This man was Palestine's rebel priest and we're sad to see him go

Archbishop Hilarion Capucci was a man of many faces. To some he was a hero, to others a nuisance. 

Known as the “Archbishop of the Arabs,” he was arrested in 1974, and charged with using his Mercedes sedan to smuggle arms from Lebanon to Palestinian resistance fighters by way of his diplomatic status. 

He was exiled to Rome, where he continued his activism, proving that distance is no obstacle to passion. 

He died last week, aged 94. 

His body arrived Sunday to Beirut where he was bestowed a posthumous Cedar Medal of Honor and later laid to rest at the St. Saviour Basilian Order of Aleppo in Sarba – his mother’s town – north of the Lebanese capital.

A native of Aleppo, Syria, Capucci had a history of activism linked to Palestinian and Arab causes. 

The archbishop became the prelate of the tiny Melkite Greek Catholic community in Jerusalem in 1965. This allowed him to travel to many Middle-Eastern countries without being subject to inspection. In 1974, he tried to drive to Nazareth with a cache of weapons inside his car, which included four Kalashnikov rifles, two pistols, 220 pounds of dynamite and several detonators. 

He would be arrested 10 days after that incident, and charged by the Israeli authorities. Capucci defied the court and refused to take the stand, insisting said authority was not competent to try him. He served two years of the 12-year sentence in an Israeli prison, only to be released after Vatican intervention and deported. 

Having dedicated his life to defending the rights of Palestinians, the man remained politically active across several Middle Eastern countries. His activism reached Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Syria and Kuwait where postage stamps were issued in his honor. 

Iran was also no exception. He was dispatched to Tehran in 1979, by Pope John Paul II to discuss concerns the Vatican had with the new Islamic revolutionary government of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Not only did he defy Israeli authorities, he also went against the See of Rome. 

In January 1979, he disobeyed Vatican orders and went to Damascus to attend a meeting of the National Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to which he belonged. As a reaction, Pope John Paul II transferred the archbishop to Western Europe later that year – a sort of slight slap on the wrist one can say. 

He remained active still in his elder years: In 2009, and at 86 years of age, Capucci made headlines again when he became a passenger on an aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip that Israel intercepted: the Mavi Marmara. Capucci and all those on board the ship tried to defy Israel’s blockade, but were intercepted and repatriated to Lebanon. The Israeli military at the time cited concerns about smuggled weapons. Those aboard insisted they were only carrying food, medicine, and toys. 

Commenting on the incident a year later, he said he had taken part in the Gaza aid effort “to meet the tortured, persecuted and wronged kinfolk in the strip to assure them that we are with them morally and spiritually.” 

According to al-Jazeera, he said his goal was “to establish a free, sovereign, independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital.”

President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas praised the Archbishop for “defending the rights of the Palestinian people.” Several Lebanese and Arab and foreign figures offered their condolences, describing Capucci as a great freedom fighter who was renowned for undertaking the bravest stances and defending the rights of the despondent. 

“God is truth and the Palestine plight is truth,” he said in a 1995 interview. “To fulfill my religious duties this tormented people must be represented.” 

And represent them he did.