Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH), located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, needs your urgent help. Owned and operated by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), it is the main cancer and kidney center serving Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The U.S. Congress committed $25 million in assistance for East Jerusalem hospitals for 2017 – funding that is now under threat of being cut.

Call and Write: White House

Please call the White House hotline (202-456-1111) or write a comment in their comments submissions area to urge them to ensure there is no interruption of assistance for children and others in need of treatment for cancer and additional life-threatening diseases. The hotline is open M-F 9am-4pm ET.

Write: Congress

Write to your senators and representatives to urge them to contact the White House as well. It takes a couple minutes to send a note using our sample letter.

Share

Include this AVH Bulletin Insert in your congregation’s bulletin this Sunday. Print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and cut in half.

Pray

Prayer of Intercession: Look with mercy, gracious God, upon people everywhere who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death. We remember before you today the Palestinians who come for healing to East Jerusalem hospitals, including the Lutheran hospital on the Mount of Olives. As these hospitals struggle now with keeping their doors open, send your Holy Spirit upon us and all government authorities to provide the support needed for your healing work to continue in Jerusalem; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Give

The ELCA provides ongoing support to Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem through ELCA World Hunger and Lutheran Disaster Response. Give now and your gifts will be used over and above our church’s ongoing, annual support in order to prevent interruptions to the lifesaving, critical care provided to children and other patients.

Contributions to AVH will support the operating budget of the hospital, and thereby help to ensure that patients continue to receive treatment without interruption and continue to receive help with transportation to the hospital, accommodations (especially for Gaza cancer patients often needing to be in Jerusalem for many weeks), food, and psycho-social care.  Here is the link to a document with examples of what contributions to AVH will accomplish: Sponsorship Document

Learn

For more background information:

Questions and Answers Sheet About Augusta Victoria Hospital

A nurse at The Lutheran World Federation’s Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) in East Jerusalem tends to Areen, a 10-month-old hemodialysis patient from Ramallah in the West Bank on Saturday morning, 8 September, 2018. AVH is the only hospital that offers pediatric hemodialysis for Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza. Photo by Ben Gray / LWF

Media reports say the Trump Administration will not continue to fund the Lutheran World Federation-operated Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem.  Please call the White House hotline (202-456-1111) to urge them to ensure there is no interruption of assistance for children and others in need of treatment for cancer and additional life-threatening diseases.

Prayer of Intercession:

Look with mercy, gracious God, upon people everywhere who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death. We remember before you today the Palestinians who come for healing to East Jerusalem hospitals, including the Lutheran Hospital on the Mount of Olives. As these hospitals struggle now with keeping their doors open, send your Holy Spirit upon us and all government authorities to provide the support needed for your healing work to continue in Jerusalem; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

On August 15 the ELCA joined 15 other international faith-based, human rights, and civil society organizations in a joint statement on the planned demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian Bedouin community.

The statement explains that “The demolition order against Khan al-Ahmar is part of a broader, troubling trend in which the government of Israel is systematically demolishing structures and displacing Palestinians in Area C to allow for the expansion of Israeli settlements and, potentially, the full annexation of Area C.

Khan al-Ahmar is located in E1, a strategic area linking Jerusalem and the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. Legal experts explain that demolishing Khan al-Ahmar paves the way for the Israeli government to link Ma’ale Adumim settlement directly to Jerusalem.”

The statement is calling for action: “We collectively call on our governments to take action to stop the precedent-setting demolition of Khan al-Ahmar and to denounce this potential war crime. We urge our governments to call on the Israeli government to reverse its decisions to demolish the village of Khan al-Ahmar and forcibly evict its residents before it is too late.”

The full Joint Statement on planned demolition of Khan al-Ahmar can be found here.

In her Aug 6 letter to Bishop Azar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), Presiding Bishop Eaton joins Bishop Azar in calling on the Israeli Knesset to rescind the recently adopted law titled: “Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People”.

Bishop Azar’s statement on the Jewish Nation-State law calls “on the many citizens of Israel and all people of goodwill to voice their objection to this law, and to stand for a future in which all the people in the land will enjoy equal rights, with equal responsibilities.”

In Bishop Eaton’s letter she writes “Like you, I am quite disturbed about several aspects of this new law. It excludes ethnic and religious groups that have been living in this land for centuries, restricts the international human right to self determination solely for Jews within Israel, determines the status of Jerusalem outside of any negotiation or international agreement, sets forth one language as that of a multilingual nation, and encourages Jewish settlement, which appears to be not restricted to within the de facto pre-1967 borders. A number of these provisions effectively codify a second-class status for all who are not Jews, yet who are citizens or residents of areas under the control of the State of Israel. This is a violation of fundamental democratic principles and internationally-recognized human rights.”

Bishop Eaton calls “upon my own elected officials to object to this law and its intent. I encourage the members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and our ecumenical and inter-religious partners to continue together in the urgent pursuit of a future of peace with justice in Israel and Palestine.”

Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land shares a statement concerning the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem:

“The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land stands in strong opposition to the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem. This move is in violation of international law and reverses decades of foreign policy regarding Israel and Palestine. Such a unilateral decision undermines any potential for achieving just peace based on the UN Resolutions, and in fact has increased tensions and conflicts throughout the region.      

Jerusalem is a very special city, holy to three religions, and therefore it should be a place of peace, justice, and reconciliation. Our church continues to pray and advocate for a peaceful and just solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict in accordance with the International Law. We want to see two viable and sovereign independent states, living side by side with agreed upon borders, and with Jerusalem as a shared city for Christians, Jews, and Muslims. We insist that there should be freedom of access to holy sites for all.  

We are deeply concerned about what the opening of the US Embassy means for the future of this city and of the Holy Land. Nevertheless, we will continue to pray, to advocate, and to work for peace, justice, and reconciliation for all the people of Jerusalem. 

We call upon our partner churches to urge their governments to respect the International Law concerning Jerusalem.”

Find a PDF of the full statement from the ELCJHL on the US Embassy move here.

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has issued this statement in response to the decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In an open letter to U.S. President Trump, the thirteen Heads of Churches in the Holy Land including Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), ask the President to take their viewpoint into consideration in the decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) also issued a letter asking President Trump to refrain from recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has joined members of the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East in a letter to President Trump. The letter encourages the president to continue U.S. efforts toward peace in the Middle East.

The ELCA works alongside our companion church in the region, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL). The Right Rev. Dr. Bishop Munib Younan of the ELCJHL received the Niwano Peace Prize on July 27 for his work toward interreligious dialogue among Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Jerusalem and worldwide.

The letter from interreligious leaders in the US and the prize for Bishop Younan come at a time when there is increased tension in Jerusalem, specifically around access to the Al Aqsa compound. Bishop Younan along with other heads of churches in Jerusalem signed a letter calling for a peaceful resolution that honors the status quo of access to religious sites.

The recent escalation in violence in Jerusalem is centered around access to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound (Haram AlSharif). Israel has placed metal detectors at the entrances to the compound following the killing of two Israeli Druze policeman by three Israeli Palestinians. In their statement the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem call for the historical status quo governing these holy sites to be respected.

Here is the full statement from the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem.

Here is a current news article about the situation.

Photo credit: LWF/Jerusalem

BACKGROUND

Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) is operated by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Jerusalem. It started in partnership with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in 1948 as a major medical facility in Jerusalem to care for Palestinian refugees. Today, most of the patients served by the hospital continue to be in social need and are seeking life-saving specialized care.

Augusta Victoria is the first and only hospital to provide radiation therapy for cancer patients in the Palestinian territories and is the only medical facility in the West Bank offering pediatric kidney dialysis. On a daily basis, these and other specialty services touch countless lives, both young and old, from communities across the Palestinian territories.

The Palestinian Authority continued to refer patients to AVH in 2016 for cancer treatments and other treatments not available in Gaza or the West Bank. The hospital had serious cash-flow problems in 2016 as well as prior years due to delayed payments by the Palestinian Authority to cover the costs for the cancer patients it refers to the hospital. LWF, the hospital, and the hospital’s board, together with LWF member churches and related agencies, continued their advocacy work in 2016 addressing the cash-flow crisis.

The LWF Jerusalem Program is pleased to report that in early 2017 the United States released $25 million for Palestinian Authority debts to East Jerusalem hospitals, of which Augusta Victoria Hospital received more than $11 million, reducing by approximately 30 percent the amount of money owed to AVH by the Palestinian Authority for the treatment of Gaza and West Bank patients referred to AVH.

Many thanks to everyone who advocated in 2016 on behalf of the funding for Augusta Victoria Hospital and the East Jerusalem hospitals! Your efforts are much appreciated.  The bipartisan support for the release of the U.S. funds was important and will be helpful in 2017 when the problem will most likely come up again.

Despite the U.S. payment and another from the European Union, the debt of the Palestinian Authority for health care in East Jerusalem remains unacceptably high. Therefore, the LWF will continue to encourage advocacy by friends and partners.

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Contact the Peace Not Walls team for additional information: peacenotwalls@elca.org.

Take action by sending a letter to your members of Congress here.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Representative in Jerusalem, Mark Brown shares the following good news regarding US funding for the LWF’s Augusta Victoria Hospital:

“I am pleased to report that the U.S. recently released 25 million USD for the payment of Palestinian Authority (PA) debts to East Jerusalem hospitals.  LWF’s Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) received over 11 million USD on 22 January 2017, substantially reducing the amount of money owed to AVH by the PA for the treatment of Gaza and West Bank patients referred to AVH by the PA.  This funding was released by Congress for disbursement by USAID earlier in the month.  (It was not part of the 220 million USD for the Palestinian Authority released by President Obama on 20 January 2017.)

Many thanks to everyone who advocated on behalf of the funding for AVH and the East Jerusalem hospitals!  Your efforts are much appreciated.  Once again we have avoided any interruption to the life-saving cancer and kidney treatment provided by AVH.  The bipartisan support for the release of this funding was important and will be helpful later in the year when the matter will most likely come up again.

Please encourage your Members of Congress to visit Augusta Victoria Hospital if they are coming to Jerusalem in 2017 and to see for themselves the impact that U.S. investments have had on the development of AVH as a cancer center and what that means in the lives of so many West Bank and Gaza Palestinians.

Thank you!”

For more about the Lutheran World Federation programs in Jerusalem click here.