Posted on 05/15/2013 9:57:39 AM PDT by marshmallow
An interview with Cardinal Kurt Koch
On May 14, 1948, the British occupation of Palestine ended and the State of Israel was proclaimed. On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the founding of that State, Oliver Maksan of the international Catholic charity “Aid to the Church in Need” (ACN) spoke with the president of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, Cardinal Kurt Koch, about the current status of the Vatican dialog with Judaism. The original German-language interview was posted at the Austrian Catholic news website www.kath.net. English translation by Michael J. Miller with permission of Aid to the Church in Need (Germany).
ACN: Your Eminence, the State of Israel is celebrating its 65th birthday. Should Christians regard this as a modern fulfillment of the biblical promises of land to the Jews?
Cardinal Kurt Koch: That is a very difficult question. The question as to the relation between the biblical promise of land and its fulfillment in 1948 in the State of Israel has on the one hand a theological and on the other hand a political significance. It is true that the promise of the land is part of Israel’s identity. But we have to distinguish between promise and accomplishment. Palestinian Christians would emphatically disagree with you there. They experienced the new Israeli annexation as nakba, as a catastrophe, which often led to the loss of their ancient homeland through flight and banishment.
That is understandable. Because the promise has to be distinguished from the political manner in which it is carried out. The Palestinian Christians experienced it as an event that was unjust for them and associated with violence. Hence you can understand that Palestinian Christians, for example, cannot adopt a theological interpretation of the founding of the State of Israel. Moreover the Palestinians.....
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicworldreport.com ...
In other words, only a very small fraction of Christians (mostly Americans outside of the major denominations) have a "theological interpretation of the founding of the State of Israel".
well, the statement talks specifically about Palestinian Christians, not about other nationalities
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