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Most Palestinian Christians Back Maronite Patriarch's Visit
The controversy is increasing among Palestinians regarding the visit to Palestine by the head of the Maronite community in Lebanon, Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, as he accompanies Pope Francis in a visit scheduled for May 25.
Although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Presidential Higher Committee for Church Affairs welcomed Rai’s visit, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called on the patriarch to reverse his decision and not accompany the pope, as his visit could result in political exploitation and normalization.
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal said that the big picture is the visit of the pope to the Holy Land. The pope will be accompanied by four patriarchs from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.
Twal told Al-Monitor on the sidelines of a news conference May 18: “I don’t see the need for all this fuss about Patriarch Rai’s visit, which doesn’t mean any kind of normalization [with Israel]. He is accompanying the pope, and he has a flock for which he’s responsible.”
Father Talaat Awad, the pastor of the Orthodox church in the village of Aboud, also welcomed Rai’s visit in an interview with Al-Monitor. He noted that visiting the holy sites does not necessarily mean normalizing with the occupier, especially since Rai is coming to support the Palestinian people and the Arab presence in Jerusalem.
PLO Executive Committee member Hanna Amira said during the news conference: “The uproar about Rai’s visit to Palestine is highly exaggerated. … Maybe the uproar reflects more the internal affairs of Lebanon.”
Commenting on the uproar about Rai’s visit, Ziad Bandak, an adviser to Abbas for Christian affairs, said, “Visiting a prisoner is not [considered] normalization with the jailer. Therefore, everybody’s welcome; occupied Palestine welcomes its guests.”
Father Jamal Khuder, the spokesman for the pope’s visit to Palestine told Al-Monitor, “There is a general consensus among the churches of Palestine to welcome Rai’s visit. But there are some comments and reservations by some bodies that deal with the boycott of Israel. We have clarified our position to them. … We welcome the visit and are happy with [Rai’s] presence. His program includes meetings with the faithful and the Palestinians, and he will not meet with Israeli officials. This is clear and important.”
Rai is also welcomed by the Bishop of the Maronite Church in the Holy Land, Moussa al-Hajj, who said in a press release, “The patriarch’s visit to the Holy Land doesn’t have a political nature,” but is rather a “spiritual and pastoral visit.”
According to the visit’s program as announced by Bishop Moussa al-Hajj, the patriarch will meet on May 28 with members of the former South Lebanon Army, an Israeli-aligned militia in the Lebanese civil war. Some of the militia’s members fled to Israel after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
Al-Monitor spoke to a number of Palestinian Christians, many of whom expressed support for Rai’s visit. Ramez Massad, a student, said, “I welcome the patriarch’s visit because he comes accompanying the pope, which removes the suspicion of normalization. This is a religious visit to the holy places, having a religious aim and to consecrate the Christian presence.”
Fares Riyani, another student, said, “My position is that of the Church in Palestine to welcome Patriarch Rai, because the visit aims to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.” Bechara Shammas, also a student, took a similar position and said, “We as Christians welcome anyone who visits Palestine and from all sects and parties. [Rai’s] visit is in solidarity with his community and part of his message to visit members of his sects.”
But not all Palestinians have expressed support for the visit. Some religious figures have publicly discouraged Rai from visiting, because his visit would be “normalization with the occupation and will have negative effects on the Palestinian issue in general and the city of Jerusalem in particular.”
There was also a campaign of criticism against Rai’s visit on social media. Activists highlighted the past collaboration between the Maronite community and Israel, publishing what they claimed was an agreement between the Maronite Patriarchate and the Jewish Agency in 1946.
Wissam Rafidi, a Christian social science lecturer at the University of Bethlehem, told Al-Monitor: “The [Maronite] Patriarchate has always played in modern history the role of the spiritual and intellectual guide for the right-wing fascist Maronite current, which is represented by the Kataeb Party and the Lebanese Forces. That current has stained its hands with the blood of our people and the blood of Lebanese patriots — no one has forgotten Sabra and Shatila. That current spawned the collaborator [former South Lebanon Army leader] Saad Haddad and his spies, whom the Maronite patriarch will visit when he’s in Palestine!”
Father Khuder said Israel may use the occasion to highlight normalization.
“We have one fear: that Israel will exploit the visit and depict it as a form of normalization, which is not the case,” he said.
Father Manuel Musallem, the head of the Christian World Department in the Fatah Office of External Relations, did not share his colleagues’ support for Rai’s visit. “As Palestinians, we welcome any Arab who visits us. But there are laws that must be implemented, among them is that Rai entering Palestine through Rosh Hanikra is unacceptable, and we will consider it as normalization because it is not a Palestinian crossing,” he told Al-Monitor.
The Christian-Palestinian initiative Kairos Palestine also criticized the visit, saying in a statement, “With our cordiality and great appreciation to His Beatitude Bechara al-Rai, we would have preferred to meet him in the prayer of the soul, not under the shadow of the Israeli occupation.”
Hanna Issa, a Christian professor of international law at the University of Jerusalem, refused to describe the patriarch’s visit as “normalization.”
“This visit comes in the context of supporting the Palestinian people and the Christians to remain in Palestine. And the Palestinian position doesn’t consider it normalization because [the visit] is to the land of the occupied state of Palestine,” Issa said.
Muslim writer and political analyst Adel Samara told Al-Monitor: “The patriarch’s visit may be more dangerous than normalization because behind him are many Christians. So he represents a specific tool to accustom and normalize Arab citizens — Muslims and Christians — with Israel and show that the Zionist entity is normal and natural. This is what makes the visit very dangerous. … Rai doesn’t have the right to be political in Lebanon and religious in Palestine.”
Samara noted that Israel will reap great benefits from the visit and will look like a normal country that deals amicably with and is flexible toward other religions. Israel is trying to show itself as safeguarding religious freedoms, which Israel will exploit to sow division between Arab Muslims and Christians, according to Samara.
The Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel sent a letter to Rai urging him to reconsider his visit: “Do not go to the Holy Land under occupation. Your concern for the flock could be interpreted as a violation of Palestinian civil consensus decisions and of the decisions of the global boycott movement. Do not allow the enemy to play on the line (which is weak anyway!) separating politics and religion while [the enemy] continues its occupation, crimes, and racism. Be faithful to the struggle of the Palestinian people who are being crucified, like Christ, every day and are resisting the enemy and are boycotting it every day.”
The matter remains in flux for the Palestinians and Lebanese, and has electrified the debate on how to retain the Arab presence in Jerusalem, Muslim and Christian, while avoiding normalization with Israe
Ahmad Melhem
Al Monitor