By Munir K. Nasser
Chief Correspondent, Washington, DC
Albawaba.com
The United States National Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops is expected this week to collectively endorse a document calling for an "internationally recognized Palestinian state.”
The document, titled "Returning to the Path of Peace in the Middle East," was distributed to the Catholic Bishops at their conference in Washington on Monday. They are expected to adopt it later this week and it will be their first response to the Palestinian Intifada.
Cardinal Bernard Law, chairman of the international policy committee, which drew up the proposal, said that a "just peace" in the Middle East must include the establishment of a Palestinian state. "Clearly, there will be no genuine peace for Israel without justice for the Palestinian people, nor will there be genuine justice for the Palestinian people without peace for Israel," he stressed.
The document also calls on the US to work "tirelessly" to revive the Middle East peace process and that the effort lead to an " acceptance of Israel's right to exist and flourish within secure borders" and stability for Lebanon without Syria's domination.”
The document describes the peace process as "the only realistic way forward;" it also deplores anti-Semitic acts and attacks on religious sites, and voices concern that the region's Christian minority "will be further reduced and marginalized" if the conflict continues.
Analysts have observed that the bishops have used the word "state" in relation to the political future of the Palestinians. But according to Cardinal Law, the bishops’ position on the statehood question was stated previously. He referred to a 1989 statement by the bishops that called for "an independent Palestinian homeland with sovereign status recognized by Israel."
Cardinal Law, who is also archbishop of Boston, said religious leaders have a special obligation to work unceasingly for peace. He said the bishops could not meet this week without addressing the crisis in the Middle East.
Law also called for unspecified steps to shore up the population of Christians in Israel and the Palestinian territories, which he said was dwindling. He stressed that "Muslims, Jews and Christians, Palestinians and Israelis cannot separate themselves into walled enclaves, they must find ways to live together."
The Bishops’ statement coincided with the position articulated Monday by the Palestinian Christian clergymen at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Qatar. Speaking at a news conference after the Summit, Roman Catholic Bishop for Palestine Lutfi Laham said Palestinian Christians have come to assert their national unity as an inseparable part of their nation and their land in which they have shared with Muslims for more than a 1,000 years.
Theodosios Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem stressed that peace in the Middle East could only be achieved when a Palestinian state is formed with Jerusalem as its capital. “We do not accept an international status for Jerusalem as this would mean giving up our Arab right to the city. Occupied East Jerusalem is a Palestinian Arab city and is the capital of a Palestinian sovereign state.”
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