Transcript Living and Working in the West Bank

The Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Jordan and the Holy Land
B
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Beit
Sahour
Ecclesiastical Ministry
Amman
Beit
Jala
6 Churches
Redeemer
Jerusalem
Ramallah
Educational Ministry
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Schools
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Evangelical Lutheran School in Beit Sahour
Dar al-Kalima Evangelical Lutheran School, Bethlehem
Talitha Kumi Evangelical Lutheran School, Beit Jala
Evangelical Lutheran School of Hope, Ramallah
Educational Programs
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Al-Mahaba Kindergarten, Jerusalem
Evangelical Lutheran Home for Boys, Beit Jala
Environmental Educational Center, Beit Jala
Martin Luther Community Development Center
Goals of the ELCJHL Schools
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To mold the Palestinian Christian identity;
To teach co-existence in religions, esp. Judaism, Islam and
Christianity
To teach peace education and promote democracy;
To promote the role of women in the Palestinian society;
To give quality education with an innovative approach;
To give a holistic education by addressing the needs and
developing the talents of all students;
To build and develop the Palestinian community and
improve connections with the international community.
Amman, Jordan
The Good Shepherd Lutheran
Musical Team
Jerusalem
Lutheran Church of the Redeemer
Elderly Center
At Redeemer Church, an elderly center serves some basic health
monitoring and social needs.
Al-Mahaba Kindergarten
Martin Luther
Community
Development Center
A center offering various
health, social and
educational needs in the
Old City of Jerusalem.
Bethlehem
Lutheran Christmas Church
International Center of Bethlehem - Dar Annadwa
A cultural center for
arts, music and
creativity that creates
“facts on the ground
of hope.”
Artists are empowered to
create their art and then sell it
in the giftshop.
Dar al Kalima
School
Beit Jala
Church of the Reformation
Abraham’s House
A guesthouse for cultural
exhanges and interfaith dialogue.
Boy’s Home
A home for boys – mostly Muslims –
whose families are gone or unable to
care for them.
Talitha Kumi School
The Environmental
Education Center
Beit Sahour
Beit Sahour School
Ramallah
Lutheran Church of Hope
Evangelical Lutheran School
of Hope, Ramallah
Faith and Life under Occupation
Amman, Jordan
The root problem is not the wall.
That is a symptom.
The root problem is not the spiral of violence. That is also a symptom.
The root problem is the occupation.
The occupation is a sin against God and against humanity.
It deprives people of human dignity and normal life.
Bishop Munib Younan, ELCJHL
Our daughter was killed because of the terror of the Israeli occupation.
Every innocent victim from both sides is a victim of the occupation.
The occupation is the cancer feeding Palestinian terror.
Father of Smedar Elhanan, Age 13
Killed by suicide bomber in 1997
What Does it Mean to Live
Under Occupation
in Palestine?
Restriction of Movement
More than 500 Road Closures
Checkpoints, Blocks, Earth Mounds, Gates
Only 30 are on the
recognized armistice
line between
Palestine and Israel
Ghassan and Rimaz Kasabra
Rimaz Kasabra, the wife
of
the
organist
at
Redeemer
Lutheran
Church in the Old City of
Jerusalem can’t go to
church with her family.
She is from the West Bank
and Israel has refused for
10 years to grant her the
necessary “reunification
permit” to live legally
with
her
family
in
Jerusalem. She has been
arrested 3 times near her
home, and has been told
the next time she will go
to prison.
The Wall
The wall will be twice
the length of the Green
Line, the
internationally
recognized armistace
line from 1947. In
many places it is built
right through the
middle of Palestinian
Built in 2003
land, separating
PalestiniansLength:
from their
403
friends, families,
miles
schools, land and
Height: 8 –
neighborhoods.
25 feet
It completely
isolates East
Jerusalem – a part
of occupied
territory according
to international
law – from the rest
of the West Bank.
Jerusalem
accounts for 3040% of the
economy of
Palestine, so this
makes a viable
Palestinian state
virtually
impossible.
Ultimately, the effect will be
to isolate the northern West
Bank from the southern West
Bank , and all areas into
smaller cantons in which
Palestinians will need permits
to leave.
Palestinian Land and Greenhouses
Palestinian Town
Land & Greenhouse outside the wall
The Village inside the wall
The Wall
The story of Nazlet ‘Azza
The news of the demolition order
arrives in the morning ……
And the bulldozer
arrivedthe
together
with the order……
Along with
bulldozers
And the army……
At
theend
end of
The
ofthe
theday
day:
85 shops destroyed
100 additional demolition orders pending
45 already evacuated by their owners
Settlements
And Land Confiscation
During the Oslo
“Peace Process”
The number of
illegal settlers more
than doubled from
1993 to 2003 to
225,000. East
Jerusalem has
another 200,000.
The footprint of the
settlements takes about
2% of the Palestinian
land. But adding in the
land used for military
installations, security,
bypass roads, the Wall
and reserves, 42% of the
Palestinian land is offlimits to Palestinians.
By signing the Oslo agreement 1993, Israel committed itself to
freezing settlement expansion and to preserving the “integrity and
status” of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Contrary to this, the
settlement population doubled during this period.
65 new settlements during Oslo
Palestinians for Peace and Democracy
In the northern West Bank village of Yanoun, Ecumenical
Accompaniers protect the shepherds and olive farmers from the
nearby settlers of Itamar. The settlers destroyed this electric
generator and a water supply tank, driving them out of the village,
but an Israeli peace group set up a program to protect them and
now an international presence keeps them in their village.
In the southern West Bank city
of Hebron and some of its
villages, internationals walk the
children to school to protect
them from the settlers. Hebron
is one of the most violent and
volatile cities because it is home
to the Tomb of the Patriarchs,
which is sacred to Christians,
Muslims and Jews. Though it is
deep in the West Bank, 400
illegal Israeli settlers have
moved into Palestinian homes
and shops in the center of the
city, and thousands in nearby
Kiryat Arba. The central part of
the Old City has been virtually
shut down to the 150,000
Palestinians for the sake of the
400 illegal settlers.
Though at least one of these settler groups has been labeled as a
terrorist organization by the Israeli government after one of its
members killed more than 20 Palestinians at prayer in the mosque
in 1993, little action is taken to limit their violence or presence.
Recently, a new group of Israeli soldiers called “Breaking the
Silence” has begun to speak out against their own actions in
Hebron (See www.breakingthesilence.org)
18,000 Homes Destroyed Since 1967
Less than 1000 linked to Terrorism
Accompanying
“Here in our Lutheran
school, from the wounds of
Palestine, a new generation
has risen, to work, to live, to
love, and to be loved….
But let us not give up hope.
Justice will prevail, and
freedom will come. All we
have to do is to stand
together, to keep the candle
of hope burning, and to work
and struggle for our freedom.”
Salaam Bannoura
Graduation, 2005
Evangelical Lutheran School in Beit Sahour
Thank you for your accompaniment, support,
prayer and presence so far on the road.
Yet the journey is now at a critical point.
We need you. Our mission is your mission.
Stay with us on this road, so that Palestinian Christians in
years to come will remain a living witness of love, hope
and forgiveness so needed in this land.
Stay with us on this road, that we might continue to proclaim
from this Land of the Resurrection:
Christ is Risen! Al Masih Qam
He is Risen Indeed! He Haqan Qam!
Bishop Dr. Munib Younan,
Easter, 2004