In 1947 when Israel became a nation, unfortunately Palestinians were displaced. In one instance, the army asked the villagers of Ikrit and Kfar-Berem to leave their village for one day, assuring them in a written statement signed by the general that no harm would come to their properties.

When they returned the next day, the army had razed every house to the ground. Only the church remained.

In 1951, the Supreme Court gave orders to the army to return the villages. The army did not comply.

In 1973, Archbishop Raya, in a daring stance, went before the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) to fast and pray for three days for the return of these villages to their original owners. His intention was to restore to the Palestinian nation their sense of dignity and self-worth.

In an act of unprecedented cooperation, some Jews joined him as well. Led by Archbishop Raya, 24,000 Jews and Palestinians (both Christians and Muslims) marched together through Jerusalem to begin their fast. They were demanding from the prime minister, Golda Meir, the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling. She did not concede.

Archbishop Raya said, “Peace and justice are dead in Israel.” To underscore this point, on the following Sunday, he forbade the celebrations of all Masses. While bells tolled, he stood with bowed head before the doors of the cathedral like the silent stone before the tomb of the dead Christ.

But even there he continued to sing and proclaim his theme of peace and love. As when the stone was rolled away to reveal the empty tomb, the silence was transformed into a song of hope and light.

When Archbishop Raya left Jerusalem in 1974, for the Jew and Palestinian, it seemed that light and hope had gone with him. But God in his love and mercy raised up a dedicated group of lay people who had caught fire from his zeal and love. Even today, they are continuing to work to renew the beleaguered Church in the Holy Land and to build understanding and peace between Jew and Arab.