The story about the shrinking population of the Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land was broadcast on “60 Minutes” Sunday, 22 April 2012, including an interview with the Rev Dr. Mitri Raheb of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. The story includes information about the Kairos document as well as Ambassador Michael Oren’s objections to the story, which he voiced to the President of CBS to before the piece aired. 

The video and script are at the CBS news website at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57417408/christians-of-the-holy-land/?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel.  There is an added feature on “60 Minutes Overtime” at http://www.cbsnews.com/60minutesovertime?tag=hdr;cnav about Taybeh, a Palestinian town. 

Go to http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/feedback/fb_news_form.shtml to send comments directly to CBS or go to the Churches for Middle East Peace action alert to add your voice to the Thank 60 Minutes movement.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced that she would override the decision by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, to continue to hold part of the $147 million congress appropriated to the Palestinians last year.  Ros-Lehtinen recently agreed to release her hold on part of the funds – $88 million – with some restrictions:  Ros-Lehtinen stipulated that the money not be used for assistance in Gaza or for road construction projects in the West Bank, except if directly related to security.  She also denied use for trade facilitation, tourism promotion, scholarships for Palestinian students and other aid for Palestinian Authority agencies and ministries. 

According to an unnamed State Department official, “the funds deliver ‘critical support to the Palestinian people and those leaders seeking to combat extremism within their society and build a more stable future. Without funding, our programs risk cancellation,’ the official, who was not authorized to speak about the issue, said in an e-mail. ‘Such an occurrence would undermine the progress that has been made in recent years in building Palestinian institutions and improving stability, security, and economic prospects, which benefits Israelis and Palestinians alike,’ the official said.

The move drew criticism from some, who said it was an abuse of executive branch power, and praise from others who said that one or two people should not be able to inhibit the will of a congressional vote.

Last year, Congress approved $147 million in aid to the Palestinians which should have been spent last year to rebuild infrastructure and generate economic growth.  Two congresswomen, however, have delayed those funds for 8 months.  Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian journalist, comments on the recent release of some of these funds.

Congresswoman Kay Granger, R-Texas, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, announced on March 23 that she was ending her restriction on the funds.  The second congresswoman, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, agreed recently to release her hold on part of the funds – $88 million – with some restrictions that Kuttab says potentially inhibits the growth of Christian tourism in the Holy Land. 

Ros-Lehtinen stipulated that the money not be used for assistance in Gaza or for road construction projects in the West Bank, except if directly related to security.  She also denied use for trade facilitation, tourism promotion, scholarships for Palestinian students and other aid for Palestinian Authority agencies and ministries.  Kattub comments:

It is hard to understand why a member of Congress would set such conditions over the recommendations of USAID. The USAID money for reconstruction of Gaza was pledged by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and doesn’t go to the Hamas-led government but to the people of Gaza, who suffered tremendous hardships during the Israeli war in 2008-09. Road construction and trade facilitation projects in the West Bank fit perfectly with the two-state solution, which Israel’s prime minister supports.

He also thinks that this move contradicts a request for proposals from USAID, in which the U.S. government was looking for contractors able to help in rebuilding the following Christian sites in the occupied West Bank:

• Burqeen church near Jenin, a Christian sanctuary dating to the early Byzantine era. The current structure dates to the 12th century.
• Sabastia/Samria. The biblical capital of the Northern Kingdom of Ancient Israel, the current ruins date from the Roman period.
• Tell Balata Archaeological Park in Nablus, which is listed as an archeological biblical site. It’s the site of the Canaanite and biblical city of Shechem.
• Jacob’s well, reputed to be the site of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman. The site is also associated with the biblical patriarchs.
• Shepherd’s field in Beit Sahour, which is a Christian site near Bethlehem.

It is interesting that one or two people can counteract the will of congress, our democratically-elected means of governing.

Groups come from all around the world to take part in Easter festivities, while Palestinian Christians say many are not allowed to enter Jerusalem because they are not given permits.

Palestinian Christians say it is ironic that people can come from all over the world to commemorate Holy Week services in Jerusalem while brothers and sisters in Christ 5 or 6 miles away aren’t allowed because they don’t get permits.  They say international law would say that free access to holy places should be free access, without the need for a permit.

Palestinian Christians say Israel issues 2,000 to 3,000 permits each year through churches for pilgrims to enter the city, while Israel claims it issues 20,000. 

Read Pastor Fred Strickert’s Holy Week blog with photos of the Holy Week services this year.

Read an article by Richard Stearns, head of World Vision  

Read Ambassador Oren’s response here

httpv://youtu.be/-PujjHkFjyA

“Joy is one of the pillars of our resilience,” says one Palestinian Christian in Bethlehem celebrating Palm Sunday.  The Israeli government does give churches special permits for their people to go to Jerusalem during these Holy Days, but the permits are limited, and can be cancelled by the soldier at the checkpoint at his or her discretion.  Sometimes, they just close down the checkpoints anyway, dependent upon the mood of the moment.  This despite the fact that freedom of worship and access to holy places is a right under international law. It is so ironic to stand in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and watch the thousands upon thousands of Christians who have come from all over the globe to worship in Jerusalem when you know that fellow Christians living 5 miles away are not allowed the same right.

But these families in this video celebrate Palm Sunday in Bethlehem, and are proud and joyful because of it.  Resilience and resistance come in many forms.

This Holy Week, we invite you to read along day by day with pilgrims who have been in the Holy Land who are blogging a mix of historical, holy occaisions and current day realities.  There is a wealth of ideas, stories, photos, videos and important information about the situation today:

Pastor Loren McGrail, who served as an Ecumenical Accompanier (EA) in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and Israel (EAPPI),  focuses her writings on Jerusalem at http://agarmentofdestiny.blogspot.com/;  

Pastor Jan Miller, at http://www.alentengeography.blogspot.com/,  links to vital current information about the situation there.

Seminarian Chris Cowan, also a former EA in Hebron, shares detailed information about the recent exponential growth in threatened and actual home/structure/energy facility demolitions, especially in the Southern Hebron Hills area, and talks about the double whammy Palestinians are experiencing from ongling demolitions and expropriation of their land.  Read her posts at http://christiarts.wordpress.com/.

Find other Holy Week resources at www.elca.org/peacenotwalls.

May we all strive and struggle for the things that make for peace with justice, just as we weep for those actions and policies that crucify it.

A lunchtime interview with Dr. Hannan Ashrawi covers the peace process, the viability of a 2-state solution and the Arab spring. 

Dr. Ashrawi is a legislator, activist, and scholar. She served as the official spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process during the Madrid peace conference in 1991. In 1996, Dr. Ashrawi was appointed as the Palestinian Authority Minister of Higher Education and Research, but resigned from the post in 1998 in protest against the non-implementation of reform plans in governance and peace talks.

In 1996, Dr. Ashrawi was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Jerusalem, and in 2006 she was reelected on the “Third Way” bloc ticket. In 2009, she was elected member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, making history as the first woman to hold a seat in the highest executive body in Palestine. 

She currently is the executive chair of MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy.

Synopsis – Advocacy for a just peace for Israel and Palestine has focused largely on long-term solutions, even while daily life for Palestinians has deteriorated and inequalities have multiplied. While not ignoring the need for a permanent solution, including an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the cessation of violence by all parties, much could be accomplished by addressing current inequities even if political progress on long-term solutions remains limited or virtually non-existent.

This position paper is intended to inform ELCA members and congregations of possible approaches to current realities in the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

Inequities lead to lack of resources and denial of freedom for Palestinians

Inequities throughout the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel proper deprive many Palestinians of basic resources and fundamental freedoms.

In the occupied territories, Palestinian homes and other buildings have been demolished at an alarming rate to make room for Israeli settlers. West Bank residential demolitions in 2011 caused 1,100 Palestinians to be forcibly displaced from their homes, an increase of over 80% from the number of people displaced in 2010. In addition, over 4,200 people were affected by the demolition of “livelihood structures.” Elaborating on these statistics, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs notes, “These demolitions occur in the context of an inadequate and discriminatory planning regime that restricts Palestinian development, while providing preferential treatment to Israeli settlements” (1).  Meanwhile, Israeli settlements in the West Bank continue to expand. Peace Now reported a 20% rise in settlement construction starts for 2011 with East Jerusalem seeing a 10-year high for settlement plans (2).  (more…)

The conversation about who speaks for Palestinian Christians continued this week, as Kairos Palestine responded to Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed.   In the Kairos response , they said:

As Kairos Palestine, we refuse to be marginalized in the way Oren defines our marginalization; we refuse to be pitted against our Palestinian Muslim neighbours and friends; and we refuse to let our collective oppression be manipulated in a way that fragments us, obscures us, or masks the oppression’s true cause, which is the Israeli occupation.

Kairos Palestine, a group of Palestinian Christian leaders,  issued A Moment of Truth: A Word of Faith, Hope and Love from the Heart of Palestinian Suffering in 2009 from Bethlehem. 

Israeli settlers have taken over 30 Palestinian water springs and are targeting another 26, according to a new report out by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).  The vast majority of these springs, which were used for irrigation and the livelihood of Palestinian farmers, are being developed into tourist attractions.  Israel uses 86% of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, a trans-border resource that by international law should be shared equally.  Lack of access to water is a key, everyday hardship for countless Palestinians.

Read short fact sheet    |   Read how the dispossession happens

Map of Palestinian water springs taken over or targeted by Israeli settlers.