Anglicans in the Middle East Express Anger Over Renewed Violence
Episcopal News Service. October 3, 2000 [2000-144]
(ENS) Once again the Christians of the Middle East have been caught in a fresh outbreak of violence, especially in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.
Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, Anglican bishop in Jerusalem, issued an angry letter to the rest of the Anglican Communion in the wake of renewed violence in the Holy Land. He opened by relating how the whole Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East is "distressed by the current state of affairs in our Land of the Holy One." Riah said the people of the diocese extend "our condolences to all the bereaved families and our prayers for recovery and healing to the thousands of victims and their families who have been injured in body, mind and spirit."
At the same time, he continued, "we would want to register our profound disappointment and dismay at the way in which the Israeli leadership has allowed this situation to deteriorate rapidly."
The October 4 statement added, "We violently denounce the random shooting by the Israeli forces, which began September 28 at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and has continued..." The statement made it clear that church leaders "hold the Government of Israel responsible for the killing and injury of so many and now call upon the United Nations and Security Council to take immediate measures to stop the massacre of our Palestinian people. Furthermore, we call upon them to ensure the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from all liberated and disputed Palestinian territories."
At its yearly Synod Council in late September the diocese met in Jordan and formally endorsed a resolution on the Holy Land that passed overwhelmingly at the 1998 Lambeth Conference of the world's Anglican bishops.
The resolution expressed deep and ongoing concern for the tragic situation in the Holy Land, especially as it affects the city of Jerusalem. It calls for a just and lasting peace that provides for two sovereign states, Palestine and Israel, with Jerusalem as the shared capital of both. And it calls for free access to all holy sites by the adherents of the three Abrahamic faiths -- Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
The Lambeth resolution also said that "the continued serious decline in the Christian community is a substantial threat to the threefold presence in the Holy City. And it contended that "the continued building and expansion of Jewish settlements within East Jerusalem and the occupied territories remains a major obstacle to any just and lasting peace."
In a letter of greeting to the meeting in Jordan, Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold said that "we gladly reaffirm our partnership in the Gospel" with the diocese, adding that "the Episcopal Church is deeply privileged to stand with you, the 'living stones' of the land we call holy."
He added, "We will continue to stand with you as you make your profound witness to our faith and for common justice and decency in human affairs. I deeply believe that, when peace comes to Jerusalem, peace will come to the whole world."
On October 5, the Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, a member of the diocese who is president of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, issued an appeal to the international community on behalf of the Palestinian people, calling for the Israeli Government to "put an end to all provocation and massacres"; for the United States to "enforce Israel's compliance" with United Nations resolutions; to world leaders, "including Arab leadership," to make a "more concerted effort in order to put an end to the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem"; and to "friends" to hold ecumenical prayer services, urging their governments to put pressure on Israel and on the media to portray "the truth of the current situation in Palestine and Israel with honesty and objectivity, and without bias."
Expressions of concern are emerging from the offices of a number of groups and denominations in the U.S. On October 3, the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), H. George Anderson, "strongly objected" to the September 29th entry of Israeli forces onto the property of Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a 15-member coalition which includes the Episcopal Church, issued a statement urging the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israel for "acts of provocation... violence... and the excessive use of deadly force."
"The renewed violence underscores the urgency of the search for peace," said the Rev. Brian Grieves, the Episcopal Church's officer for peace and justice. "We must support efforts to stop the violence and return to the negotiating table. Any other action would be unacceptable."
Grieves pointed out that religious leaders, including Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, recently wrote to President Bill Clinton expressing appreciation for his administration's peacemaking efforts. "Our churches and religious leaders have consistently supported the peace process, including a Jerusalem shared by both Israelis and Palestinians," Grieves said. "And it is critically important that the current violence does not derail those efforts."