Lutherans Protest Israeli Forces' Intrusion at Jerusalem Hospital

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) expressed the church's "strongest objection" to the entry of Israeli forces September 29 on to the property of Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH), located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians. In an Oct. 3 statement on the church's behalf, the Rev. H. George Anderson demanded Israeli troops withdraw from the perimeter of the Lutheran -owned and -operated hospital, saying their presence is provocative, and may lead to additional clashes and casualties.
He also expressed condolences to those who have lost friends and family during the clashes.
"We are saddened by the deaths and injuries of so many people, both Palestinian and Israeli," Anderson said. "We call on all sides to end the fighting. We urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders to negotiate a lasting disengagement and cease-fire of armed forces and to use their authority to promote an end to the violence."
Augusta Victoria Hospital is operated by the Lutheran World Federation, a global communion of 131 churches representing 59.5 million Lutherans, including the ELCA. As armed conflict erupted in Jerusalem last week, Israeli soldiers entered the hospital grounds during clashes with Palestinians, according to a Sept. 30 news release from the hospital. The source of the fighting -- which has since spread to several areas near Jerusalem -- was a controversial Sept. 28 visit by Ariel Sharon, leader of Israel's opposition Likud Party, to a Jerusalem site holy to Muslims and Jews. Sharon was accompanied by a large contingent of Israeli riot police.
The soldiers used the hospital grounds to fire at Palestinians outside hospital property, the hospital release said.
"We protest the disproportionate and excessive use of lethal force by Israeli forces, their increasing use of live ammunition, their firing of rubber-coated bullets into the faces and heads of Palestinian youth, and their disregard for humanitarian institutions such as the Augusta Victoria Hospital," Anderson said.
Israeli security forces continued to block access to the hospital Oct. 3, Anderson said.
During Sept. 30-Oct. 1, several protests were directed to Israeli officials by church leaders. The ELCA's Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs in Washington, D.C., raised concerns with the Embassy of Israel, the U.S. State Department and the National Security Council at the White House, but tensions continued through the weekend. The Lutheran Office for World Community conveyed concerns to the United Nations as well.
Earlier, Anderson was one of several leaders of churches in the United States who addressed concerns about Jerusalem in a Sept. 6 letter to President Clinton. They expressed a desire for a process that would lead to a "shared" Jerusalem involving Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Several Lutheran church representatives were present at the hospital for a routine board of governors meeting when the Israeli forces entered the hospital grounds. Among them was the Rev. Robert N. Bacher, ELCA Office of the Bishop, Chicago. The Rev. Said R. Ailabouni, ELCA Division for Global Mission, Chicago, was also present but left before the fighting reached the hospital grounds.
Hospital staff treated many Palestinians injured in the fighting, Bacher said, following his return to Chicago. There was fear that Israeli forces would enter the hospital but they never did, he said. Clashes with Palestinians occurred in the street in front of the hospital, and on the hospital grounds, Bacher said. The hospital serves mostly Palestinians, according to Bacher.
"Augusta Victoria Hospital has a 50-year history of serving Palestinians, and that is being severely tested," Bacher said. "This shows how important the hospital is to Palestinians, and how well the hospital staff can respond in a crisis."
Bacher also expressed concern that the Israeli forces outside the perimeter of the hospital are blocking access for both wounded people and regular hospital patients.
Anderson's statement follows a statement issued by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Geneva, Switzerland, in response to the situation at Augusta Victoria Hospital.
The LWF called for withdrawal of Israeli security forces from the perimeter of Augusta Victoria Hospital, and that a repetition of the events of September 29 "be avoided by all possible means." The statement was part of an Oct. 2 letter from the Rev. Ishmael Noko, LWF general secretary, to Ehud Barak, Israel's prime minister. The LWF's presence and its operation of Augusta Victoria are founded upon "an ethic of humanitarian medical care and assistance," Noko said.
"I am sure you will recognize that what occurred at the hospital is a fundamental affront to and seriously undermines this humanitarian purpose, and I must express the Lutheran World Federation's strongest objection and complaint against such use of the Augusta Victoria Hospital premises and property," Noko said.
"The presence of Israeli security forces around the hospital not only severely reduces the hospital's capacity to provide medical care to the people of East Jerusalem, including those injured in the recent violence, but also tends to provoke a violent reaction by the Palestinian protestors," he said. -- -- --
The full text of Bishop Anderson's statement is available on the ELCA's Web site at http://www.elca.org/ob/mideast.html.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html