Nora Carmi Speaks to the Pope

Nora Carmi works with the Women's and Community Building Programs at Sabeel. She was chosen to speak on behalf of Jerusalem Christians in a meeting with the Pope in Bethlehem yesterday.

A Message from Jerusalem Christians

Your Holiness,

We, the indigenous faithful Christians of Jerusalem, join our voices to those of our Palestinian Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters in the West Bank and Gaza to welcome you on your much desired pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Your Holiness, your pilgrimage for peace, comes at a very critical moment in the history of the Palestinian people. For this reason, religious institutions and members of the civil society have communicated to Your Holiness, their concerns and aspirations prior to your arrival in the country. We, “the little flock” of Jerusalem would have loved to celebrate with joy your presence among us, but as your experience in Jerusalem in the past few days has proved, we are not free and our rights are denied.

We are pleased that you have insisted on coming at this time to give spiritual support and guidance to the steadfast Christians of Jerusalem, the resilient faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ and His Church established in this city over 2000 years ago. Sad to say, there are only about 9000 Christians of various denominations left but they form an integral part of the rich fabric of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, the city of peace anxiously awaiting a just peace for all.

Your Holiness, you have in the past two days, observed the ramifications of the 42-year old military occupation of this city significant to all faiths. Christians and Muslims suffer the same violations of human and national rights because Jerusalem is under occupation. As the Vatican has recognized: “the part of the city militarily occupied in 1967 and annexed and declared the capital of the State of Israel, IS OCCUPIED TERRITORY (as recorded and confirmed by the United Nations) As such, all Israeli measures which exceed the power of a belligerent occupant under international law are therefore null and void”. This courageous stand of the Vatican should be upheld and prayerfully acted upon in order to end the illegal monopolization and the unilateral judaization of Jerusalem, strangulated by settlements, divided by road blocks and checkpoints. Families are separated because of the wall; residents lose their residency rights; married couples are denied family reunification and homes are demolished! Young people who raise their voices against injustice are thrown into prison and the sanctity of life is desecrated. The beautiful mosaic of Jerusalem is shattered under oppression and injustice.

How can your flock be spiritually empowered and guided when faced with the violation of their rights to worship, to move, to learn, and to return home. How can your flock remain steadfast and continue resisting non-violently? How can we secure jobs and housings for the young people so that they will not lose hope and emigrate? How can we encourage our children in exile to risk coming back to their country and contribute to maintaining the uniqueness of the Christian presence without being denied entry?

Your pilgrimage to the sites made holy by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, not only constitutes a rich spiritual experience, but, is made especially meaningful through the sharing of the sufferings of the people who also make this land holy. We count on Your Holiness, to proclaim anew to the world the teachings of our Savior “to bring good news to the poor…release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of God’s favor.”(Luke 4; 18-19)

Your Holiness, you come as a peacemaker to promote tolerance and reconciliation. We urge you to continue following in the courageous footsteps of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in daring to raise a prophetic voice and to state clearly that:

· Jerusalem must remain an open city to all faiths and be the shared capital of the two states.

· The occupation has to end.

· Israel has to abide by International Law, implement UN resolutions and be held accountable for all violations especially the most recent brutal onslaught on Gaza.

Two thousand years ago, from the Mt. of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, Jesus wept over the city, under occupation and torn apart by violence and dissent. “You do not know the things that make for peace!” That cry resonates in Jerusalem to-day, still under occupation and shattered by the absence of tolerance, respect and love.

We trust that your prayers and your genuine desire for peace in Jerusalem will drive Your Holiness and the world that looks up to your leadership to work for a just peace for all. Only then can Christians, Muslims and Jews live in freedom and in harmony in the promising land for all. Only then can the inhabitants of this blessed land enjoy a just peace that they very much deserve.

In closing, we welcome Your Holiness with the Arabic greeting “Ahlan wa Sahlan” which literally means you are among family and that your stay goes smoothly.



Read the Pope's Reflection Speech after his day in Bethlehem. He had a mass in manger square, visited Caritas Baby hospital, and Aida Refugee Camp.

The Pope is Coming to Town.

Today the Pope arrived in Jordan. He is first stopping there and then coming to Israel and the Palestinian territories. For Christians in this area of the world, the visit of the Pope is a very big deal. years. For me, and others of us in the western world, it is hard to understand the excitement over Pope Benedict XVI's visit and the amount of preparation that is going into it. Rundown roads are be repaired, everywhere is getting a Spring cleaning, new stages are being built, and special decorations are being put up everywhere he visits. The Pope's visit means a lot to the Christian community, which is dramatically decreasing in the Middle East because of emigration due to the instability of many places in this region. His visit to the Palestinian territories is especially meaningful, as most of the small Christian population in Israel-Palestine is Palestinian. During Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Israel-Palestine, he will most likely try to focus on the positive sides to peace, dialogue, and reconciliation. This will be difficult, however, in Israel-Palestine where he will be faced with the decision to acknowledge the suffering of the Palestinian population or appease the Jewish majority. The question for many is, will he make a strong statement that will really help strengthen the Palestinian Christian population, or will he try to avoid controversy by glossing over the serious issues facing Palestinians in the area? The Pope is already planning on visiting a refugee camp in Bethlehem, but how much will he see in his extremely secure and sheltered tour and how much will he dare to voice? Although the Pope may try to avoid politics, coming to Israel-Palestine, where politics are unavoidable, political messages will be derived both from what he does say and what he does not say.

Click here to read articles discussing the meaning of Pope Benedict XVI's visit. I will be adding more throughout the week that point out significant developments.

Faithful throng Papal Mass in Amman (from Al-Jazeera)
Israel cranks up propaganda machine for papal visit (from Globe and Mail)

Take Action for the Palestinian Christians on the Eve of the Pope's Visit (Churches for Middle East Peace)

Hear Nora Carmi, one of the ladies with whom I work at Sabeel, speak on this piece about the Pope's visit. She doesn't speak until the last 15 minutes of the broadcast, but the whole thing gives a lot of different view points about the Pope's visit:
BBC broadcast on the Pope's Visit

Why does the Occupation Continue?

Why is the occupation of Palestinian Territory by the Israeli government able to continue? This is a question I often ask myself. Many times I hear of things that are happening within Israel-Palestine and wonder how the Israeli government can get away with such things. I say to myself, if people could only experience and hear a few of the stories, they would be in awe of what goes on as well. Even a short list includes: home's being demolished; plans for settlement expansion even though Israel has committed to freezing settlements numerous times; families being evicted from their homes in the middle of the night and being forced to live in tents, which the military then destroys; The court agreeing with settler's claims to Palestinian homes even though these families have land deeds dating all the way back to the Ottoman Empire; Christians being blocked from worshiping at the Church of the Holy Sepulcre on Easter; new rules that require Palestinians from the West Bank who have been given permits to go to Israel to check in at a West Bank checkpoint every single night; strip searches at the airport of Palestinians who are even Israeli citizens. These are only a few stories that I have recently heard. The stories only continue to get worse and create more restrictions for Palestinians.

How, despite these appalling stories, can Israel keep doing things that make Occupation worse and peace a quickly fading dream? Part of the answer to this question I learned the other day: desensitization. The potency of the occupation is that people began to get used to new rules and restrictions. Once they get used to these rules, more can be added with less resistance. Restrictions, laws, and losses are then able to increase and the occupation continues to worsen.

As I walked through the Qalandiya checkpoint, between Jerusalem and Ramallah, the other night, I realized that I too had succumbed to desensitization. It is surprising what one gets used too. If there is a checkpoint between me and where I want to go, I just deal with it. I automatically calculate the 30 minutes extra it will take me to get home because I have to walk through a checkpoint. I walk through numb, not even thinking about how dehumanizing it is to have your movement monitored at every moment because you are suspected of being a terrorist. The process of desensitization is different for me, however, because, as an international, I am not labeled as a terrorist, I just must go through because checkpoints are there. My process of desensitization is different, because it is not about lacking emotion for how I am treated, but for how those around me are treated.

The other night, however, I could not ignore the dehumanizing character of checkpoints. A man went through the checkpoint right in front of me. He did not have the correct papers, so the soldier began to question him. From the little Arabic I understand, he was trying to go to the hospital. After a couple minutes of arguing, the soldier turned him around and sent him back through the check point. At first my attitude was insensitive, "oh, just another person who doesn't have the right papers being turned back. It happens all the time". As he came back through the turnstile, however, I saw tears in his eyes and a look of defeat on his face. After going back through, his shoulders drooped as he explained his dilemma to some men on the other side. My heart wrenched at the thought of a girl in her young twenties being able to make a man feel so low, and not allowing him to go to the hospital for whatever reason he had. I do not blame her, however, but the system which promotes this kind of behavior and makes every Palestinian suspect of terrorism, even though most are simply family men and women trying to live their lives.

Sabeel's 2009 Young Adult Conference

Sabeel's 2009 Young Adult Conference is coming up! The theme is Palestinian Christians and their challenges today. Check out this link on the Young Friends of Sabeel blog to learn more about it and get a taste of what past conferences have been like.