Latin patriarch repeats calls for peace, Palestinian independence

Published: 2007-12-26

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNS) -- Believing in the possibility of peace is essential, said Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem. "But to do that, we must surpass ourselves and look at the other person through the eyes of God in order to receive justice for ourselves and for the others," said Patriarch Sabbah in his Christmas homily at the midnight Mass at St. Catherine's Church adjacent to the Church of the Nativity. As is customary, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Muslim, also attended the Mass after praying in the afternoon at a Bethlehem mosque. The patriarch repeated his call for respect of the "international vocation" of the land and called for Palestinian independence. "Any exclusivism that pushes the other party aside or imposes occupation or any other type of submission on it is not in keeping with the vocation of this land," he said. "The land of God cannot be for some a land of life and for others a land of death, exclusion, occupation or political imprisonment."

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