wfn.org | Scottish Episcopal Christians react to shelling of West Bank school

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 2912 - SCOTLAND - 20 March 2002

Aberdeen Christians make plea after pupils attacked

[The Scottish Episcopal Church] Aberdeen Christians have urged Tony Blair to
redouble peace efforts in the Middle East after students at a West Bank
Episcopal school were shelled by Israeli troops.

Scottish Episcopal worshippers decided to act after hearing a first hand
account of the plight of pupils at the Episcopal school in Ramallah. The
Most Revd Bruce Cameron, the Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, has now written to
Mr Blair, asking the PM to renew efforts to secure peace in Israel and
Palestine.

Bishop Cameron wrote on behalf of the Synod of the Diocese of Aberdeen &
Orkney - the diocese's central governing body made up of clergy and
worshippers. He quoted a letter from Mrs Samira Nasser, headmistress of the
Episcopal school which serves both Christian and Muslim students. Mrs Nasser
said, "At one o'clock (this refers to the early morning of 18th February) I
heard heavy shelling in an area very close to our apartment, to be followed
by the sounds of ambulances. Little did I know that in the morning I would
be handling a barrage of calls coming to the school, because the shelling I
heard at night targeted the house of two of our students - Sima Khalil in
grade seven, and Hanin Khalil, in grade nine."

In his letter, the Bishop added, "We all recognise and feel the horror of
violence that is being perpetrated on both sides of this conflict, yet all
the evidence suggests that greater causalities - many of them innocent - are
experienced by the Palestinian people. Some of us have seen the evidence of
the injustices from which they suffer and yearn for a greater spirit of
justice and reconciliation on the part of the present Israeli Government.

"It is in that context that the Synod is urging you and your Government
colleagues to re-double your efforts to seek peace with justice in the land
we call 'Holy'."

Bishop Cameron last visited the school, which is supported by the Scottish
Episcopal Church, in October. He toured other West Bank schools, churches
and hospitals and met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The Scottish
Episcopal Church has had a long involvement with the Middle East - expressed
through financial support, prayer and pilgrimage.

The Bishop of Brechin, the Rt Revd Neville Chamberlain, resigned from the
Labour party in December as a protest against the Government's failure to
condemn Israel's attacks on Palestinians.

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