News,
articles and documents from the Holy Land
Issue No. 196 - Wednesday, 26 March 2003
Dear Friends, Brothers
and Sisters,
I am so sad that this bloody war broke
out since more than one week, and I am afraid that it will be a long one,
because normally you know how and when to start a war but you never know how
and when to stop it, and in this case, I see that there will be not only a
military struggle between to sides but also between to brides and dignities:
The American sense of superiority which will never accept to be defeated by any
other power in the world (the right of the might), and the sense of dignity of
a people defending its own country and land (the might of the right),
therefore, both sides will continue until the end even if it might be the end
of one of them and even if both sides will be losers (in war even the winner is
a loser also because he loses not only money and human lives but also the
humanity of the human being).
I hope that this unacceptable,
unnecessary, immoral and illegal war will stop as soon as possible, but I see
that it is not possible to end it in the traditional way unless there will be a
miracle, because the Americans will not be able to invade Baghdad even with all
their military might because this will mean a lot of human loses from both
sides and even massacres and huge destruction. Therefore, why don’t they stop now
before it will be too late?! I am afraid that after a while the world will be
accustomed to the images of war and death, and will be bored to see the same
news on TVs, while hundreds of people are killed everyday… Even war might
become a routine as our Intifada became a routine for the world!! They need
more action and different interesting and exciting story.
Here things are going almost normal even
if we are also affected by this new conflict in this region. Everything is
going on in our complicated daily life, nothing changed for the best. The world
is worried and occupied with the war in Iraq and is forgetting that two people
are also suffering here.. We are and old fashion story, nothing new in it.
Thanks God that there is not an escalation from both sides, we really expected
that it will be more tough, but until now Israel was not attacked and I hope
that it will not be attacked, otherwise the situation will be worst not only
here but also in the whole region.
Even if nothing happened here, I have consecrated
our parish and village to St Joseph because the war began on the 19th
of March the day of the feast of St Joseph. Our village’s patron and protector
is St Georges because we have a fourth century Byzantine Church dedicated to
him, but I promised that if nothing will happen to our village and community, I
will put an icon of St Joseph in a special place in our Church. People here
liked the idea and are praying both St Georges and St Joseph to protect us. I
hope that you will join us in this prayer not only for our village but also to
the whole world.
You will find in today’s Olive Branch the
following documents which are all centered on the war on Iraq in order to give
you an idea what people here are thinking about it:
1)
“MY HEART IS BLEEDING” statement by Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan, from the Lutheran Church.
2) Pax Christi International assist the people in need and work for a just peace in Iraq and the
Middle East.
3) STATEMENT ARAB EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE: AEI EMPLOYEE SERIOUSLY INJURED, HIS 10-YEAR OLD DAUGHTER KILLED IN
ISRAELI EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTION IN BETHLEHEM.
4)
In the series of interviews : Interview with Sana'a Abu Ghosh who is head of the
UNRWA girls' school in Battir village, south-west of Bethlehem, and is also
board member of the Arab Educational Institute. She lives in Beit Jala.
5)
How sad!! How Brutal!! By Samia Khoury,
simply reflecting.
When will we
understand that war will never resolve any problem but it is the problem?!
Let’s say together:
“No more wars after today”! Am I dreaming?!
Best wishes from
Taybeh Fr.
Raed Abusahlia.
STATEMENT FROM
BISHOP DR. MUNIB A. YOUNAN
MARCH 25, 2003
Bishop Dr.
Munib A. Younan
The Lutheran Bishop of Jerusalem
Evangelical Lutheran Church
(ELCJ)
“MY HEART IS BLEEDING”
Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan
War has broken
out in Iraq. The United States and the United Kingdom together with their
coalition have finally done what they have threatened to do without United
Nations approval. War is injuring and killing civilians, and denying survivors
the basic human rights of food, water and sanitation.
War is touching
the hearts and lives of everyone in the East and the West. The most
sophisticated technological weapons, surgical strikes, careful war plans and
months of training cannot prevent the humanitarian tragedy occurring in Iraq
and in the rest of the world.
My heart is
bleeding when I see the work of war destroying the image of God in human
beings. Every drop of blood is too precious to be spilled and wasted. Every
person is too precious to be killed. We need no human blood for a better
economy in the world.
The Christian
church and its believers around the world have warned that such a war will take
lives – lives that could be saved through continued negotiations and
far-reaching political and humanitarian approaches. Obviously politicians and
powerful world leaders think differently. They are not ready to listen to the
prophetic voice of the church and the people of God in the whole world.
1. Now we demand an immediate halt to
the war in Iraq. We demand that the attacking armies withdraw from Iraqi
territory. Peaceful means must be resumed and new ones must be found to resolve
this terrible conflict.
We here in
Jerusalem are feeling the despair and the sense of defeat in the hearts of
people because the world leaders did not give peace a chance but resorted too
quickly to force. We believe peaceful solutions can be found for complicated
political conflicts. War is a
shock for humanity and for those who believe in a non-violent struggle. We strongly emphasize: This war is not
between religions or civilizations. This war is about an ideology that seeks
power and an enlarged economy. This war is making the rich richer and the poor
poorer. I raise my voice with His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, to say that war
is a defeat for humanity.
2. We want to assure you that we Arab Christians will remain
loyal to our God-given call in continuing the peaceful co-existence with other
religions and in a multi-cultural society. We are committed to teach the world
how to live with the other religions and cultures in a peaceful, just and equal
way. We deplore all kinds of “Christian” evangelical right wing Armageddon
scenarios that have infiltrated the Middle East. We deplore the “Christian”
groups that are using the war for proselytizing frightened people. These
extremist religious ideas harm good relations between people and between
religions and they cause confusion in our region. The Middle East does not need
more of these sick scenarios of war. We need comprehensive peace and lasting
justice. The psalmist says, “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
justice and peace will kiss each other.” (Ps.
85:10)
3. We join
our voices with all voices of the Christian church – especially the mainline churches in the
United States, Canada, Scandinavia and all of Europe, in Asia, Africa, Latin
America, South America and Australia. We join our voices also with regional
ecumenical councils, such as the Lutheran World Federation, the World Council
of Churches, the Middle East Council of Churches and others. All of these
churches, ecumenical councils, their leaders and individual members have
written to us with encouragement, support and prayer. We are asking to
consolidate our partnerships with these churches and councils in order to work
together for mutual understanding of the nations, for the self-determination of
the nations. We also need to work
together to stop any kind of religious extremism that dehumanizes other religions
and nations. Our voices as the
church in the North and South compose the symphony of peace, justice and
reconciliation in our broken world.
Ours may be voices in the wilderness but they are the voices of truth.
4. We
Palestinian Christians call the world to implement the international legitimacy
in Israel and Palestine
so that Palestinians and Israelis will live in their own states, side by side,
equally, equitably, justly and peacefully.
5. Christian
Palestinians are frightened and thinking of more emigration.
This is because they are experiencing war after war and see no future
for their children and their children’s children. It appears to them that the
power of the world’s might is stronger than the power of justice. My heart is
bleeding as I see this defeat for humanity and democracy taking its toll among
the people in my own Christian church in the Middle East.
6.
I APPEAL IN GOD’S NAME THAT YOU SPECIFY GOOD FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2003, TO BE A
DAY OF PRAYER FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION FOR THE WHOLE
MIDDLE EAST – and especially in Iraq, Palestine and Israel. I also call upon people of all
religions and people of living conscience to set aside this day to raise your
voices in sustained and earnest prayer to the God of all Love and Mercy. We
urge you to pray not only that war and hatred stop but that God will be
gracious and open the minds of world leaders and all humanity to see the rights
of the other, accepting the otherness of the other. It is clear that this war
in Iraq is going to fan the flames of hatred and extremism around the
world. We urge you to pray for our
broken humanity.
May
every human being in every country of this world be safe and free from the fear
of brutality, injustice, oppression, hatred, war and violence. May each person
know the love of the Creator God who calls us in Christ to love one another.
Pax Christi
International
Assist the people
in need and work for a just peace in Iraq and the Middle East
The war
in Iraq demonstrates a tragic failure of international diplomacy. U.S.-led military intervention began
without the consent of the UN Security Council, ignoring the warning of a big
part of the diplomatic world, civil society, churches and other faith
communities worldwide. The Holy See has condemned the policy of “pre-emptive
war”. Non-violent means to solve the conflict were far from exhausted. The
disarmament of Iraq could have been achieved without war. Weapon inspectors
have not been given enough time to finish their work. This war is politically
dangerous, culturally unwise and discounts the growing importance of religion
and culture for the political identification of many people. Other urgent
concerns also rise to the fore.
Most importantly, attacking military forces must seek
to ensure that civilian casualties are minimised and that the oppressed
citizens of Iraq re-inherit their country once the conflict has ended,
hopefully in the very near future.
All parties in the conflict should uphold the
standards of international humanitarian law. The allied forces should keep the
standards of international conduct that they are seeking to enforce. This
requires the maximum discretion in the application of aggressive military
action. For example, the use of cluster bombs should be forbidden and the
targeting of public utilities prohibited. Weapons already banned under
international law, such as chemical incapacitating agents or chemical
riot-control agents, must likewise be prohibited. Such use would significantly undermine the Chemical Weapons
Convention as well as the very international norms the U.S. and Britain seek to
uphold. Of course, the ban on any use of chemical or biological weapons equally
applies to the Iraqi military, which has already been warned that any such use
will be regarded as a war crime.
Sufficient resources should be devoted to dealing with the inevitable
humanitarian consequences of this war. These resources should come not only
from the US led coalition, but also from those states that opposed military
action. Intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations must have the
necessary resources and access to the people in need to meet the humanitarian
challenges in Iraq and surrounding countries.
Any political framework that is developed by Iraqi
constituents and the international community must be just and minimise the risk
of civil war. This process will also require effective engagement with Iraq’s
immediate neighbours to assure their own national security. Policy towards Iraq
must also be pursued in tandem with much greater and even-handed diplomatic
efforts to secure peace in the Middle East overall. Policy towards the Middle
East has been inconsistent, and the implementation of a comprehensive plan for
a sustainable peace in respect to Israel and Palestine must now become a high
priority.
Pax Christi International urges all governments to
assist the people in need in Iraq and to create conditions for a just,
sustainable and comprehensive peace in Iraq and the Middle East. We call on all
parties in the conflict to respect international humanitarian law. Pax Christi
International and its national partners will continue their efforts to stop the
war, to give assistance to those in need and to cooperate with people of other
faiths, especially Muslims, to restore confidence and trust between nations.
Brussels, 26 March 2003
STATEMENT ARAB EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTE
Bethlehem, 26 March, 2003
AEI EMPLOYEE SERIOUSLY INJURED, HIS
10-YEAR OLD DAUGHTER KILLED IN ISRAELI EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTION IN BETHLEHEM
Last night, a
former employee of the Arab Educational Institute, George Sa'adeh, was
seriously injured and his 10-year old daughter Christine killed during an
extra-judicial execution implemented by an Israeli army unit in downtown
Bethlehem.
When the army
shot dead two Palestinian militants driving in a car near Shepherd's Hotel (close
to the taxi parking lot at Cinema Square), they sprayed gunfire in more than
one direction as a result of which the car in which the Sa'adeh family drove
was hit. George, who drove the car, received a bullet in his neck and is
presently treated in the Intensive Care department of Hadassah Hospital in Ein
Karem, West-Jerusalem. We fear for his life. His other daughter was hit in the
leg and has been operated in the same hospital. His wife is moderately injured
but is now out of hospital.
AEI members share
in the devastation felt by the Bethlehem community. George Sa'adeh is principal
of the Greek Orthodox School in Beit Sahour and greatly supports AEI by
involving his students in our activities. In 2001-2, he was part-time computer
teacher at AEI and guided Palestinian students in their computer exchanges with
Dutch and Belgian school students. His school has now announced a three-day
mourning period for his daughter. The St Joseph School where Christine was
student, as well as Terra Sancta School, have today proclaimed a day of
mourning.
In these and the
coming days, AEI members will pray for the Sa'adeh family.
Israel's
extrajudicial executions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza –
alternatively called "targeted assassinations" – have been condemned
by, among others, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as a violation of
international law. Numerous Palestinian, Israeli, and international human
rights organizations have also condemned this policy which from 29 September
2000 up until now has claimed the lives of at least 96 targeted persons as well
as 42 bystanders (source: Btselem).
Arab
Educational Institute - Bethlehem
Affiliated
to Pax Christi International
Email:
aei@p-ol.com Website: www.aeicenter.org
Interview
with Sana'a Abu Ghosh
Sana'a Abu Ghosh
is head of the UNRWA girls' school in Battir village, south-west of Bethlehem,
and is also board member of the Arab Educational Institute. She lives in Beit
Jala.
What does in
mean for you to be a Palestinian Muslim?
First I am an
Arab, second I am Palestinian, third I am Muslim. This is my identity: an Arab,
Palestinian, Muslim woman.
How do you view
Muslims and Christians living together in Beit Jala?
We are living here as one family. I have lived in Beit Jala amongst Christians all my life. I never felt I was any different from Christians because I went to Christian schools, all my neighbours are Christian, and most of my friends are Christian. So for me it wasn’t a problem to live here. I am like them. There are other Muslims here in Beit Jala who are less educated than the Christians. They are not poor but they don’t send their girls to high school. They sell vegetables in the market. They are not educated and not middle class, and sometimes the Christians get the impression that all Muslims are like them. But there are of course also Muslims who are well-educated, well-dressed and middle class.
The Christian
environment in Beit Jala is in fact a very comfortable one for Muslims to live
in. Why? It seems that the Christians [men] here don’t look at women so much.
They do not concern themselves to talk to women – to think of them in a sexual
way. They are open-minded. Boys play with girls like brothers and sisters. This
is comfortable for us as Muslims. Because of this many of us here prefer to
live amongst Christians. Christians make good neighbours. They are not curious
or nosy. If they want to visit us, they phone. We like relationships but not
all day long. Elsewhere it's different. My uncle lives in the Old City in
Jerusalem. All his neighbours are Christians. In the morning they go and drink
coffee together, Muslims and Christians. In Beit Jala, we’re not used to that.
We are sometimes too busy. But if we are free we go and talk, and drink and get
the gossip.
Because I have
been living amongst Christians, I know about them. We used to sing Christian
hymns like "Hallelujah, we are saved" at school! [laughs]. I didn’t
have a problem with this because I knew my own prayers. My parents, too, knew this
when they brought me to a Christian environment. I know my religion, and know
where to stop in relations with Christians. I have many friends. But if my
religion says I mustn’t marry a Christian then I cannot do so. We are friends, and
neighbours and so on, but Muslims would not marry into Christian families. This
is forbidden. I know this and they know this.
Are
there any problems between Muslims and Christians?
There is some discrimination in Beit Jala as the Christians are the majority and the Muslims the minority. I should add here that in Jerusalem and Ramallah the discrimination is reversed because Moslems are there the majority and Christians the minority. Sometimes you feel a kind of discrimination against you because of your religion. For example, I tried to work at a Christian institute for higher education but it seems that I would have more opportunity to work there if I were Christian. In other institutions here in the Bethlehem area, Christians are preferred and Muslims will only be appointed when there are no Christians.
Discrimination
sometimes happens over land ownership. The village of Beit Jala originally
belonged to Christians. We were Muslim refugees who came here and bought many
lands from them. In 1990 when my family wanted to buy land to build a house,
the Christians decided not to sell any more land to Muslims. At the start, my
father talked to a man and agreed about the land to be bought, but after a
while this man who was a Christian changed his mind and said "I don’t want
to sell my land." But then he sold it to a Christian man. Most of the land
around Beit Jala is owned by Muslims, especially from the Hebron area, because
they are wealthy and can afford it. The land in Beit Jala is the most expensive
land in the area because it is very nice, very calm, very clean.
Another example:
Doha [a municipal area south of Bethlehem] was built on land belonging to Beit
Jala. But Beit Jala did not want to have that land included in its municipality
because most of it was bought by Muslims and only a tiny bit was Christian. Afterwards
Doha got its own municipal council. You feel that that, too, was discrimination
because of religion.
Sometimes Israel
tries to differentiate between us as Muslims and Christians. For example, some
time ago a cross was destroyed in the Christian cemetery of Beit Jala. The rumour
was spread that the Muslims damaged the cemetery because they hated the
Christians. But open-minded Christians and Muslims got together and said it was
not really possible that Muslims would attack Christian properties in such a
way. The Palestinian Authority began to search and found two retarded
Christians guilty. They had psychiatric problems. The Israelis had given them
money to conduct the vandalism, as a way to create problems between Muslims and
Christians in the Bethlehem area so that we would forget we are all living under
Israeli Occupation. Also during the siege of the Church of Nativity the
Israelis wanted to emphasize in the international publicity problems between
Moslems and Christians. The rumor was spread that the Muslims who were there
for 40 days made things on purpose dirty inside the church. But why did they
take refuge in the Church? If you are weak, you want to be protected, and so you
go to the mosque or the church. This is what happened in 1967, too. Many
Muslims and Christians from Bethlehem then entered the Nativity Church in order
to be protected. We know that spreading rumours about Moslem-Christian
relations is a tactic of the Israeli Occupation, especially in Bethlehem. They
try to distract you from the bigger problems. If you have your own problems you
will not look at the bigger problems.
Our biggest
problem is of course the Occupation. Last year we were under curfew for
approximately six months. Curfews put us under pressure and make us nervous. At
the beginning of the Intifada, the Israelis destroyed many homes in Beit Jala
and both Muslims and Christians had to move to other areas or emigrated. They
fired at my home here… [She takes me outside to show the bullet holes]…..We
didn’t have electricity, they cut the cables, including the phone. A bullet
came through that window. It passed only a few centimetres from my father’s
head. He was convinced that the place where he stood was the safest place in
the house. Afterwards when they were shooting, he told me, "Sana’a come, I
don’t want to die alone." We really suffered for a long time. For a full 20
days we were without electricity and without water. Each time we went outside
the army said "don’t move." All the roads were damaged by tanks – it
took one year to repair them.
What do you think of the PNA’s strategy to emphasize the plural nature of Palestine?
Yasser Arafat
always tries to strengthen the relationship between Muslims and Christians.
Because of this he gives Christians some very sensitive positions in the
Authority and in the Palestinian Legislative Council Christians receive quota.
This is so in order for them to feel that they are not a minority – that they
are rather part of the majority. I don’t mind this. Every year Arafat insists
to attend the Christian celebrations in the Nativity Church. He also married a
Christian woman.
How can
Muslim and Christian Palestinians learn about each other?
The best way to
learn about each other is to do things together; for example, to fast together,
or to have a good meal together as Muslims and Christians; to do social
activities – parties, celebrations and so on, or joint activities in
institutions. Because we are living here in the Bethlehem area amongst
Christians it is easier to learn not to discriminate but to accept those who
deserve it, that is, on the basis of ability rather than religion, independently
whether he or she is a Muslim or Christian. The open-minded people from both
groups try to build bridges. In Bethlehem, there are many institutions who try
to enable Christians and Muslims to relate together – for example, the Liqa
Centre, the Arab Educational Institute and the Freres School, which has been
running a project between Hebron and Bethlehem. There are only about two or
three Christian families who live in Hebron, a town of 180,000. If you don’t
live amongst Christians you won’t know about them.
How
would you talk about Christianity in your school?
In Battir we are
also all Muslims, we don’t have Christians. All the teachers are Muslims
Now the
Palestinians curriculum mentions churches and Christians, and teaches about the
history of Islam towards other religions. From my view, Islam is a very good
religion and we tolerate others. We consider ourselves equal to others, we
respect others. And this is in our history which is taught at schools. For
instance, what is taught is that when Caliph Omar Ibn al Khattab came to take
Jerusalem and the Christians came to him to give him the key of Jerusalem, he
ordered the soldiers not to kill anyone, or cut down any tree, and to respect
others. When he wanted to pray, he didn’t go to the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre. He refused to go there. He respected the other religions and he and
his soldiers went to pray nearby in a place that later became the Mosque of
Omar [near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre].
The Quran says
there is no difference between Arabs and other people. The only thing that
distinguishes people is ‘Taqwa’ – that is, respect for God, or fear of God. So
there are no differences between me and a European. These are the beliefs of
Islam, and all these things are taught at school. We are educated not to be
terrorists. We cannot deny that the Quran also says that we have to fight for
the truth in order to protect the Muslim religion, or if someone wants to
attack us, to defend ourselves. Many governments around the world are
discriminating against Muslims, are saying that Moslems are terrorists.
We try to do
activities through local institutes. Many of my students and teachers share
these activities with Christian schools like the Freres School or St Joseph. In
one project two Muslim girls, one of them from Battir, went to Belgium together
with two Christian girls. There were also four boys and four adults, including
me. It was a very good experience. In the summer camp we formed groups to talk
about the Palestinian problems and many Belgians asked about the relationship
between Muslims and Christians. Some thought that all Muslims wear a veil. We
told them that our religion recommends us to put it on but if you don’t want it
is up to you, and your family and how you live. They think in this way because
of the stereotype about Muslims. In fact, they didn’t think I was Muslim,
because of my hair and the way I look. They thought I was Christian. This is
life and this is how people are. Not all are open-minded. The information from
the trip has come back to our school through the student who joined. During previous
activities for the same project we conducted fieldtrips, and many Palestinians,
both Christians and Muslims, visited Battir and we showed them around. We have
visited many of the Muslim and Christian holy places in the local area. In
general, I prefer to go outside school in order to have a change and to see the
environment.
Next week: Hania
Bitar
How sad!! How Brutal!!
Samia,
simply reflecting
March
23, 2003
How sad!! How Brutal!! I continue to ask why? For whom is this war being
fought? Did Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair think the war was going to be a picnic?
Watching the news for one hour this afternoon made me so sick , that I did not
want to watch any further. The sight of the bodies of Iraqi civilians as well as
the fallen soldiers of the Allied Forces was enough to make me realize that
there is no winner in this unjustified war. All are losers. Even if the whole
regime is toppled down and Saddam is gone, the price paid by the lives of those
innocent men and women is much too much But it is a relief to know that both
Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair were committed not to attack civilians, and to spare the
animals as well. How thoughtful of them to include the civilians with the
animals. But how on earth did they plan to do that when the shelling is done
indiscriminately.. I cannot believe that in this new century and in the era of
human rights and democracy, the United Nations stands so impotent against the
evil powers and warmongers, who have defied the will of the masses all around
the world.
Will Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair be there with those American and British mothers when the bodies of their sons start arriving back home. Will those leaders be able to look these mothers straight in the face and give them one good and sensible reason for their great loss, that might help console them. I am sure they won’t be able to, because there is actually no justification whatsoever for this war. How sad, how brutal ! What a tragedy.
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