By Thea Jarvis

Father Elias Chacour speaks his message of peace for the Middle East in the ringing tones of an Old Testament prophet.

Solving conflict between the people of the Galilee, he says, is as simple – and as challenging – as recognizing the unity of Jews, Christians and Muslims, who are brothers and sisters of one Father.

“There is no Holy land, no holy place. Only holy people, holy children of God,” Father Chacour said in a talk at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church October 9.

“We need to stop this insanity of believing we can posses the land and that the land belongs to us. We, rather, belong to the land.”

The Melkite Catholic priest and internationally regarded peace advocate was in Atlanta encouraging interdenominational audiences to recognize that Jews and Palestinians are sprung from the same roots and entitled to share their homeland together in peace.

Americans, said Father Chacour, contribute to the conflict by pouring weapons and money into an unstable, already volatile situation.

He appealed to his listeners to “stop concluding that to be a friend of the Jews means to be the enemy of the Palestinians.”

“I want you to be on my side but not become on-sided against the Jews,” he cautioned.

Father Chacour’s diverse accomplishments include organizing summer camps for children of varying religious backgrounds and establishing schools and community centers in the occupied territories. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times and is the author of We Belong to the Land and Blood Brothers.

Born to a Palestinian Christian family, he was ordained in 1965 and was the first Palestinian to earn a degree from Hebrew University, where he pursued advanced study in the Talmud and Bible.

“I am a priest of Jesus Christ,” he told listeners at Immaculate Heart. “That’s why I decided to speak out boldly, risking much, even sometimes my life” to ask for justice for the Palestinian people.

The chasm that has developed between Jews and Palestinians did not emerge from traditional rivalries, Father Chacour explained, since for generations Jews and Palestinians shared the same soil in harmony. The Second World War and the attempted genocide of Jews was not perpetrated by Palestinians.

“Jewish persecution happened in Europe, not Palestine,” he emphasized.

But, after the war and the eventual creation of the State of Israel, Palestinians began their Via Dolorosa, their way of suffering,” Father Chacour said. “They began to be the Jews for the Jews and a scapegoat for the whole surrounding Arab world.”

Over 400 Arab villages were destroyed, he said, and over 200,000 Palestinians left their homeland. Father Chacour, who was eight years old when the post-war partitioning occurred, remained, and has been a witness to and victim of the resulting chaos.

“Human beings are born for freedom, not for slavery; for equality, not for occupation,” he said. Jewish occupation has meant that Palestinians have become refugees in their own land.

“Palestinians are paying the bill for what others have done to my beloved Jewish brothers and sisters,” he said sadly.

Although the Jewish-Palestinian issue has become badly polarized, Father Chacour encouraged his audience to work for justice.

“Don’t sit in the church and contemplate peace. It will never happen,” he admonished. “Get your hands dirty!”

He asked for friendship and expanded awareness from the American people, not money and weapons.

“The crime of humanity” is to generalize, he said, turning all Arabs into terrorist and enemies of the Jewish people and the West.

“Arabs have never hated Jews,” he said. “We not only don’t want the Jews to be killed, we want them to be prosperous.”

The gathering of about 50 people at Immaculate Heart followed Father Chacour’s participation in a Sabbath eve service at The Temple in Atlanta October 4. There he shared in traditional readings and blessings with Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, the Temple’s senior rabbi, and Dr. George Wirth, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta.

During the service, Father Chacour spoke on ways of bringing Christians, Jews and Muslims together.

“As always, his message was one of peace, friendship, understanding,” said Rabbi Sugarman. “He clearly recognizes that there is a God in heaven and one human family here on earth.”

Rabbi Sugarman said the service was “deeply meaningful” to the estimated 600 people of all faiths who attended.

Father Chacour had been to the Temple seven years ago for a similar service. This year, he invited Rabbi Sugarman to preach at his 9,000-member church in Nazareth, an offer the rabbi plans to accept.

Following the service, Father Chacour greeted Temple members and visitors at an Oneg Shabat, Sabbath Delight, an informal reception. The evening had no hint of the acrimony that recently surfaced in pre-Mideast peace conference talk between the U.S. and Israel.

“I’m hoping it’s posturing,” Rabbi Sugarman said, and that significant movement toward peace is going on beneath media dialogue.

His own desire for peace in the Middle East remains strong as the conference draws closer to reality.

“Any time two human beings interact with each other there’s a chance for progress,” he said, emphasizing that such a process must be a two-sided affair to be meaningful.