Catholic patriarch: Palestinians do have the right to live freely

"The Palestinian people, like any other nation on earth, is entitled to live in freedom and dignity on the land of their ancestors," Latin Church Patriarch Michael Sabbah said in a meeting with members of the Israeli chief rabbinate.

In the meeting that took place Monday, the patriarch urged the leaders of the Jewish faith in Israel to admit that Palestinians have the same right to live as the Jews claim for themselves.

Sabbah said the economic siege and closure of Jerusalem form one kind of collective punishment that the Israeli government has imposed on all Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank. He added that the Jewish rabbis promised to raise the question with their government and to ask for alternative measures to security closures on the Palestinian areas.

Sabbah said an idea was discussed to hold a trilateral Islamic-Christian-Jewish conference, and expressed hopes that such a conference becomes possible.