Catholic Christians Pray for Arafat, Peace in Holy Land
Christians worldwide continue to express mixed reactions to the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whose death was marked by praise and condemnation
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whose death was marked by praise and condemnation, was laid to rest Friday after his coffin made its way through a sea of emotional Palestinians who swarmed the helicopter that brought him from a state funeral in Egypt. Meanwhile, Christians worldwide continue to express mixed reactions to the death of the towering and controversial figure.
“India and Indian Christians are saddened at the passing away of Yasser Arafat and are praying for him and for peace in the Holy Land,” said John Dayal, president of the All India Catholic Union, in a recent interview with Italy-based AsiaNews.
Dayal, who was a diplomat and a foreign correspondent from 1970 until the late 1980s, frequently met the Palestinian leader in New Delhi and other world capitals.
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“Arafat was a frequent visitor to India, especially during the long period when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister,” Dayal said. “Even during the rightwing rule of the Bharatiya Janata party, when the government became economically and militarily close to Israel, India continued to support his cause. India was in fact the first country ever to recognize the Palestine Liberation organization.”
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who honored Arafat’s death by calling him “a friend of India,” was among the long list of World leaders who paid tribute to Arafat and expressed their condolences to the Palestinian people.
According to AsiaNews, Indian Christians, like their fellow Indians, remember Arafat as a symbol during the Cold War of the entire liberation struggles of the peoples of Asia and Africa against imperialism and neo-colonialism. “He fought for the liberation of his people,” Dayal said, though admitting that “his struggle did not justify hijacking airplanes or other acts of terror.”
But regardless of Arafat’s past mistakes, Dayal said, “India Christians expressed solidarity towards Christian Palestinians several times, especially those of Bethlehem and Jerusalem and other symbolically important places.”
Meanwhile, a condolence message from the Vatican to Palestinian authorities said Pope John Paul II was praying "to the prince of peace that the star of harmony will soon shine on the Holy Land" so that Palestinians and Israelis "may live reconciled among themselves as two independent and sovereign states."
The message, according to AP, also said the pope "in this hour of sadness" was "particularly close" to Arafat's family, the authorities and the Palestinian people.
Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Arafat was "a leader of great charisma who loved his people and sought to guide them toward national independence."
