September 27, 2011
My dear Friends,
I am glad for this chance to share thoughts with the Pilgrims of Ibillin. It is not a luxury to write to you; we feel it is a real need to keep in touch with everybody to express our sincerest appreciation and our determination to go ahead with our dream of creating better relations among ourselves and between ourselves and the Jews.
For long we have stopped thinking that we in the Holy Land are condemned to live together, despite all the suffering, the disappointments and the disillusionment. Instead, we opt for a new approach: we are not condemned to live together, we are rather privileged to live together, to accept each other and to become a sign of hope for our local people, for the Middle East and for all those thousands who visit the Holy Places.
Despite what appears on the political news we remain hopeful and are encouraged to see more and more officials on the Palestinian side seeking the implementation of their ancestors' rights, without any denial of any similar rights on the Jewish side. Charity and peace can start only when there is a genuine mutual recognition of each other.
You have been extremely important with your solidarity to encourage us all, teachers and students, to persevere in our search for God in the face of our neighbors. The present difficult time of the stiffening of positions shows a real, deep fear that was planted and nurtured over the last 63 years since the creation of the State of Israel.
I call on you, dear brothers and sisters, to continue believing that you personally can make a difference for the better, not only through giving money, but more important than money is your prayer and solidarity. Money is extremely important to develop the schools and to bring children from different affiliations to come together to be helped to write together their common future. We ask you, please, not to deprive us from either of them.
Some of you have asked where things stand regarding the money for back teacher salaries owed to us by the Ministry of Education. We still do not have the final verdict from the Israeli Court. We have been waiting for over two months and our legal advisor assures me that the verdict is imminent, it is a matter of days. We will share the good news as soon as we have it.
I am sorry to give you, however, additional bad news: our Israeli Ministry of Education made another cut in the meager subsidy to the Christian schools so we will receive 20% less than last year. We will have either to manage through raising the fees that the parents pay or simply close schools. We will be informing you of any further developments.
Yours with warm affection and very heartfelt gratitude,
Melkite Catholic Archbishop of Galilee
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