Jerusalem patriarch says Israelis, Palestinians must build life

Published: 2005-12-22

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Israeli and Palestinian political leaders must be "builders of life, not death," Latin-rite Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem said in his Christmas message. "Understand, after such a long time of demolition, death and fighting, that these ways could not and will never produce but more demolition, death and fighting," he said in his message, delivered to journalists Dec. 21. Injustices such as the Israeli separation barrier, imprisonments and assassinations only "add fuel for violence," he said. "When injustice -- the cause of violence -- ceases, violence will stop and security will reign. We hope that we can begin a new period in which all violence will stop on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian alike," the patriarch said. "Half-measures, half-liberty and half-sovereignty lead nowhere except to fall again in an interminable cycle of violence and insecurity."

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