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Browning Joins Condemnation of Hebron Massacre, Urges UN Protection for Palestinians

Episcopal News Service. March 10, 1994 [94046]

Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning has condemned the February 25 massacre of 69 Muslims at prayer in the Hebron Mosque and urged the Israeli government to disarm Jewish settlers in the Occupied Territories.

"Israel's decision to disarm the settlers must be total, not selective, and anything short of complete disarmament is unacceptable," Browning said in a statement on March 3. "The Israeli government policy of allowing settlers to be armed while denying Palestinians the same right of self protection from Israeli extremists is simply wrong." (See Newsfeatures section for full text of statement.)

Browning also called on the Israeli government to resolve the future status of the settlements. "The integrity of a two-state solution demands resolution of this contentious issue in the context of current negotiations. Until this matter is resolved, I call for the suspension of any further loan guarantees to Israel."

In a strong plea to shift current policy, Browning urged the U.S. government to end its opposition to a UN peacekeeping presence in the territories. "The truth is that Israel has a shameful human rights record through its years of occupation," he said. "I know it, my government knows it, the world knows it, and it is a disgrace to deny the offer of international protection for one more day."

A chorus of condemnations

Browning's statement joined a chorus of condemnations from religious leaders around the world. "The choice of a religious gathering in a holy place for this massacre is calculated to envenom an already demoralized peace process," said Archbishop Michael Peers, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. "It adds the offense of sacrilege to the crime of mass murder."

Comparing the massacre to the biblical account of the murder of Abel by Cain, Bishop Samir Kafity, president bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, said that "the blood of 69 Palestinians from Hebron... is still crying. It is crying, not in the wilderness, but in the 'New Order' of international society."

Kafity called for a removal of all settlements in the Occupied Territories and urged an end to grants or loans that support their expansion.