The Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL)
Statement by Bishop Dr. Munib Younan June 15, 2007
We have been warning for some time now that the situation here
in the Occupied Palestinian territories – especially Gaza
- is untenable and explosive. I fear
that unless we take drastic action, we will sink into all-out, protracted civil
war that will dramatically fuel the fires of extremism, violence and chaos in
the Middle East. This could further radicalize the whole
Middle East and perhaps tip us over a turning point toward
religious fanaticism that would be hard to change. So I speak today to urge
leaders, combatants, ordinary people and the international community: for God's sake and the sake of all those
suffering here from violence and oppression, stop the internal violence, end the international aid
boycott and implement a serious plan to end the illegal, 40-year occupation of
the Palestinian people.
The heads of local churches in Jerusalem
issued a statement Wednesday, June 13,
2007, calling on all Palestinian brothers to put down their arms
against one another and stop the violence immediately. There is no justification for this violence,
and it only damages the legitimate cause of the Palestinian people for self-determination,
our own state and an end to occupation.
Sisters and brothers of Palestine,
accept your responsibility to end all violence and return to the higher ground
and aim of non-violent struggle to this illegal occupation. People of the Arab League, please step in and
help us regain our balance.
Although
a resolution to this conflict seems so unreachable, we already know the
solutions: follow international law, UN
resolutions and basic human rights law.
Implement the two-state solution, based on the 1948 armistice line (the
Green Line), which would lead to two equal, viable, sovereign states, each with
Jerusalem as its capital, just resolution to the refugee problem, shared
resources and ending the policy of settlements.
So as I sit in Jerusalem
trying to analyze what is happening and why, I can't help but wonder. Why, instead of implementing the many
relevant UN resolutions supporting these concepts (66 in all), has the
international community ignored them all these years and continued to allow the
confiscation of Palestinian land and building up almost 500,000 illegal
settlers in the West Bank, including East
Jerusalem. Why,
if the West wants to foster democracy, did they reject the outcome of democratic
elections held under occupation with little violence and boycott the new
government? Why has the international community sat by and watched the
longest occupation in history – 40 years – and then placed an unprecedented
boycott on them, which amounts to sanctions against a captive people. How is this possible? Maybe it is time for deep
self-evaluation for Palestinians, Israelis and the international community.
For this
reason, from Jerusalem I call on international leaders of the world to wake up
and see that some of their policies have had devastating negative effects on
this conflict and, in fact, the whole Middle East. Realistically, what can one expect in Gaza when
you lock 1.5 million people into a tiny patch of land 20 miles long by 5-10
miles wide, virtually seal the borders except for a small fraction of trade and
then completely stop the already meager salaries? A recent OxFam study
of families in Gaza showed that the
average family in Gaza has an
average debt of $1750, in a land where a school principle only earns about $6000
per year. And in the West
Bank, what can we expect when you herd people into tiny enclaves,
take away freedom of movement and allow continued violations of human rights to
go on behind walls of concrete and barbed wire fences?
Leaders of the world, your complicity in allowing and
supporting the illegal occupation and your unprecedented action in boycotting
this occupied people have created a humanitarian, political and economic crisis
that now threatens not only the people of Palestine,
but also Israel
and the whole region. The Arab and Muslim world see
this conflict as the litmus test for how the West treats them, and until some
justice and improvement on the ground occurs for Palestinians, it will continue
to fuel the fires of fanaticism in the whole Middle East.
If you want to bring an end to the horrific violence in the
Middle East and if you are concerned as I am by the rampant growth of religious
extremism: please, I urge your from Jerusalem, get serious about implementing
the two-state solution, begin immediate serious talks about these issues with
all sides and end the illegal and immoral boycott and occupation.
If we truly
want to end this deadly stalemate and build a modern, democratic civil society
in Palestine living side by side in a just peace with Israel, let us use our resources to
educate our children and not to buy weapons to oppress them. We in the ELCJHL continue to be committed to
a just solution
based on international law and to see education as the key in preparing the
future leaders who can lead us from occupation to freedom, from fear to mutual
trust and from violence to peace/salaam/shalom.
For more information about the churches, schools and
ministries of the ELCJHL, see www.holyland-lutherans.org.
For more information, please contact Rev. Julie Rowe at revjbr2003@yahoo.com
+972 (0)54 312 9015
http://www.holyland-lutherans.org/07JuneEndtheViolence.doc
