For a copy of the letter from the Municipality of Beit Jala to Pope Francis, please click here:
http://www.al-bushra.org/2013/2013-04-26fromBeitJalaToPope.htm
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Pope and President Peres: Concerns Regarding Current Political and Social Situation in the Middle East
Vatican City, (Zenit.org) | 251 hits
Pope Francis met this morning with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Vatican Apostolic Palace. Shortly after, President Peres met with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, who was accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.
In a communique released by the Holy See, both hoped for a “speedy resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.” The statement also said that with the availability of both sides in the conflict as well as support from the international community, “an agreement may be reached that respects the legitimate aspirations of the two Peoples, thus decisively contributing to the peace and stability of the region.”
The Israeli president and Pope Francis expressed concern and worry for the current situation occurring in Syria, and hoped for a solution that “privileges the logic of reconciliation and dialogue.”
The meeting concluded with both noting the progress that has been made regarding relations between the Holy See and the State of Israel, especially with regards to the Bilateral Working Commission. The Commission, the communique stated,”is preparing an agreement regarding issues of common interest” between the the Vatican and Israel.
Source: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-meets-with-president-shimon-peres-of-israel?utm_campaign=dailyhtml&utm_medium=email&utm_source=dispatch
Israeli and Palestinian leaders must move beyond words and take concrete action on final status issues, Ban tells UN meeting
issues, Ban tells UN meeting
Palestinian children playing in Khallet Zakariya beside the Israeli settlement of Alon Shvut. IRIN/Erica Silverman
“The status quo is unsustainable, both politically and economically,” the Secretary-General said in a message delivered on his behalf by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Carlos Lopes, to the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, which began today in Addis Ababa. “There is an urgent need for a concerted push for peace this year if we are to salvage the two-State solution, he said.
The two-day meeting, organized by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, is on the theme “African solidarity with the Palestinian people for the achievement of its inalienable rights, including the sovereignty and independence of the State of Palestine”.
In is message, the Secretary-General said that the accomplishments of the Palestinian State-building programme and donor funding will be difficult to maintain in the absence of concrete progress on the political track.
Again emphasizing the belief that 2013 would be a critical year for the peace process, he outlined his five priorities: collective international engagement, meaningful negotiations, stability in Gaza, Palestinian reconciliation, and preventing the financial collapse of the Palestinian Authority. “These goals are interdependent and mutually reinforcing,” he said.
“A window of opportunity for renewed international engagement has opened following the visit of President Obama to the region. I am also encouraged by the subsequent visits by Secretary of State John Kerry,” he said.
In his recent meeting with President Obama, Secretary-General Ban reiterated the commitment of the United Nations to support any serious initiative that presents a credible political horizon, including multilaterally, through the diplomatic Quartet and key regional partners. “Now is the time for concerted action,” he said.
He said that the decision by the United States to restore aid to the Palestinians was highly welcome, as was the decision of the Israeli Government to resume the monthly transfers of clearance revenues. “I call on donors, especially those from the region, to accelerate the provision of timely and predictable assistance to stabilize the finances of the Palestinian Authority.”
Meanwhile, he stressed the crucial need to defuse tensions on the ground and to preserve the calm. The Secretary-General was concerned by renewed violence, particularly over the situation of Palestinian prisoners and violations of the November 2012 Gaza ceasefire.
Israel’s decision to close key crossings in Gaza had only exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation, he said, urging the parties to refrain from actions and rhetoric that aggravated tensions and diminished the prospects for negotiations, “which remain the only way towards the two-State solution.”
Recognizing the importance of the prisoners’ issue, he said that prisoner deaths should be promptly investigated by an independent authority. “A solution must be urgently found for the long-term hunger strikers,” he said, adding that administrative detainees should be charged and face trial, or released without delay. Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest and act with restraint, and protests should be kept non-violent.
He said that the United Nations would continue its efforts to solidify the Gaza ceasefire and he condemned the indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza. At the same time, Gaza borders should be fully opened for the legitimate movement of people and goods. That was especially important given the humanitarian situation, he said, with much of Gaza’s population relying on assistance from the UN and its partners, and given the major investments required for Gaza’s water resources and other critical development needs.
“I am deeply troubled by Israel’s continued settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all of which is illegal under international law,” the Secretary-General said, emphasizing that those actions constitute ever-greater impediments to peace and must not be allowed to prejudge the outcome of final status negotiations. At the same time, Israel’s legitimate security concerns must be recognized and addressed, especially on the issue of arms smuggling and rocket fire.
Source: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44785&Cr=middle+east&Cr1=#.UYAIZcqpc98
Peres invites Pope Francis to Israel
Reuters/Reuters - Pope Francis (R) talks with Israeli President Shimon
Peres during a private meeting at the Vatican April 30, 2013.
REUTERS/Ettore Ferrari/Pool
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres invited Pope Francis on Tuesday to visit Israel, at his first meeting with the new pontiff who has appealed for peace in the Middle East.
Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, made an appeal for peace between Israelis and Palestinians in his Easter address last month.
Peres asked Francis "to pray for all of us" and told the pope that he would pray for him during a trip on Wednesday to the central Italian city of Assisi, where he will visit the tomb of St. Francis, whose name Bergoglio adopted when elected pope.
Francis will travel to Rio de Janeiro in July to preside at the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Youth, a gathering of young people from around the world. He is expected to visit his native Argentina in early 2014.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/peres-invites-pope-francis-israel-122635401.html;_ylt=AhzuCj7nN3mfESY2nh2MiJ7Nt.d_;_ylu=X3oDMTVxZWpicTNzBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDQXJ0aWNsZSBNaXhlZCBMaXN0IE5ld3MgZm9yIFlvdSB3aXRoIE1vcmUgTGluawRwa2cDOWI0NDg0ZDUtNjI1Ni0zODVlLTkxZDktMzFjZmNiMzI3NzEwBHBvcwMyBHNlYwNuZXdzX2Zvcl95b3UEdmVyAzc3MjgyNGIwLWIxOTEtMTFlMi1hZGY2LTBhODEzNzRkNWIwMQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTMxdmE1cGxrBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNjZmN2NmODYtMTIxYi0zZWQ5LWIwNGEtZjQyMTA5MDY5YWNjBHBzdGNhdANwb2xpdGljc3x3b3JsZARwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2U-;_ylv=3
ACOHL on the Cremisan Valley issue
JERUSALEM – The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land issued a press release following the verdict last week
favoring the construction of the wall of separation in the Cremisan
Valley. The appeal called for a change in the course of the wall
according to the route of the ‘green line’.
Communiqué :
A few days ago, an Israeli court in Tel Aviv issued its verdict on the Cremisan Valley issue, endorsing the previously decided path of the wall separating the convent of the Salesian Sisters who run a thriving school and at the same time includes the lands of 58 Palestinian families from Beit Jala to the area of the Israeli settlement of Gilo.
We are frustrated by this unjust decision that invokes the need for security of Israel but also the difficulty of changing the route of the already built portion of the wall, which makes us a fait accompli. Note that fait accompli cannot become the source of a new law.
This is why we join all those who work for peace and justice. We ask to change the route of the wall along the “Green Line”. We hope that this will take place in the Supreme Court.
We remind Israeli decision-makers that the expropriation of lands does not serve the cause of peace and does not strengthen the position of the moderates.
With our prayers for peace in the Holy Land, on the basis of mutual respect and international legitimacy,
His Beatitude Fouad Twal
Latin Patriarch of Jérusalem
Président of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land
A few days ago, an Israeli court in Tel Aviv issued its verdict on the Cremisan Valley issue, endorsing the previously decided path of the wall separating the convent of the Salesian Sisters who run a thriving school and at the same time includes the lands of 58 Palestinian families from Beit Jala to the area of the Israeli settlement of Gilo.
We are frustrated by this unjust decision that invokes the need for security of Israel but also the difficulty of changing the route of the already built portion of the wall, which makes us a fait accompli. Note that fait accompli cannot become the source of a new law.
This is why we join all those who work for peace and justice. We ask to change the route of the wall along the “Green Line”. We hope that this will take place in the Supreme Court.
We remind Israeli decision-makers that the expropriation of lands does not serve the cause of peace and does not strengthen the position of the moderates.
With our prayers for peace in the Holy Land, on the basis of mutual respect and international legitimacy,
His Beatitude Fouad Twal
Latin Patriarch of Jérusalem
Président of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land
Monday, April 29, 2013
Palestinian Christians urge pope to oppose wall
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JERUSALEM: Palestinian Christians near Bethlehem on Monday urged Pope Francis
to speak up against an Israeli decision to build its controversial
separation barrier on a route they say would cut off their community.
"We cry to your Holiness with a feeling of despair and urgency in order to keep alive our hope that justice and peace is still possible," said an open letter from the Christians of Beit Jala, a town near the West Bank city of Bethlehem. "The Israeli military occupation that has already started building the 'famous wall' annexing Palestinian land... (is) separating Bethlehem as well as other regions from Jerusalem and our holy places," it said. The letter came as Israel's President Shimon Peres was due to arrive in Italy on a three-day visit during which he would meet Pope Francis. "We respectfully ask you to make use of this meeting to pass a strong message regarding the people of Palestine, and particularly the case of Beit Jala's Cremisan land," it said. The letter added: "We need concrete actions in order to end Israel's impunity so we can live with dignity in our free state... Your holiness, your election brought us hope that things would change. We are still hopeful." An Israeli court ruled last week in favour of constructing the so-called separation barrier through the 170-hectare Cremisan Valley, where many of Beit Jala's Christians work on the land and its vineyards. The barrier's planned route would cut them off from the valley, and would effectively separate it from Jerusalem, which is five kilometres (three miles) away, locals say. The International Court of Justice ruled in 2004 that parts of the barrier were illegal and should be torn down. In the Cremisan area, the route of the barrier deviates sharply from the Green Line, the internationally-accepted line marking the divide between Israel and the territories it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. But Israel's defence ministry insists it protects Israelis and that the route is determined by "specific security considerations" of the area. "Building the Wall in the Bethlehem area it's not only a violation of international law... it is also an attack against Palestinian social fabric and Palestinian Christian presence," said Nabil Shaath, a member of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party. "Separating Bethlehem from Jerusalem for the first time in history, stripping Palestinians, mainly Christians, from their land in order to build and expand Israeli colonial settlements, walls and checkpoints is a cruel crime that further closes the chances for peace," he said. Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Apr-29/215448-palestinian-christians-urge-pope-to-oppose-wall.ashx#axzz2RmW74mY5 |
Aleppo Spokesman: No News on Syrian Archbishops
Fears Grow for Their Safety Now a Week After Kidnapping
London, (Zenit.org)
A spokesman for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo says there is still no news about the two Syrian archbishops kidnapped a week ago, on April 22.
"We still do not know where the two archbishops are or who has taken them," he told the charity, speaking from Syria. "There are many Christians being kidnapped now and this is the first time where we have absolutely no clue about what has happened, where nobody has taken responsibility for the abduction.
“This is of course very worrying – especially as we are now on day eight since [the kidnapping] happened.”
Greek Orthodox Archbishop Boulos Yagizi and Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim were abducted some five miles west of Aleppo, the city to which they were returning after traveling to the Turkish border to negotiate the release of two priests – Fathers Michael Kayyal and Maher Mahfouz – kidnapped on Feb. 9. The archbishops' driver, Deacon Fatha’ Allah Kabboud, was killed.
Even if the archbishops are being held in a safe location, there is concern for the health of Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Ibrahim, who takes medication for high blood pressure and diabetes, and is not thought to have had the medication with him when he was taken.
The diocesan spokesman said that Church leaders were combating pressure from the Christian community who, he said, were calling for demonstrations to appeal for the archbishops’ release, a move which he said could antagonise the kidnappers.
Saying that services and prayer vigils were taking place including one broadcast on Syrian TV, he added: “The Christians are worried and want to express their anger about what has happened.
“But every step should be carefully studied – we have to think about what the response will be from the kidnappers.”
He went on to appeal for continuing international pressure for the archbishops’ release.
Stressing the prelates’ high status, he said he was hopeful that diplomatic intervention would prove effective.
The spokesman said, “So far, the international community has done very well in putting pressure. We do not want that pressure to subside – government, civil society, churches and NGOs – different levels of help might help.”
He called on Christians “and all people of good will” to pray for the archbishops’ release.
“What is so sad about this," he concluded, "is that both men were among those working hardest for peace and yet in this time of conflict they are among those paying the highest price.”
Source:http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/aleppo-spokesman-no-news-on-syrian-archbishops?utm_campaign=dailyhtml&utm_medium=email&utm_source=dispatch
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