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Yasser Arafat's death:
may it be hope for peace?
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Not long after the announcement of his death, I went to the
hospital to show my solidarity with the Palestinians. The crowd
filled the street alongside the hospital. Their faces were reflecting
emotion and sorrow. Some people were crying. |
The Palestinians were grateful that I was there. With difficulty
I moved forward through the crowd and I finally arrived at the
front entrance of the hospital.
The security services let me through. I was then taken to Arafat's
coffin.
On many occasions, in Tunis then in Ramallah, I had met the
Palestinian leader, who embodied the Palestinian cause, the fight
and the hope of his people. |
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He had become their father. Arafat's force was to be inseparable
from his people. Because of him, his people had the dream of
an independant state.
Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem, but very close to the
holy city, in Ramallah, the besieged city. Peace is not there
yet, but could it be we are getting closer to it? Meditating
in front of his casket, I was thinking that Arafat was rendering
a final service to his people: hope that peace will happen.
The delegate of the PLO gave me a lift in her car to bring me
with the dignitaries to the military airport of Villacoublay.
The Republican Guard was ready. Yasser Arafat received the honours
reserved to a head of state. His casket arriving by helicopter
was carried by French soldiers. What a great symbol! And what
a moment of intense emotion! We heard the Palestinian hymn. The
Arab television stations were transmitting in Ramallah pictures
direct of the ceremony.
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Then his casket was put aboard an Airbus of the French Republic
and the door was closed. A page of history had just turned.
The Palestinians present were both proud and grateful of what
France had done for their President. |
On the tarmac, chilled to the bone, I made a parting gesture
when the plane took off in destination for Cairo, wishing it
were carrying on its board a branch of olive tree. |
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- Undesirable beyond the
Rhine
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I was expected to go to Germany, in Bonn, to give a conference
with Eugen Drewermann a well-known theologian famous in his country
and far beyond. |
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- Kept aside by Rome, he goes on putting in practice what
he preaches. A long term friend I was delighted with this meeting
but once again, I was forbidden to do so. The cardinal archbishop
of Cologne found me to be undesirable in his diocese. I gave
up the idea of going to Bonn.
In the newspapers it was reported :
« For the first time in Germany the cardinal archbishop
of Cologne made use of an article of the canon law that authorizes
a bishop to forbid access to his territory to a bishop from abroad.»
I was sad for the participants at the meeting, for the organizers
and for Eugen Drewermann who I left alone for the conference.
I sent them a message wishing that the interdiction would help
us to go further on the roads of liberty.
How is it possible to announce a gospel of liberty if those
who proclaim the good word do not themselves enjoy the use of
liberty?
If the Church does not make use of it in its own operations,
how can it propose it or denounce it ? |
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I have exeperienced some intedictions in the past. Like on each
of these occasions, I pass my own way to other shores because
no land is a forbidden land to spread the Gospel.
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An age-old poison
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On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I was participating in a
demonstration in Paris against racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination.
The demonstration had been organized long in advance because
of the upsurge of racism, the resurgence of Anti-Semitism and
countless discrimination acts against sex and homophobia. |
I was hoping for a large turnout but it was not the case.
The great masses were simply not there.
The important thing is to be present. Racism is dormant in each
of us. When in contact with exclusion, it can wake up, grow and
destroy everything. When social insecurity and lack of job grow,
racism has all that it needs to come out in the open. And as
always, we look for scapegoats.
The demonstration now approached the square of the Nation.
All around me, people were speaking about Corsica with this upraise
of racism which comes out in the open. Nowadays, people are pressing
the North Africans to leave Corsica. But in wanting to exclude
North Africans, it is also part of themselves that the Corsicans
are excluding.
I personally believe that the root of racism comes from the
same cause and must be fought ruthlessly. Whatever cause it comes
from. It is really an age-old poison. |
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Samia's combat
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While going to the « Chorba », a Muslim association
that serves meals to persons without official papers and destitute,
I met Samia in the kitchen. She has arrived recently and is known
to be an excellent cook. She wants to talk to me to inform me
of her situation. |
Abandoned by her husband who left her taking with him her
five year-old son, she is alone with her six-month baby who is
hospitalized. With no resources, no papers and jobless, what
will happen to her? Furthermore, she is threatened with expulsion
to her native country. How can she leave the country when her
baby has to be hospitalized?
Fortunately for her, the Chorba greeted her with open arms as
a family.
Samia does not feel she is alone anymore. She can face up
to her difficulties because we are many to support her.
Samia confides to me in a soft voice: « I believe God won't
let me down. The Lord is taking care of me ». |
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