wfn.org | Israeli troops occupy Lutheran complex in Bethlehem

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Note #7087 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

12-March-2002
02097  
  
Israeli troops occupy Lutheran complex in Bethlehem 

'No justification' for making school a target, bishop insists 

by Ross Dunn 
Ecumenical News International
 
JERUSALEM - As Israel intensifies its military offensive against Palestinian targets, Israeli troops have taken up positions across Palestinian-ruled Bethlehem, including at a
Lutheran school.  

On March 11, the Israeli army seized control of the Dar al Kalima (Lutheran) School and Wellness Center, in the southern section of the city, for the second time in recent days.  

Israeli snipers positioned themselves on the roof of the complex.

"As no-one is allowed to get close to the site, we do not as yet have a full picture of what is going on in and around the school," said Mitri Raheb, the pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church and founder of the institution.  

The action drew a strong protest from the Lutheran bishop in Jerusalem, Munib A. Younan.  

"We denounce in the strongest possible terms the Israeli re-occupation of our Dar el Kalima School and demand the immediate withdrawal of the army from our church property, as well as from the Bethlehem area and other Palestinian territories," he said.  

The Israeli army says it is taking part in "continuous operations" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip aimed at halting more Palestinian attacks such as the suicide bomb blast in a cafe in Jerusalem on March 9 that killed at least 11 people.  

As part of these operations, Israeli forces rounded up some 600 Palestinian youths and men in the Deheishe refugee camp in Bethlehem and in nearby villages. Most of those arrested were later released.  

Israeli forces also destroyed a building in Bethlehem which the Israeli army says was being used as a bomb-making factory.  

As the fighting raged on, Palestinian gunmen took up positions in Beit Jala, adjacent to Bethlehem, firing at the Jewish settlement of Gilo, which was built on land annexed by Israel from the West Bank.  

But Bishop Younan said there was no justification whatsoever for making the Lutheran school a target of the Israeli army operations.  

"We again want to make it clear that no shooting has taken place, neither today nor in the past, from any of our premises in Bethlehem.  

"The occupation of our church property seems to be part of a pattern of military operations, where schools, hospitals, ambulances, medical personnel have been attacked. These actions are clearly breaching international law." 

Due to the heavy fighting in the area, all schools in Bethlehem have remained closed.  

The Israeli raids in the past 10 days have left more than 100 Palestinians dead and hundreds more injured during clashes in Bethlehem, other parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  

Without any diplomatic solution in sight, the United States is proposing to station U.S. observers for the first time in the Palestinian territories, as part of a new diplomatic effort to halt escalating Middle East violence.  

Such a move may be seen as something of a political victory for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who has been appealing for international monitors and also appears to be winning on the diplomatic front in an effort to have Israel lift its travel ban against him.  

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Anthony Zinni, a retired marine corps general, is expected to put forward formal proposals for observers when he returns to the region March 14.  

Details of the plan began to emerge with the U.S. administration showing increasing signs of wanting to deepen its involvement in the Middle East.  

The task of American monitors would be to oversee the implementation of an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire agreement brokered last year by the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency, George Tenet, which has so far failed to take hold on the ground.  

Under this accord, the Palestinians would be required to make arrests of those involved in attacks, and Israel would have to withdraw its troops back to the positions they held before the start of the current violence in September 2000.  

Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator, has called for a halt to the Israeli military offensive. "The shortest way to peace ... is to end this [Israeli] occupation [of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem] and to have a Palestinian state next to the state of Israel," he said.  

"Let us resume a meaningful peace process. Let us resume a meaningful negotiation."

Meanwhile, in Geneva, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has announced that because of the violence it is shifting a meeting of its council, or governing body, scheduled for September from Bethlehem and Jerusalem to Wittenberg, Germany.   

Last year's LWF council was also moved away from Bethlehem and Jerusalem because of the violence, and took place in Geneva. At the time it was hoped that this year's meeting could take place in the Holy Land.  

The LWF's general secretary, Ishmael Noko, said the decision to shift this year's meeting had been taken after discussions with the LWF executive committee and Bishop Younan, whose church was to have hosted the meeting.  

The LWF executive committee is planning to meet in Jerusalem in June when it will hold discussions with Bishop Younan and government authorities. 
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