Last update - 00:00 20/12/2006
Israeli religious leaders' meeting ends with spat over term 'occupation'
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
Top Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze leaders who met on Tuesday for a television program on religious dialogue found themselves unable to agree on the use of the term "occupation" in a statement on ending violence in the region.
The program, called "Interreligious Dialogue," was produced by Israel's Arabic TV station and will be aired at 7 P.M. tonight on Channel 33.
The founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Abdullah Nimr Darwish, had spent a long time trying to bring the religious leaders together for what was dubbed a "historic meeting," and suggested that the participants meet again on a regular basis in an effort to find a shared basis among the region's various religions.
But in Tuesday's debate, the religious leaders found it hard to agree on the wording of the statement.
"Are you prepared to fundamentally condemn the occupation?" the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, asked Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar. "The occupation is a mistake ... The question is simple: What do you, as a Jewish religious figure, say about the occupation - that one nation occupies another nation?"
Amar responded that he does not agree with the use of the word "occupation."
"The blessed God, creator of the heavens and earth, gave the Land of Israel to the people of Israel," he said. "I don't call that occupation. The principle must be clear: There is a land that belongs to the Jews and there are parts of it that belong to the Palestinians."
At that point, Darwish jumped in.
"The diplomats have already progressed more than us," he said. "We have to be the cold water that puts out the fire, not fanning it. What causes us to lag behind?"
The spiritual leader of the Druze community, Sheikh Mowafak Tarif, contended that the other participants were ignoring the Druze.
"Unfortunately, we're sitting here and seeing the Jewish, Christian and Muslim brothers ignoring the Druze," he said. "We live here, have an influence here, and we have brothers in Syria and in Lebanon who are very influential. So what is our message if we ignore each other?"