Episcopal Press and News
Presiding Bishop Condemns Violence, Asks President Bush to Place Conditions on American Aid to Israel
Episcopal News Service. June 21, 1990 [90152]
Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning wrote to President Bush on May 25 to express his "profound distress" over the "tragic level of violence to which the Palestinian people have been subjected by the security forces of Israel." He called the lack of restraint by the Israeli military "inexcusable."
While applauding the President's public criticism of the violence and supporting Secretary of State James Baker's call for an international peace-keeping force, Browning said Israel should be advised that billions in American aid "can no longer be provided unconditionally to a state that is violating the fundamental human rights of an occupied people."
"I urge you to inform the Government of Israel that it must comply more fully with international human rights standards, must refrain from the expenditure of its resources for expansion into territories occupied by war, and must actively demonstrate a willingness to engage in peace negotiations, or risk the reduction in American support," Browning said in his letter.
The presiding bishop said the letter was part of a "continuation of our sense of solidarity with religious leaders in the Middle East, especially the Episcopalians, as they work for a just peace." He said he felt a "terrible need" to speak out at this time because of the escalating state of violence. He also encouraged the president in the "courageous ways he is responding to the issues." Browning said it is obvious the United States has "a major role to play in the search for a lasting peace -- and we don't have much time left."
Browning also wrote to Bishop Samir Kafity of the Diocese of Jerusalem to say that he "occupied a special place of deep and compassionate concern in my thoughts and prayers in these tragic days of turmoil and suffering in your beloved land. The people of the world have been stunned by the terrible repression that has been unleashed upon the Palestinian population by Israeli security forces." Browning pledged special attention by the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief to the humanitarian needs of the diocese as it seeks to "minister to the widowed, the orphaned, the wounded, and the displaced."
The Rev. William Wipfler, the Episcopal Church's partnership officer for the Middle East, returned recently from a trip to the area and said he found the atmosphere "very tense," largely because of the "unrestrained Israeli military activity." He was in Jerusalem during Holy Week when Israeli settlers, some of them armed, moved into St. John's Hospice in the Christian sector of the Old City, and he described the subsequent protest march by Christians, which included closing the doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the first time in 800 years.
"These actions make it impossible for us to be silent -- that's why the presiding bishop felt it was necessary to write to the president," Wipfler said. The presiding bishop also wrote to the president on April 24 to protest the Israeli government's almost $2 million clandestine support of the settlers in the hospice.
Diane Porter, the Episcopal Church's executive for public ministries, returned recently from a three-week Middle East tour with 40 political and nonprofit organization leaders. The "Mission for a Just Solution," organized by PAX World Foundation and led by former Senator Charles Percy, met with heads of state in Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and visited the Occupied Territories and Gaza.
The group's agenda was to press for the two-state solution and oppose further Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Events overtook the purpose for the trip, Porter said. The collapse of the Israeli coalition government and the U.S. veto of a U.N. resolution to send a peace-keeping team to monitor human rights abuses "cast a pall over the trip," she reported. "King Hussein, for example, was livid."
In Israel the group was told that it would be difficult to get the peace process moving "unless the United States takes a more active role -- otherwise Israel won't budge," according to Porter. She said that she shares Wipfler's pessimism that "the future looks bleak. People are even beginning to talk openly about the possibility of another war."
"As a church we are seeking to strengthen the resolve of the Palestinians in their struggle for justice," Porter continued. The Episcopal Church's General Convention has expressed support for the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East and the need for a Palestinian homeland, the "two-state solution."