Stating that the “churches have directed their concerns to the Israeli government but to little avail,” the church leaders appealed for the President’s intervention to help restore the normal functioning of Christian institutions in Israel and the Occupied Territories and claimed that “it is generally acknowledged that relations of the churches and these institutions with the Israeli government may be the worst they have ever been.”

The letter addressed the church leaders’ concerns specifically regarding the effects of the separation barrier being constructed by Israel, taxation issues that may force some church institutions to close due to the removal of their longstanding tax-exempt status, and “the denial and delay of visas, by Israel, for clergy and church personnel result[ing] in understaffed seminaries, churches, hospitals, education and other institutions.”

Destructive effects of separation

Speaking as one of the diverse group of signers, Griswold said, “Our churches, hospitals, schools, and other institutions are important visible expressions of our faith's concern for humanity. While they serve Christians and non-Christians alike, they are also expressions of our Christian heritage and its many contributions to the region.”

Another signer, Brother Robert Schieler, provincial for the De La Salle Christian Brothers who administer Bethlehem University, emphasized the destructive effects of the separation barrier on Christian and Palestinian populations: “Even if the barrier is intended for security, it has had the very real effects of separating students and faculty from their classrooms, families from one another, farmers from their fields, and Christian worshippers from their churches.”

In the letter to President Bush, the church leaders observe, “We find it difficult to be assured by your description on April 14 of the barrier as ‘temporary’ in light of Israel’s plans to extend the barrier far beyond the 1967 Green Line, encompassing on the Israeli side those large West Bank settlements that you implied would remain part of Israel.”

Speaking of Bethlehem particularly, Schieler noted, “The barrier and checkpoints are now cutting off Christians in Bethlehem from Jerusalem just a few miles away. I wonder if U.S. Christians who visit Bethlehem as tourists know that many of their Christian brothers and sisters who live and work and worship where Jesus was born are not able to travel just a few miles to Jerusalem to where Jesus died and was risen. Unfortunately, most American Christians remain woefully uninformed about what is happening in the very land where Jesus walked.”

The signers, while specifically raising the concerns of church institutions and Palestinian Christians, stated clearly that they “do not mean to minimize the suffering of Muslims and Jews.” The letter ended by imploring the President to assist all Muslims, Jews, and Christians in the Holy Land, stating, “your help is needed as a force for peacemaking that builds bridges to a new and hopeful future.”

Griswold summarized, “We believe that our institutions provide services that are essential to bringing hope to people in need and thus to our shared goal of two states, with secure borders, and able to live in peace, one with the other.”

Letter signers included the heads of many Catholic orders and organizations in the United States; the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches; the Presiding Bishops and leaders of many denominations, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America; and Armenian Church of America; evangelical leaders including Leighton Ford, Robert Seiple, and Ron Sider; the heads of relief and development agencies such as World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, Church World Service, and the Mennonite Central Committee; and many others. The complete text of the letter and list of signers is also available at http://www.cmep.org/.

--Jim Wetekam is Media Program Director for Churches for Middle East Peace

The text of the letter follows:

May 7, 2004

The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write to you about the situation and future of Christianity and Christians in the Holy Land. We do not mean to minimize the suffering of Muslims and Jews, but we believe it is important that you fully understand the crisis in the Holy Land confronting Christian Palestinians, Christian institutions, and those who wish to visit the birthplace of Christianity.

Individually and collectively, churches have directed their concerns to the Israeli government but to little avail. Those of us with religious institutions in Israel and the Occupied Territories are no longer able to function normally, and it is generally acknowledged that relations of the churches and these institutions with the Israeli government may be the worst they have ever been. Meetings with embassy staff in Tel Aviv and with appropriate State Department personnel in Washington, though appreciated, have not produced satisfactory results. Therefore, we believe your intervention is needed at this difficult time.

Specifically:

Visas. The denial and delay of visas, by Israel, for clergy and church personnel result in understaffed seminaries, churches, hospitals, educational and other institutions, so that they have neither the spiritual nor the professional staff that they need. (These are the very kind of faith-based initiatives you have promoted in the United States.) For example, the Catholic Church operates 151 institutions (including 33 parishes, 7 hospitals, 11 dispensaries, 8 orphanages, 5 homes for the elderly, 7 homes for the handicapped, 70 schools, 5 theological seminaries, and 5 institutions of higher learning). Protestant denominations have similar institutions and many suffer from lack of sufficient personnel due to visa problems. Members of secular institutes, commissioned lay staff members, and even volunteers, without whom some institutions could not operate, are sometimes refused a visa.

Taxation. A number of our church organizations--specifically, Lutheran World Federation, Catholic Relief Services and Mennonite Central Committee--have longstanding and broad tax exemption agreements with the Israeli government. For more than fifty years, these organizations have offered charitable services and development programs which contribute to the wellbeing and security of both Palestinians and Israelis. In recent years the Israeli taxation department has attempted to back out of these tax-exemption agreements. These church organizations have worked unsuccessfully with Israeli authorities for nearly six years attempting to resolve this issue. The Israeli tax department’s decision, if upheld by the Israeli courts, will create economic hardship for all the named organizations and, most seriously, could lead to the closing of the Lutheran World Federation’s Augusta Victoria Hospital located on the Mount of Olives.

Separation Barrier. While we understand that there are Israelis who sincerely believe this barrier will bring them relief from terrorizing acts, we fear that it will in fact do quite the opposite by intensifying Palestinian despair. A sobering reality check might be the violence continuing within Gaza and emanating from Gaza despite its being totally enclosed. It is impossible for those who have not seen the barrier to comprehend fully its effect on the psychology of both Christian and Muslim Palestinians of all ages. The separation barrier is damaging Christian institutions and the daily livelihood of individual Christians. It separates families from one another, students from their schools, workers from their jobs, farmers from their land, doctors and patients from their hospitals, and most symbolically, Bethlehem from Jerusalem. For Christians worldwide, this structure is cutting off access to holy sites. Whether one calls it a fence, a wall, or a barrier, “The consequences will be devastating to the Christian community,” said the Jerusalem Bishops and Patriarchs in their statement of August 26, 2003.

We find it difficult to be assured by your description on April 14 of the barrier as “temporary” in light of Israel’s plans to extend the barrier far beyond the 1967 Green Line, encompassing on the Israeli side those large West Bank settlements that you implied would remain part of Israel. We agree with the widely held view that the separation barrier, as it deviates from the Green Line, is a tactic of Israel to claim land and water sources in the West Bank and Jerusalem that are necessary for a viable Palestinian state.

Mr. President, Christians in the Holy Land--and their schools, hospitals and churches--have a unique role. Prime Minister Sharon has commented that his unilateral initiative could delay negotiations and a Palestinian state for another generation. But this is a time frame in which, under the pressure of endless conflict, the endangered indigenous Christian population in the Holy Land could well disappear. We need your help in convincing the Israeli government that thriving Christian institutions are vital to all of our interests and to the future of a secure Israel. Even more, your help is needed as a force for peacemaking that builds bridges to a new and hopeful future.