[WCUSP] Letter from Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem

[Tura Campanella Cook]

> From: Anglican Communion News Service acnslist at anglicancommunion.org
>  ACNS 4170 | JERUSALEM | 27 JULY 2006
>
> The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East
> Bishop Riah, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, on the current crisis 
> in the Middle East
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> For the past forty years we have been largely alone on this desert 
> fighting a predator that not only has robbed us of all but a small 
> piece
> of our historic homeland, but threatens the traditions and holy sites 
> of Christianity. We are tired, weary, sick, and wounded. We need your
> help.
>
> We have seen and we have been the recipients of the generosity of our 
> American and British friends. We cherish the  support of everyone
> throughout the world who stands with us in solidarity. Daily, I hear 
> from many of them who express outrage at the arrogant and aggressive
> positions of President Bush, Secretary Rice, Senator Clinton, and 
> Prime Minister Blair. I am saddened to realise just how much the 
> deserved
> prestige of the United States and Britain has declined as a result of 
> politicians who seem to devalue human life and suffering. And, I am
> disturbed that the Zionist Christian community is damaging America's 
> image as never before.
>
> Little more than a week ago, we were focused on the plight of the 
> Palestinian people. In Gaza, four and five generations have been 
> victims
> of Israeli racism, hate crimes, terror, violence, and murder. Garbage 
> and sewage have created a likely outbreak of cholera as Israeli 
> strategies create the collapse of infrastructures. There is no milk. 
> Drinking water, food, and medicine are in serious short  supply.
> Innocents are being killed and dying from lack of available emergency 
> care. Children are paying the ultimate price. Even for those whose
> lives are spared, many of them are traumatised and will not grow to 
> live useful lives. Commerce between the West Bank and Gaza has been 
> halted and humanitarian aid barely trickles into some of the neediest 
> in the world.
>
> Movement of residents of the West Bank is difficult or impossible as 
> "security measures" are heightened to break the backs of the 
> Palestinian
> people and cut them off from their place of work, schools, hospitals, 
> and families. It is family and community that has sustained these 
> people
> during these hopeless times. For some, it is all that they had, but 
> that too has been taken away with the continued building of the wall 
> and
> check points. The strategy of ethnic cleansing on the part of the 
> State of Israel continues.
>
> This week, war broke out on the Lebanon-Israeli  border (near Banyas 
> where Jesus gave St. Peter the keys to heaven and earth). The Israeli
> government's disproportionate reaction to provocation was consistent 
> with their opportunistic responses in which they destroy their 
> perceived
> enemy.
>
> In her recent article, "The Insane Brutality of the State of Israel," 
> American, Kathleen Christison, a former CIA analyst says, "The state 
> lashes out in a crazed effort, lacking any sense of proportion, to 
> reassure itself of its strength." She continues, "A society that can 
> brush off as unimportant an army officer's brutal murder of a thirteen 
> year old girl on the claim that she threatened soldiers at a military 
> post (one of nearly seven hundred Palestinian children murdered by 
> Israelis since the Intifada began) is not a society with a 
> conscience." The "situation" as it has come to be called, has 
> deteriorated into a war without boundaries or limitations. It is a war 
> with deadly  potential beyond the imaginations of most civilized 
> people.
>
> As I write to you, I am preparing to leave with other bishops for 
> Nablus with medical and other emergency supplies for five hundred 
> families,
> and a pledge for one thousand families more.
>
> On Saturday we will attempt to enter Gaza with medical aid for doctors 
> and nurses in our hospital there who struggle to serve the injured, 
> the
> sick, and the dying.
>
> My plan is that I will be able to go to Lebanon next week - where we 
> are presently without a resident priest - to bury the dead, and 
> comfort the
> victims of war. Perhaps as others have you will ask, "What can I do?"  
> Certainly we encourage and appreciate your prayers. That is important,
> but it is not enough. If you find that you can no longer look away, 
> take up your cross. It takes courage as we were promised.
>
> Write every elected official you know. Write to your news media. Speak 
> to your congregation, friends,  and colleagues about injustice and the
> threat of global war. If Syria, Iran, the United States, Great 
> Britain, China and others enter into this war - the consequence is 
> incalculable.
> Participate in rallies and forums. Find ways that you and your 
> churches can participate in humanitarian relief efforts for the 
> region. Contact
> us and let us know if you stand with us. I urge you not to be like a 
> disciple watching from afar.
> 2 Corinthians 6.11
> " We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians, our heart is wide open to 
> you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In
> return - I speak as to children - open wide your hearts also."
>
>  In, with, and through Christ,
>
> The Rt. Rev. Riah H. Abu El-Assal
> Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem
> __________________________________________________________________
> ACNSlist, published by Anglican Communion News Service, London, is 
> distributed to more than 8,000  journalists and other readers around
> the world.
>