wfn.org | ACNS3410 Update on St Philip's Church & Ahli Arab Hospital,

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3410     |     MIDDLE EAST     |	  14 APRIL 2003

Update on St Philip's Church & Ahli Arab Hospital, Gaza

[Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem] St Philip's Chapel remains in shambles more
than two months after Israeli soldiers bombed the church in the Al Ahli Arab
Hospital complex, with repairs estimated at some US$25,000. However,
hospital officials already have repaired windows of surrounding hospital
buildings, and donations for church repairs keep coming.
It's all a matter of picking up the pieces - a process that the hospital, a
ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, knows only too well in this
war-torn region.

"We are grateful to all our friends who keep praying for us and who also
give us a hand of help," said hospital director, Suhaila Tarazi. "Hand in
hand, we will continue to do God's work in this area."

Every day, the hospital contends with Intifada-related violence and military
checkpoints as it aims to serve Gaza residents, Suhaila Tarazi said. Fears
of a full-scale Israeli invasion on the Gaza Strip have not been realised,
but neither has the situation improved, according to hospital officials.

Invasions in specific parts of Gaza regularly continue to cause problems for
hospital staff. An invasion in the southern part of the Gaza Strip last week
caused some workers to be three hours late for work, as they had to drive
through increased military checkpoints. Even social worker Mohammed Al Naqa,
who leaves his home every morning at 4:30, arrived at work one hour late at
8am.

The conflict also has affected the hospital's mobile outreach clinics, which
serve outlying villages. Some villages, such as Al Mawasi, are bordered by
Israeli settlements, so Israeli soldiers have particularly tight
restrictions. Many times, people cannot leave their villages for several
days even to buy food, so residents must live on tomatoes that grow in their
area.

Soldiers will not allow Al Ahli Arab Hospital to drive ambulances into these
places, so hospital staff members have started picking up patients outside
the villages instead for its mobile outreach clinics. The clinics mainly
help women because most men are not allowed to leave their villages. These
medical missions have helped hundreds of patients, and the hospital
conducted three missions in February alone.

This month, the hospital hopes to conduct two missions for camps near Beit
Hanoun, a north Gaza village that has suffered major damages from recent
Israeli attacks.

Suhaila Tarazi said she offered to give toys to children at the clinics, but
the mothers would hear nothing of it. It is not a major priority on their
list of needs, she explained. Still, the clinics provide children with
sandwiches, and they provide families with rice and other dry goods.

"We try our best to put a smile on a kid in a very dark place," Suhaila
Tarazi said.

Doctors deal with dark realities on a daily basis, often treating people
with conflict-related wounds. Like the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem,
officials at Al Ahli Arab Hospital condemn violence on all sides and seek
peace and justice for all Holy Land residents.

Regional violence has kept the hospital from using international volunteers
as it has in the past. However, Suhaila Tarazi said she hopes to start using
volunteers again by the middle of this year. A plastic surgeon already has
made plans to come before the year's end.

Other needs include orthopaedics equipment, surgical equipment for emergency
procedures and more midwives on staff. Suhaila Tarazi said she hopes to
train 12 staff nurses in midwifery, offering a three-month course that would
accommodate three staff nurses at a time. The midwives are greatly in need
in Gaza, she said. However, the hospital needs US$10,000 to US$12,000 per
year to run such a program.

The hospital also wants to start a course that would train staff to adopt
the hospital's treatment methods. Suhaila Tarazi noted that the hospital's
multinational staff has learned a variety of methods of treatment, but Al
Ahli Arab Hospital uses American methods.

In addition, the hospital must raise at least US$25,000 for repairs to St
Philip's Hospital and US$160,000 to purchase a new X-ray machine after the
church bombing in January destroyed an X-ray machine they used in a nearby
hospital room.

During the early morning hours of January 24, Israeli soldiers fired an
American-made, remote-controlled, guided Tau missile at the church. The
missile damaged the chapel's roof and put a hole in the ground next to the
altar. It also shattered the church's stained glass, dating back to the turn
of the century, and broke glass in several buildings throughout the
hospital.

Though no one suffered direct injuries from the bombing, one elderly female
hospital patient died of a heart attack because of a fear of the nearby
explosions. Israeli military officials have not issued an apology for the
incident.

The church has not had a full-time priest in recent years because no
Anglican priest has been able to get an Israeli permit required to serve
there. However, the 13 Christians out of the 103 full-time staff members
used to meet in the chapel every morning for prayer times. St Philip's had
undergone renovations only seven years ago.

"You can't imagine how much time it took to collect money to repair this
church...mostly from individual donors," Suhaila Tarazi said.

Despite such frustrations, the hospital carries on. The Christians now meet
in the administration offices for prayers and hospital employees continue to
persevere, hoping for a day when better things will come for the Gaza Strip.

"This is the situation, but we believe and pray that one day there will be
peace in all this area and in the Middle East," Suhaila Tarazi said.

__________________________________
For details about the Enthronement of the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Most Revd Rowan D Williams, visit http://www.anglicancommunion.org/

ACNSlist, the email edition of Anglican Communion News Service, is
published by the Anglican Communion Office, London. QUESTIONS or COMMENTS
may be sent to: acnslist@anglicancommunion.org

You may subscribe to acnslist or unsubscribe at:
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/acnslist.html