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Holy Land ________________
Tension still surrounds mosque project
Committee decision overdue
The Israeli government decision to halt construction of a mosque on a site adjacent to the Basilica of the Annunciation has left the local Catholic bishop pleased, but still concerned about the ultimate outcome of the controversy.
Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, a Jerusalem auxiliary whose responsibilities include the town of Nazareth—the most heavily Arabic town in Israel proper—told the Roman news agency I Media that the Israeli government’s move was “a positive decision, which we welcomed with relief.” It was, he said, the first indication that the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “has taken into account the concerns of the Christian community and the unique importance that Nazareth has for both the local Church and the universal Church.”
However, Bishop Marcuzzo pointed out that the Israeli government would now set up a commission to seek a solution to the controversy that has been brewing in Nazareth since 1999, and the outcome of that commission’s work remains uncertain. “It is still too soon to say whether or not this decision will put an end to the controversy,” he concluded.
The bishop stressed that the dispute over the building of a mosque had been fueled by extremist Muslim groups, representing only a small minority of the local Islamic community. And he added that the relationship between most Christians and Muslims in Nazareth remains close and friendly. “This is a purely political gambit,” he said.
The government committee was scheduled to announce a decision on the final disposition of the mosque construction project by January 23. But three weeks beyond that date, no decision had been issued, and the tensions in Nazareth were growing more acute.
Religious leaders unite for peace
Wide backing for “Alexandria Declaration”
Despite the focus on gun attacks, suicide bombs, assassinations, and reprisal
raids in the Holy Land, the last week of January was also marked by positive
developments. One of them took place outside Israeli borders; the other involved
outside figures. Both represented increased interventions for peace on the part
of religious leaders.
The first event occurred in Alexandria. On January 20-21, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey, the spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, presided over a conference that brought together Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders in the Egyptian port city. Their 7-point statement, the “First Alexandria Declaration of the Religious Leaders of the Holy Land,” represents the most intense engagement to date by leaders of the three monotheistic faiths.
The second event is likely to have less influence on the peace process. But it was important for showing local Christians that they have the support of their co-religionists around the globe. From January 21-24, the spiritual leader of the Holy Land’s Catholics, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, hosted ten Catholic bishops from Europe and North America in Jerusalem. They met Palestinian and Israeli politicians (including Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israel’s former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin), clergymen, diplomats, peace activists, and ordinary residents.
Although both events were pre-arranged, their timing was appropriate. The return to violence by the militant Palestinian organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Israeli seizure of an arms consignment in which Arafat aides have been implicated, the Israeli assassinations of Hamas activists, and the strikes on Palestinian towns, not only ensured that the meetings took place amid heightened tension, but also underlined their importance. At the same time as the Pope was leading prayers for peace and religious dialogue in Assisi, the American and European bishops were urging Israeli and Palestinian politicians to break the cycle of violence in the Holy Land.
The Alexandria conference was Archbishop Carey’s second visit to the region in six months. Acting as co-chairman of the meeting—along with the Grand Imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Mohammed Sayid Tantawi—he united five Christian, four Muslim, and six Jewish leaders in the Montazah Palace. The Christian representatives were a broad cross-section of denominations, emblematic of recent ecumenical progress. Along with the Latin Patriarch, they included delegates from the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Patriarchates and the Anglican and Melkite Catholic bishops.
The Muslim and Jewish representations were also eclectic. Ariel Sharon’s deputy foreign minister Rabbi Michael Melchior and Chief Sephardic Rabbi Eliahu Bakshi-Doron joined, among others, Rabbi Menachem Froman. The latter’s presence was particularly significant, because he lives in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. The settlers are traditionally opposed to concessions, and are considered by many Palestinians to be a major stumbling block to peace. But Rabbi Froman is more conciliatory than most of his neighbors: he has held peace discussions with Yasser Arafat and Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, and has publicly stated that he would be happy to live under the Palestinian Authority. The most notable absence was the Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, widely seen as Israel’s most influential religious leader.
The Muslim delegation comprised supporters of Arafat, including the Chief Justice of the Sharia courts and Sheikh Tal al-Sidr, a minister of state for the Palestinian Authority. But it did not include the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the most influential Palestinian Muslim leader and a public supporter of suicide bombers.
Despite these significant absences, the conference was supported by Arafat, Sharon, Israeli president Moshe Katsav, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Archbishop Carey himself insisted that the event should have a positive effect: “I hope,” he said, “this conference and the declaration the religious leaders have concluded may become a landmark in the quest for peace and harmony. I hope too it will come to be seen as an historic moment for the cooperation of our three faiths in the region.”
The opening words of the declaration manifest the common heritage of those faiths: the signatories invoked “God who is Almighty, Merciful, and Compassionate” before acknowledging that “The Holy Land is Holy to all three of our faiths” and calling for respect to the “sanctity and integrity of the Holy Places.” They also called on Palestinians and Israelis to “live in the same land,” and pledged themselves to “continue a joint quest for a just peace that leads to reconciliation in Jerusalem and the Holy Land.” They did not, however, comment on specific issues, such as the return of refugees, the legal status of settlements, or Jerusalem’s most hotly contested religious site: the Haram ash-Sharif or Temple Mount.
Although Sheikh Tantawi did not sign the declaration, his presence at the conference was significant. In 1997, when he met Rabbi Lau at Al-Azhar, he was widely condemned in Egypt, and even had a lawsuit filed against him on the grounds of religious violation. But as the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, he represents the most influential arena of mainstream Sunni Muslim thought. His implicit support for a declaration that condemned “incitement and demonization” as well as “bloodshed” represents a concerted effort by a major Muslim figure to convey a more peaceful message of Islam than a loud minority of his co-religionists have recently expressed. Tantawi, considered a moderate in Egypt, counts the Coptic Pope Shenouda III, Egypt’s most senior Christian figure, among his friends.
However, Archbishop Carey is under no illusions about the conference: “No declaration”, he conceded, “can act as a magic wand—a panacea for all the ills and injustices, the savagery and inhumanity that have scarred and continue to scar the Holy Land. We are not so naïve. But it is our duty and our desire to do what we can to bring forth good from evil—hope from despair.”
The visit of the bishops to Jerusalem promoted a similar message. Representatives from the US, Canada, England and Wales, Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland, as well as the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe, the Bishops’ Commission for the European Union, and Catholic Relief Services, expressed “the need for reconciliation as the foundation of peace” in a statement to the Holy Land’s Christians. They pledged to promote and participate in “inter-religious encounters,” to “try to improve the public’s understanding of the issues here” and to “encourage pilgrims to resume visiting the Holy Land.” They condemned both Israel’s occupation and “random attacks on innocent people.”