wfn.org | ACNS2931 Easter Message from Bishop of Jerusalem

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

ACNS 2931 - MIDDLE EAST - 3 April 2002

Easter Message from Bishop of 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, no body 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 lied 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

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