Know What Israel is Doing Now
By Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.
We are overshadowed by the darkest of all days in the Holy
Land. Massive destruction is taking place again by the
Israeli Army as thousands of people will become homeless
from the hundreds of houses that are targeted to be
demolished in Gaza today leaving 20 Palestinians dead
during the raid. The fear and panic of refugees fleeing
their homes is indescribable. The poorest of the poor who
have already lost their homes in l948 cannot even have the
right to survive as refugees in refugee camps.
Since September 2000 more than 3,000 homes have been
demolished and nothing the United Nations or Amnesty
International say can stop the Israelis from carrying out
this horrific humanitarian disaster. Please Dear God Stop
Israel. Your prayers for a just peace are needed more than
ever. "I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and
my supplications." (Psalm 116)
For the people that cannot be labeled as "terrorists" and
be shot or have their homes destroyed, the Israeli
government has other clever ways to carry out the ethnic
cleansing in creating 100% Jewish homeland. One such
policy is currently targeting the Christian community in
specific and making it impossible to renew proper documents
for many clergy and laity to continue their service to the
Church in Jerusalem. This tough Israeli policy is affecting
how Christian institutions such as schools, hospitals,
clinics and humanitarian organizations are being operated
in the Holy Land and will not be able to have the
appropriate staff and expertise to carry out their
particular work which mostly serves the Palestinian
communities. And this is the mo st important reason the
Church is facing these difficulties since the beneficiaries
of their work happen to be Palestinians.
The Christian voice is being diminished because it speaks
for a just peace in the Holy Land calling upon the
International Community to give Palestinians their human
rights. More than ever, clergy and laity who have given
many years of service to the Church and have always
received permission to work under the Israeli government
are currently being denied or delayed getting their visas
renewed interpreted as a way to cripple the Church.
The principal at an elite school in Jerusalem who has been
working since l975 in providing excellent education has not
been able to renew his visa since January and at the moment
is forced to stay in Israel illegally because of his
obligation to his school and his obligation in overseeing
the other Christian schools in Israel and Jordan. This
priest who has proper documentation from the Vatican finds
it difficult to do his daily work with this mental,
psychological and unexplainable harassment from the Israeli
bureaucracy. This is preventing him from attending
important academic meetings and conferences in coordination
with the other schools he oversees eventually affecting the
programs and the curriculum. Another former principal of a
Christian school in Ramallah, also a Catholic priest, is
facing the same problem for over a year now. He cannot
leave the country for the fear that he will be denied entry
upon return.
The Israelis are intestinally refusing to give the proper
documents so that Church workers, volunteers, clergy and
other Christians cannot continue their duties who some have
been doing for over twenty or thirty years in a variety of
services to the Church. It is bizarre to hear the stories
that were for a handful of people and now are affecting
hundreds.
The hassle and the harassment are not so easy to describe
unless you experience it. For example it took five trips
to renew the registration of my vehicle last month, with
many trips to the American Consulate office, the registry
and back and forth so much where you finally hear the
little voice in your head saying "It's easier to leave this
country than to try and survive under these discriminatory
policies that make your daily life so miserable and full of
suffering." It is so difficult to be productive and to
give of one's self when you are constantly fighting to
survive and meet your daily needs.
What is more frustrating is listening to President Bush say
that Israel is a democracy and in this democracy if you are
a Palestinian, you need a permit to go to school, you need
a permit to go to work, you need a permit to go to the
airport, you need a permit to go to Jerusalem for prayers,
you need a permit to go to the hospital and now the new
Separation Wall is going to keep the Palestinians in a
prison in their own homeland and, by the way, many people
are denied permits even when they bother to go through the
crazy process of asking for their basic human rights.
A democratic country should not occupy neighboring
territories and terrorize entire populations. What type of
democracy is Israeli practicing when civilians are killed
indiscriminately while it tries to get militants? I am
wondering why 20 Palestinians had to die today and no one
seems to care about their life or human value? In the name
of security, Israeli is getting away with war crimes.
Note: If you wish to respond to this article or have any
feedback, please respond only to khourymaria@h...
Thank you for sharing this news from the Holy Land with
your senator and representative, local church or anyone who
can pray for a just peace in the Land of Christ's Holy
Resurrection.
Forwarded by Rd. Constantine. Our fellow Orthodox, brothers
and sisters in Christ, are among those suffering
tremendously here.
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- Reader Constantine Wright
IC|XC http://constans_wright.tripod.com
+--+--+ Traditional Orthodox Christian
NI|KA http://www.new-ostrog.org/paper1.html - Member of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church of
the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in the Americas
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