Palestinian Christian leader calls on Israel to offer a 'vision for peace'

20 May 2011

Dr Bernard Sabella, the prominent Palestinian Christian parliamentarian and academic, has called on Israel to respond to the ‘Arab Spring’ of popular uprisings in the Middle East by offering a genuine “vision for peace” in the region and by working to resolve the 63-year old issue of Palestinian refugees.

Speaking at Christ Church Cathedral Oxford on 17 May at a lecture organised by BibleLands, the 156-year old inter-denominational charity which supports Christian humanitarian work in the Middle East, Dr Sabella said that there were over 7 million Palestinian refugees scattered around the globe and that it was impossible to resolve the Arab/Israeli problem without resolving the problem of the refugees.

“Israelis say: history will make the younger generation of Palestinian refugees forget - so if we wait, eventually everybody will forget about it. But what we see in the Arab Spring is proof to the contrary: younger people talking about the land, about refugees, about their place of origin. So if I were the Israelis, I would hurry up to really make a political solution with the Palestinians.”

“Israel is not taking its responsibility to advance with the peace process...Israel has not offered a vision for peace….if Israel does not read the writing on the wall provided by the Arab Spring then we are in for future wars and conflict and disasters,” he added.

Dr Sabella, a Roman Catholic who heads the Middle East Council of Churches' Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees (DSPR), also talked about his personal experience as a Palestinian refugee:

“Being a refugee is at the heart of the Palestinian experience...it means banishment, separation, deportation and finding ourselves in a different place from our original homes. We are strangers in their own land - a feeling of not belonging, of being out of place….If we want to maintain the dignity of Palestinian refugees, we really need to stand with them and to promote their dignity. Some of us have made it on our own, with help here and there, but others continue to need help and I am hoping and praying that your solidarity with our people will translate into peace, justice and reconciliation in that troubled land which we all call the Holy Land.”

Commenting on Dr Sabella’s remarks, Jeremy Moodey, Chief Executive of BibleLands said:

“Dr Sabella’s comments could not have been timely, coming only two days before President Obama himself called on Israel to respond to the Arab Spring uprisings with a genuine strategy for peace with the Palestinians, on the basis of pre-1967 borders. Dr Sabella also reminded us that there is a human dimension to this conflict – the trauma of being in exile – and that those of us who care for the Middle East must stand in solidarity with Palestinian refugees as they seek the dignity to which they are entitled.”

Photos are available upon request. For further information contact Jeremy Moodey, Chief Executive Officer on 07712 777371.

Notes for Editors
In addition to being Executive Secretary of the DSPR, Dr Sabella is also an elected representative of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a former Associate Professor of Sociology at Bethlehem University.