‘America does not care what will happen to Palestinian Christians’
Nov 19, 2021
For Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah, America closed the door for peace in Jerusalem when it moved its embassy to the city.
In the 26-minute film The People’s Patriarch, Michel Sabbah, the first Palestinian in 500 years to serve as the Latin (Roman Catholic) Patriarch of Jerusalem, obliterates all illusion that Israel has any intention of ever letting up on the Palestinians and granting them statehood — or that the United States cares.
“You will not have a state,” he says. In fact, only two choices are on offer, the patriarch emeritus tells his people: “either to swallow the poison forced upon us” or to persevere in demanding full political rights, even as “the worst may be yet to come”.
Superb cinematography and a gripping soundtrack reinforce the sense of peril of the moment. Now that Israel’s “mask has fallen,” Sabbah says, the Palestinians face the “direst situation” since the ethnic cleansing of their country began in 1948.
The patriarch’s dark foreboding extends beyond his homeland to the Middle East as a whole. In his view, the West, led by United States, “wants to destroy the existing Middle East and create a new Middle East” to achieve its own geopolitical objectives. In doing so, they “do not care what happens” to the people of the region, not even the Christians; “If they die, then they die.”
For Sabbah, Jerusalem is the key political and moral indicator. “Jerusalem today is not a holy city of love,” he says. “It is a city of hatred. It is a city of war.” The US decision to move its embassy to East Jerusalem was the act by which “America closed the doors for peace,” he adds.
Sabbah, who is in his 80s and lives in the West Bank village of Taybeh, was appointed patriarch by Pope John Paul II in 1988, and served until 2008. The film includes footage of the ancient and solemn Vatican ritual of investiture to the position, and of Sabbah’s momentous return from Rome at the very outset of the First Intifada.
We see and hear the sounds of the popular uprising — and its merciless suppression. Sabbah and his fellow patriarchs of other denominations are barred entrance into the largely Christian town of Beit Sahour, under siege for withholding tax payments to the occupier, Israel.
Upon his arrival in Israel-Palestine, the world’s press badgered the new patriarch to say where he stood on the intifada. His reply was direct and simple: “The people have a right to their freedom. They have a right to their uprising.” In the film, he emphasises that he is not on the side of the Palestinians because he himself is a Palestinian, but because as a human being and a Christian he is obligated to advocate for the oppressed.
Because he is “not a politician and not a warrior”. but “a Christian clergyman”, he doesn’t map the path ahead. He does, however, call for a nationwide, open and comprehensive discussion of “how we got to this point” and the formulation of a “realistic vision and sensible discourse … that can prepare us to enter a new era after 70 years have elapsed.”
In his most chilling statements, he says, “We have been told that you have no right to exist. And those delivering this message to us are the rulers of the earth today.” Even more bluntly, he warns, “We need to know that we are facing death and therefore, we must take the simplest of things seriously.”
Some might feel that these words are too dark, but the patriarch ultimately centres his message on resilience and dismissing feelings of despair and defeat. He calls for “hope, resistance and not running away,” coupled with a rootedness in the power of transcendent love. “We have to raise our children to survive and thrive and be capable of loving one another. Only this kind of love will enable them to address their oppressors,” he says. “I should not let despair get to me …. One day I will be master of my fate — free of oppression.”
At the same time, as a man of prayer, he humbly places his trust in God and seeks guidance, acknowledging to the Lord that ultimately, “humankind is for you to handle”.
No written article quoting his strong words and describing his concerns can adequately convey to readers the immense dignity, simplicity and gravitas with which the patriarch expresses his anguish and outrage. The People’s Patriarch must be seen to be fully understood.
The film, produced by Dr Lily Habash and directed by Mohammed Alatar, is available for free on YouTube.
This article was first published by the Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs and is reproduced with permission.
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