wfn.org | Jerusalem hospital faces closure by Israeli tax

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7428 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

16-September-2002
02352
 
Jerusalem hospital faces closure by Israeli tax  

by David Lawrence
Ecumenical News International
  
WITTENBERG, Germany - Leaders in the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) fear the
Israeli government is about to impose an employer's tax that could cause the
closure of the only hospital offering modern treatment for certain illnesses
to people living in the Palestinian territories.  

Bishop Munib A. Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan, which
serves Israel, Jordan and Palestine, said the LWF-run Augusta Victoria
Hospital in East Jerusalem was the only specialist cancer unit in the
territories and the sole center for kidney dialysis.  

"Now that they are imposing this tax, the danger is that the hospital will
close," Younan told journalists attending the Sept. 10-17 meeting of the LWF
council, the organization's main governing body, taking place here.  

"This is one of the stickiest issues facing the Lutheran World Federation,"
said Younan, a Palestinian who is chairperson of the hospital board.  

The bishop noted that if the Israeli government imposed the employer's tax it
would renege on an agreement arrived at when East Jerusalem was annexed by
Jordan - an agreement ratified by the government of Israel in 1967 when it
occupied East Jerusalem.

That agreement exempted the hospital from local taxes in recognition of the
fact that it received no financial support from the government.  An LWF
spokesman said the new tax would add about 15m shekels (approximately $3.2
million) to the hospital's costs.  

A court decision on the tax is expected at the end of September. 

The judge in the case has allowed the LWF time to find a solution in
negotiations with Israeli authorities.	

But "if the Israelis will not respect the tax exemption, and the court
decides that LWF will have to pay, this may lead to the closure of the
hospital," the LWF treasurer, Inger J. Wremer, told the LWF council this
week.  

The hospital is a key humanitarian project run by the Jerusalem program of
the LWF's department for world service. Situated on the Mount of Olives, the
hospital had its origins in the Augusta Victoria Foundation, erected in 1910
by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in honor of his wife, Empress Augusta
Victoria.  

Since 1950, the LWF has managed the hospital in trust for the foundation.  

The threat to the hospital comes at a time when the LWF, like many churches
and church groupings, is facing financial difficulties, due in part to the
poor global economic climate.  

Earlier in the week in Wittenberg, the LWF council was told by Wremer that
the federation needed to develop creative ways to get additional financial
support for its work.  

She said: "A more concrete plan of action is needed." 
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