Saturday, May 9, 2009

The Pope must have a message for the Middle East


Benedict XVI's visit to the Middle East may be a 'pilgrimage', but it is also a political opportunity

Tariq Ramadan
The Guardian, Saturday 9 May 2009

".......Let us hope the pope will remind Israeli prime minister Netanyahu (whose party does not recognise the Palestinian state) and his foreign minister Lieberman that there will be no peace without justice and that the Palestinians' blood has the same value as the Israelis'. Silence on this issue would be to implicitly support Israel: in a time of repression, to avoid politics is politics. Will the pope have the political courage to be a true contemporary religious voice reminding us of the ethical responsibility of the powerful and the equal dignity and legitimate resistance of the oppressed? This was Jesus' message and it should remain so, in Israel and everywhere around the world."

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