A Real Judgment

Christians in the Holy Land, called to play a decisive role toward forgiveness and peace. Education is the first emergency. An appeal to help 240 artisans’ families in Bethlehem. Dramatic testimony from the Secretary of the Maronite Patriarchate of Jerusalem

EDITED BY PAOLA RONCONI

He speaks Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, English, and French fluently. He knows Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. Few are his equal as a guide to the Holy Land. Sobhy Makoul is a Maronite (Catholic) deacon, Secretary of the Maronite Patriarchate of Jerusalem. We talked with him about the current situation of Christians in the Holy Land, for the most part Arab Palestinians. Our friend has a very clear idea and immediately gets excited: “We Christians have to take a stand.”

For the Franciscans, what does it mean today to be custodians of the holy places?
The Franciscans are great workers and custodians. Without their presence, we would not have even one holy place today. They have safeguarded and maintained the places that are most dear to Christianity, but along with these, they have done the same thing for Christians, because until 1860, when the Patriarchate of Jerusalem was restored with the diocesan clergy, the Franciscans served the Roman Catholic Christians of the Holy Land.

Now what contribution can they make?
The Church can represent a bridge between Jews and Muslims, because of a simple reason: the Christian, more than the Jew or the Muslim, believes in forgiveness, in the gratuitousness of forgiveness that he has known in the person of Jesus Christ. It is not a question of being pious people, but of a position that creates a new mentality. Therefore, the role of Arab Palestinian Christians is not to call for fighting with weapons, not to encourage kamikaze acts. Giving a real judgment is born out of our convictions and moral values as Christians.

The Pope continues to appeal for peace in Palestine…
Yes, the Holy Father is personally very close to our situation, but what is needed is a correspondence in the Church of the Holy Land, to welcome and announce this appeal with great charity and sincerity, without fear.
This does not mean that the Church has to take a position in favor of the policy of the Israeli government: being against acts of terrorism does not mean accepting violence perpetrated by the State. We have to be very clear in saying that violence leads only to violence. Then, the role of the Christian is to witness with his life the value of forgiveness in order to create an environment of tolerance. To have peace, there must be justice, to have justice, there is a need for forgiveness, and those who can testify to this are precisely the Christians of the Holy Land.
The other problem is accepting others as they are. It is the duty of both sides to accept each other reciprocally. The Jews must accept that there is a Palestinian people with its history and tradition, with the right to exist in a state. No biblical, nationalistic, or security reason or justification can deny the Palestinians this right. As long as there is one Palestinian child alive there will always be someone to claim this right. On the other hand, the Palestinians do not have the right to deny the existence of the Israeli state. The Jews as well have the right to their own fatherland after 1,870 years of Diaspora, since 70 AD. Since that date, they did not return to Israel as a people until 1948.

After September 11th, many people thought that when a war takes on the connotations of “holiness” it expands its destructive power limitlessly.
No. When man monopolizes God, then he destroys everything. To put it clearly, a part of the Palestinian extremists, but also the Jewish extremists, use the name of God as an instrument. They say: “We are doing a jihad, a holy war, we die for God’s cause,” but where is God’s cause in the killing of Jews? The Jewish extremists justify the fact of perpetrating injustice against the Palestinians to occupy their land, even the little that is left to them, the 1967 territories.
As a Christian, I do not believe in this martyrdom. A kamikaze chooses death not for God’s cause, but in order to kill others. What sense is there in a martyrdom that has as its consequence killing dozens of people? We have to rethink the entire meaning of the word martyrdom.

There is another important aspect that Christians care deeply about: education. The children on both sides, in this as in any war, who grow up in a climate of violence, cannot help learning that this is the only way to deal with reality. We have to stop this vicious circle.
Certainly. The educational role of Christians is important especially in the Palestinian environment. In many of our Catholic private schools there are a large number of Muslims. And the task is that of educating them to peace. But certainly, a raising of consciousness is necessary on the part of those in charge. And the task of Christians is to feel this responsibility in what they are living. Before being liberated from occupation, we have to be liberated from within by Him who freed us from slavery with His resurrection. A change of mentality is necessary. What this will be like and when it will happen, God only knows, as we say, don’t we? We do what we can, ie, all the rest.