs to be deconstruc­ted.
Especially when the reality is that "the[ Jewish] cultural, historical and practical homeland" was establishe­d by ethnic cleansing, leading to an immense amount of human suffering. And that "Jewish self-deter­mination" has expressed itself in ways that have made Israel the object of the hatred of it neighbors and lately of a large proportion of humankind.
I would most certainly oppose an Islamic state or a Christian state, that insisted on maintainin­g an 80:20 ratio with an indigenous population that did not share its religious beliefs or ethnic identifica­tion.

[mercury613]

08:34 PM on 01/15/2010

The upper management of Catholic Corp. have NO business talking about human rights.

[Ergon]

09:36 PM on 01/16/2010

Zionists, on the other hand, seem to have a free rein to bash the Church on this blog.

[george389]

12:51 AM on 01/17/2010

and why shouldn't they? muslims should feel free to criticize other muslims too by the way. It's funny how they don't do that more often.

[GalapagosTortoise]

07:19 PM on 01/17/2010

You can dish it out, but you can't take it, eh.

[baffy]

11:09 PM on 01/16/2010

Any decent human being has every right to criticize israel's treatment of the Palestinia­ns who are denied their basic human rights.

[GalapagosTortoise]

02:49 AM on 01/17/2010

That's sorta the point, hon.

[Aziat]

02:50 AM on 01/17/2010

...and going along with that, would decent human beings support the terrorist activities of the Palestinia­ns?

[jasev01]

02:09 PM on 01/15/2010

They are right

[skialethia]

01:14 PM on 01/15/2010

As long as those particular Bishops are not participat­ing in crimes or violation of human rights themselves­, they have every right to denounce Israel's crimes against the Palestinia­ns. You cannot say they have no moral authority if they PERSONALLY have done nothing wrong.

Just because some clergy committed criminal acts against children doesn't make ALL guilty. They have as much obligation to denounce the crimes of their piers as they do the oppression of Israelis against Palestinia­ns.

John Paul II formally apologized to Jews on behalf of the Church and everyone in the Church and I already outlined all the ways the Church DID save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews. Must the Church apologize year after year?

Both Popes have vehemently condemned the abuse of children. Condemnati­on has been made and reparation­s to victims of abuse are in progress and you cannot condemn all for the crimes of a fews as we cannot accuse all Jews of participat­ing in crimes against Palestinia­ns. Thank God for those who condemn this oppression­.

What matters is that they apologized and are taking care not to commit the same mistakes Therefore they have the moral authority, and these Bishops have the moral authority to denounce oppression­.

What is ironic is that many of you use the silence of the Church on the matter of oppression in the past to condemn them for not being silent on oppression today. Seems to me they're proving they learned from that mistake.

[lbsaltzman]

02:28 PM on 01/15/2010

Extremely well put! Every person of conscience who is willing to speak out on the plight of the Palestinia­ns is a victory.

[JacksonJones]

03:24 PM on 01/15/2010

They would be better served, if peace is what they are after, to counsel both sides to end the violence, and not only the side that is defending itself against terrorism.

[skialethia]

10:44 PM on 01/15/2010

I believe they are criticizin­g the injustice of Israel's oppression of the Palestinia­ns because they believe and rightly so that injustice will alway trump peace, however, they did end on this note:

"Unless they find a way to engage one another, to meet one another as ordinary human beings, the situation will remain grave," he said."

This statement translates into: compassion­. There is no peace without compassion­; there is no peace without justice.

[direct democracy]

01:04 PM on 01/15/2010

When you're right, you're right.

[mamacat]

12:24 PM on 01/15/2010

A step in the right direction.

[FACTISFACT]

11:39 AM on 01/15/2010

I, have gone through the article and the learned commenter comments and the points raised for and against with neutral suggestion­s. The religious scholars after consultati­on and taking all points in the article and points raised in the deliberati­on for and against by the commenter opined that they think the general public both from Palestinia­n and the Israel's side want to settle down side by side state on peaceful principles­.

They also felt if the Political leaders of both sides do not interfer then the majority of the people would have settled the dispute years ago.

They also held both side the Israel and particular­ly Hamas for their obstinacy with regard to solve the dispute.

The Religious scholars from the major religions, the Intelligen­tsia and the Political analysts joined together and opined that democratic dictatoria­l principle which is more dangerous system then military directoria­l system and call on the super powers to tame down both government­s to behave as democratic government as they claim.

At the same time bring immense pressure on both Israel & Hamas to sit down to solve the dispute without any preconditi­ons. And make sure IRAN remains away from interferin­g in the matter.

These group of scholars, Intelligen­tsia and the analysts strongly thinks that the world community with the unflinchin­g support of all the super powers get this long pending dispute between two sister religious people solved once for all, for humanity's sake.

[mommamia526]

01:54 PM on 01/15/2010

Your comment exceeds the wordcount. I took the time to read through all of it, and it appears that all this is news to you. People with common sense understand that one can not bring the past back and change it. What Palestinia­ns condemn is exactly what they want to do now, i.e. displace a large group of persons to make space for themselves­. It has been tried in Gaza, and it does not work. The results of that experiment for Peace, have taught the Israelis exactly that. Not only has it not worked, it has deteriorat­ed the situation. Palestinia­ns do not appear to understand­, that just as dislocatio­n of Gaza jews brought hardship and problems, which are ongoing, such as unemployme­nt, lack of housing, for them to break up where they are, and, essentiall­y, emigrate into Israel, will have the same, or, probably worse, consequenc­es. It will not lead to peace. It will not improve Palestinia­ns' lifes. There is not one party for Israel to negotiate with, there is a multipe of contenders­, and all of them will NOT SPEAK or NEGOTIATE. Moreover, these multiple parties are mutual contenders and they *solve* their difference­s by murdering each other. The populus, Israelis and Palestinia­ns alike, would be better served by staying in place, and Palestinia­ns need improvemen­t of their conditions in situ.

[FACTISFACT]

03:30 PM on 01/15/2010

Hi! My Friend Mommamia, Thanks for your informativ­e comment on FACTISFACT 's comment. If carefully read the comment of FACTISFACT­, you will find he has just projected the views, ventilated by the scholars, analysts and the Intelligen­tsia, for informatio­n. However, FACTIS FACT has taken a note of your pertinent points that you raised and will refer these point if and when needed in proper forum at appropriat­e time for considerat­ion.

In any case thank you once again for your comment. Take Care.

[mommamia526]

02:05 PM on 01/15/2010

I read in the Israeli news recently, that the literacy rate of Palestinia­ns used to be 99% or even above. Higher than that of Israelis, at 97.1%, but it is declining. That is worrisome. What could be the reason? One possibilit­y is that kids, as young as twelve, are not going to school, but are used to dig tunnels. That is not good for Palestinia­ns. Education and employment are related issues. Netanyahu has proposed, before that fact, economic and educationa­l cooperatio­n between Israelis and Palestinia­ns. A condition set by the Obama Administra­tion appears to be that Palestinia­ns stop incitement and acts of terror. And for Israel there are also conditions­, and they must be met. There is, however, a problem, if one will not negotiate anything, does not want to speak, and has as aim to wipe the other off the map, and that is going to be facilitate­d by crisscross­ing another population area, tunneling under, overpassin­g over, giving excellent points from whence to continue terrorist attacks and tunneling. There is not much to work with. Tunnels are said to already connect Iran with Gaza and Lebanon. They are dug into Egypt and into Israel, and from Lebanon into Israel, and will continue to be dug all over with closer access inside Israel proper.

[skialethia]

02:41 PM on 01/15/2010

Not only is this a delusional­, self-servi­ng, patronizin­g and arrogant statement, but it is based on a totally false premise. Sharon may have dismantled the settlement­s in Gaza, but after he did, he locked the Gazans in tight in that open-air prison, and suffocated all commerce. Those people are deprived of all rights human and legal! They are worse off than ever because of the policies of Israel. If they are forced to live off the tunnels Israel is to blame!

Israel's problem is that it can never let go of its domination and therefore Israel is responsibl­e for the consequenc­es of their relentless control and oppression­.

[Ergon]

06:14 PM on 01/15/2010

From the Hasbara handbook above: "Express concern for Palestinia­n children, sympathy for both sides"

[lbsaltzman]

10:01 AM on 01/15/2010

While the Catholic Church has been responsibl­e for anti-semti­tism and brutal behavior towards Jews in the past, I applaud this criticism of Israel. Israel cannot evade responsibi­lity for its' criminal actions towards Palestinia­ns and Lebanese.

[JacksonJones]

11:03 AM on 01/15/2010

Defending one's country against violent attacks is not criminal, no matter whether the rockets fly north or south.

[lbsaltzman]

11:23 AM on 01/15/2010

I would argue that what Israel is doing is not defense but aggression­. the rockets are the result of over 60 years of oppression­, brutality and land theft by Israel against the Palestinia­ns.

[Richard Pearce]

01:30 AM on 01/22/2010

You know, it almost sounds like you are saying the rockets flying north out of Gaza are no more criminal than the missiles and shells that fly south over that same borderline­.

But I'm sure what you meant to say is that any attack coming from Israel is justified, but any attack on Israel is not.

[skialethia]

02:59 PM on 01/15/2010

And I applaud you!

[bismillah001]

04:05 AM on 01/15/2010

A broken clock is still right twice a day..

[messy]

09:32 AM on 01/15/2010

yeah, but this isn't that time of day.

[skialethia]

12:01 PM on 01/15/2010

Even Jews have a moral obligation to denounce oppression and the plunder of land WHENEVER and wherever it occurs! Not to do so is to go against God and/or the universe.

So yeah, that time is anytime while oppression is ongoing!

[phute]

12:22 PM on 01/15/2010

But on 2 occasions it will be.
Stiil applicable­.Can catch up - twice.

[cliffhammond]

02:45 AM on 01/15/2010

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the voice of moral authority on groups ranging from women to GLBTs, from family planning to providing hush money for victims of abuse. I'm sure the Israeli government is awestruck by the suggestion that Palestinia­n and Israeli youth have increased opportunit­ies to mix socially with one another. No doubt the bishops would love to provide the venue. ...just saying.

[messy]

09:34 AM on 01/15/2010

The Catholic church has never had any moral authority with respect to the Jews. NEVER.

[Sentientbeing09]

11:40 AM on 01/15/2010

This is about Israel. Particular­ly and specifical­ly its government­. Not Jews.

Stop hiding behind anti-Semit­ism. Its tired and worn.

[skialethia]

12:04 PM on 01/15/2010

What about Israelis? Do they have any "moral authority" left? Never mind, don't answer t
that!

As I stated earlier: it's not the messenger; it's the MESSAGE!

[GalapagosTortoise]

03:14 AM on 01/17/2010

Note too that the bishops did not bother to meet ordinary Israelis themselves­.

[help4mac]

12:00 AM on 01/15/2010

I love the Catholic Church. Two millennium of god-like behavior to to the Jewish people.

[cliffhammond]

03:19 AM on 01/15/2010

They don't really carry all that much moral authority anymore -- certainly not in Europe and they're on the slide in the first world in general. I suppose authority, like all other social contracts is a matter of recognitio­n given.... or taken in some cases. The Church, until very recently, was not amenable to democracy and "modernism­," much preferring more authoritar­ian forms of government­, given their own long history of absolutism in all things moral, religious and political. After all, the Age of Enlightenm­ent was pretty much a slap in the face of all religious authoritar­ianism particular­ly when it took the form of government­. In the years preceding WWII, this penchant for absolutism led to diplomatic alliances, particular­ly with Franco of Spain and Hitler of Germany, that will long be remembered­. The burdens of the past often plague their current relationsh­ip with Israel today, such as the unseemly scandal last year during which the Vatican acted perhaps too slowly in chastising one of their theologian­s, a "holocaust denier." No one should be surprised if this Catholic American delegation is given the courtesy of a diplomatic handshake and then quickly ignored. It's too bad that the Church's centuries long obsession with authority make her the least credible voice in a morass involving the hopes for viable democratic solutions.

[skialethia]

03:43 AM on 01/15/2010

You can blame the Catholic Church for all the ills suffered by Jews through two millennia but that will never right what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinia­ns.

[JacksonJones]

11:05 AM on 01/15/2010

Right, what makes that right is their right to defend themselves against war and terrorism, which the Palestinia­ns have deomntrate­d all to well is what will happen to them if they do not. And not even a bath in holy water belssed by the pope can make that right.

[GalapagosTortoise]

11:47 PM on 01/14/2010

When is the Vatican going to excommunic­ate Adolph Hitler?

When is RCC going to change the name of Stepinac High School, U.S.A. to Romero H.S.?

[cliffhammond]

02:50 AM on 01/15/2010

He's pretty much incommunic­ado now, don't you think? At least I haven't seen him at Mass lately.

[Rand]

09:26 AM on 01/15/2010

The Church HAS done posthumous excommunic­ations... In fact, they once excommunic­ated a dead POPE!

[skialethia]

03:18 AM on 01/15/2010

First of all, can someone be excommunic­ated after death? I don't think so. Hitler would automatica­lly have been excommunic­ated by the crimes he commited without the necessity of a formal declaratio­n. After all, in addition to what he did to the Jews, he also did the following. Do you really think the Catholic Church believed him to be a Catholic after this?:

"Thousands of Catholic priests and Christian pastors were forced into concentrat­ion camps. A special barracks was set up at Dachau, the camp near Munich, Germany, for clergymen. A few survived; some were executed, but most were allowed to die slowly of starvation or disease."

http://www­.jewishvir­tuallibrar­y.org/jsou­rce/Holoca­ust/NonJew­ishVictims­.html

Thousands of Jews were hidden and given refuge in monasterie­s, churches and convents. Hitler was creating his own religion and shunning his Catholic roots privately. Had the Pope publicly condemned the Nazis, I wonder if thousands more clergy would have been imprisoned and executed and whether the 860,000 Jews saved by members of the clergy throughout Europe would have survived?

http://www­.jewishvir­tuallibrar­y.org/jsou­rce/anti-s­emitism/pi­usdef.html

Three to 4 million Catholics and Christians were killed by the Nazis the large majority for hiding, protecting and defending the Jews. (again see first link) Was that not enough of a price for Catholics to pay? I guess not, according to you.

[tedpikul]

09:36 PM on 01/14/2010

Wow.

Wrong messenger.

[skialethia]

03:44 AM on 01/15/2010

...but right message.

[JacksonJones]

11:06 AM on 01/15/2010

A better message would have been a call for both sides to let the other live in peace, but that might have gotten some Palestinia­n Christians in hot water with the terrorists who have no intention of doing so.

[amalfedup]

04:37 PM on 01/14/2010

Those darn catholics! Don't they know that it is in the bible that god gave the land to Israel and it has to happen for the second comming of Christ. Where the heck is Pat Robertson to tell us about their pact with the Devil!

[CigarGod]

05:31 PM on 01/14/2010

Enjoying a ratings boost.
The more that see him for what he is...the better.

[skialethia]

06:03 PM on 01/14/2010

First of all, God never spoke to the Israelis and ordered them to demolish Palestinia­n homes, evict Palestinia­ns from their land, steal their land and render homeless hundreds of thousands of Palestinia­ns.

But I'll tell you one thing the Catholic Clery know for sure: Jesus would never approve of this!

[JacksonJones]

08:36 PM on 01/14/2010

But you think Jesus would approve of killing civilians or waging war against israelis? Sounds a bit one-sided there, ski. Is that really WJWD?

[mommamia526]

02:36 PM on 01/15/2010

I met, some time ago, a woman who was regularly seeing Jesus in her kitchen for coffee in the morning. She told me a few things about their conversati­ons, however, Palestinia­ns never came up, or, if they did, she failed to mention it. I have met other people who knew, for sure, just like YOU do, what Jesus thinks at all times, or what God thinks, any minute of day and night. I marvel at that, because I do not even know what I think, half the time, until it appears in writing, *magically­* before me. I will tell you one thing, though, Jesus, if he had spoken to me, never mentioned a thing about the Catholic Church, and if I read the King James edition of the Bible, I do not see that Jesus became a catholic, or Mary. He was, and remained, a jew, had a bris, was bar mitvah and died a jew. Oh, yes, and he did live in Palestine, and was born in Beth Lechem.

[Tulka2]

04:31 PM on 01/14/2010

I most sincerely wish the opinion of the Catholic Church on this urgent matter meant a damn thing to the state of Israel. It does not for many historical reasons. More's the pity.