In an open letter, Professor Bernard Sabella refers to the disappointed expectations of his people, who were never treated “justly” by the various US governments. The values of “justice, democracy and equal rights” have been denied. The policy of “double standards” in situations of occupation and conflict. Not even the Church is immune from settler violence.
Jerusalem () – The Palestinians have “always” hoped to be heard “equally” by successive US governments, but have only received in response words and gestures very different from the “ideals” promoted by the United States: “justice, democracy and equal rights”, says Professor Bernard Sabella, former representative of Fatah and executive secretary of the Service for Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches, in an open letter entrusted to on the occasion of the president’s visit American Joe Biden to Israel and Palestine. . “Sometimes we Palestinians -he observes- wonder if the United States applies double standards in its relations with different countries, in situations of occupation and conflict. […] and not even the Church and its properties are immune from attacks by settler groups, as happened at the Jaffa gate with properties of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem.” The “minimum” is “listening to the voices of Palestinians who yearn for peace and justice.” Below the full text:
Mr. president,
As a Palestinian Catholic elder, my soul is sad.
I have grown up in a Catholic family that lived through the Palestinian refugee crisis, a consequence of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. My parents, also refugees, lived with their four children in a crowded room, very different from the small but independent house that they had in Qatamon before 1948. However, they insisted that my brothers and I have the best education offered by the Catholic schools, which were part of the private education system that existed before and after 1948 in Palestine.
Thanks to the good level of studies and the education received, I was able to continue my university studies in the United States, with the help of a study support program of the United States Embassy in Amman, Jordan. This opportunity allowed me to carry on the legacy of my parents, Zaccaria and Margherita, and offer myself, my wife Maria, and our children the opportunity for a good education here and abroad.
I was a professor at the Catholic University of Bethlehem for a quarter of a century and I have been able to appreciate the dedication of the Palestinian students to achieve a good level of education. The professor who supervised my Ph. Palestinian professors, he could have been on any college campus in the United States.
I have worked in the Middle East Council of Churches Palestine Refugee Service for the past 22 years. I have seen up close the pain of Palestinians and other displaced persons and refugees throughout the Middle East. In my work in contact with refugees, some of the most valuable partners were the Churches in the United States: the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church), the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church, just to name a few. These churches and their members have accompanied the pain of Palestinians since 1948 and their solidarity has lifted the spirits and healed the wounds on the bodies of thousands of Palestinian refugees over the years.
In 2006 I had the privilege of being elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council under the quota reserved for Christians in the city of Jerusalem.
However, Mr. President, despite all the achievements I have made in life, the contribution of the education I received in the United States and the support that the church in the United States has given us, my spirit still sad.
My Palestinian compatriots and I have always hoped and hoped to be fairly heard by the various Washington administrations that have followed one another over time. We have been treated unfairly and we have waited, keeping in mind the ideals that this great nation has always promoted: justice, democracy and equal rights. We hoped they would apply those same ideals to assert our long-denied rights.
We have been left to our own devices, without any hope of an equitable, just and lasting solution to our situation, considering the US policies on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Strategy and power, rather than values of fairness and justice, seem to be paramount in determining political positions. Sometimes we Palestinians wonder if the United States applies double standards, in its relations with different countries, in situations of occupation and conflict.
I do not deny that the living conditions of the Palestinians and their improvement are a cause for concern, as US administrations have repeatedly stressed. But let me remind you, Mr. President, of a Bible verse: “Man does not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4).
The spirit longs for the kind of words and actions that my people’s wounds need. The continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, the expansion of illegal settlements, the intermittent military clashes in the Gaza Strip, the daily killings of Palestinian youth, the expropriation of vast tracts of land displacing thousands of Palestinians of their natural habitats and the constant intimidation and harassment of Palestinian children and farmers by settlers, protected by the Israeli army, point to a dead-end solution. Not even the Church and its properties are immune from attacks by settler groups, as happened at the Jaffa Gate with properties belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem.
Mr. president,
A few days ago a young Palestinian footballer said on local television, using simple Arabic: “We are a people who want to live like any other people. We want to have fun playing football and enjoy a bit of the finer things in life.” Similarly, the Palestinian workers who get up at three in the morning every day to pass the crowded checkpoints and reach their I work at seven, they would tell him that they want to continue with their work, because they love their families and want their children to have all the opportunities that they did not have.
We aspire to be free from occupation and to be able to live like other nations in our own State. It is also important for us that Jerusalem fulfills what the heads of the Churches affirmed in a declaration of November 1994: “We urge all parties to go beyond any exclusivist perspective or action and to take into consideration, without discrimination, the religious and national aspirations of others, in order to restore to Jerusalem its truly universal character and to make the city a holy place of reconciliation for all mankind.”
With a sad heart and soul, both mine and that of my Palestinian compatriots, I address you on the occasion of the visit you are carrying out these days, and I remind you that the least you can do is listen to the voices of Palestinians who yearn for peace and justice. The pain that we feel within us can only be cured with a future of peace, that can come and reign among all of us in this tormented land.
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