Patriarch Sabbah calls on Israelis, Palestinians to seek peace

Published: 2004-04-12

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem called on Palestinians and Israelis to seek peace by passing "from their current state of death to a new life." In his Easter homily, he said the new life must be "embedded in mutual trust and reciprocal respect for others' dignity, land and independence." "No one has the right to live at the expense of others' lives or on the land of others," he said April 11 in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site where tradition holds that Jesus was buried. Patriarch Sabbah said that despite the region's violence and instability it was not a time for "despair or blind hatred"; rather, it was a time to "overcome evil with goodness." He said the evil in the Holy Land was manifested in the "continuous bloodshed."

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