Palestinian diplomat, a Catholic, criticizes Israeli checkpoints

Published: 2006-03-28

CLEVELAND (CNS) -- Some 2 million Palestinians living in the West Bank of the Jordan River are losing millions of hours of work and family time daily because of the existence of hundreds of Israeli-run checkpoints across the territory, said the Palestinian representative to the United States. Afif Safieh, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization mission to the United States in Washington, said the lost time comes at the 450 checkpoints the Israeli government has established to control the movement of all Palestinians, Christians and Muslims alike. "It's an arbitrary system, where the indigenous population of the country is made to feel unwelcome every moment of every day," Safieh said in an interview with the Catholic Universe Bulletin, Cleveland diocesan newspaper. "And our mistake is simply to have existed." A Catholic, Safieh, 55, was in Cleveland in mid-March to urge the local Palestinian community to see their homeland as a "nation in progress" and to support the nation-building effort by sending money home and speaking out about the situation in their homeland.

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