Palestinian Christian community responds to Holy Week restrictions

The Palestine-Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF) has issued an alert regarding the rights of Christians to worship during Holy Week.

8 April 2011

Dear friends,

The Palestinian Christian initiative Kairos Palestine has issued a statement spelling out the position of the Palestinian Christian community concerning Israeli imposed restrictions on religious rights, especially during Holy Week.

The statement notes that “for Christians, Holy Week in Jerusalem has a special spiritual connection.” It says that the various gathering points to which pilgrims from all over the world journey, namely the Old City, its gates and roads, the Mount of Olives, Via Dolorosa and The Holy Sepulchre Church, are equally important to the Palestinian Christians of the West Bank and Gaza.

The statement underlines the strong desire of Christians in the West Bank and Gaza “to join their Jerusalemite Christian brothers and sisters in the liturgical events leading to the resurrection, the holiest celebration in Christianity”.

The statement points out that “in every country that respects (and practices) freedom of worship, they do so without “restrictions from the governing authorities”. It proceeds to bemoan the fact that the occupying power has denied free access to Holy places of worship to both Christians and Muslims on several important occasions over the last decade.

This discriminatory and restrictive policy by Israel allows only 8000 pilgrims and few hundreds of locals to enter the city on Holy Fire Saturday. The Holy Sepulchre Church and other crucial religious sites are rendered “off limits for Christians through a complex network of walls, checkpoints, and security apparatuses”.

Traditionally, Palestinian Christians welcome The Holy Light seated on the roof of the Patriarchate and at the Church of Saint Jacob, adjoining the Holy Sepulchre. This religious tradition is something they are unwilling to forfeit because it is a violation of a fundamental human rights and a restriction on their right to religious freedom. It further upsets a centuries old tradition for the Palestinian Christians.

Kairos Palestine decries this unjust and one-sided policy which compels Christians and Muslims to apply for permits to enter while Jews continue to have free access. At best, not more than two or three thousand Palestinian Christians will receive entry permits. The permit system instated by Israel is in obvious violation of various Human Rights, international covenants and treaties to which Israel is a signatory.

Kairos Palestine rejects “the imposition of a permit/quota system to access our churches and shrines”. The Kairos statement points to how “the heavy presence of Israeli Police and Military forces prevents Christians from accessing the Holy Sepulchre Church and the Old City” thus disturbing the spiritual atmosphere of Easter”. The presence of Israeli commanders in and around the Tomb of Christ under the pretext of security is unacceptable.

The Kairos statement states that such actions taken against Palestinian Christians are an affront not only to them, the first and oldest Christian community in the world, but also to Christianity as a whole.

The Palestine-Israel Ecumenical Forum urges churches around the world to support the call of Kairos Palestine which invites “all our leaders, friends, brothers and sisters around the world to continue exerting pressure on Israel, to end its military occupation on this land and to respect international law and human rights”. In terms of practical measures, Kairos Palestine urges:

• Church leaders not to submit and accept the conditions that deprive indigenous and international worshippers of the joy of celebrating Easter.


• Letters to political representatives to pressure Israel by political means to end its restrictions on the freedom to religion in general and with regard to the Easter celebrations in particular.


• Letters of protest to Israeli ambassadors in your countries complaining against such actions.

Click here for the full text of the statement from Kairos Palestine.

Ranjan Solomon, PIEF communications consultant

For more on advocacy actions by churches around the world please see http://pief.oikoumene.org

David Housholder: `Being Pro-Israel?'

I sometimes read Pastor David Housholder's blog. I knew his dad and mom, Tom and Delphine, back in the 1970s when I first worked at the former American Lutheran Church. Dave was an earnest high school kid who sometimes came along with his dad on dark winter nights to pick up Delphine at the Lutheran Vespers office.

Someone recently forwarded this blog post, "Being Pro-Israel?" - which has some interesting points. Here's a link to the post: http://robinwoodchurch.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/being-pro-israel/

[From David Housholder's Journal]

Being Pro-Israel?

March 21, 2011

If you are a conservative or a Christian (I am both), one of the boxes you seem to have to “tick” is “pro-Israel.”

This also seems to imply, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim.

I am a great admirer of Israel. They have the best democracy and the most vital and diversified economy (from electronics to agriculture) in the Middle East.

The Israeli national anthem “Ha-Tikvah” stirs me emotionally.

The Hebrew Bible is one of my happy places. Our congregation, Robinwood Church, is preaching through the Psalms (have been at it for a year and a half).

One of my mentors, Prof. Dr. Ralph Gehrke, read Isaiah in Hebrew with me every Saturday for ages.

However, I find that some of the black-and-white pro-Israel sentiment in the circles in which I run is often un-reflected at best. Ignorant at worst. Here are some random thoughts:

• We don’t need to “defend Israel.” They have a formidable military and a credible nuclear deterrent. We have never fired a shot in defense of Israel and have never needed to intervene to help them. They buy our arms. Fine. So do many Arab states.


• We need to focus less on the Eastern Hemisphere and more on the Western Hemisphere. We have a fixation on the Middle East. Because we import oil? Most of our imported oil comes from Canada, Mexico, and South America. We are only 4% of the world population, and the main reason for our budget deficit is our bloated “police the whole world” military. We got entangled in the Eastern Hemisphere during McKinley’s term (Philippines) and we have been messed up ever since, with very little to show for it. The Founding Fathers warned us against “entangling alliances” in the Old World. We have the resources to make the Western Hemisphere a democratic, prosperous heaven on earth.


• Although there is much overlap, biblical Israel and modern Israel are not exactly the same thing. Modern Judaism was hatched after the New Testament was written, when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, and they had to reinvent themselves. As did Christianity, Judaism had a Reformation in the 1500s (the hasidic/lurianic impulse) that still affects them to this day.


• You can’t draw a straight ethnic line between ancient Israel and the modern state of Israel. Golda Meir was born in Milwaukee. Most of modern Israel has Rhineland into Eastern European (Ashkenazi) and Spanish/Portuguese (Sephardi) bloodlines. Middle Eastern DNA roots among them are sketchy at best. You can look up Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewish lineage on Wikipedia.


• The main tribe (of the 12) remaining somewhat intact is the tribe of Judah. From which we get the word “Jew.” The “ten lost tribes” are, well…lost. The tribe of Judah was NOT given the entire holy land, only a county-sized area around Jerusalem. The tribe of Judah can lay no biblical claim to the northern West Bank (Samaria), the area around Tel Aviv, the areas of Galilee and the Golan Heights. God never, in the whole Old Testament, gave the entire land of Israel to the tribe of Judah. The other tribes are gone, as are their claims. It’s like Texans coming back after centuries and laying claim to the whole former USA territory. Not saying that Jews all over Israel (or anywhere in the world for that matter) don’t have a right to their homes, I’m just saying that their saying “the Bible says so” is overstated. There is another tribe, Levi, from which we get the Kohenim (priests), but they were, expressly according to the Bible, to be given no land. Just for the record, I believe Jews (and all of us) have a right to own land anywhere in the world, including the West Bank and Gaza, if they want to buy it. Being a libertarian, I believe in open borders.


• There are lots of Palestinian Arab Christians. But conservative US Christians prefer non-Christian Israeli Jews over them anytime. They actually got angry when a Palestinian Christian got elected to be the head of the Lutheran World Federation. A pastor told me last week: “He’s probably really a Muslim.”


• I often hear people say “God is pro-Israel so I am pro-Israel.” It’s simply not that simple. The Israelites were the “good guys” in the Bible, so anyone who uses the label Israel today must be the “good guy.” Often, but not always. Israel was very fallible in the Old Testament, and not always the object of admiration. You could bring that line or reasoning to its breaking point by being “Pro-Ahab” because he was the king of Israel. And using the label “Israel” today, which modern Israel has more of a right to do than anyone else, does not equate you with biblical Israel. The two nations (biblical and modern) are deeply related, but not identical.


• The Bible is ambiguous as to whether Israel is a physical or a spiritual nation. Galatians 6:16 makes it clear that the two are not necessarily mirror images of each other (you can be one without being the other).


• The Bible is also ambiguous as to whether or not the promise of the land (ha-aretz) is conditional upon Israel’s faithfulness, or permanent. According to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, only 57% of Israelis believe in a “higher power.” Israel is a much more secular nation than the United States.

Not asking anyone to be anti-Israel. The whole world should love and admire Israel. Modern Israel is an amazing nation. I tip my hat to them. I want to see them prevail. They have much to add to the world.

Just asking us to consider de-emphasizing our American fixation with the Eastern Hemisphere in general and the Middle East in particular. Had we stayed in the Western Hemisphere, our homeland, the New World; well then, Pearl Harbor and 9-11 would never have happened.

Also asking us to question the “straight line” thinking that equates ancient Israel with modern Israel. One was the mother nation of us all, at some level. The other is a different and amazing contemporary society. Sure, there are deep connections. But there are also some disconnects.

Your thoughts?

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Post them to Dave's blog: http://robinwoodchurch.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/being-pro-israel/

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CMEP: Challenges and Obstacles

Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP's) recent bulletin is full of information and links. I'm a little tardy in getting it out. Been busy with EAPPI planning and a debriefing of marvelous accompaniers from Groups 37 & 38.

I've re-arranged the CMEP bulletin just a smidge, putting the important statistical info up top. Ann

CMEP Bulletin
March 18, 2011
Challenges and Obstacles
View this email online

Statistics update
In the past two weeks, the Israeli government has demolished 65 Palestinian structures and displaced 119 Palestinians, including 42 children, according to the latest report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Meanwhile, a separate OCHA report revealed that in February, Israeli authorities rejected 364 applications submitted by Palestinian West Bank ID holders to legalize their current residency in East Jerusalem.

You can learn more about the UNOCHA’s work in the Palestinian territories here.

Itamar Atrocity Fallout
Late on Friday March 11, a young Israeli couple and three of their young children were brutally murdered in the West Bank settlement of Itamar, located near the northern city of Nablus. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad immediately denounced the murders and President Mahmound Abbas expressed his horror in an interview on Israeli radio and in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

In response to the tragic killing, the Israeli government on Sunday, March 13 approved the construction of several hundred new homes in West Bank settlements. Settler groups have complained recently that approval of new construction by Israeli authorities has been slow, and Netanyahu has complained to his party members that he is under intense international pressure not to go ahead with new settlement construction. In a visit to Itamar after the announcement of authorizing new construction, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “they murder, we build.” In response, a surviving sister of the murdered children replied, “Will the Americans let you?”

Israeli Foreign Minister and leader of the opposition party Tzipi Livni said in response to Netanyahu’s announcement, "The cycle of terrorism and building that the prime minister has been caught up in is not the correct cycle. We do not set long term policy based on a singular event, even one as terrible as this… It is not enough to call for the world to criticize terror. Our ability to gain legitimacy to fight terror depends on our attempts to reach agreement [with Palestinians]."

The United States also criticized the announcement of new construction, saying that the U.S. saw “these settlements as illegitimate and as running counter to efforts to resume direct negotiations.”

CMEP released a statement this week that condemned the murders and decried such violence as symptomatic of a stagnant peace process.

Netanyahu in Bind
The Israeli response to the murders in Itamar throw into sharp relief the divisions within Israeli society and the challenges that Prime Minister Netanyahu faces in confronting internal Israeli politics.

On the one hand, the European community—and particularly the United Kingdom, France and Germany—is increasingly impatient at the lack of progress in negotiations. As Philip Stevens notes in the Financial Times, the Europeans view the current instability in the Middle East as making such talks all the more urgent, and have recently indicated that they may push the Middle Eastern Quartet to publish specific parameters of a peace deal, a move that Israel opposes.

On the other hand, Netanyahu is under pressure from his right wing to press on with settlements. The decision to allow further construction was a gesture to this base in the wake of the horrific violence in Itamar.

In the face of these competing pressures, Netanyahu’s strategy appears to be delaying action whenever possible. He recently made known that he is planning to make a major policy speech; this was enough for the Middle East Quartet to postpone its meeting scheduled for this week until mid-April.

Given the rising tensions in the region and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is not clear how much longer the Prime Minister can delay making a proposal to the Palestinians on final status issues.

Unity Movement
The popular uprisings that have roiled the Middle East for the past two months have not gone unnoticed within the Palestinian Territories.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of the West Bank and Gaza on March 14 to call for an end to the Hamas-Fatah dispute that has divided the Palestinian people since 2007.

In response, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas announced he will travel to Gaza in order to attempt to form a new government. The visit would be Abbas’ first to Gaza since Hamas took power in June 2007.

Israeli officials viewed the unification efforts skeptically. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his commitment not to deal with any Palestinian government that included Hamas.

Arms into Gaza
In a reminder of just how precarious Israel’s security context is, two arms shipments to Gaza were intercepted over the past week.

The first shipment was intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea and contained 50 tons of Iranian-made weapons, including sophisticated missiles that Hamas is not known to possess. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued that the weapons seizure justified Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza. “To all of those who questioned and attacked and criticized Israel for stopping Gaza-bound ships in order to check them, there is the answer,” he said.

The second shipment was intercepted in southern Egypt, along a Bedouin smuggling route. The shipment included ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades and was seized by Egyptian forces along its border with Sudan.

CMEP Advocacy Conference
Register today for CMEP’s 2011 Advocacy Conference, For the Peace of Jerusalem. We are excited to announce that Archbishop Elias Chacour will be speaking at the conference. We are working on an exciting line up of speakers and workshops for the May 22 – 24th event. Add your name soon to make sure you get the Early Bird registration rate (enter code "gets the worm). Find out more.

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Sabeel's March 17, 2011, Wave of Prayer

I meant to get this out yesterday, Thursday, to coincide with Sabeel's weekly "Wave of Prayer." Last fall I joined the staff and friends of Sabeel for a service of reflection and Holy Communion built around the concerns expressed in that week's Wave of Prayer.

To subscribe to the Wave of Prayer devotions, go to this link: http://www.sabeel.org/waveofprayer.php

Each Thursday at noon in Jerusalem, Sabeel holds a Communion service that is open to the community. It is a time to join together to discuss how the scriptures apply to our lives today, to pray for the needs of this region and our world and to share the Eucharist. Starting in the Pacific Islands, passing through Asia, Palestine, Europe, the Americas and on around the globe, we pray for peace with justice.

Sabeel Wave of Prayer, Thursday, March 17, 2011
We hold in prayer the family and friends of the five members of the Fogel family who were horrendously and criminally murdered last Friday in the illegal Israeli settlement Itamar, close to Nablus. As the investigation continues with no obvious suspects, we pray for the quick apprehension and trial of the murderers.

We also remember the Palestinian families who have suffered from violent settler attacks protected by the Israeli army in retaliation to the murder in Itamar this past week, even though those who committed the crime remain unknown. We pray that the cycle of violence, repaying one wrong with another, will be broken.

Our prayers are with everyone in Japan as they face the ongoing trauma and damage from last Friday's major earthquake, aftershocks, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis. We especially pray for comfort and relief for those who have lost loved ones, homes and workplaces, for the safety of everyone in danger of nuclear radiation and for insight and strength for those responding to this disaster, including those working to keep the nuclear damage under control. We also remember the nuclear facilities around the world, many of which are in tsunami or earthquake prone areas, including in Israel, and pray for people and politicians as the question of the safety of nuclear power plants is revisited.

We pray for all the participants and leaders of current and upcoming Sabeel programs. On Tuesday, Sabeel started its community Lenten Program; this year's focus on fasting, charity and prayers will include visits to nursing homes and orphanages over the next three weeks, as well as taking part in the Contemporary Way of the Cross. In addition, this Friday and Saturday young adults from Jerusalem, Nazareth and the West Bank will join together to plant olive trees in Beit Jala.

With the Prayer Cycle of the World Council of Churches, we pray for: Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/prayer-cycle.html)

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Don't fail to read the concluding statement issued by Sabeel's Eighth International Conference, held in Bethlehem last month: http://www.sabeel.org/events.php?eventid=183

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The Cave strives to help Bethlehem artists and preserve traditional crafts

The Cave announces new gift ideas from Palestine. Click here for the new Easter Collection.

The signature Olive Leaf jewelry collection is inspired by the thousand-year old groves that symbolize abundance, steadfastness and rootedness in our land.

The hand-made stained glass ornaments are crafted by our artisans from glass bottles and broken windowpanes. The broken glass pieces are symbols of brokenness in our world, and in assembling them into work of art we recall God’s saving grace, transforming what seems to be hopeless and worthless into a beautiful and whole creation.

The Cave Arts & Crafts Center strives to help local artists and preserve traditional arts and crafts by offering courses, improving access to materials and equipment, and providing a market for the sale of art items. Since so many of the artists are women, there is an added benefit of helping women to have some financial independence, which is a rare thing in a patriarchal society such as Palestine’s. Many women artists also feel a boost in their self-confidence from their work – they enjoy expressing themselves and creating beautiful objects for others to enjoy, and they also feel like they have more control over their lives when they are productive and earning an income. In this way, they are creating a better future for themselves through their work, and elevating the status of women and artists in Palestinian society.

For more about Palestinian women and handcrafts, see this link: http://www.annadwa.org/ecommerce/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=1

At The Cave, our Palestinian women make handicrafts for different occasions: Easter Decorations, Church Textiles, Spring Ornaments, Baptism and confirmation gifts, Mother’s Jewelry, Graduation presents, and more….

Please check our website at http://cave.annadwa.org/ and choose your desired gift to help a student or family in Bethlehem, Palestine.

The Al-Kahf Arts & Crafts Center (and The Cave gift shop) aims to revive the local community’s sense of beauty, strengthen Palestinian cultural identity, and cultivate local artistic talent. The Cave is part of the Diyar Consortium, Bethlehem, Lutheran based, ecumenically oriented institutions serving the whole Palestinian community with an emphasis on children, youth, women & the elderly through unique programs that are contextual & holistic in nature.

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Searching for a Path Toward Peace

CMEP Bulletin
March 11, 2011

Searching for a Path Toward Peace

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Letter to the President
The state of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is in flux as Prime Minister Netanyahu weighs his government’s response to major changes underway in Arab countries and the increasing impatience of European governments with the stalled negotiations with Palestinians. The United States for now is focusing efforts on the collective diplomacy of the Middle East Quartet (the U.S., EU, UN, and Russia), though the Quartet meeting scheduled for March has now been postponed until April.

In the context of this uncertainty, Churches for Middle East Peace sent an open letter to President Obama this week signed by 20 national church leaders urging him to take bold action in concert with the Quartet and other stakeholders to reduce the fear and mistrust that has prevented an agreement, promote readiness of the two sides to reach a deal, and travel to the region soon to propose specific steps to achieve peace. The letter also expressed regret at the U.S. veto of a resolution on Israeli settlement activity in the UN Security Council last month.

Middle East Quartet Meeting Delayed
The Middle East Quartet announced on March 10 that it will not meet as planned during next week’s G20 summit in Paris, but will instead meet at a later date in April. A scheduled meeting of Israeli and Palestinian experts this week did not take place.

However, the Jerusalem Post and others have speculated that the postponement is intended to give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu further time to prepare a “bold” new peace initiative. Netanyahu has probably not yet decided whether to present plans for a comprehensive agreement or more limited temporary measures. Many analysts are expecting the latter course of action, but the Prime Minister is being pulled in opposite directions by the international community and the right-wing members of his own party and constituency.

As the Los Angeles Times reported on March 11, polls released this month show that Netanyahu’s approval rating has dropped to 32% and that more Israelis now support the centrist Kadima party than Netanyahu’s more conservative Likud party.

Britain Ramps Up Pressure on Israel
Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague indicated on Tuesday that the United Kingdom will increase pressure on Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians.

Hague claimed that the UK, France and Germany will call for the international community to describe what a peace agreement might look like. In the past, Israeli leaders have strongly resisted an specific proposals for a peace framework and have insisted that any solution must come from direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian delegations.

Hague’s announcement is in keeping with recent British, French and German policy. Three weeks ago the three countries released a joint statement in favor of a UN Security Council resolution that declared Israeli settlement activity illegal.
In the recent letter CMEP sent to President Obama, an international effort to put forward the framework of a peace agreement between Israel and its neighbors is one of the key tenets of forward progress toward peace, national church leaders indicated. The absence of true and lasting negotiations between the parties involved for more than three years shows that the international community needs to try a bold new move that hasn’t been tried before. Interim agreements, like the proposal that may come out of Netanyahu’s government this spring, is a dangerous substitution to making the hard choices inherent in pursuing direct negotiations on all final status issues.

Barak: Israel To Seek $20 Billion More In Aid
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel may request up to $20 billion more in military aid from the United States.

Barak explained that the additional aid may be needed in response to the changing security environment in the Middle East. With popular uprisings sweeping the region from Morocco to Bahrain, Barak claimed that the aid would not only benefit Israel. “It might be wise to invest another $20 billion to upgrade the security of Israel for the next generation,” he said. “A strong, responsible Israel can become a stabilizer in a turbulent region.”

Whether the United States would fulfill such a question is unclear. The United States already gives Israel $3 billion in military aid annually, and the request would come at a time when Democrats and Republicans are deadlocked over deep budget cuts.

Funding Fears
While Israel is appealing for more military aid, the U.S. government’s spending on projects around the world is under scrutiny as Congress works toward yet another continuing resolution in the absence of finalizing a 2011 budget. One of the aspects of U.S. aid that is facing the chopping block, and sharp criticism, is our government’s contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), which provides a broad range of essential services to 4.7 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. More than 3,000 messages have been sent by folks around the country in response to CMEP’s Action Alert this week calling for you to write your members of Congress in support of continued U.S. funding of UNRWA. Add your voice to the support of this vital agency that helps sustain a capable and healthy Palestinian society that will be a good neighbor to Israel when peace comes.

Talking to Congress
More than 2,600 people have signed on to a letter telling the 112th Congress that peace in the Holy Land must be a priority. Add your name to the letter today. It’s also incredibly valuable that you get the chance to meet with your elected officials and their staff face to face so we encourage you to sign up to participate in meetings in your district this month.

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Communion: Reflections from an Alternative Holy Land Tour

I read a fine blog entry by Frank Rogers at a blog I ran across: http://www.patheos.com/community/ancientstoneslivingstones/2011/02/07/communion/

Rogers' entry is part of a blog diary kept by an alternative Holy Land tour called Ancient Stones, Living Stones. The whole blog is worth reading: http://www.patheos.com/community/ancientstoneslivingstones

Rogers writes in a post called Communion: "By far, the vast majority of Palestinian and Israeli people that we met have chosen against violence, hatred, and an endless cycle of blame and revenge. They simply want peace; and they are seeking it through truth-telling and understanding, justice and compassion, creativity and hope in the human spirit."

Alternative travel in Palestine and Israel is the best way to be made aware of the situation of those struggling for justice and peace. Find a list of alternative Holy Land travel opportunities at the website of Friends of Sabeel - North America: http://www.fosna.org/content/alternative-travel-listing

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To receive regular bulletins from Ann Hafften, sign up at my blog - A Texas Lutheran's Voice for Peace: http://www.voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/