Hind Sharida wrote: In light of the package of illegal or even national practices that have begun to accumulate to form an inherent approach among some church leaders or those who hold the patriarchal seat in a number of Christian sects in Jerusalem; It has become an acceptance of the trust of a group of Christian clergy, coming from different, non-Palestinian, ethnicities, over the authentic national church in Palestine, the oldest church in the world, and the foothold of Jesus Christ, which summarizes the good news of his coming, his birth, the details of his life, and his teachings, until his crucifixion and glorious resurrection. This requires the indigenous Christians of the East to continue the struggle to Arabize the Church and recover it from the successive occupations that befell it.

The issue of Arabizing the church is not a new matter. The godfather of the Orthodox renaissance, Khalil Sakakini, began it at the beginning of the last century, and he paid the price for it when the Orthodox Patriarch at the time issued a decision to boycott Sakakini, not listen to his opinions, and even refused to baptize his son, and expelled him from his home located in the Orthodox monastery. In Jerusalem, not only that, but he also refused to pray for him and perform his funeral. Since that time, some Christian movements have worked towards restoring the issue and putting it on the table again, especially in light of the dealings of some non-Arab patriarchs with the Israeli occupation, and their offering of some gifts of indigenous property, not to mention the position of some in the role of neutrality regarding the Palestinian issue, which requires… Broad Christian and Islamic involvement, closely keeping up with church activities, examining external and internal relations with a keen eye, monitoring extraneous policies or new events closely, and working to hold church leaders accountable for carrying out their agreed-upon tasks and duties and the teachings of the apostles, especially since they are entrusted with the churches, by virtue of the established regulations and customs. To which they belong with its human and material resources, and here we mean its trust in the members of the sect that makes up the community of believers, which the Holy Bible refers to as “the salt of the earth.” Guardianship is also translated into preserving the Christian existence with its cohesive fabric and its strong and steadfast faith on earth, while by material resources it means property. The endowment consists of real estate and lands belonging to the church.

It is worth mentioning that the Christians of Jordan also have a pioneering and committed role towards the Palestinian issue, but not discussing their detailed role here does not mean at all detracting from its importance and integrity, as it is part of the effective Levantine movement towards the desired goal: which is the Arabization of the Church (which will be discussed in an upcoming article). .

The occupant of the patriarchal chair from some sects requires that those in charge, as well as the heads of churches from different sects, know the concerns that afflict the parish, preoccupy the members of their sect spiritually and in life, and strive diligently to address the challenges that affect them, and on top of these challenges in our Palestinian case: the occupation and its crimes facing all components of the people. The Palestinian, Christian and Islamic alike, and its consequences of substitutionary colonialism that steals land, water, and air, and Judaizes places, targeting the Palestinian regardless of his religious identity, and seeking to expel and displace him, which takes us towards the role assigned to the heads of churches and the role parallel to it in reality, and the attempt to bridge the gap. Between them, especially in light of the occupation’s efforts to attract and exploit them, and to profit from their presence by increasing control over endowment properties, which are vital and strategic places that are owned and managed solely by churches, in addition to painting a picture in which the occupation is trying to market itself internationally as the incubator of religious pluralism, contrary to its dark reality. Which targets every Palestinian, and did not differentiate between the sanctity of religious places, so it bombed churches and mosques, and did not spare anyone in the war of extermination that is still being waged in the Gaza Strip until this moment.

“routine” image

Some were surprised by a photo that brought together the heads of churches in Jerusalem, most of whom were of foreign ethnicity, with the head of the occupation authority called Herzog, days before Christmas, which the latter published boastfully on his page on social networking sites, followed by news in which he tried to whitewash his page by claiming democracy and nurturing multiple religions. This happened after his army sniped two women from the Christian community, who were taking shelter in the Church of the Holy Family for Latins in the Gaza Strip. Then he admitted the “mistake” he had made, thinking that the two blondes were members of Hamas. The “misdiagnosis” was circulated in the media, and the truth about the intentional targeting was hidden. .

All Christians, both believers and secularists, were outraged by the photo, especially since it appeared in light of the war of extermination that the Palestinian people are experiencing in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds signed statements of denunciation condemning the visit, and escalated their position to boycott the heads of churches and not receive them in all forums, while they did not Some people who keep up with the events are surprised by the picture, as they have become accustomed to the spectacle that they have come to condemn annually, but they were more disappointed by the poor timing.

What is dangerous in the matter is that the reactions and signing of similar denunciatory statements, such as those issued the day after the publication of the photo of the visit, will become only temporary, and in light of the genocide we are currently experiencing in the Gaza Strip, and that they will pass unnoticed next year or the following, just as they have passed in previous years. The researcher, through the search engine (Google), sees dozens of pictures and meetings that actually occurred routinely, as described by the heads of the churches in their explanatory statement, as if the issue had become a status quo and a natural reality. Let us assume this way. Is it possible to maintain the stagnation of the status quo? (The status quo agreement), which is no longer the case at all, is more important than the blood of the martyrs and the ethnic cleansing massacres that are taking place in Gaza?!

What is really interesting is what Father Ibrahim Faltas, Deputy Custodian of the Holy Land, said in an interview with Tony Khalifa on Al-Mashhad TV, that the heads of the churches were the ones who initiated and requested the “routine” visit, from the 29th or 30th of December, as is the case every year. To a date days before the holiday, in order to present their protests to Herzog, and portray the issue as conveying the demands of the Christian community. Father Feltz continued by explaining that the meeting with Herzog was not friendly, and that the demand included opening Bethlehem on the days of the feast. Feltz reiterated that their request was met, and the church became full of worshipers on the feast day, and the Patriarch was received as usual. But the truth is that the entire West Bank was closed due to the Israeli barriers that cut the country apart more than before. Rather, the occupation regime tightly isolated the cities into closed enclaves, and went to great lengths to separate Gaza completely from the rest of the West Bank, and isolated it, indulging in mass massacres, committing crime after crime. The other. Returning to refute Father Feltz’s words. No one from the country attended the night mass on the eve of the holiday. Most of those who were, far from the annual protocol and the presence of representatives of the Palestinian presidency, who did not exceed the fingers of one hand, and as reported on the official Palestine TV screen, were pilgrims or foreign dignitaries invited to the mass by ambassadors and representatives of foreign countries. .

The statements and actions of some church leaders create a gap between them and the parish

The statements and actions of some church leaders and foreign clergy office holders create a real gap and disconnect between them and members of the community from the local population. Some of the statements have become reprehensible and repulsive, and the astonishing neglect of Palestinian endowment properties, whether by Western clergymen with the help of some of the beneficiaries or brokers, at the expense of the people of the country and the local sect jealous of its endowments, breaks the trust between the two parties, and distances the members of the sect more and more from the Church.

An example of some statements is what was made by Cardinal Pierre Piestapala, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was among the pioneers visiting Herzog in his office, where he was quoted as saying in a press conference in Italy that he was “ready to exchange himself for the Israeli hostages in Gaza,” while We have not heard a single statement from him in recent years in which he addressed Palestinian prisoners, and he has never offered himself as a ransom or exchange for more than 7,800 Palestinian prisoners sitting in occupation prisons, including 7 Christian prisoners, 76 female prisoners, 260 children, and 2,870 administrative prisoners (i.e. without charge).

As for the burden of actions, we must not forget, of course, the sale of three hundred dunums of land by the Latin Patriarchate of the city of Nazareth to an Arab investor from Galilee, and its declared justification was under the pretext of the presence of large debts on their churches, which forced them to sell some of their property to pay off those debts, which prompts us to hold the Latin Patriarchate accountable for its finances. And the need for it to be subject to the values ​​of integrity and principles of transparency in submitting annual financial reports to the Latin members of the sect, and the need to hold it accountable for the feasibility of its involvement in some unsuccessful investments, which the Patriarchate realized, after completing them and pouring millions of dollars into them, that it could not bear its monthly operating costs, so it was simply frozen. And close it!

Regarding the Armenian Patriarch, Nurhan Manoogian, who is also a visitor to Herzog, two years ago, in violation of the law, he had agreed to a long-term lease of the plot of land known as “Goverou Badez” located in the Old City of Jerusalem for a period of 99 years to a Jewish businessman, through a vote. The minority within the Holy Synod of the Armenian Patriarchate, where the contract was signed in secret. When the scandal was raised to the public, and under pressure from the Armenian community, Manoogian retracted his signature.

As for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who is the head of the Anglican Episcopal Church, where the Baptist/Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip is affiliated, which was bombed on October 17, leaving hundreds of martyrs and wounded; He also evaded his role in holding responsibility for the occupation’s bombing of the hospital, and contented himself with “passive” statements condemning only the bombing of the hospital, as if ghosts were the ones who bombed the hospital that day, while it would have been more appropriate for him, by virtue of his powers, to put more pressure on the British government to stop the war. Or the belief was weakened by Britain’s failure to support the Israeli arsenal militarily, and refraining from supplying it with surveillance, reconnaissance, and aerial targeting equipment, which made Britain a major partner in the genocide that “Israel” is currently committing against the Palestinian people.

Regarding the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III, no one blamed Herzog for meeting with him at all, as the latter accustomed us to his usual images with the Israelis, and the many donations to them from one side or the other, so his actions became enough to make the members of the Orthodox community wash their hands of him, and they began to consider the Orthodox Church actually occupied by Greece. The Orthodox Central Council, in its conference held in Bethlehem years ago, had taken a decision criminalizing the Patriarch for his actions, and the National and Central Councils were notified of that. The Council also demanded the removal of Theophilus and withdrawal of recognition from him, explaining that he did not accept being subjected to accountability by his sons. The Orthodox community does not submit annual reports to the mixed council, while the parish does not know whether or not he notified the Supreme Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in the event of anything new regarding Orthodox real estate, as he previously pledged.

The Palestinian Authority’s negligence in accountability

The Orthodox Central Council in Palestine and more than 300 prominent Palestinian legal figures, Christian and Islamic, including the Palestinian Regular Bar Association and a number of other institutions, five years ago submitted official communications to the Palestinian Public Prosecutor, proving with evidence the involvement of Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus and his council in the deals. And the files of the leaking of Orthodox endowment lands to the occupation, in violation of the law, which prohibits the cleric from disposing of church property, stressing that church property is not sold, but rather the patriarch is considered entrusted only with it.

It seems that the reports that reached the Public Prosecution were placed in a drawer and locked tightly. The question here is: For whose benefit was the file not transferred to the court? Note that the demand of the Orthodox Council reflects the desire of all Christians who are jealous of their national property, for a trial that would be a deterrent to the Patriarch and anyone who thinks of following suit, since diversion of Palestinian endowment property is a crime and treason, punishable by law. The census is examples of some of the leaks and donations that occurred: There are 11 dunams on the shore of Lake Tiberias, which is the place adjacent to Christ’s teaching of the “Beatitudes,” or the Sermon on the Mount, and the gift of 99 dunams in Caesarea, which was sold for about a low price, and another deal in Clock Square in Jaffa for 5. -6 million shekels, not to mention 65 dunams in Ramla, and many other properties in Bab al-Khalil.

We can summarize here that the Palestinian Authority, with its various official arms, bears responsibility for the domination and occupation that is occurring in the Palestinian churches by outsider clerics who are not keen on the patriotism of the church in exchange for advancing their worldly interests. When the Orthodox Council’s reports are not taken seriously by the official state agencies, and are not transferred to take legal action against them in accordance with the rules; “Gossip” abounds and many questions arise related to the protection of leakers, most of which begin with the question of what is happening behind this secrecy, and who is standing in the way of the application of Palestinian law?

It is worth asking ourselves what is required of members of the Christian sects, so that the condemnation is not instantaneous or even seasonal, so that it subsides with time, and so that we invest the resulting rejection into a conscious movement, aware that we live in a complex occupation context, in which Christians suffer from several occupations; An authentic and effective national Palestinian movement must be born, closely following up on what is happening with the heads of the churches, and not just expressing momentary denunciation of Herzog’s visit, as if it were a separate event from a series of other events, but it is worth asking about the real role that falls on the church, and its mission based on faith. Hope and love, holding church heads and patriarchs accountable for their performance and management of Palestinian Christian resources, and demanding that they, regardless of their sects, disclose their budget and publish it on their websites are in accordance with the principles of transparency. The movement must also be alert to the intersections with which some church leaders go too far, bypassing national sovereignty over property and sanctities, and disposing of church endowments as they please, and in a manner that is in violation of the law, without caring about the body of the church from the group of believers who constitute it, and thus we must stand together, We put an end and continue our struggle to Arabize the church, the church of the first Palestinian, the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be all glory.