PLO Official Ambassador Afif Safieh Tells Conference:

By: Thomas O’Herron, HCEF Board Member

    Although the proportion of Christians in the Holy Land has dropped from about twenty percent to only two percent over the last sixty years, Christians there consider themselves “a community, not a minority,” and they play important leadership roles, according to recent remarks by a senior official of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

    The official, Ambassador Afif Safieh, is the PLO representative to the United States.  He gave the keynote address, and participated in a panel discussion, at the ninth annual conference of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, held in Washington in October. 

    Ambassador Safieh, a Christian, has held many high-level positions in the PLO, including those of PLO Representative to the United Kingdom and to the Holy See.  A noted author and scholar, he has been a teacher and researcher at several top universities, including Harvard.

    In his remarks, Ambassador Safieh discussed the prospects for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stressing the need for the active involvement of the United States.

The Prominence of Christians in Palestine
   
    The ambassador reported that under Palestinian law, at least six of the 88 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council must be Christians.   The current Executive Committee of the Palestinian Authority contains two Christians.   Many Palestinian cities have Christian mayors, five of whom are at this conference, he noted.  

    Christians continue to make major contributions to Palestinian society as a whole. “The best Palestinian universities are the Christian universities of Bethlehem and Bir Zeit,” Mr. Safieh said, noting that the vast majority of students at both institutions are Moslems.

    Other Christian institutions, notably schools, hospitals, clinics and social service agencies, provide vital support to Palestinians of all religions, he said.  “History is often made by small minorities,” he contended.  “In many fields, including the arts and commerce, the Christian influence in the Holy Land is innovative and decisive.” 

    Two Christians, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi and the late Dr. Edward Said, are the Palestinian intellectual leaders best known in the United States and elsewhere in the West, Ambassador Safieh stated. 

Non-violent Resistance

    Ambassador Safieh believes that the Palestinian people have adopted a policy of non-violent resistance, even though they have not described it that way.  Pointing to a sustained decline in violent actions, the ambassador stated that to the best of his knowledge there have been no suicide bombings in 2007, and there was only one in 2006.  A strategy which is non-violent but also resistant to Israeli military occupation is essential for the future of Palestine, he said. 

Recent History

    Alleging that Palestinians are the victims of the victims of European history, Mr. Safieh argued that a successful Palestinian state is “a moral and human imperative for Israelis and for Jews around the world, for only they know the price we Palestinians have paid for the establishment of Israel.” 

    He argued that although the Arab world has accepted Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, “Israel has rejected our acceptance of it.”  During the last sixteen years of supposed peacemaking, Israeli military occupation of the West Bank has intensified, the number of Israeli settlements there has doubled, and poverty and despair among Palestinians have increased markedly.

The Path to Peace

    Ambassador Safieh made a number of comments concerning prospects for peace in the Middle East.  Here are highlights:

•    Palestinians are ready and able to negotiate peace with Israel.  It is ridiculous to contend that there is no viable Palestinian interlocutor; the PLO has been, and will remain, the appropriate peace partner for Israel.

•    It is true that the PLO Government does not currently control Gaza, but that is no obstacle to peace talks because the main issues to be negotiated (borders, Jerusalem, refugees, water) involve the West Bank, not Gaza.  

•    Israel can have a partnership with other countries in the Middle East, or it can have military occupation of Jerusalem and the West Bank.  It cannot have both. 

•    In recent years, the weight of the United States in the Middle East has been insignificant, like that of Lichtenstein or Luxembourg.  Now, however, it appears that President Bush and Secretary Rice are serious in wanting to use American influence to press for a peaceful resolution of the conflicts there. 

•    Only the United States has the necessary leverage to get Israelis and Palestinians to agree to peace terms; the battle for Palestinian independence and statehood will be won or lost in Washington.

•    Palestinians are not asking the United States to abandon its traditional friend, Israel, but to accept a new friend, Palestine. 

    Insisting that he remains optimistic despite current challenges, Ambassador Safieh urged others to be positive as well.  “Only optimists make history,” he said.

    For more reports on the ninth international conference of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation visit www.hcef.org.