wfn.org | ELCA Presiding Bishop Signs Letters Opposing Confiscation ID Cards

[NEWS <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 8, 1999

ELCA PRESIDING BISHOP SIGNS LETTERS OPPOSING CONFISCATION OF ID CARDS
99-05-24-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), this month signed
letters of support for church leaders in Jerusalem who oppose the Israeli
policy that has resulted in confiscations of Jerusalem residency cards
from Palestinians.
     Since 1996 there has been a "tremendous" increase in the number of
Palestinian Jerusalem identification cards confiscated by Israeli
authorities compared to the previous 30 years, said the Rev. Mark B. Brown
assistant director of the Lutheran Office for Government Affairs (LOGA),
Washington, D.C.  LOGA is the federal public policy office of the ELCA.
     "The impact this policy has on the Christian communities in
Jerusalem is alarming," Bishop Anderson said. "The confiscation of ID
cards from Palestinians, along with other difficulties related to housing
and residency, has prompted church leaders in Jerusalem to fear for the
future survival of their communities."
     As an expression of ecumenical solidarity, Bishop Anderson signed
two letters about the issue.  In one letter Bishop Anderson, along with
other United States church leaders, wrote a letter of support to three
church leaders in Jerusalem who previously raised this issue with the
minister of the interior of the state of Israel.
     Last October the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Diodoros I, the Latin
Catholic Patriarch Michel Sabbah and the Armenian Apostolic Patriarch
Torkom Manoogian, all of Jerusalem, signed a letter expressing opposition
to the confiscation of Jerusalem identity cards and the eventual loss of
residency rights in Jerusalem.  The letter was sent to Eli Suissa,
Israel's minister of the interior.
     A second letter, supporting the letter of the Patriarchs, was sent
by U.S. leaders of the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Roman
Catholic churches to Zalman Shoval, Israel's ambassador to the United
States.
     Signers included Bishop Anderson, Archbishop Spyridon of the Greek
Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, president of the
National Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops, and Archbishop Khajag,
diocese of the Armenian Church in America.  
     This letter said the practice of confiscating Jerusalem residency
cards from Palestinians is "detrimental to the continued presence and
witness of Christian churches in Jerusalem and an infringement upon the
rights of all Palestinians -- Christian and Muslim."
     The church leaders called on the government of Israel "to restore
identity cards that have been confiscated and to refrain from further
confiscation," in their letter to Ambassador Shoval.
     In 1996 Israel implemented a policy which provides Jerusalem ID
cards and Israeli welfare services only to  Palestinians who can document
they actually live within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, according
to the BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights,
Bethlehem.  Tens of thousands of Palestinians are in the process of losing
their legal status as residents of Jerusalem.  
     In May 1997 the Israeli Interior Ministry announced it had
confiscated 1,500 ID cards since early 1996, BADIL said.  Since the Oslo
accords were signed Israel has confiscated identity cards from
Palestinians at the rate of two or three a day, it added.
     The confiscation of identification cards is a human rights issue
that has been raised at various times by the Rev. Munib Younan, bishop of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan, said Brown.  Dr. Ishmael Noko,
general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Geneva,
expressed LWF's concern over the implications of the policy in a letter to
the government of Israel in September 1998.
     In 1996 the ELCA Church Council said Jerusalem should be shared, and
in 1993 the ELCA Churchwide assembly said those forced to leave should be
given help to return to Jerusalem.  In 1995 the Rev. Herbert Chilstrom,
former presiding bishop of the ELCA, said Palestinian rights and interests
in Jerusalem should be recognized and supported. 
     LOGA and the coalition Churches for Middle East Peace, chaired by
Brown, have raised the issue of the confiscation of identity cards
numerous times with U.S. government officials.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html