The LWF Jerusalem Program 2016 Annual Report is printed and ready to be sent out! The report details the activities of the LWF Jerusalem Program, highlighting news and updates from Augusta Victoria Hospital and the Vocational Training Program.
Are you, your church, or your organization interested in reading about what we have been up to? We will happily send you a printed copy (or ten!) of the 2016 Annual Report by mail. Click below to submit your contact information.
The Certificate and Gold Medal
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land is pleased to announce that on Monday, 20 February The Right Rev. Dr. Bishop Munib Younan was named the 34th recipient of the distinguished Niwano Peace Award for his work toward interreligious dialogue among Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Jerusalem and worldwide.
Each year The Niwano Peace Foundation (NPF) of Japan recognizes an individual or organization that has dedicated their service and scholarship to promoting peaceful cooperation among religions particularly in places of difficulty. NPF focuses on peace within the fields of culture, science and education.
“In a world characterized by leaders who seek to emphasize difference and hatred, Bishop Younan has consistently strived for the opposite. His work emphasizes peace over power and unity over monotheistic domination,” the NPF International Committee wrote.
“The aspiration of the Niwano Peace prize is that it be a spiritual equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize,” wrote Niwano International Committee member Katherine Marshall in a 2011 Berkley Center for Religion blog about the prize.
The International Center for Data on Awards (ICDA) ranks the Niwano Award in category three out of five as one of the world’s most prestigious awards. The ranking is based on factors such the award’s international influence as practitioners of award giving, the recognition of award recipients, and as models for other awards.
The NPF International Committee is honoring Bishop Younan for his cultural work in the Middle East and globally of fostering and participating in interfaith dialogue with Jerusalem’s three Abrahamic faith leaders and their communities despite historic tensions among the groups. He was instrumental in leading the Evangelical Lutheran Church in support of ELCJHL women in establishing and adopting gender justice policy in 2015.
Last year, as part of The Marrekesh Declaration, Bishop Younan was strongly promoting equal citizenship that embraces diversity in the Arab and Muslim world.
Bishop Younan is a founding member of several Middle East interfaith groups, Council for Religious Institutions in the Holy Land (CRIHL), The Jonah Group, Al-Liqa’ Center for Religious Studies, and is currently serving two other interfaith groups, The Jordanian Interfaith Coexistence Research Center, and The Prize Giving Committee of the Jordanian World Interfaith Harmony Week.
In 2014 Bishop Younan, who is also the President of the Lutheran World Federation was awarded an honorary doctorate of theology from the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universtät Münster. In a statement about Bishop Younan’s contributions to peace, the university’s Protestant Theological Faculty said, “Munib Younan acts as an Evangelical theologian and as a reconciling, bridge-builder between both religions and ethnic groups in a very conflict-laden area.”
“He lives and practices his Evangelical perspectives in a very meaningful way, through forgiveness and reconciliation. Though Bishop of a small church, he has high theological power to make his Evangelical voice active in the Middle East, in active reconciliation work, ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, and through the educational ministries of his church.”
Bishop Younan’s strong witness for interfaith harmony, for the equal dignity and respect for all people, for non-violence, and for a just peace between Israel and Palestine are qualities that are being recognized.
A ceremony for Bishop Younan will take place in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday, July 27th.
“I come to the table of dialogue with different religious leaders from the three faiths. I come with the suffering of my people under my skin. I come to speak on the future of the people who are living in this land. Religious leaders have a responsibility. Peace and dignity will come with how we educate and how we dialogue and we can reflect this to the politicians,” Bishop Younan said.
Text from: ELCJHL
At the 2016 Churchwide Assembly the ELCA voted in favor of two actions related to peace with justice in Palestine and Israel. This document provides answers to frequently asked questions about both the “Peace with Justice in the Holy Land (Category C1)” action and the “Justice for the Holy Land through Responsible Investment (Category C2)” action.
Join ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton and 20 other Christian leaders of national denominations and organizations in calling upon the major 2016 presidential candidates to pledge, if elected, to take urgent and vigorous new steps to seek creative political solutions that will foster a just and lasting peace in Israel and Palestine.
Click here to add your name today!
Brass for Peace make music at the ELCJHL School of Hope, Ramallah. Photo: ELCJHL
Living and working together as people of different faith in the community is increasingly important in today’s global contexts where extremists are bent on using religion to create violence and division, says Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL).
Reflecting on the annual World Interfaith Harmony Week observed during the first week of February, Younan said religious leaders play a critical role of educating people to see “the image of God in the other. This will help us to live in a better world—a world of acceptance.”
World Interfaith Harmony Week seeks to tell people that religions, including the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, are about loving the good and the neighbor, Younan said.
King Abdullah II of Jordan initiated the week, with support from political and religious leaders in the country. During the period, Muslim and Christian leaders address public gatherings on what it means to live together as people of different faiths. As the ELCJHL runs schools and other institutions that enroll Christians and Muslims as part of its diaconal outreach, the interfaith week is an occasion to affirm that “we can live side by side,” Younan adds.
Text and photo from LWF news release. Click here for full text.
The Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL,) and Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy were named co-winners of the 2015 Olof Palme Prize this January for their “courageous and indefatigable fight against occupation and violence.”
Bishop Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) sent a letter of congratulations to Pastor Raheb on January 14, 2016. In her letter to Raheb, Bishop Eaton writes: “At a time when Jerusalem and the West Bank are experiencing a sustained period of heightened tensions, and when Bethlehem and Beit Jala are sites of random attacks and violence, you and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) have been singled out for your constant call for hope against fear and for peace with justice for all who live in the land we call Holy.”
Bishop Eaton concludes, “This award gives honor to you for your scholarship and activism and to the ELCJHL for its deep commitment to advocating for an independent Palestine and secure Israel co-existing with peace and equality for all. We in the ELCA are honored to be a close companion to the ELCJHL, working and praying with you for peace in your homeland in our time.”
Pastor Raheb and Levy will receive the award in Sweden on January 29.
Click here to see the full letter of congratulations from the ELCA.
“Recently erected checkpoints in East Jerusalem have been holding up patients and staff on their way to several hospitals. “Currently, all of the hospitals within the East Jerusalem Hospital Network are experiencing challenges to their daily operations due to the placement of Israeli security checkpoints within East Jerusalem neighborhoods,” says a statement of the East Jerusalem Hospital Network.
Walid Nammour, Chief Executive Officer of Augusta Victoria Hospital, delivered the statement at a network press conference today. Augusta Victoria, which is operated by The Lutheran World Federation, is one of the medical facilities affected. A checkpoint was recently been placed close to the hospital entrance.
Deep concern about well-being of patients
“The checkpoints compromise timely access to our facilities. Ambulances and staff have been delayed, negatively affecting our ability to care for and serve our community. This is aggressive and offensive to patients and their families, and escalates an already tense situation. We are deeply concerned about the well-being of our patients who are particularly vulnerable due to cancer and other medical conditions,” Nammour stated.
The statement also voices concern for hospital staff, some of whom must pass through multiple checkpoints on their way to and from work. Both Augusta Victoria and Makassed Islamic Charity Hospital have reported the forced entry of heavily armed Israeli military personnel into their facilities within the last 10 days. Other health facilities report injuries to emergency medical technicians, staff and ambulances.
The East Jerusalem Hospital Network consists of six hospitals, which are the main providers of tertiary health care services unavailable in the West Bank and Gaza. The network has played a leading role in the development of the overall Palestinian health care system and the training of health care workers and specialists.
Augusta Victoria provides life-saving healthcare to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, including specialized treatment offered at its cancer, diabetes and pediatric centers.”
Above text from the Lutheran World Federation
“The ACT Palestine forum has issued a statement voicing deep concern “about the loss of life and human suffering we experience across Palestine and in Israel these days,” in view of recent violence in Palestine and Israel, and especially around the city of Jerusalem.
The forum strongly condemns violent acts such as “the killing of both Palestinian and Israeli civilians, use of excessive force by Israeli police and army against protesters, extra judicial killings, collective punishment in the form of severe restrictions of movement, closure of Palestinian neighborhoods and punitive home demolitions in East Jerusalem.”
It is composed of local churches and church-related development and humanitarian organizations including The Lutheran World Federation.
“We are convinced that violence cannot solve the conflict,” the statement reads. The signatories, including the LWF member church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and the LWF local office in Jerusalem, call upon the international community to open negotiations “that will bring an end to the Israeli occupation” and to take measures for the protection of civilians.
It also urges faith leaders to advocate for the protection and free access to Holy Sites in Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
The forum appeals to its partners and people of faith “to help carry the vision of peace, justice, hope, and dignity for Palestine and Israel, especially at times like now, when young and old alike are weighed down by despair and discouraged by the lack of a viable peace process.”
The LWF has been serving the needs of Palestinian refugees in the Palestinian territories for more than 60 years providing vocational training, scholarships and material aid. The LWF Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem provides specialty care for Palestinians from across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with services including a cancer center, a dialysis unit, and a pediatric center. Through its chairmanship in the ACT Palestine Forum, LWF is actively involved in advocating for justice, peace and reconciliation.”
Text above from the Lutheran World Federation
More than 635,000 people from around the globe have joined the organizations in backing an unprecedented joint call urging world leaders to press the Israeli government to lift the blockade on Gaza and remove the restrictions on basic building materials needed to reconstruct the coastal strip.
Last year’s conflict saw over 19,000 homes destroyed, and 100,000 people left homeless. Donor governments have pledged $3.5 billion to rebuild Gaza, but a year on, Israeli restrictions on building materials continue to cause delays. Reconstruction has started on just over 2,000 of the 19,000 homes destroyed last year, and not a single home has been fully rebuilt.
Ibrahem El Shatali, a resident of Gaza City said, ‘Many of my friends and family members have been homeless for months now — how can we live like this, surrounded by rubble with no hope, no future and no prospect of things getting better? All we need are basic building materials and a fresh start.'”
The full petition text supported by the organizations can be seen here and calls on the leaders of the U.S. and the European Union, amongst others, to push for an end to the blockade and allow desperately needed building materials, including wood, aggregate, steel bar, and cement to enter Gaza.
According to research carried out in a recent joint international NGO report, the illegal Israeli blockade has obstructed reconstruction efforts, worsening the humanitarian crisis inside the Gaza Strip.” Claiming security concerns, including rocket and other attacks from Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, Israel restricts the entry of materials into Gaza that it defines as “dual-use” (materials that could be used for military activities). Without access to building materials, including wood, aggregate, steel bar, and cement that are on the “dual-use” list, reconstruction efforts have been delayed.
Sign the petition and tell everyone — let’s get 1.8 million voices for urgent action, one for each person living in Gaza. Join more than 635,000 people who have already signed!
Quoted text above from the Lutheran World Federation – Jerusalem
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) is inviting houses of worship across the United States to display a “We Support Peace with Justice” banner in public. CMEP explains “It is our hope that various religious institutions will choose to publicly reflect their congregants wishes for a peaceful solution to the decades old conflict in the Middle East. In light of the most recent war, violence and devastation, there is an immediate need and urgent opportunity to advance this cause of peace. We hope that a strong public demonstration of support for peace and justice from people all across America will encourage political leaders to make the decisions necessary to end this tragic conflict.”
For a Q&A about the banner campaign and to order a banner click here.
