wfn.org | Episcopalians: Bishop Riah's Easter message from Jerusalem

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

April 2, 2002

2002-084

Episcopalians: Bishop Riah's Easter message from Jerusalem

Dear Friends,

Salaam and grace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and 
blessed greetings from Jerusalem,

It is Easter Day, the day of Resurrection. However, this 
year's celebration of Christ's new life is remembered in the 
middle of total chaos, and persistent suffering of a lonely 
people, who has long been fighting for their freedom and 
dignity. The services in the cathedral this morning took place 
with half the number of people we normally have due to closures 
and checkpoints. This year, the Easter story has been as vivid 
and clear as never before. The biblical drama continues; the 
actors change, but the plot remains the same. We have been 
witnessing the many Judas Iscariots, who continue to betray the 
Truth, and the many Pilates, who wash their hands, to defend 
their own safety. We weep before those who continue to watch the 
cross from afar, as if the scene means nothing to them.

After the services, I left with clergy and heads of churches 
towards Ramallah on a mission of peace and justice, trying to 
break down the siege inflicted on the city and its people, and 
to visit President Arafat. Apart of the Anglican clergy with me, 
we had the Roman Catholic Patriarch and his clergy, the Greek 
Catholic Archimandrite, and representative of the Armenian, 
Lutheran, Coptic, and Franciscan Bishops and clergy. We were 15 
people altogether. We gathered at St. George's Cathedral and 
left in the afternoon hours towards the city of Ramallah.

Prior to our departure from the cathedral, I spoke several 
times with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel, Rabbi 
Melcheor, who was part of the Alexandria Declaration, initiated 
by the Archbishop of Canterbury, as we committed ourselves to 
work for peace and justice as religious leaders. We asked for 
his help and intervention to mediate with the authorities, and 
allow us to enter into Ramallah; I have even challenged him to 
come with us, expressing readiness to meet with Sharon as well. 
But all our three-hour-endeavor to enter the city came to an 
empty hole. We felt that the authorities do not want the church 
to provide a channel for peace and reconciliation, to bring an 
end to all the suffering and pain of the peoples of this land. 
As we were waiting, some settlers were passing by, some cried at 
us with the words: "Go to hell." Others spitted at us. We were 
forced to return back to Jerusalem.

Ramallah has been declared a war zone, nobody allowed in or 
out. The reports that are coming from the city are incredibly 
horrendous. Our people could not attend church on Sunday. George 
Kopti, our priest in charge of the community, said his prayers 
with the immediate neighbours, who are living in the church 
close. He cannot walk out of his house, like everybody else, for 
fear of being shot dead. He reported that people were executed 
in the neighbouring Islamic Club with cold blood. There is lack 
of food and water supplies in the houses. President Arafat's 
compound has run out of water, too. Ambulances have not been 
allowed to reach to the injured, and one of the hospitals has 
been invaded. The soldiers are threatening to blow it up, 10 
minutes after they leave the building; and all this comes with 
the ongoing reports of lack of blood in the hospitals for the 
injured, a matter that is causing the death of many others; 25 
dead Palestinians are still kept in one of the hospitals, while 
the Israelis are not allowing their burial. The hospitals report 
that there is no more space to keep more bodies. Some of those 
bodies have been recognized, others have not been recognized due 
to the extreme degree of torture. The church is planning 
tomorrow to donate blood here in the cathedral through one of 
the ambulances, the least we can do in our support for the 
community in Ramallah.

Stephanie Koury, an American citizen, lives and works in 
Ramallah as the legal adviser on settlements for the Palestinian 
Negotiating team. She reported to me personally that on 
Saturday, March 30 at 1:45pm, 10 Israeli soldiers invaded her 
house, and threatened to kill her cat. They ate her fruits on 
the table, even when she told them that that was the only food 
left for her. One of the soldiers lay down and asked her to give 
him a massage, an act of total humiliation, if not a war crime. 
She witnessed them holding an 18-19 year old young man, the son 
of her neighbour, forcing him on his knees, and pointing the gun 
at his head. When they left her house after three hours of sheer 
humiliation, they ran over her car with their tanks.

Israeli troops have surrounded Bethlehem and its area, and 
the people there are preparing for another Israeli invasion. All 
this comes to us, and to our people at a time when we remember 
and celebrate the life of God who makes the suffering and the 
death of these people his own. We remember how they flogged him, 
how they spitted on him, and how they crucified him. It all 
becomes clear how though we believe in the resurrection, we also 
believe that the resurrection does not cancel out the 
crucifixion. We are burdened with all this suffering, and total 
hopelessness. To whom do we turn to? We have no one to turn to 
except to him , who suffers, and dies with us, Jesus Christ our 
Lord. For he alone can raise us up.

Know that this comes with my prayers, and best wishes,

In Christ,

+Riah Abu El-Assal

Episcopal/Anglican Bishop

Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East

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