” “"This year, we celebrate Christmas when we are still, as usual, in search of a peace that seems impossible to achieve. Palestinians and Israelis can still live together in peace, each one in its own territory, each one enjoying its own security, dignity and rights. But to achieve peace we have also to believe that Israelis and Palestinians are perfectly equal, with the same rights and the same duties, and finally we have to opt for God’s ways, which are not the ways of violence, whether generated by the state or by extremism". This is one of the key passages from the Christmas message, announced this morning in Jerusalem, of the Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah. Many are its references to the current issues, first and foremost to Lebanon and Iraq: "all the region is upset because of the conflict in the Holy Land. In Lebanon and Iraq, as well as here, the forces of evil seems to have been unleashed, determined to keep walking along the ways of death, exclusion and domination. Despite this, we believe God has not left us to the forces of evil. But the Annapolis Conference too: "a new peacemaking effort has been made in the last few weeks writes the Patriarch . For it to succeed, there must be a firm will to make peace. There has been no peace so far simply because there was not will to make it". (continued)” “
