THE TABLET


THE INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY Founded in 1840


MR ABBAS’ MANOEUVRES T he scene is an oft-repeated one: a smiling American


president pumps the hand of an Arab leader who holds in that hand the hopes of four million dispossessed people, refugees as they see it, in their own land of


Palestine. Think Jimmy Carter and Anwar Sadat, Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat, George W. Bush and Mahmoud Abbas. This week, Mr Abbas was back in the United States shaking hands with the current incumbent of the White House, Barack Obama – arguably the best-disposed American President yet towards the plight of his Palestinian counterpart’s people. But this time it was significantly different as the leader of


the Palestinians, frustrated by 40 years of failing peace nego- tiations, the latest of which stalled a year ago, was in town with a new strategy. He is pushing for the recognition of his peo- ple’s statehood – sovereign within the West Bank and Gaza, and including east Jerusalem, all of which have been occu- pied by Israel since the 1967 Six Day War – by the majority of the members of the United Nations. It is a bold move by the 76-year-old Mr Abbas, not least because if it fails it will further splinter the fractious factions within Palestinian politics as well as effectively end his own career. If it succeeds, and all the indications are that it could achieve the two-thirds majority necessary if it comes to a vote in the 193-member UN General Assembly, it will raise the pro- file of the Palestinian cause on the world stage and allow access to UN agencies and, most importantly, the International Criminal Court, in front of which Israeli leaders could conceivably find themselves arraigned.


Also in the US this week, shaking the hand of his closest


ally, as Menachem Begin, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert had done before before him, was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He knows he can count on the United States wield- ing its veto in the UN Security Council, Mr Abbas’ first hurdle in the race to recognition, because President Obama has said so. While Mr Obama is in favour of Palestinian statehood and


of using the 1967 lines as a basis for border talks, he has dis- missed the Palestinian request to the UN for statehood as a symbolic gesture to isolate Israel from the world community. Meanwhile, Mr Netanyahu maintains that the situation on the ground, most particularly the building of 200 Israeli settlements within the West Bank, has changed so much in the past four decades that the return to the status quo ante is impossible – a position largely responsible for the peace talks stalling a year ago. One thing that is agreed by both sides, and by other play-


ers such as the international Middle East Peace Quartet, is that if an all-too-familiar degeneration into violence, both in the Occupied Territories, where Israeli armed forces have been training settlers, and in surrounding states like newly ener- gised Egypt, is to be avoided, a rapid return to the negotiating table is paramount. In this light, the emergence of a plan, by which Mr Abbas can initiate steps towards UN recognition that would then be put on hold during a new round of talks, is to be welcomed. Let the next real handshake be that of the leaders of two sov- ereign states taking their rightful place in the community of nations, Palestine and Israel.


A TRULY CATHOLIC CONTRIBUTION I


f the Pope’s visit to Germany this weekend goes as well as his four days in Britain last year, Vatican officials will no doubt consider it a triumph. Crowds thronged the streets in Edinburgh and London; the Pope’s homilies and


speeches, especially his address in Westminster Hall, were well received and admired. The man caricatured as a Rottweiler turned out to be a German


shepherd, who impressed with his humble demeanour, shy smile, extraordinary stamina for a man in his eighties, and for- midable intellect. Twelve months on, the mood of confidence inspired by the papal visit is still evident in the Catholic Church in Britain, with the bishops of England and Wales announc- ing several initiatives to build on the visit, including a five-year plan focusing on mission, teaching and witness. Yet for all the immediate afterglow of the visit, and the warm response that the Pope received from the British, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, the “Benedict bounce” among the general public was shortlived. According to a substantial survey con- ducted for the English and Welsh bishops, approximately 90 per cent of those questioned said the visit made no difference to their own spiritual values. The survey reveals a belief that the Church is out of touch with contemporary society and that the Pope has not apologised enough for the sex-abuse scandals. The bishops’ survey did not make for entirely depressing read-


ing. It is clear from those polled that they see a place for God, religion and virtue in public life, while the papal message that had most impact was the emphasis on the innate dignity and worth of all human beings, including the most vulnerable such


2 | THE TABLET | 24 September 2011


as the old and infirm. Above all, people want the Church to take a strong moral lead on some of the most intractable prob- lems in British society: poverty and exclusion, the difficulties of family life and developing strategies to combat child abuse. It is notable that these are the very same issues which the Pope raised in his address when the new British ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker, presented his credentials. So the Church now finds itself in a position where there is


a problem with its image, but not with the substance: while many people have a negative view of the Catholic Church, they share far more in common with its values than they might realise. The most likely way to combat this misunderstanding is through service – or fraternal regard for others, as the Pope put it to the new ambassador. Remarkable work is already done by many Catholic organisations who have made the sick, the elderly, the dying and the homeless, for example, their con- cern. But it may well be the moment to consider whether Catholic service focuses too narrowly on the Catholic “tribe” and needs to reach out further to society. And if it is happening already, it needs to be more widely known and promoted. The Church also needs to speak up more loudly about the problems that beset contemporary British society: the stresses and strains of family life; unemployment; the exor- bitant cost of a home. A national newspaper interview this week with Archbishop Vincent Nichols suggested that his advis- ers prefer him not to confront government. Petty political spats may well be unseemly, but a prophetic voice should surely be heard.


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