Haaretz
Adar2 28, 5765
Atala Hanna, who until
recently served as the spokesman of the Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, on
Thursday called the church's leader in Israel, Patriarch Irineos I, an
"Israeli agent who must be fired and stand trial."
Hanna, the most
senior of the priests who attended a Nazareth conference of the Arab
Orthodox community, is known for his opposition to Irineos and called on
all clergymen to disobey the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy's
leadership.
The conference was organized by a body of public
Orthodox councils who tend to the community's secular needs. Delegates
were almost unanimous in demanding the patriarch's resignation. The calls
came on the heels of reports claiming that church officials leased
church-owned property in East Jerusalem to Jews.
A week ago, the
patriarch's bookkeeper said he signed a contract leasing church-owned
property in Jerusalem's Old City. The bookkeeper said the transaction was
ordered by Irineos I, and other reports said property was not only leased,
but sold.
The conference was also attended by leaders of the Druze
and Muslim communities, including MKs, council heads, clergymen and
representatives of the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee.
Delegates
stressed that church property was entrusted to Irineos and that he has no
right to sell or lease them without the consent of community members. The
conference secretary Dr. Khalil Andreos said that Patriarch Irineos did
not provide clear answers regarding his responsibility over the Jerusalem
land deals, and is therefore asked to resign. Andreos added that the issue
was not an internal church matter, stating that the Arab character of
Jerusalem was a national Palestinian matter that is important to
representatives of all Arabs regardless of religious
denomination.
"We don't want Irineos to go and take the assets with
him. He must stand trial like any traitor would," Hanna said.
Hanna
said that Irineos issued a statement Thursday demanding that church
members accept his authority, "but we say that whoever leads the church
must respect it and its rules before asking for our obedience."
The
committee's closing statement did not only seek the patriarch's
resignation. It also demanded the cancellation of all real estate deals
signed by Irineos, as well as any power of attorney he may have granted to
"suspicious" elements.
The statement also demanded administering
Jordanian law on all church property in Jerusalem, in a bid to prevent its
sale or lease and seeks to establish a joint religious committee which
will oversee all Arab properties in Israel. The conference also called for
more senior roles for Arabs within the church, as all senior positions in
the church today are held by Greeks.
Nazareth Mayor Ramez Jerayssi
called on the governments of Jordan and Greece to work together to
retrieve all lands sold by the patriarchy, and stressed that the
conference did not consider the Greek government or people enemies.
Jerayssi added, however, that condemnations of land sales would not
suffice and that concrete steps must be taken on the matter.