wfn.org | Mission agency expresses concern over Middle East, Yemen bombing

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Oct. 16, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-21-71B{474}

NOTE: For related coverage of the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries' meeting, see UMNS stories #473, #475 and #476.

STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) - Responding to current crises in the Middle East,
the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries has issued statements of
concern about the violence between Israelis and Palestinians and the bombing
of a U.S. Navy ship in Yemen.

The Oct. 12 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 American soldiers and
wounded more than 30 others, prompted a message of "deepest sympathy to the
families and friends of those sailors who were killed or injured." The board
called for an end to all hostilities in the Middle East.

Board directors also expressed dismay and deep sadness over the escalation
of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, which has claimed the
lives of nearly 100 people since Sept. 28. Israeli and Palestinian leaders
were scheduled to meet Oct. 16 with President Clinton in Egypt to seek a
truce.

"Our hearts grieve as we learn from our missionaries and mission partners
the number of persons killed and wounded in this round of violence,
exemplified in the death of 12-year-old Muhammad Rami al-Dura crouching in
fear next to his father at Netzarim Junction in Gaza," the board statement
said. 

The board's directors issued the statements during their Oct. 9-13 annual
meeting.

In e-mail messages to board staff, Sandra Olewine, a United Methodist
missionary based in Jerusalem, described the difficulties faced by all who
live in the areas besieged by conflict, as well as the fear and anger it has
generated. "We stand on an important edge," she wrote on Oct. 10. "There is
no going back to what was before. Relationships and trust have been
destroyed. New actions and resolutions are necessary."

Teddy Crum, a member of Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church in Marietta, Ga.,
has been serving in the Jerusalem area through the Board of Global
Ministries' mission intern program. He reported that he was not able to
return to the place where he had been living in Bethlehem because of the
violence. 

"The theme for my mission intern class is restorative justice, and I was
sent here to work with a program which focuses on aggression prevention and
not using religion as a motivator for violence," he wrote. "It seems as
though it will be difficult for all involved to be able to sit down together
and talk about such things, knowing that provocation has been a part of the
problem here for so long."

Board directors said they recognized the current demonstrations as "an
expression of deep Palestinian frustration over the ongoing disrespect,
dehumanization and denial of their basic human and national rights by an
unjust political situation."

The statement expressed concern about the excessive use of force by Israeli
military and police forces, especially against children and youth; by the
participation of children and youth in the fighting; and reports of
Palestinian police or security forces using weapons, particularly with
unarmed civilian protesters.

"We are deeply disturbed that Israeli forces have directly and willfully
impeded the work of medical personnel and refused to allow persons,
including children and youth, to gain access to emergency treatment," the
statement continued. "Medical rescue teams and their ambulances clearly
marked by internationally recognized symbols of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent have been repeatedly fired upon, with three paramedics being killed
during the course of their duties."

The Board of Global Ministries statement called upon Israel to respect
international law by immediately ordering its forces to stop indiscriminate
and disproportionate force. The board called upon the Palestinians to
refrain from small-arms fire and to use nonviolent protest and
demonstration.

Both parties should support the establishment of an independent
international commission to investigate the recent tragic events, the board
declared, and the U.S. government should call for an urgent meeting of the
U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution mandating Israel to halt further
military action. The United States also should support a call for a special
session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

The Board of Global Ministries is urging the U.S. government to halt the
sale of new arms to Israel, and it is calling for the international
community to take steps to reduce the potential for conflict in the Middle
East, including the removal of Israeli forces from the occupied Palestinian
territories.

"My prayer is that all of the men, women and children here will not have
died in vain," Crum wrote, "but that a just peace will be established and
the international community will understand that the struggle and
controversy runs much deeper than the dividing line between two states."
# # #

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United Methodist News Service
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