The London-based al-Hayat newspaper reported on a sermon delivered by a Greek Orthodox patriarch Atallah Hanna on January 19 at a cathedral in Jerusalem. The Greek Orthodox priest made explicit for his Christian audience the Arab perspective on Israel and the Jews in a way that is generally the province of Moslem preachers.
According to the report, Hanna said: "Palestine is from the sea to the river. The Jordan River is a holy river forever and it is the natural border of Palestine. We emphatically refuse any concession on [even] a grain of the land of our precious homeland. Just as Ramallah, Gaza, Nablus, and Jenin are Palestinian cities, so are Haifa, Nazareth, Jaffa, Ramle, Lod, Beersheba, Safed, and other Palestinian cities. We have not relinquished and we will not relinquish our historic right, and we will not agree to any concession on these cities. These are Palestinian cities that were occupied in 1948."
As for Israelis, Hanna reportedly preached, "The Zionist Jews are foreigners in this land. They have no right to live or settle in it. They should go somewhere else in the world to establish their state and their false entity. With regard to Palestine and its beating heart Jerusalem, it was never in the hands of the Jews. It was and will forever remain Arab. Jerusalem is an Arab city and the Jews must not settle in it, be masters over it, or carry out any type of religious ritual or ceremony in it. They must leave their homes. They have no right to live on land, cities or villages that are not theirs..."
That philosophy, of course, leads to the natural conclusion, voiced by the Greek Orthodox priest: "We do not believe in so-called 'peace with Israel' because peace cannot be made with Satan. Israel is the greatest Satan. No concession and no truce must be made. Any type of peace with this entity is concession, submission, and retreat from pan-Arab and national principles..."
The Arab newspaper reports that Atallah Hanna then went on to suggest what Arabs - Christians and Muslims - can do about the ?greatest Satan?. Hanna preached, "The Palestinians' rights will be restored only by resistance. What was taken by force will be restored only by force.... Resistance is the obligation of every Palestinian Christian Arab, as it is the obligation of every Palestinian Muslim Arab."
Hanna called upon Greek Orthodox Christian Arabs - in particular their youth - "to participate in the resistance, to carry out martyrdom attacks, and to participate in removing the occupation. There is a need for resistance to the occupation, and for Islamic-Christian cooperation, so that we will remove the foreign Zionist Jewish intruders and so that the gates of Palestine will open wide and all those who were uprooted or emigrated in 1967 and 1948 will return..."
And the priest went on to offer up a prayer: "From this holy Church, and in the presence of all the believing clerics, we give today a prayer for the sake of the souls of our shahids and resistors and for the sake of our heroic Palestinian people, whether living in the homeland or outside it... We say to the sons of our people: 'Do not retreat, do not fear, and do not despair.' The Arab Palestinian right to this land is stronger than any false Zionist military ammunition, which will disappear sooner or later. This is because the Zionist entity plundering our lands and our holy places is an entity that cannot maintain stability, and its end will be to disappear, just like all kinds of colonialism on our land in the past have disappeared."
Like the Crusaders? One wonders...
According to the report, Hanna said: "Palestine is from the sea to the river. The Jordan River is a holy river forever and it is the natural border of Palestine. We emphatically refuse any concession on [even] a grain of the land of our precious homeland. Just as Ramallah, Gaza, Nablus, and Jenin are Palestinian cities, so are Haifa, Nazareth, Jaffa, Ramle, Lod, Beersheba, Safed, and other Palestinian cities. We have not relinquished and we will not relinquish our historic right, and we will not agree to any concession on these cities. These are Palestinian cities that were occupied in 1948."
As for Israelis, Hanna reportedly preached, "The Zionist Jews are foreigners in this land. They have no right to live or settle in it. They should go somewhere else in the world to establish their state and their false entity. With regard to Palestine and its beating heart Jerusalem, it was never in the hands of the Jews. It was and will forever remain Arab. Jerusalem is an Arab city and the Jews must not settle in it, be masters over it, or carry out any type of religious ritual or ceremony in it. They must leave their homes. They have no right to live on land, cities or villages that are not theirs..."
That philosophy, of course, leads to the natural conclusion, voiced by the Greek Orthodox priest: "We do not believe in so-called 'peace with Israel' because peace cannot be made with Satan. Israel is the greatest Satan. No concession and no truce must be made. Any type of peace with this entity is concession, submission, and retreat from pan-Arab and national principles..."
The Arab newspaper reports that Atallah Hanna then went on to suggest what Arabs - Christians and Muslims - can do about the ?greatest Satan?. Hanna preached, "The Palestinians' rights will be restored only by resistance. What was taken by force will be restored only by force.... Resistance is the obligation of every Palestinian Christian Arab, as it is the obligation of every Palestinian Muslim Arab."
Hanna called upon Greek Orthodox Christian Arabs - in particular their youth - "to participate in the resistance, to carry out martyrdom attacks, and to participate in removing the occupation. There is a need for resistance to the occupation, and for Islamic-Christian cooperation, so that we will remove the foreign Zionist Jewish intruders and so that the gates of Palestine will open wide and all those who were uprooted or emigrated in 1967 and 1948 will return..."
And the priest went on to offer up a prayer: "From this holy Church, and in the presence of all the believing clerics, we give today a prayer for the sake of the souls of our shahids and resistors and for the sake of our heroic Palestinian people, whether living in the homeland or outside it... We say to the sons of our people: 'Do not retreat, do not fear, and do not despair.' The Arab Palestinian right to this land is stronger than any false Zionist military ammunition, which will disappear sooner or later. This is because the Zionist entity plundering our lands and our holy places is an entity that cannot maintain stability, and its end will be to disappear, just like all kinds of colonialism on our land in the past have disappeared."
Like the Crusaders? One wonders...