Jerusalem Bishop appeals for emergency aid
Episcopal News Service. June 22, 2007 [062207-01]
Pat McCaughan, senior associate for parish life at St. George's Episcopal Church in Laguna Hills, California, and senior correspondent for ENS, Reuters Foundation contributed to this report.
The Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, has issued an emergency appeal for humanitarian aid to Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, still reeling from fallout of recent violence and shortages of medical supplies.
"June 14 was one of the worst days ever, the hospital had to open an extra ward to receive all the patients," Dawani wrote in a letter to the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (AFEDJ), referring to clashes between the Islamic group Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip and the Fatah Party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hospital director Suhaila Tarazi said staff worked round the clock treating the wounded, many of whom were civilians. "It was very scary for us; I consider it the most bloody week we've had in the past five years," she said in a telephone interview from Gaza.
"We received about 80 cases, military from both parties and there were huge numbers of civilians injured. We are a small hospital but I am really proud of the commitment of our staff," she said. "It is a place where you find Muslims working side by side with Christians to save the life of a Muslim or a Christian. We are the only Christian hospital here and we are working to make changes in the lives of many in need."
The hospital, founded as a mission of the Anglican Church in 1882, has been a service ministry of the diocese since 1982. It is considered a beacon of hope in predominantly-Muslim Gaza where about 80 percent of the 1.2 million residents are living below the World Health Organization poverty line, many in refugee camps. About 60 percent are unemployed, Tarazi said. There are about 3,000 Christians in Gaza.
In addition to dispensing free medical treatment and services to everyone, the hospital also provides food and other necessities to the needy.
But services are in jeopardy; the hospital's future a question. "No one is allowed to leave Gaza or to come in," Tarazi said. Medicine is in short supply. "The stock we have will last only for a couple of weeks. There are shortages in dairy products and fuel. The worst thing is that we are uncertain about the future of this area, how we will continue to do our job and to give medication."
Impending 'major humanitarian crisis,' aid agencies warn
A "major humanitarian crisis" is looming in the Hamas-held Gaza Strip, according to Simon Pluess of the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP). Pluess told a Friday, June 22, press briefing that food supplies could be exhausted in two weeks unless an Israeli cargo blockade is halted.
The UNWFP was attempting to move 400 tons of food to Gaza on Friday. "The needs are growing ... Therefore food and other humanitarian supplies have to continue to enter Gaza if a major humanitarian crisis is to be averted," he said.
Israeli officials have said they will release medical equipment, food and other vital goods if importers prove they were relief items.
UNICEF's website also reported delivering medical supplies and vaccines to help prevent outbreaks of disease among children in Gaza, noting that "with little access in or out of the Gaza Strip, stocks of essential medicines are at critical levels."
Tarazi said the hospital's supplies are dangerously low, especially anesthesia."Our stock will just cover 15 days operations. After that, God knows what we will do, possibly stop our operations and surgeries," she said.
A free mobile medical service that has treated as many as 100 patients daily is also in jeopardy. Daily, about 140 patients are treated at the hospital. Last year, Al Ahli treated 30,000 outpatients and about 4,500 in-patients, she said.
Offering humanitarian support is absolutely the right thing to do, said Dennis Hensley, AFEDJ's current president. It sends a strong message that Al Ahli "is a beacon of moderation and mutual respect and of tolerance in a part of the world where those principles are in very short supply."
He said AFEDJ transferred about $223,000 in private donations to the hospital in 2006, an effort which inspired Sue Smock to join the organization's board. AFEDJ is a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization which supports the work of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
"I got involved with them because it's the most effective institution I know of that delivers donations effectively," Smock said. "There is no middle man. The money goes directly to the diocese. Every year we ask the bishop what his priorities are and we work around those."
Smock, a parishioner at Church of Our Saviour in San Gabriel, California, said she began a love affair with the Middle East after visiting in 1999. "I realized that Episcopalians were doing heroic work there," she recalled. Consequently, her parish began a sister relationship with St. Paul's Church in Shefa Amr.
It led to creation of a diocesan Middle East Task Force and eventually, to a companion diocese relationship between Los Angeles and Jerusalem, which adds a "tremendous dimension and richness to the whole experience of being faithful," said Smock, who has traveled to the region seven times in the last three years. "They need us very badly to witness for them. They feel very much forgotten by the world."
Tarazi agreed. "I thank God that this hospital is a good witness for Christians and a good example of the love of Jesus Christ. We just ask for the prayers of our brothers and sisters in the United States. It is a very stressful time for us all, but we shall not lose hope."
A three-month's supply of medicine and medical supplies costs an estimated $30,000 in U.S. currency. Extra emergency staffing and food aid and commodities cost another $15,000 each. Donations may be made via the AFEDJ website at: http://www.americanfriends-jerusalem.org/ or by mailing them to: American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, PO Box 2040, Orange, CA 92859.
The Diocese of Jerusalem includes 31 parishes in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Israel, within the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The diocese supports 35 institutions, including hospitals, clinics, kindergartens and schools, vocational training programs, as well as institutions for the deaf, the disabled and the elderly.