Catholic Patriarch Implies Settlers Aim to Empty Jerusalem of Christians

Jerusalem’s highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate has implied that Jews are trying to empty the city of Christians.

According to Michel Sabbah, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, “very violent reactions” will ensue if Jews continue to appropriate Palestinian property in the holy city.

He delivered the warning in an interview published Saturday in the daily II Messaggero.

Sabbah, the first Palestinian to hold a top ecclesiastical office in the Catholic Church, spoke of a “dangerously unstable situation” in Jerusalem, which he blamed on “religious extremists.”

He was referring to the 150 Orthodox Jews who moved into a housing complex in the Christian Quarter of the Old City on April 11. Their claim to have legally purchased the property is disputed by the Greek Orthodox. Church, which owns it.

“If this process of appropriation of buildings continues, it would signify emptying the city of Christians.” said Sabbah. “If I look at this affair from the point of view of the Palestinians, from their fate, I have to say there will be very strong, very violent reactions,” he added.

Sabbah authored this year’s Good Friday commentary for Pope John Paul II, who delivered it while celebrating the Stations of the Cross. It was exclusively religious in tone and contained no hint of the current conflict in Jerusalem.

The commentary also did not ascribe responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus, though it condemned the violence leading to the crucifixion. Jews were blamed for the crucifixion for many years, until the Vatican finally spoke out against the practice in 1965.