Another Greek Tragedy

Arutz Sheva ^ | 26 January 2003

[SJackson]

The London-based al-Hayat newspaper reported on a sermon delivered by a Greek Orthodox patriarch Atallah Hanna on January 19 at a cathedral in Jerusalem. The Greek Orthodox priest made explicit for his Christian audience the Arab perspective on Israel and the Jews in a way that is generally the province of Moslem preachers.

According to the report, Hanna said: "Palestine is from the sea to the river. The Jordan River is a holy river forever and it is the natural border of Palestine. We emphatically refuse any concession on [even] a grain of the land of our precious homeland. Just as Ramallah, Gaza, Nablus, and Jenin are Palestinian cities, so are Haifa, Nazareth, Jaffa, Ramle, Lod, Beersheba, Safed, and other Palestinian cities. We have not relinquished and we will not relinquish our historic right, and we will not agree to any concession on these cities. These are Palestinian cities that were occupied in 1948."

As for Israelis, Hanna reportedly preached, "The Zionist Jews are foreigners in this land. They have no right to live or settle in it. They should go somewhere else in the world to establish their state and their false entity. With regard to Palestine and its beating heart Jerusalem, it was never in the hands of the Jews. It was and will forever remain Arab. Jerusalem is an Arab city and the Jews must not settle in it, be masters over it, or carry out any type of religious ritual or ceremony in it. They must leave their homes. They have no right to live on land, cities or villages that are not theirs..."

That philosophy, of course, leads to the natural conclusion, voiced by the Greek Orthodox priest: "We do not believe in so-called ´peace with Israel´ because peace cannot be made with Satan. Israel is the greatest Satan. No concession and no truce must be made. Any type of peace with this entity is concession, submission, and retreat from pan-Arab and national principles..."

The Arab newspaper reports that Atallah Hanna then went on to suggest what Arabs - Christians and Muslims - can do about the “greatest Satan”. Hanna preached, "The Palestinians´ rights will be restored only by resistance. What was taken by force will be restored only by force.... Resistance is the obligation of every Palestinian Christian Arab, as it is the obligation of every Palestinian Muslim Arab."

Hanna called upon Greek Orthodox Christian Arabs - in particular their youth - "to participate in the resistance, to carry out martyrdom attacks, and to participate in removing the occupation. There is a need for resistance to the occupation, and for Islamic-Christian cooperation, so that we will remove the foreign Zionist Jewish intruders and so that the gates of Palestine will open wide and all those who were uprooted or emigrated in 1967 and 1948 will return..."

And the priest went on to offer up a prayer: "From this holy Church, and in the presence of all the believing clerics, we give today a prayer for the sake of the souls of our shahids and resistors and for the sake of our heroic Palestinian people, whether living in the homeland or outside it... We say to the sons of our people: ´Do not retreat, do not fear, and do not despair.´ The Arab Palestinian right to this land is stronger than any false Zionist military ammunition, which will disappear sooner or later. This is because the Zionist entity plundering our lands and our holy places is an entity that cannot maintain stability, and its end will be to disappear, just like all kinds of colonialism on our land in the past have disappeared."

Like the Crusaders? One wonders...

[SJackson]

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[Torie]

I am typically not too fond of clerics that get too political. It degrades their gravitas. That is my general comment. As to the specifics, when clerics seem to advocate bigotry and hatred of the other and violence, it reminds one that men of the cloth can be very flawed.

[exit82]

The Jews owned Jerusalem in 1000 BC(David, Solomon). They lost it in 70 AD with the Diaspora, thanks to the Roman Emperor.

The Arabs are the interlopers. They better learn to live in peace, or they won't be living at all.

[xJones]

That old boy's gone (Muslim) native. He's using Muslim terms, not to mention Muslim genocidal beliefs towards Israelis.

we give today a prayer for the sake of the souls of our shahids and resistors and for the sake of our heroic Palestinian people,

Explanation of shahid:

"We have explained that a martyr establishes himself as a paradigm and a model. Both shahid (martyr) and shahid (model) are derived from the same Arabic root. In this sense, the concept of shahada is closely related to the concept of prophethood in Islam. Both the martyrs and the prophets are regarded as paradigms (2:143)".

He needs to resign his Christian priesthood credentials and openly go to worship in a mosque.

[marron]

Wow. Well, technically, he is right. The Jordan River is the natural boundary for Palestine. Of course, the country of "Jordan" is "Palestine". So, perhaps he is suggesting that some people in the West Bank are on the wrong side of the line?

The original province of Palestine was divided between the Jewish inhabitants, a few long-time settlers and the mass of refugees from the war, and the Arabs, with a sliver going to the Jews and all the rest going to the Arabs. "Israel" is the name for the sliver that was awarded to the Jews; "Palestine" is everything else.

This means, of course, that "Jordan" is Palestine. Until 1967, "Jordan/Palestine" included the West Bank; Israel occupied it after the 1967 war. Eventually, Jordan abandoned its claim to the territory.

If we want to be sticklers, then, Israel is within its rights to claim it outright. Certainly, the territory must belong to either Jordan (Palestine) or Israel. There is no basis for a third country. What land of the original Palestine does not belong to Israel, by default belongs to Jordan, and vice versa, that land not belonging to Jordan by definition belongs to Israel.

The final disposition of the West Bank must be settled between Jordan and Israel. No one else has any standing. Israel is under no compulsion to allow the establishment of a lawless enclave anywhere near its populated centers. Rule of Law must be imposed, either by Jordan, or Israel. Those people in the West Bank who wish to remain there must consent to live there in peace, or be expelled to a safe distance. According to the good padre, that might be to the other side of the river Jordan.

[Alouette]

Separated at birth?

Atallah Hanna

Attila the Hun

[Bogolyubski]

Quite appalling. He should be excommunicated for these statements. He may be making them under duress, but to advocate suicide bombing by his own younger parishoners in truly unconscionable. There really aren't words strong enough to use in condemning this. Just who does he think Jesus is? Let's see, of the Jewish royal family, born in Bethlehem in Judea, circumcised in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, the list goes on and on. One of the other posters is right, he really should just go ahead and worship at the local mosque.

[eleni121]

That is absolutely right! Most Arabs living in this region have origins in other parts of the world: Eastern Europe and central Asia among others - humanity forced to migrate under the Ottoman Muslim Turks in transfer of population schemes in the region.

If what this article says about Hanna is true he should be thrown out by the Orthodox leadership. If he is not excommunicated, the few remaining Christians in the region will suffer all the more for it.

[DBtoo]

A "religious" leader who advocates hatred and violence like that can't love God. He should be kicked out.

[JudgemAll]

Since when Greek Orthodoxs supported muslims?...

[ZULU]

Hanna represents that segment of the Greek Orthodox Church which pandered to, and sucked up to the Ottoman Islamic establishment in order to preserve its survival under the Islmaic boot. What Hanna and those who think like him fail to recognize is that they no longer are subject to the Sublime Port.

He also fails to recognize Christianity's true roots, the proper owners of the Holy Land and the way Muslims oppressed and surpressed his people in the past, and are continuing to do so today to other non-Islamic populations in the world.

Unlike the situation in Israel, there are no thought provoking mind wretching dissident opinions expressed by Islamic in the Sudan, Nigeria, etc., about actions taken against people who are not their correligionists.

Hanna is a fool.

[a_Turk]

This is not really about support for Muslims as much as it is about a dislike for Jews and non-Orthodox Christianity, the background for which is pretty ancient.

Don't think, however, that this stance is adopted by the Orthodox Christians as a rule. There are a few stuck in the past, still influenced by the slights of the Catholic a thousand years ago or the cold war which pitted western Christianity against mother Russia who portrayed herself as the matron of Orthodox Christianity during the 18th and 19th centuries..

This man and those he represents should be taken seriously, but not seen as representative of the Orthodox majority.

[Radix]

They will never learn.


There is however, some learning to be done!

[Stultis]

when clerics seem to advocate bigotry and hatred of the other and violence

"Seem to"?!? How the hell do you get, "seem to"? He comes right out and encourages Christians and Muslims, especially youth, to blow themselves up and kill jews!!!