Forming an Arab lobby to address the West is a must
Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark Diocese on Wednesday underlined the necessity of forming an Arab lobby that could address the West with the diction they could understand.
Pope Shenouda, in an interview with the BBC, in Cairo, said that he did not take part in a recent meeting held in Alexandria, grouping Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and two rabbis, because the meeting was futile in so far as the stances of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did not change.
Pope Shenouda noted that Sharon has been handling the whole matter in his own way and did not listen to any appeals or calls.
He noted that if the Arabs would be powerful enough, things would change greatly.
He clarified that power does not mean military power but rather the power to exercise pressures.
Pope Shenouda remarked that the Israelis are occupying, since 1970, the Deir Al-Sultan church in east Jerusalem by force and did not implement a ruling issued by the Jewish Supreme Court in favour of the church.
