VATICAN CITY, OCT. 8, 2001 (ZENIT.org–Fides).- In the wake of military campaign against Afghanistan, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, Maronite patriarch of Antioch, said that the «U.S. attack will not resolve the question. There will be new terrorist attacks.»
In this interview, Patriarch Sfeir comments on the situation developing in the Middle East, following the British-American attack on Afghanistan.
–Q: Your Beatitude, what do you think of the Allied operations in Afghanistan?
–Patriarch Sfeir: The attack was inevitable. Public opinion had to be calmed, but will this attack solve the problem? There will be other terrorist attacks in other places. The intention is to plunge the world into fear. They [the terrorists] fear nothing; they have nothing to lose.
–Q: What future do you see?
–Patriarch Sfeir: The situation is very difficult. Perhaps, it could have been settled through dialogue and justice, as the Pope keeps insisting. Dialogue and justice, in particular social justice, must be distributed in the world. None of this was done.
In any case, I do not see this as a war against Islam, or a conflict of civilizations. This war has only one reason: injustice, in particular, in regard to the situation of Palestine and Israel. It is unacceptable that every day there are victims, people who suffer, claims that go unanswered.
This is why I think that, with a just solution to the Israel-Palestine situation, tension could lessen.
–Q: Will Christians be endangered in the Middle East?
–Patriarch Sfeir: There are terrorist and fundamentalists everywhere, among Muslims and Christians. Wise men and wise governments must carefully watch those who could take advantage of the situation for new disorder.
