wfn.org | [ELO] Presiding Bishop joins call for end to Gaza attacks

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal Life Online
>December 29, 2008

Presiding Bishop joins call for end to Gaza attacks

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service] Following a recent upsurge in violence in the
Palestinian Territory of Gaza, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts  Schori
and other religious leaders have called for an end to the repeated  rocket
attacks from Palestinian militants and the continuing Israeli air  strikes
that are contributing to a severe humanitarian crisis in the world's  most
densely populated region.

"I urge a comprehensive response to these attacks," said Jefferts  Schori,
who visited Gaza in March to meet with religious and community leaders  and
tour the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, one of 37 institutions
throughout the Middle East run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.  "Since
that visit, the situation, which was already devastating, has only  worsened,
with supplies of food, fuel, power, and medical supplies either cut off  or
indefinitely delayed. Our hospital must now try to treat the wounded  under
the most impossible circumstances."

Israel, which has reportedly positioned military tanks along the Gaza
border, has said the recent air strikes and the blockade -- enforced  since
January 17 -- have been necessary to put pressure on militant  Palestinians
to cease firing rockets into southern Israel. But Israeli attacks and
shortages of essential supplies have caused a humanitarian crisis in the
region, where the unemployment level stands at 80 percent.

"Innocent lives are being lost throughout the land we all call Holy, and  as
Christians remember the coming of the Prince of Peace, we ache for the
absence of peace in the land of his birth," Jefferts Schori said in her
December 29 statement. "Immediate attention should focus on vital
humanitarian assistance to the suffocating people of Gaza."

The Al Ahli Arab Hospital, which treats Muslims, Christians and anyone  in
need, dispenses free medical treatment and services. But Jefferts Schori
heard in March that it struggles without electricity for several hours a  day
and it relies on limited fuel supplies to operate its generator. The
blockade has also caused difficulties in bringing medicines into Gaza.

Anne K. Lynn, director of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese  of
Jerusalem, a non-profit organization that supports the mission of the
Jerusalem diocese and its institutions, described the humanitarian  crisis in
Gaza as "overwhelming."

"The information we're receiving from the Al Ahli Arab Hospital is
heartbreaking and requires immediate response," she said, noting that  AFEDJ
is in contact with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the hospital  to
find out exactly how it can be most effective. Further information about
AFEDJ is available at http://www.americanfriends-jerusalem.org.

Suheila Tarazi, the hospital's director, has called the current  situation a
"catastrophe." She reported that in the first two hours of Israel's air
strikes, the hospital received 45 injured patients, a third of whom were
children, and 30 medical operations were performed.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104009_ENG_HTM.htm