wfn.org | Bethlehem Blockade Called Unjust

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (288
notes).

Note 288 by UMNS on Aug. 28, 1997 at 16:20 Eastern (1932 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Bloom                              476(10-71B){288}
         New York (212) 870-3803                     Aug. 28, 1997

Bethlehem blockade was unjust
collective punishment, says missionary

               by United Methodist News Service

     The lifting of Israel's military blockade of Bethlehem,
announced Aug. 27, ends what was an unjust large-scale collective
punishment against the Palestinian people, according to a United
Methodist missionary there.
     Bethlehem had become a target of the Israeli government's
anger after a July 30 suicide bombing that killed 14 people and
the two attackers in a Jerusalem market.
     The month-long closure essentially turned the city into a big
jail, the Rev. Alex Awad said, even though "many of the population
of Bethlehem -- over one-third is Christian -- have nothing to do
with the bombing at all." The bombing was attributed to Islamic
militants.
     Awad and his family, currently on home leave, were in the
United States when the bombing occurred. They plan to return to
Bethlehem the first week of October.
     Even with the lifting of the military blockade of Bethlehem,
about 95 percent of Palestinians are not allowed to travel to
Jerusalem, he said. Awad is pastor of a Baptist church in East
Jerusalem.
      He called Israel's continued injustices in its dealing with
the Palestinian population a slow death "that is killing a
nation."
     Awad recently has been speaking to United Methodist church
groups about the situation there. He believes U.S. Christians
"should really take a harder look at the injustice that's
happening in Bethlehem" and work to put a stop to it.
     "Israel should not be allowed to punish a whole nation," he
said.
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