wfn.org | Lutherans Protest Israeli Forces' Intrusion at Jerusalem Hospital

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 3, 2000

LUTHERANS PROTEST ISRAELI FORCES' INTRUSION AT JERUSALEM HOSPITAL
00-228-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) expressed the church's "strongest objection" to
the entry of Israeli forces September 29 on to the property of Augusta
Victoria Hospital (AVH), located on the Mount of Olives in East
Jerusalem, during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians.   In
an Oct. 3 statement on the church's behalf, the Rev. H. George Anderson
demanded Israeli troops withdraw from the perimeter of the Lutheran-owned 
and -operated hospital, saying their presence is provocative, and
may lead to additional clashes and casualties.
     He also expressed condolences to those who have lost friends and
family during the clashes.
     "We are saddened by the deaths and injuries of so many people,
both Palestinian and Israeli," Anderson said.  "We call on all sides to
end the fighting. We urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders to negotiate a
lasting disengagement and cease-fire of armed forces and to use their
authority to promote an end to the violence."
     Augusta Victoria Hospital is operated by the Lutheran World
Federation, a global communion of 128 churches representing 63.1 million
Lutherans, including the ELCA.  As armed conflict erupted in Jerusalem
last week, Israeli soldiers entered the hospital grounds during clashes
with Palestinians, according to a Sept. 30 news release from the
hospital.  The source of the fighting -- which has since spread to
several areas near Jerusalem -- was a controversial Sept. 28 visit by
Ariel Sharon, leader of Israel's opposition Likud Party, to a Jerusalem
site holy to Muslims and Jews. Sharon was accompanied by a large
contingent of Israeli riot police.
     The soldiers used the hospital grounds to fire at Palestinians
outside hospital property, the hospital release said.
     "We protest the disproportionate and excessive use of lethal force
by Israeli forces, their increasing use of live ammunition, their firing
of rubber-coated bullets into the faces and heads of Palestinian youth,
and their disregard for humanitarian institutions such as the Augusta
Victoria Hospital," Anderson said.
     Israeli security forces continued to block access to the hospital
Oct. 3, Anderson said.
     During Sept. 30-Oct. 1, several protests were directed to Israeli
officials by church leaders.  The ELCA's Lutheran Office for
Governmental Affairs in Washington, D.C., raised concerns with the
Embassy of Israel, the U.S. State Department and the National Security
Council at the White House, but tensions continued through the weekend.
The Lutheran Office for World Community conveyed concerns to the United
Nations as well.
     Earlier, Anderson was one of several leaders of churches in the
United States who addressed concerns about Jerusalem in a Sept. 6 letter
to President Clinton.  They expressed a desire for a process that would
lead to a "shared"  Jerusalem involving Christians, Jews and Muslims.
      Several Lutheran church representatives were present at the
hospital for a routine board of governors meeting when the Israeli
forces entered the hospital grounds.  Among them was the Rev. Robert N.
Bacher, ELCA Office of the Bishop, Chicago. The Rev. Said R. Ailabouni,
ELCA Division for Global Mission, Chicago, was also present but left
before the fighting reached the hospital grounds.
     Hospital staff treated many Palestinians injured in the fighting,
Bacher said, following his return to Chicago.  There was fear that
Israeli forces would enter the hospital but they never did, he said.
Clashes with Palestinians occurred in the street in front of the
hospital, and on the hospital grounds, Bacher said.  The hospital serves
mostly Palestinians, according to Bacher.
     "Augusta Victoria Hospital has a 50-year history of serving
Palestinians, and that is being severely tested," Bacher said. "This
shows how important the hospital is to Palestinians, and how well the
hospital staff can respond in a crisis."
     Bacher also expressed concern that the Israeli forces outside the
perimeter of the hospital are blocking access for both wounded people
and regular hospital patients.
     Anderson's statement follows a statement issued by the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) in Geneva, Switzerland, in response to the
situation at Augusta Victoria Hospital.
     The LWF called for withdrawal of Israeli security forces from the
perimeter of Augusta Victoria Hospital, and that a repetition of the
events of September 29 "be avoided by all possible means."  The
statement was part of an Oct. 2 letter from the Rev. Ishmael Noko, LWF
general secretary, to Ehud Barak, Israel's prime minister.   The LWF's
presence and its operation of Augusta Victoria are founded upon "an
ethic of humanitarian medical care and assistance," Noko said.
     "I am sure you will recognize that what occurred at the hospital
is a fundamental affront to and seriously undermines this humanitarian
purpose, and I must express the Lutheran World Federation's strongest
objection and complaint against such use of the Augusta Victoria
Hospital premises and property," Noko said.
     "The presence of Israeli security forces around the hospital not
only severely reduces the hospital's capacity to provide medical care to
the people of East Jerusalem, including those injured in the recent
violence, but also tends to provoke a violent reaction by the
Palestinian protestors," he said.
-- -- --
     The full text of Bishop Anderson's statement is available on the
ELCA's Web site at http://www.elca.org/ob/mideast.html.

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