During the Christmas tree celebration in Beit Sahour on Saturday December 9. 2017, Patriarch Michel Sabbah said : "Whatever the great of this world and the lords of war say or decide, they said: Jerusalem is their capital, all Palestine is theirs, and no place for us in Jerusalem, neither in our land. With all that, we will not lose our joy. We will remain in our land, we will remain in Jerusalem, capital of our prayers and of our daily life, whatever they say and decide."
Following is the text of his address:
On Christmas we rejoice because a Saviour, Jesus Christ, is born to us. The angels said to the shepherds, here, in this town, centuries ago: "Do not be afraid. I bring you news of great joy… Today, in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you," (Lk 2: 10-11). In this we believe, therefore we rejoice, and we pray for our land and for the world, may all peoples, everywhere, enjoy true peace and true human relations. May the powerful of this earth behave as Prophet Isaiah says: "They will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation. No more will they learn to make war" (Is 2: 4).
But, in these days, our oppressors have decided to deprive us from the joy of Christmas. They decided to offer us war instead of peace.
However, whatever the great of this world and the lords of war say or decide, they said: Jerusalem is their capital, all Palestine is theirs, and no place for us in Jerusalem, neither in our land.
With all that, we will not lose our joy. We will remain in our land, we will remain in Jerusalem, capital of our prayers and of our daily life, whatever they say and decide.
We light the Christmas tree this evening. Jesus came to be the light of the world (cf Jn 1:5). With his light we look and see all what happened in the Arab world: death and destruction. On all that, we shed the light of Christmas, light that invites the powerful of this world to convert to justice, love, compassion, and to put an end to all human oppression.
With Christmas' message, we walk, we continue our journey. We say to our oppressors who see that our existence here is not wanted: we are the people of the land, and of Jerusalem. Here we remain, with you if you want. There is enough place for us and for you, but not at our expenses.
Today we celebrate Christmas.
We walk on a way in which we see God, and we see that the greatest power granted by God to man is love, not war. We see that no human injustice can be referred to God.
With our love, we organize our resistance to all kinds of evil, to all injustice, to occupation imposed upon us. The land will remain our land, and vast enough for us and for you, and Jerusalem will remain our capital and yours.
We are strong, though we have no weapons, even because we have no weapons. With your weapons you can kill us; You also kill the human being in yourselves. The true way of life is the way made by God for us all, the way of love and justice for all.
With this Christmas, after the decision solemnly declared in these past days, we begin a new phase in the history of our land. Mr Trump told us clearly, not only, Jerusalem is not yours, but also there is no place fr you in all Palestine. this is the new reality with which we have to live.
This new phase, envisaged for us, we make it a new phase of truth, affirming that in our land we have place. We decide for ourselves. Non one decide for us. No one can deprive us from our land. Based on this truth, we have to develop a new vision and a new action, a new way of resistance. We will make this new phase in our history, a phase of life, freedom and dignity, for us and for all. We keep saying no to death, yes to life, no to war, yes to peace, no to occupation, yes to freedom and equality. I say to all of us, Palestinians: we have to find a new way for freedom. Do not go to death, go to life. To the Israelis I say: take your soldiers back home. Make what Prophet Isaias says: "Hammer your swords into ploughshares and your spears into sickles" (cf Is 2: 4) Your only salvation is peace, a just peace with the Palestinians. War or weapons do not guarantee salvation or survival. Peace with the Palestinians do.
This is this Christmas' message. It is peace, truth, justice, equality for all. For all of us, even those who say war: all of us we should become able to hear the angels message: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to all the people of peace" (Lk 2: 14).
