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Posted on 01/20/2003 10:05:43 AM PST by Romulus
Officials Disregard His Vatican Diplomatic Passport
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 19, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Latin-rite Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem was unable to leave Tel Aviv airport because of a security search he was subjected to by Israeli officials.
The Vatican's semiofficial newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported today that the search was a violation of the respect due to a Vatican diplomatic passport, which the patriarch showed at the airport Friday.
Consequently, the patriarch was unable to attend the symposium organized on Saturday in Rome by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. During that event, Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald, council president, publicly noted the patriarch's absence.
The Latin patriarch was scheduled to deliver an address on "The Spiritual Resources of Religion for Peace."
In his speech, which was read at the symposium in his absence, Patriarch Sabbah said that the priority task of religions in the Middle East is to contribute to "break the spiral of violence."
Sources of the patriarchate told ZENIT that the Israeli security services not only obliged the patriarch to open his suitcases to inspect what he was carrying, but they also tried to search through his personal documents.
The Italian newspaper Avvenire considered the search a violation of the fundamental 1993 agreement between the Vatican and the state of Israel, which provides for the safeguarding by the Israeli state of the freedom necessary for pastors of the Catholic Church to carry out their mission.
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I'll add that, in claiming that the Holy See "offers next to no reprimand for the palestinian homicide bombers", you're either the dupe of a lie or else lying yourself.
What a grim irony -- and on so many levels.
Bollocks. You're suggesting no one knew who the Patriarch is? Searches of this sort are not standard procedure for eminent, innocent persons traveling with diplomatic passports. Has any US official been subjected to such treatment? I'd certainly be interested to know.
Furthermore, searches of personal documents have nothing to do with security.
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By Ha'aretz Service and The Associated Press
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, the highest ranking Catholic clergy in Israel, abandoned a trip to the Vatican in response to an "exaggerated" security check at Ben Gurion International Airport despite his diplomatic passport, church officials said Saturday.
The Vatican was slated to file an official complaint with Israel, regarding the incident, said Father Shawki Baterian, chancellor of Jerusalem's patriarchate.
Government spokesman Ra'anan Gissin, said in response that no one had diplomatic immunity at Israel's airports when it came to security checks in light of recent terror attacks around the world.
Security agents at the airport x-rayed Sabbah's luggage three times, opening it and rummaging through it in plain view of other travelers, Baterian said.
Sabbah, a Palestinian, had his luggage x-rayed for past trips, but never opened, Baterian said. He was held up by the check by about 45 minutes and was not treated with respect as he stood by waiting.
At first Sabbah, 70, agreed for agents to x-ray and then open his bags, to just glance at their contents, Baterian said. But when they began searching through the bags, Sabbah was angered and decided not to travel.
"Security undertook a lot of measures that were a little bit exaggerated and the patriarch said he couldn't continue this procedure," Baterian said. "The patriarch is a diplomatic man and a man of peace and no one in Israel needs to do these things."
Gissin said Israel is engaged in a "war of terror" and security measures at the Tel Aviv airport were the same as those around the world.
"There are attempts to smuggle weapons in and weapons out and that's why there is tight security," Gissin said. "No one is exonerated."
Sabbah has frequently criticized Israel in speeches, and recently he said the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands was the root of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. In his Christmas speech last month, the patriarch called for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to step down because they haven't been able to make peace.
Security around many Israeli installations in the world has been increased since a suicide attack November 28 in Mombasa in which ten Kenyans and three Israelis were killed.
Two of the Israelis killed were brothers - Noy and Dvir Anter, aged 12 and 14, from the West Bank settlement of Ariel. The third was Albert (Avraham) De Havila, 60, of Ra'anana, a retired civil servant who had started a new career as a tour guide.
Minutes before the blast at the hotel, two shoulder-launched missiles were fired at an Arkia passenger plane carrying over 270 people as it departed Mombasa Airport for Tel Aviv. The attack was a failure, with both missiles narrowly missing the plane.
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A shame, looked like a nice converence. Sorry to hear G-d doesn't like America, but even these guys admit it was The Patriarch's choice. Got a good headline though.
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God is not on your side, leaders tell US
Vatican City - Leaders of world religions have appealed to believers to work to averting a conflict in Iraq as anti-war protests gather pace around the world.
"As conflicts divide neighbours and nations and the threat of war hangs over us like a shadow, too many people see and employ religion as a force of divisiveness and violence. Rather it should be a force for unity and peace," the representatives said at a weekend symposium.
The Vatican-sponsored meeting was attended by representatives of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism and Sikhism.
'Opting for peace does not mean a passive acquiescence to evil'
It concluded as demonstrators staged one of the biggest waves of global anti-war protests since the United States and Britain began pouring warplanes, ships and troops into the Gulf region.
The 38 leaders from 15 countries who attended the three-day meeting appealed for diplomacy and persuasion to correct injustices and respond to international threats.
"Opting for peace does not mean a passive acquiescence to evil or compromise of principle. It demands an active struggle against hatred, oppression and disunity, but not by using methods of violence. Building peace requires creative and courageous action," the statement said.
The US has threatened a war on Iraq to force Baghdad to come clean on its alleged nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes. Iraq denies that it has any.
Pope John Paul has put the Vatican on a diplomatic collision course with the United States by condemning the possibility of a war, saying it is avoidable and will be a "defeat for humanity".
He said conflict always had to be the very last option.
Days later, a Vatican-sanctioned journal attacked the US, saying it was motivated by economics and that a war would spark a wave of terrorism and destabilise the Middle East.
The Pope and other Christian leaders have made clear they would not consider an attack on Iraq a "just war".
To be considered a "just war" by these leaders, all other means must be exhausted and found ineffective and the force used must be proportionate to the wrong it tries to rectify.
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington DC told the gathering that lasting peace would never be achieved until the world addressed the "root causes of war and conflict".
He listed these as the rich-poor chasm, oppression of minorities and the "social evils of globalisation".
The last day was marred by the absence of Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the highest-ranking Catholic in the Holy Land. Sabbah, who is Palestinian and has often criticised Israel, decided not to leave for Rome after security checks at Tel Aviv's airport that he said were excessive for a diplomat.
The Vatican newspaper accused Israeli security officials of not respecting a Vatican diplomatic passport. - Reuters
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Congressman Strip Searched After Metal Hip Trigures Alarm
Security guards at Washington's Reagan National Airport forced US Rep. John Dingell to strip to his underwear before boarding a flight to Detroit.
The guards at the Northwest Airlines terminal did not believe the 75-year-old congressman's explanation about his metal hip, which he received after a horse fell on him 20 years ago.
"They felt me up and down like a prize steer," Dingell, D-Mich., said. "I was very nice, but I probably showed I was displeased."
The private security guards made him take off his overcoat, then his suit coat, then his shoes and socks on Saturday. When he still triggered metal detector alarms, the guards took him to a back room and asked him to remove his trousers.
US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta heard about the incident and said he would look into it, Dingell said.
"I asked Norman to check to see if they treated me like they do everybody else," Dingell said. "I just wanted to be sure that what they did was necessary, that I got the same treatment, no better or no worse, than anyone else."
This is unfortunately true. I think the Vatican should have removed him a long time ago - he's a golden oldie in the Liberation Theology mold, and outdated though that may be, his continued presence is not very helpful to the image of the Church in this conflict.
Um, yeah, sure, he's absolutely above suspicion.
Posted on 01/18/2002 08:59:52 PST by Dr. Eckleburg
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