Patriarch Michel Sabbah: Palestinians are crying for justice. How long can Christians ignore them?
[The following article is written by His Beatitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the Latin Catholic Patriarch emeritus of Jerusalem. It is entitled, “Palestinians are crying for justice. How long can Christians ignore them?” and appears in America: The Jesuit Review online magazine.]
Israel’s military occupation of Palestine continues in its 53rd year. In particular, Palestinians in Gaza are suffering under a callous siege. The U.S. administration has withdrawn aid for Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem and for the United Nations’ humanitarian work in the occupied Palestinian territory.
President Trump’s so-called peace proposal is little more than a justification for the occupation and a false promise of prosperity to Palestinians at the cost of their freedom and independence. In spite of promises to the contrary in recent peace deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Israel’s annexation of Palestinian land and resources continues with the recent approval of 3,000 new settlement homes in the West Bank.
Palestinian Christians join the Hebrew prophet Habakkuk in his cry for justice:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?