Episcopal Press and News
Palestinian Christians Encourage Visits to Holy Land
Episcopal News Service. August 30, 2004 [083004-1-A]
Pat McCaughan
The Rev. Fuad Dagher, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Shefa Amr, Israel, has just three words for those who would aid struggling Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land: "Come and see."
And for those who are serious about engaging solutions for his troubled homeland, he adds three more: "Work for peace."
"The political situation there is a task for peace and justice. We are called to be peacemakers," he told a gathering of about 40 at St. Anselm of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Garden Grove, California, during a July visit to the Diocese of Los Angeles.
"The church in the West, I am sorry to say, has been silent for many years. Our Lord said, blessed are the peacemakers. He didn't say blessed are the peace-hopers. It is my task. It is your task. Speak up and try to be an instrument of God's peace. Not all Palestinians are terrorists. Come and visit us and see. We would be more than happy to welcome you."
Newfound hope
Dagher was in California to meet and personally thank members of the Church of Our Saviour, San Gabriel, who have entered into a sister relationship with his congregation in the Galilee. The partnership involves mutual visits, joint plans for building a preschool, prayers and advocacy, financial and other support and, most importantly, newfound hope.
"This is giving me a chance to get to know the people of Church of Our Saviour," said Dagher, 30. "The generosity of the people is overwhelming, as is their love, their concern. They have such big hearts. It gives us great encouragement about hope for the future. For so many years we felt we were forsaken and forgotten."
Alan Weirick, a parishioner at Church of Our Saviour, who visited the Holy Land several years ago, plans to return with another group this October.
"There are a number of ways to support this cause," said Weirick, who attended the Garden Grove gathering. "We need partnerships. This is doing a lot for us. Supporting Christians in the Holy Land is supporting family. There are five churches in the Galilee besides St. Paul's that need partners. Everyone should think about a group partnership. It's very worthwhile."
Positive Actions
Florence Mattar, chair of the Task Force on the Middle East for the Diocese of Los Angeles, agreed enthusiastically.
"If every church here adopts a church there, it would create such a great relationship between the two people," she said. "It is one of the positive actions we can take and it would foster understanding and feeling of what Palestinians are going through on a daily basis. It would also help us to see what their needs are. It is so important and such a great ideal and something proactive we can do," she said, adding that a list of other suggested actions is available through the task force.
Iyod Qumri, a Palestinian Christian tour guide who accompanied Dagher on the trip, challenged the U.S. State Department advisory against traveling to Israel. He said he received warnings against visiting Los Angeles.
"Don't listen to the media, you never get the Palestinian side of the news," he urged participants. "Besides, if you Americans come to Israel, we will be protected in the West Bank. You can protect us in our own homeland."
He said there has never been a safer time to visit the Holy Land. Media misrepresentations have fueled a sharp decline in tourism that takes both a financial and a spiritual toll.
Dagher hopes to reverse that trend through developing more sister relationships, among schools, congregations, even dioceses, if possible.
Unless the exodus of Palestinian Christians from Israel is halted, he fears "our churches will become just museums."
Qumri agreed. Four years ago, 3 percent of the 9 million member population in Israel and the West Bank was Christian. "Now, Christians are 1.5 percent. That's very scary," he said. "We hope you're praying for us, but we want you to do more. We want you to come and visit.
"Christianity began where we come from," he added. "In Israel, the story comes alive. You can follow where the Lord went. Come, I will show it to you, where Jesus made miracles, in Capernaum, the synagogue, where he fed the 5,000, where he gave the Sermon on the Mount."
Living together with dignity
Another misperception, that Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem are bitter enemies, fizzled after Abe Ali, volunteer director of interfaith activities for the Mission Viejo Mosque, pledged support for Palestinian Christians.
"I have fond memories of the Anglican Church in South Lebanon," said Ali, who immigrated to the U.S. 30 years ago.
"What worries me most is hearing about a tremendous amount of culture and history on the verge of being lost. As a Muslim, I will carry the message to my people that the Palestinian culture is under pressure. I want to see what we can do to stop the erosion of the presence of Christians in the Holy Land. We're not doing enough. We need to do more."
Dagher said that many Muslims support Palestinian Christians. But everyone must understand that "if we leave, we are all losers."
"Whoever thinks Muslims are threatening the world's safety is mistaken," he said. "Christians and Muslims live together in the Holy Land, side by side. This is not a Muslim-Christian conflict." In fact, 75 percent of Anglican school students in the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem are Muslim, he said.
"We are educating students from an early age about coexistence, the importance of having each other, for each other. We want to have two states side by side, Israelis and Palestinians of all faiths living together with dignity."
He noted that a program, Kids For Peace, through St. George's Anglican College in Jerusalem, brings together Jewish, Christian and Muslim children, and their parents, for a year to foster peacemaking.
Living stones
Besides Israel, the diocese encompasses Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Diocesan ministries include 35 service institutions, 29 parishes, 1,900 employees, 200 hospital beds, 6,400 students in diocesan schools and 7,000 congregants, he said.
But daily harassment prevents him from serving the West Bank's occupied territory. Residents there, unlike Dagher and Qumri, do not hold Israeli passports and are not allowed to leave the Gaza Strip.
"They face occupation, suffering, check points, moving from one place to another. The work of our church in West Bank is wonderful but very challenging," he said. "I am unable to reach those places. It is difficult for me to cross many checkpoints and to be stopped by soldiers to serve them. It leaves many institutions without priests.
"The work of the church is big. We need help. We want prayers for us and the church in the Middle East and the Holy Land. You could do a lot by visiting and with partnership relationships like the one with Church of Our Saviour and my parish.
"Now we have hope for future. Stop talking about which side you should take," he said. "If we still take sides, the conflict will never stop. We don't want empty churches. We want our churches filled with people, the living stones. Visitors come to the Holy Land to go to shrines, to touch holy stones. The most important thing is to walk with the people the Lord walked with, those are the living stones.
"We extend an invitation to everyone to meet the living stones. We are Arabs, Palestinian Christians, and we want you to know we're here.
"We're not doing this only for ourselves, but for you. We need your support, because if Christians all over the world don't wake up and pay attention, in a few years, the church in Holy Land will disappear."
For more information, contact the Middle East Task Force at 213.482.2040, or e-mail: lydialopez@ladiocese.org.