The title of the Ynet version
of this story (linked below the New York Times link) is "Vatican body
asks UN to 'end Israeli occupation.'"
One of the Archbishops
said, "There is no longer a chosen people. All men and women of all
countries have become the chosen people."
An announcement like this
would have been unthinkable previously.
----------
Bishops at Meeting Urge Israel to End Its Occupation of Palestinian Territories
By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: October 23, 2010
VATICAN CITY — Bishops from
across the Middle East on Saturday urged Israel to end its occupation
of Palestinian territories so that a two-state solution could be found
swiftly.
In a final communiqué at
the end of a two-week-long meeting at the Vatican on the plight of
Christians in the Middle East, the bishops also urged Israel not to use
the Bible “to wrongly justify injustices,” apparently referring to
Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
But in a news conference
Saturday, the archbishop in charge of the committee that drafted the
communiqué, Cyrille Salim Bustros, appeared to go further, saying the
Bible did not justify a Jewish presence in Israel.
(snip)
--------
Vatican body asks UN to 'end Israeli occupation'
In final statement of
two-week conference, bishops' synod says Biblical concept of 'promised
land' cannot be used to justify settlements
Reuters Published: 10.23.10, 14:00 / Israel News
(snip)
...at a news conference, Greek-Melchite Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros, said:
"We Christians cannot speak
about the promised land for the Jewish people. There is no longer a
chosen people. All men and women of all countries have become the chosen
people.
"The concept of the
promised land cannot be used as a base for the justification of the
return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Palestinians," he
added. "The justification of Israel's occupation of the land of
Palestine cannot be based on sacred scriptures."