Olive Branch from Jerusalem

 

 
 

 


   News, articles and documents from the Holy Land

Text Box: “Peace will be the fruit of Justice and my people will dwell in the beauty of Peace” (Isaiah 32:17) 


Issue No. 143 - Saturday, 6 April 2002

Dear Friends, Brothers and Sisters,

 

Escalation of events and violence in every corner in every village, town and refugee camp.. lots of stories and sufferings that needs thousands of books to be written to record the black history of this Israeli government and aggression against civilians leaving more destruction, death and hatred. In one word: it is a real WAR waged by the strongest army in the region against the poor Palestinian people armed only with his will and determination to win the battle because he has the power of the truth and the international legitimacy.

 

I am sure that everything will finish sooner of later and history will write in golden characters the struggle of a people for his freedom and independence. I am optimistic even if nothing is clear in these sad and dark days… because I am confident that Mr. Sharon can never break the will of an innocent people and can never control a people forever.

 

Before leaving you with the following documents, I would like to thank all the churches, friends and partners who should us their solidarity, care and concern through their efforts, letters and prayers. We publish some of it in order to show how much everybody in the world is concerned about what is going in the Holy Land and in Bethlehem. I really hope that this concern will be translated in concrete steps which will give good and quick fruits on the ground because the situation is very grave and urgent.

 

You will find in today’s Olive Branch a lot of documents and stories:

1)      The letter of the Patriarch inviting our faithful to pray for peace, especially in tomorrow’s mass according to the appeal of the Pope. The Patriarch will celebrate the annunciation feast in Nazareth and will implore Mary the Mother of Jesus to help his people.

2)      An immediate urgent appeal from The Arab Educational Institute (AEI) in Bethlehem.

3)      URGENT PRESS RELEASE From the Lutheran Church in Bethlehem in which you can read the DETAILED STORY OF CHRISTMAS CHURCH INVASION.

4)      Rev. George Al-Kopti send us a 2nd message from Ramallah from St. Andrew’s Church.

5)      “End the Occupation:  End the Cycle of Destruction” From Pax Christi USA.

6)      Letter of support and solidarity from the Presidents of the Religious Conferences in the United States.

7)      Letter to Mr. George Bush from the Presidents of the Religious Conferences in the United States.

8)      “Skidding Out of Control?” is the last analysis of Dr. Harry Hagopian.

 

All these letters of solidarity give us hope and strength and show us that we are not alone but we have brothers and sisters in this blind world who see our suffering and care about us… Therefore, thank you.


We hope that the next week will be better than the previous and will be the end of our sufferings. Please keep praying for us and for a real, just, comprehensive peace, justice and reconciliation between our two peoples…

 

With my best wishes from Jerusalem City of Hope                         Fr. Raed Abusahlia

PRAY FOR PEACE

 

To all the parish priests, religious and faithful,

 

The peace of the Lord and the love of God the Father be with you.

 

During these days, we are all living through a murderous and destructive war, taking place in all the Palestinian cities and villages. It reached its peak in Bethlehem, symbol of peace for the world. I know that you are already praying. I ask you to redouble your prayers, so that God Almighty might protect all the inhabitants of this land and put an end to the tragedy that is at the heart of the suffering of every human person all through these long years but especially in these past few days. All of you, those in the midst of the tribulation and those who are far away but who live these trials in deep solidarity with all your brothers and sisters, pray that God might remove this evil from us.

 

Pray for the leaders of this land, so that God might fill their hearts and minds with wisdom. Pray that He might prevent those who have received the order to carry out this war from losing their human dignity. Pray that they might continue to respect the dignity of God in themselves and in their adversary, against whom they have received the order to make war.

 

Pray for those who have lost dear ones, for the prisoners, the sick, the wounded, those who are hungry, those whose homes have been demolished.

 

Pray so that God might give strength to each believer to set out again on the road to peace, built on justice, so that every one might believe that peace is possible, liberated from every false image and prejudice with regard to the other.

 

Only God can save us. Offer the Eucharist on Sundays and each day: organize special prayers, times of adoration, fasting and other acts of penitence, so that God might have pity on us and show us His mercy.

 

I ask God Almighty to bless you abundantly and to fill all of our hearts with His peace and His justice. Amen.

 

+ Michel Sabbah, Patriarch

 

Jerusalem, 4 April, 2002

 

An immediate urgent appeal

 

The Arab Educational Institute (AEI) appeals to you, our brothers and sisters in Pax Christi all over the world, to interfere and put pressure on the US and European governments to end the Israeli siege of the people who sought asylum and safety in our sacred shrine, the Church of the Nativity.

 

Please save the lives of the children, the wounded, the elderly and all the humans who are there, and find a just solution for their continuous humiliation, suffering, lack of medical services, shortage of food, atmosphere of fear, shelling, seclusion and distance from their families.

 

Those Palestinians in the Church of the Nativity, together with their countrymen and countrywomen in the occupied territories, need your powerful prayers and your immediate action to lift the siege and to withdraw the Israeli occupation forces.

 

God will remember you for all your efforts in assisting those in captivity.

“Blessedness for those who are peacemakers because they will inherit the Kingdom of God.”

 

Bethlehem, 5 April 2002

 

URGENT PRESS RELEASE

From the Lutheran Church in Bethlehem
April 4, 2002

At 1:45 pm Thursday afternoon, April 4, 2002, three groups of Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers entered the compound of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem.  When Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb heard the soldiers entering, he telephoned the bishop in Jerusalem, alerting him to the impending danger to the property, to him and to his family.  Bishop Dr. Munib Younan immediately began making telephone calls to the Israeli military and government authorities and various diplomatic corps, demanding that the soldiers be removed from the church property and that Rev. Raheb and his family be kept safe.  The Christmas Church is one of six ELCJ congregations. The soldiers went from room to room in the compound for nearly two hours, breaking into offices and detaining Rev. Raheb in a corner of his office.  When the soldiers heard Rev. Raheb speaking in Arabic on his telephone, their treatment of him became more rude and rough, according to the pastor's account of his experience.  He was then prevented from using the telephone.  Finally a second commander arrived who ordered the soldiers out, spoke kindly with Rev. Raheb and assured him that he and his family would be safe.  The commander and some of the soldiers then secured broken windows and doors facing the street so the property would be protected.  The gift shop could not be secured because two tank shells had wreaked considerable damage. The soldiers left at about 4:10 pm.

We in the Lutheran church denounce such acts and demand that the international community and the State of Israel secure the protection and the sanctity of church compounds and properties.


Noted by Rev. Dr. Mary E. Jensen
Communications Assistant for the ELCJ


DETAILED STORY OF CHRISTMAS CHURCH INVASION
April 5, 2002


It is with great relief that we are able to report that Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb and his family are safe today after a two and one-half hour incursion into the Lutheran church compound by Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers yesterday, April 4, 2002.

According to Rev. Dr. Raheb, he heard the soldiers entering the compound at about 1:45 pm.  The compound consists of the pastor's residence, offices, a guesthouse, a gift shop, an artists' workshop and meeting rooms.  Under construction is a conference center.  Much of the compound has been financed by partner churches.  The compound had been damaged on Tuesday, April 2, when the IDF re-occupied Bethlehem with tanks, bulldozers and troops.  Rev. Raheb had quickly inspected the damage on Wednesday, but was unable to inspect the church building itself as the danger from snipers was too great.  As of Thursday, a quick look from outside the church showed only one minor stained glass window broken, but a complete inspection will have to wait until the troops are gone and the danger is over.

Rev. Raheb telephoned the office of Bishop Dr. Munib Younan as soon as he heard the soldiers entering which allowed the bishop to begin making phone calls protesting the incursion.  Several short phone conversations with Rev. Raheb as the incursion continued enabled the bishop and his staff to give up to the moment reports in phone calls to the Israeli military and the government as well as to European and American diplomats and heads of churches.  Bishop Younan was demanding that the soldiers be removed from the church property and that Rev. Raheb and his family be kept safe.  By 4:10 pm the ordeal of incursion for Rev. Raheb and his family was over.  A second IDF commander had come and ordered the soldiers out of the church compound.

Following is a report of the conversation held with Rev. Raheb after the soldiers left.

 Three different groups of Israeli soldiers entered the property, each group consisting of fifteen men.  Rev. Raheb shouted at them from the second floor, "Get out!  This is a church.  I want to talk to your commander."  The soldiers were breaking down doors and saying, "This is not a church."   Rev. Raheb continued to speak to them, saying, "I am the pastor of the church.  I want to come down and talk to you.  Do not shoot."  He was wearing his clergy garb, easily recognizable as a pastor..

At that point Rev. Raheb did go down to the ground floor and spoke with the commander, insisting this was church property.  The commander said they needed to inspect a particular house, pointing at it.  This house was not a part of the compound and Rev. Raheb took one group of soldiers out to the street to show them how the house was not located on the compound.  In the meantime, another group of soldiers was breaking down office doors, searching through the property.

The IDF deputy commander for the Bethlehem area called Rev. Raheb on mobile phone, a result of the bishop's insistent phone calls.  The commander asked to speak with the soldiers but they would not take the mobile phone and talk to him.  The breaking of doors and searching continued.  Rev. Raheb was continually asking to speak more with the commander in the compound.

By this time the soldiers were on the second floor, now in Rev. Raheb's office searching through drawers and files.  The pastor's telephone rang, and this time it was the bishop inquiring about the pastor's situation.  Rev. Raheb later said, "I believe they thought I was an expatriate pastor until they heard me speaking Arabic and realized I was Palestinian.  Then their attitude and actions toward me changed for the worse."  They closed off the telephone, later taking his mobile phone, too.  "Now you are detained," they said, forcing Rev. Raheb to sit in a corner of his own office.  "Don't talk."  When Rev. Raheb continued to speak and one of the soldiers replied, the soldier was reprimanded by the others.  Rev. Raheb reported that the soldiers' language was vulgar and nasty, cursing Arabs and making threats.  This was the most alarming time for the pastor because this group of soldiers seemed out of control.  The search in the pastor's office continued for about an hour.

At one point the soldiers let Rev. Raheb go to his home to get keys to open an iron door leading to the construction project.  He was able to speak with his frightened wife and family momentarily before returning to his office with the keys.  Once they had opened the door the pastor was ordered to sit once again while they searched the construction site.  Much of this area had already been damaged and vandalized on Tuesday, Rev. Raheb reported.

About two hours into the incursion, another IDF commander arrived. His attitude toward Rev. Raheb was completely different, speaking kindly to him.  "You are not responsible for anything," the commander said.  "Don't worry, you are safe."  This commander ordered the soldiers out of the compound, but before they left the commander and a few soldiers did some repair work on the doors and windows immediately facing the street.  It was at this point that Rev. Raheb was able to go outdoors and see what damage had been done, noting one minor stained glass window in the church was broken.  The gift shop area in the compound has sustained the worst damage.  Part of the building itself was destroyed and the door to the gift shop could not be repaired.

While he was outside Rev. Raheb was told by neighbors that mines had been planted in the streets of the Old City by the soldiers, some of which had already exploded.  The IDF commander confirmed this.  Reporters had begun to gather near the church but the pastor was told not to talk to them, and by the time the soldiers left the reporters had gone.  Rev. Raheb told the commander that he was concerned the soldiers would return but the officer said that wouldn't happen, and a mark was made on the building which indicated to soldiers that this building had been inspected and was safe.

Throughout the experience, Rev. Raheb insisted to the soldiers and the commanders that the church does not allow armed people to enter the premises.  The church compound was not used for fighting, only for helping people in need.

Although very shaken, Rev. Raheb reported that he and his family were safe.  The damage and destruction done to the church compound, however, were very extensive.  We denounce such attacks and demand from the Israeli government protection and sanctity of churches and church property.

Noted by Rev. Dr. Mary E. Jensen

 

2nd message from Ramallah from St. Andrew’s Church

By Rev.George Al-Kopti

 

Dear Brothers and sisters all over the world,
This is our 2ed message from Ramallah to describe the situation after nine days of siege and Israeli occupation of Ramallah, destruction, inhuman actions are still practiced against civilians, streets, buildings, trees, water & electricity nets: one family in the church compound was out of water since five days and was forced to use the rain water for their daily use (thanks be to God that it is raining for a week which is not the usual thing here). April 5th, 2002 at 9.30a.m, the Israeli soldiers hit the gate of the church compound by their arms, they were about 14, when I came out to see, they shouted at me "Open the gate", I opened it, then they searched two houses: one of them is my helper’s, He has three children Julie 12, Labib 9, Lana 4, his wife and her aged father 82 years old, Eight soldiers came in and ordered Raja to open the cupboards, get all the clothes out, moving their M16 guns in the faces of the children, searching under the bed of the poor crippled and old man.


Then they searched the 2nd house by doing the same.
About 9 soldiers ordered me to open the church hall and they searched the offices, the youth room, the kitchen area, the church library, and the church hall and they entered the church building with their weapons and dirty shoes. What I noticed that most of the soldiers are teenagers. They tried to play billiard and babyfoot (The irony is that Sharon is stealing these teenagers their youth and innocence). When the Israeli's lifted the curfew for 3 hours, Mrs. Dabis went to see her house and she discovered that the soldiers entered the house and they destroyed most of furniture in the house, including appliances and personal effects; even the holy cross.

Furthermore, when people went out during the lifting of the curfew, they discovered that most of the stores are empty. There was no fresh vegetable or fruits in the market. Most of the essential foods, like bread and milk was missing from the stores shelves. Many of the stores were broken in and
the Israeli soldiers stole most of the products.


Moreover, the Israeli soldiers are entering houses and detaining young boys and taking them away without giving any information to their families. In fact, one of our church members was taken away from his family without any reason.


Tomorrow is Sunday and our church members cannot leave their houses to attend the service for the second week. We ask for your prayers and support.

End the Occupation:  End the Cycle of Destruction

From Pax Christi USA

 

The terrible situation in Israel/Palestine this week is a bitter testimony to the utter failure of increased violence as a means to end violence. Pax Christi USA unequivocally condemns the recent suicide bombings by Palestinians in Israel as well as the brutal escalation of violence against civilians in the Occupied Territories being carried out by the Israeli Defense Forces. This cycle of violence must end.  Pax Christi USA stands in solidarity with those on both sides of the conflict who have rejected the destructive and fruitless cycle of violence that now engulfs that land. 

 

In particular, we support the efforts of the Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem, Archbishop Michel Sabbah, President of Pax Christi International, and other religious leaders in the Holy Land who have offered to mediate an end to the standoff in Bethlehem. We call upon the Israeli Defense Forces to allow this delegation of religious leaders access to Bethlehem in order to facilitate the evacuation of wounded civilians and negotiate a nonviolent resolution to the siege of the Church of the Nativity. 

 

Our prayers go with US Secretary of State Colin Powell as he travels to the region this week. We are however, deeply troubled by the US position over the past 17 months that a cease-fire in the current conflict must precede efforts at a political settlement. Moreover we are concerned over ongoing US support for the Israeli occupation, support which sustains Israel’s ability to, as Pope John Paul II pointed out this week, impose “unjust conditions and humiliations” upon the more than 3 million Palestinian people living under occupation. It is clear that Israel has engaged in widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure in the Occupied Territories, subjected civilians to round-the-clock curfews, denied them access to food, water and medical services and engaged in summary executions. All these are grave violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention. US financial aid and political support for Israeli activities in violation of international law must end. The US will never be an effective force for peace while it continues to support the forces of occupation.

 

The occupation is itself an ongoing and pervasive violence perpetrated against all Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.  Secretary Powell’s efforts must include concrete US commitments to end support for the occupation and full implementation of United Nations’ Security Council Resolutions 242. 338 and 1402. Pax Christi USA calls upon the Administration and Congress to immediately restrict all US military aid to Israel from being used in the Occupied Territories. The United States cannot be a credible partner for peace while US made weapons continue to be turned upon Palestinian civilians. 

 

Pax Christi USA affirms the call of Pope John Paul II for Sunday April 7th to be a Day of Prayer for Peace in the Middle East and urges all our members, supporters and friends to participate in a Chain of Prayer and Light from April 8-15 as called for by Pax Christi International.

 

Letter of support and solidarity

from the Presidents of the Religious Conferences in the United States

April 5, 2002

 

Your Beatitude,

 

On behalf of the women and men religious of the United States we are writing to you at this time of great tragedy and trial in your region.  We have received your appeals and the reports that come not only from your office but also from others who are eyewitnesses to the effects of the violence and terror in the Holy Land.

 

We are shocked by the violence taking place in the Holy Land at this time.  Every day we read of the deaths of civilians because of suicide bombings and the shelling of civilian areas.  Our hearts are moved with sorrow for the great loss of life and the fear under which the people of the region are living. We are mindful of our own country’s contribution to the crisis by supplying aid and equipment to the Israeli military and the weak condemnations of Israeli violence.

 

We extend the prayers of the religious in the U.S. to you and all in the Holy Land, Israelis and Palestinians; Jews, Christians, and Muslims, who are suffering under the constant fear of violence and terror.  Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones because of suicide bombings or the disproportionate use of military power. The scriptures command us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  We pray not only for peace in Jerusalem but in the entire region.

 

We also express our solidarity for the work you are doing during at this time to call for peace.  The Peace March earlier this week and your offer to serve as a mediator between the two sides are examples of hope in the midst of the tragedy that is taking place.  You encourage us to take our own actions here in the United States.

 

Our Conferences have sent a letter to President Bush urging him to take effective and appropriate actions to call for an end to the violence and renewal of negotiations that will lead to a lasting and just peace in the Holy Land.  We are also working with our colleagues in the U.S. to provide balanced and accurate information to our members and to the people in the U.S. about the current crisis.  Also with our colleagues we are seeking meetings with government officials to urge them to not only support but take effective action to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1402 calling on  both the Israelis and Palestinians to move immediately to a ceasefire.

 

In his own time Jesus, speaking to the people of the Holy Land who lived in fear and occupation said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” During this time of crisis in the Holy Land we commit ourselves to working with you to seek new paths of peace and justice, to speak out as you have asked us, and to help build bridges of understanding which will give birth to hope and human dignity for the people of the Holy Land.

 

Sincerely,

Kathleen Pruitt, CSJP                                                    Canice Connors, O.F.M.Conv.

President                                                                      President

 

 

Letter to Mr. George Bush

from the Presidents of the Religious Conferences in the United States

April 4, 2002

 

The Honorable George W. Bush

President of the United States

The White House

 

Dear Mr. President,

 

It is with great sadness and shock that we write to you as the news of the escalating violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories continues to be reported while it seems that the United States is doing very little to exert pressure on both sides to end the violence, especially the violence directed at civilian populations and civilian institutions.

 

Every day our national offices are flooded with emails from our colleagues in the region giving us eyewitness accounts of the unfolding tragedy, including the Israeli military occupation of Bethlehem University where 12 Christian Brothers who staff the University are being held under virtual house arrest.  Eight of these men are U.S. citizens and affiliated with our Conferences.  We have received reports of the occupation of the Franciscan Convent in Bethlehem by Palestinians. We have received pleas from the heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem to raise our voices in solidarity and concern.  They have gone so far as to offer themselves as mediators between both sides of the conflict if the international community is able to insert itself effectively in the situation.

 

Both Israelis and Palestinians live under fear and terror, whether it is the terror of military occupation or the terror of unknown suicide bombers.  With each act of violence the prospect for peace seems even more remote.  And we are most dismayed that while the violence increases, the international community, and, most distressing, the United States, does little to pressure both sides to end the violence, whatever the source.  We see the tragic effects of the suicide bombings on the Israeli people.  Our colleagues tell us of the similar tragic effects of the military invasion of the West Bank and Gaza where civilians are being killed and residents are being deprived of basic food and medical supplies, water and electricity, and their homes and other structures are being occupied and destroyed.

 

On March 29 the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution that expressed “grave concern at the further deterioration of the situation” in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.  The resolution, supported by the U.S., calls on both parties to move to a cease-fire, for the Israelis to withdraw from the Palestinian cities, and to work to implement both the Tenet and Mitchell plans with aim at resuming peace negotiations.  It also calls for an immediate end to all acts of violence.

 

The resolution strongly condemns acts of violence from both parties recognizing that neither is solely responsible for the deterioration of the situation and both must be held accountable for the crisis.

 

Mr. President, we are pleased that the U.S. supported this resolution.  But that support is not enough.  We urge you to make the points of this resolution key components to any U.S. policy regarding Israel and the Palestinian Authority at this time. At the request of our colleagues in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, we urge you to call for an unconditional end to the violence by both parties and to insist that the Israeli military withdraw from the Occupied Territories immediately.  The United States also has a key role in seeing that both parties commit themselves to negotiations to bring about a political solution to the crisis that includes a Palestinian state and the security of Israel.

 

Our Conferences, representing over 100,000 Roman Catholic vowed sisters, brothers, and priests in the U.S., have a long commitment to working toward peace and justice in the region.  In addition to having some members working there, we have participated in delegations to the region where we met with political and religious leaders, and saw the effects that the increasing violence has had on the lives of the people, Israelis and Palestinians, who live under the constant threat of terror and occupation.  We also have made public statements calling for a clear and consistent U.S. policy that will lead to an end to the violence and the establishment of a Palestinian homeland.  You and members of your Administration, particularly Secretary of State Powell, have publicly called for the establishment of a Palestinian homeland.  This must remain a component of U.S. policy regarding a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. Without it, the Palestinian people have no hope and without hope, the cycle of violence will not end.

 

Mr. President, the U.S. has a key role to play in the future of the Middle East, but we will only be credible and effective if we are consistent in calling on both Mr. Sharon and Mr. Arafat to do all within their respective authority to end the violence, whatever the source.  The cycle of violence must be broken and both sides must be held to the same standards.

 

Our Scriptures urge us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  Our prayers must be accompanied by effective action.  We urge you to take every peaceful action possible to promote an end to the violence and a solution that will bring lasting peace and security for both the Israelis and Palestinians.

 

Sincerely,

Kathleen Pruitt, CSJP                                                   Canice Connors, O.F.M.Conv.

President                                                                      President

 

Skidding Out of Control?

Dr Harry Hagopian, KSL – KOG

 

There comes a time when silence is betrayal (Martin Luther King, Jr)

 

·         Concerns & More Concerns!

 

I was watching on TV the gut-wrenching pictures of the asymmetric war between Israel and the Palestinians when the camera zoomed in for a few seconds on a number of Christian clerics standing at the checkpoint that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem. I recognised the face of the Latin-rite Roman Catholic Patriarch Michel Sabbah, alongside those of Anglican Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, Syrian Orthodox Mar Swerios Malki Murad and Lutheran Bishop Mounib Younan. They, and many other Christians, were trying to cross into Bethlehem to pray at the Church of the Nativity - the traditional birthplace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but also a recent battleground between warring Palestinians and Israelis! These people of faith had decided to defy the political odds and strive to cross into Bethlehem in solidarity with its besieged people - knowing full well that their endeavour was futile.

 

This attempt to ‘cross’ into Bethlehem coincided with an Appeal by the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem in which they expressed horror and distress at the suffering and destruction in the Holy Land, and voiced their readiness ‘to serve as mediators between both sides’. Pope John-Paul II followed on with his own moral call for all believers to build a more just humanity. Dedicating Divine Mercy Sunday [7 April 2002] as a day of prayer for peace in the Middle East, the Holy Father said, ‘It seems that war has been declared on peace! But nothing is resolved by war, it only brings greater suffering and death. Nothing is resolved through reprisal and retaliation’. Dr George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, appealed for Israelis and Palestinians to step back from ‘the brink of catastrophe’. He continued that ‘it is the ordinary citizens of both countries who are paying the price of political failure. This cannot continue. It is the duty of political leaders to work for a sustainable way forward, not towards a dead end’. Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, President of the Catholic Conference of Bishops in England, stated that ‘it is imperative that the international community redouble its efforts to assist in this search for a just peace’. He added that such a peace should recognise ‘the rights of the Palestinians to live in a state of their own, free from domination and military repression, and the right of Israel to peace and security’. Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Great Britain reflected his ‘deep concern for the way in which the conflict was consuming the whole region and compounding the unjust and undue suffering of innocent peoples’. Pax Christi International requested the deployment of ‘an international presence, either in the form of international peacekeeping mission or monitors’. 

 

·         Analyses & More Analyses!

 

In an interview this week with BBC2, former US mediator Dennis Ross expressed his alarm that the war of attrition between Israel and the Palestinians ever since September 2002 had now turned into an all-out war. Whilst underlining his belief that the USA should apply a hands-on approach towards the conflict, Ross endorsed the Israeli need for security from the devastating suicide bombings that have targeted largely civilian populations. But he also linked that sense of security - in first-time clear American terms - with the need for a simultaneous political process that will tackle the root cause of this conflict. The root cause, he averred, is an Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

 

Bernard Wasserstein, Professor of Modern History at Glasgow University and author of ‘Divided Jerusalem’, wrote an editorial in the Evening Standard on 3 April 2002 in which he expressed serious doubt as to whether terrorism could be eradicated by military means. Disagreeing with the notion that Sharon’s war targeted merely Chairman Yasser Arafat as part of a personal vendetta, he identified seven aims behind PM Ariel Sharon’s latest military attacks. He adduced that the Israeli goals consisted of much broader - albeit in his opinion unworkable - aims.

 

·         Crush the Palestinian Authority so that it can no longer exercise effective independent political action;

·         Sweep aside the last vestiges of the Oslo process inaugurated by the legal framework of the agreement in 1993;

·         Restore Israeli security control over the whole of the West Bank and Gaza;

·         Negotiate a ‘long-term interim agreement’ with ‘compliant’ Palestinians that will provide for some form of Palestinian autonomy - perhaps including nominal statehood on a restricted area of the West Bank and Gaza;

·         Continue in the meantime with the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories;

·         Stimulate a ‘creeping transfer’ of Palestinian Arabs away from their land;

·         Reinforce the Israeli hold over the east Jerusalem.

 

Earlier in the week, Gideon Levy wrote an article in the Ha’aretz Hebrew-language daily entitled ‘No Holiday There, No Holiday Here Either!’  His demographic analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict led him to conclude that the crux of the problem lay with the [rapidly expanding and illegal] Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. 

 

Levy traced the origin of ‘the settlement enterprise’ to Rabbi Moshe Levinger who established his first pocket of settlers in Hebron on the eve of the Jewish Passover in 1968. He added that ‘the great success of Zionism has so far realised its major historic purpose of thwarting any prospect of reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians.  Today, the 200,000 settlers are the major stumbling block to an agreement, and they are also an obstacle to the achievement of security in Israel’. He blamed the successive Israeli governments for ignoring this aspect of the problem, noting wryly that no one ignored it at his peril more than former PM Ehud Barak who added a record 6,045 building projects in the settlements. Gideon Levy concluded his article by warning that ‘the violent, lordly, provocative behaviour of some of the settlers, together with the unjust division of natural resources and civil rights, have compounded the Palestinians’ just feelings of bitterness and hatred’.

 

·         Designs & More Designs!

 

But what are PM Ariel Sharon’s true designs? According to Professor Wasserstein again, Sharon’s intentions must be seen through the prism of his actions since he came to power over a year ago. Last December, he wrote, Arafat dowsed Palestinian suicide bombings awhile but Sharon retorted with targeted assassinations. And last week, he added, when the bloodbath in Netanya spared Israel from the need to address the pan-Arab peace plan, he elected a military course.

 

I agree with Wasserstein that Sharon’s seven-point grand design is disputable and is unlikely to achieve its long-term goals. Instead, as with Lebanon, Sharon has plunged the country into a morass. Eventually, again like Lebanon, Sharon’s over-stretched imperial edifice will succumb to the force of gravity. It might push the conflict toward a dangerously higher peak, but it is also likely to leave human, political and physical debris strewn over a wide area.

 

So what design can possibly redeem Palestinians and Israelis alike from another chapter of human misery and suffering? What will provide peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians? What is going to shield Israelis from the age-old tactics of further suicide bombs? What will spare those hapless civilian men and women from acts of desperation that go back as far as biblical times when Samson tore down the pillars of the temple at Gaza?

 

·         Positions & More Positions!

 

There is mounting consensus in Europe that the key to this conflict lies in an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure and recognised Israel. Responding to a recent statement by President Bush that there will never be peace in the Holy Land so long as there is terror, Dr Bernard Sabella, Executive Director of the Jerusalem-based MECC Department for Service to Palestine Refugees explained, ‘there will never be peace so long as there is occupation’. However, the fact remains that the US is the only power with enough leverage to achieve this overarching aim. Yet, many accusations are being levelled at the Bush Administration that it is ‘asleep at the switch’ and that it is now being dragged back into the conflict kicking and screaming!  So, what is the reason for this US bias towards Israel and its obvious reluctance to become involved in the conflict?

 

Writing in the Financial Times on 3 April 2002, Gerard Baker offered three main reasons for US policy-making.

 

·         Many lobbyists in Washington derive their unequivocal support for Israel from the Christian fundamentalists in the southern states of the USA. These Christians perceive no problem with the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, and quote from the Old Testament to claim that God gave the Promised Land to the Jews.

·         The neo-conservative flank of the US Administration (known as the ‘neocons’, and including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Minister Donald Rumsfeld) views Israel as the strategic ally for America in the region. For them, Israel is the bulwark against any anti-American Islamic militancy from the Mediterranean to the Arabian Sea. In this regard, General Powell, US Secretary of State, is the most iconic object of their contempt.

·         Following 11 September 2001, many Americans bracket the terrorist hijackers who hit New York and Washington with those suicide bombers in Haifa and Tel Aviv. They equate suicide attacks with homicide ones and are not ready to draw distinctions between terrorism and freedom fighting. Criticism of Israeli policies is immediately equated with support for terrorism, and they justify their attitude through President Bush’s oft-repeated statement that ‘He who is not with us is against us’ - a reminder perhaps of Vladimir Lenin’s own revolutionary writings!

·         Questions, More Questions!

 

In an article entitled Sharon’s Easter War, Yisrael Shamir writes that ‘[PM] Sharon’s troops invaded Palestinian towns where they effectively eliminated the Palestinian self-rule and carried out intensive searches, mass arrests and cold-blooded executions’. He further adds that the Palestinians did not offer any serious resistance to the invading army because ‘the disparity of force is too big for the poorly equipped Palestinians to take on the third strongest army in the world and because it is backed by its tame American Juggernaut’. 

 

However, Shamir also adds that a second [largely unspoken] reason is that the Palestinian Authority has not become a credible national symbol worth dying for and that ‘life under the PNA remained life under Jewish rule’. I have heard this argument put forward by a number of intellectuals and activists. I might even agree that the Palestinian leadership has not pulled up its socks and made a full effort to improve the daily lives and livelihoods of its people. Nevertheless, this does not give any third party the right to make the choices for Palestinians. Internal accountability, house cleaning and political change would become imperatives only once the Israeli occupation is over. It cannot happen now when the Palestinians have been ‘offered’ ghettos of autonomy with a serviceable Authority that enjoys no independence and is severely limited in its self-rule. In fact, this arrangement is not far too different from the ‘enlightened’ solution proposed to the Jews around Lublin, an area in Poland with a big Jewish population, by Germany during WWII.         

 

·         Suggestions & More Suggestions!

 

So what can be done to close the current chasm between the two conflictive parties rather than extend it?  How can Palestinian and Israeli pain be metamorphosed into Palestinian and Israeli gain?  On 4 April 2002, the Holy See issued a statement on the Middle East crisis and re-affirmed five points which combined tactical and strategic aims.

 

·         Unequivocal condemnation of terrorism from whatever side it may come;

·         Disapproval of the conditions of injustice and humiliation imposed on the Palestinian people, as well as reprisals and retaliation, which only make the sense of frustration and hatred grow;

·         Respect for the United Nations resolutions by all sides;

·         Proportionality in the use of legitimate means of defence;

·         Duty for the par