Jerusalem
and the Middle East
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Salaam and grace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and blessed greetings from Jerusalem,

My heartfelt appreciation for the many telephone calls, faxes and e-mail messages expressing support and solidarity over the bombing attack on St. Philip's Episcopal Church and Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, on Friday January 24, 2003. Your prayers are very much appreciated. I cannot find enough words to really thank you for your kind and generous support. We are equally encouraged by the visits of those who had the courage to come and witness for themselves what has been happening in the land of the Holy One, and how much we as a Church, together with our institutions, have been badly affected.

Your gifts, contributions, and financial support have been a source of encouragement for many. You may also be encouraged to know that these gifts have been used to alleviate the pain and suffering of over 500 families in Bethlehem, Gaza, Ramallah, Nablus, Zebabdeh and many other places, together with scholarship grants to students, and food parcels. The gifts to our hospitals, which have been offering medical services against no fees, have been much appreciated. All this comes to keep the presence alive.

Wars and rumours of wars

Any attempt to wage war on Iraq will not only divert the attention of the international community from what we believe to be the root-cause of this pain, suffering and anxiety, namely the Arab-Israeli conflict over the sacred national rights of the Palestinian people, but such a war will be most devastating and may help put an end to the Christian presence in the birthplace of our Christian faith.

"Our hearts are very heavy with the suffering of the ages of a thousand thousand years. The blood of the victims is still warm, the cries of anguish still fill the night."

Across the centuries our Christian presence in the Middle East was seriously threatened by the many wars, and occupations, including those from the West, and the many Crusades, which seem not to come to an end. The establishment of Israel, which brought the expulsion of many Palestinians, among them Arab Palestinian Christians, followed by the on-going occupation by Israel of the West Bank and Gaza, the humiliation at check-points, the closures, the curfews, the demolishing of houses of thousands of people, the killing and counter-killing, and the like, are threatening what is left of the Christian presence in the Land of the Holy One.

A war on Iraq will bring an end to this wonderful presence altogether. I fear that should such a catastrophe happen, the Holy Land would become a museum of holy stones.

Therefore, I call upon you to do all you can to stop the madness and pray that the leaders of the world, not least President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, may resort to peaceful means, to the weapons of God rather than the weapons of the evildoers. Wars can never bring peace closer to our area, and we fear that such a war may pave the way to a life closer to hell than anything else.

We have been greatly encouraged by the many demonstrations that took place on 15 February across the many cities of the world. The millions who turned out for these occasions alert us to the serious opposition to war on Iraq, and remind us of the seriousness of the matter. The world should not be governed by one single power that believes in its infallible goodness, and that creates images of the other that fits its own interests. We are called to learn how to meet the stranger who is outside as well as inside us, whether as individuals, or communities, or even as nations. The stranger will always remind us that we have learning to do, and that what we are, or what we think is not the ultimate truth. It is time that we build for peace, and not create further divisions through war, and through the narrow self-referential interests of peoples and nations.

The Road to Iraq must go through Jerusalem

Once the root cause of all this building up of weapons is no more, the peoples of the Middle East will live in peace and harmony. It is not too late; it is never too late. Let those concerned about the welfare of humanity, let those who want to put a new order in the world - let them place on the table the Road Map, and let them defuse the tension by implementing it, putting an end to the Israeli Occupation and supporting the Palestinians in their struggle for independence and sovereignty side by side with Israel. Only such steps will guarantee both communities the security and the freedom they desire; and the reasons for weapons of mass destruction will be no more.

Pastoral News

I was, with the grace of God, able to visit all the parishes in our Diocese across the year. I joined some of them for worship, and met others on other occasions; this included our Sudanese community in Damascus and our English Speaking congregation in Amman, Jordan. TThe Revd Hussam Naoum, the parish priest of Nablus, recently escaped death on his way from Nablus to solemnize a wedding in Zebabdeh, during a dangerously acute encounter with Israeli soldiers. Zebabdeh remains without any pastoral care, due to the closures. The Revd Zahi Nasser has been appointed to serve the parish, but we have not been able to secure him a permit to enter and live in the village. He comes from Nazareth.

The near future will witness the retirement of some of our priests. The Revd Canon Victor Diab will retire in July this year. The Revd Canon Shehadeh Shehadeh will retire in September 2004. This will make it incumbent upon us to re-examine the need of each post in the Diocese, and will require the redeployment of our clergy. We pray for more vocations to the sacred ministry, and remember in our prayers the four new candidates who have submitted their applications and expressed their desire to seek the ordained ministry.

On January 11, the Eve of the Baptism of Christ, I baptized and confirmed three new members of the English-speaking congregation at the church of the Redeemer in Amman. The three candidates from the Wu family originally come from China and live in Jordan.

The Revd Yazeed Said, Chaplain to the Bishop and Acting Dean of the Cathedral has recently received his MA from Cambridge University. We wish him every blessing.

This Epiphany I celebrated the 7th anniversary of my consecration. I ask your prayers for our ministry, and the ministry of the Church, as we look to the future with hope even in the midst of hopelessness. The last two and a half years of our journey as a Church have been rather cumbersome, and being a bishop is proving more and more not to be a picnic. We continue to believe, despite everything, that the darkest moments in our night are those moments that precede the dawn.

No permits for Church Council

We have not been able to hold our annual Diocesan Council that normally takes place in September in Jerusalem. We have not been able to secure visas for delegates from Jordan to come to Jerusalem; neither have we been able to have the necessary permits for Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza to go to Jordan.

This disruption of the meetings happened very few times in the history of our Council since 1905, when it was first established. It happened during World War II, and in 1948. However unfortunate this may be, it is a sign that the present times are not less serious than the latter.

Muted Christmas celebrations

Christmas was both blessed and imbued with pain and suffering among our people, as the innocent continue to be killed. At 4pm on Christmas Eve, some 25 people gathered at Shepherds Fields in Beit Sahour for a short service with the East Jerusalem YMCA. Our numbers could have very well been less than the shepherds of old.

Later in the day, three busloads of the faithful travelled from St. George's Cathedral to Bethlehem. We had our traditional carol service in the Church of the Nativity. Though we were able to enter the city, the streets were empty of those who wished to celebrate the birth of Christ. Our brothers and sisters from across the West Bank and Gaza were unable to join in our celebrations. We were reminded of the alternative words to "O Little Town of Bethlehem":

"O Little Town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie;
Above thy deep and restless sleep, a missile glideth by.
And over dark streets soundeth the mortar's deadly roar,
While children weep in shallow sleep for friends who are no more."

President Arafat was again prevented from attending our celebration as he normally did in the past. The Heads of Churches in Jerusalem paid a visit to his residence in Ramallah, and together we lit a candle on an olive tree with hundreds of people joining.

Elections in Israel

The General Elections in Israel took place on January 28 showing a strong victory to the Likud party, which did not bring in much good news, as the policies of the Likud government have been experienced for the last two years. There is increasing anxiety, and fear that a rightist government, far more extreme, is about to be established, which may exploit any conflict in the Middle East to implement an agenda which is no more hidden. This agenda would mean greater harassment of the Palestinian people with the object of transferring them either by force or by creating the needed conditions for them to do so. It is worth noting that Jordan has asked Israel in recent days to publicly announce its unwillingness to deport or transfer Palestinians during a possible war in the region; Israel has refused to respond so far, which may bear disastrous meanings.

My travels

On February 13, I visited Chicago for a conference on "Will our faith have children?" by invitation of the Episcopal Church in the United States. I was present with many other Bishops, and delegations from the different Provinces of the Episcopal Church discussing the formation of faith from generation to generation, and the role of children in the Church. During the visit I had the chance to speak also on different other matters, with different people.

On February 18 I joined a delegation of Bishops visiting London, in an attempt to present the Church's view with regard to the war on Iraq to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, HE. Clare Short from the Foreign Office, and Prime Minster Tony Blair. The Prime Minister was very attentive to what we had to share.

The discussion was focused mainly around a third way to resolve the conflict, namely to resolve the root-cause of the Middle East Crisis, the Palestine quest. The delegation asked that America start implementing the Road Map with regard to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

February 27 witnesses the enthronement of our new Archbishop Dr. Rowan Williams. I am honored to be invited and to attend the occasion. He will be in our thoughts and prayers, together with his family, as he seeks to lead the Anglican Communion in the coming years. We wish him every blessing.

Here I would like to add a word of thanks to our former Archbishop George Carey for his continued support, especially for the Jerusalem 2000 Project, and for the fact that he keeps Jerusalem on his heart and his mind. In his response to the recent damage caused to the Hospital and Chapel of St. PhilipÕs in Gaza, Lord Carey said that he feels that Israel has a moral duty to rebuild both the damaged church and hospital. The hospital and church are over one hundred years old and it was only six years ago that Lord Carey was present for the rededication of the hospital and church.

Projects go ahead

Christ Church School in Nazareth continues to witness progress in its ministry, and development. There is continued progress in the new building of our School in Ramallah, and I have given the green light to start building the Church in Rafidia, near Nablus. (We have never had a Church building there before).

In Beirut, the building of the St. Luke's Centre for disabled children is finished, the interior, as well as the exterior designs. Work is now being done on the grounds and gardens and the roads leading to the project. The Revd Imad Zurub is leading the community and is doing well. His wife Hind is volunteering on a daily basis to assist in the work as well.

Again I want to thank all of you, and all who helped, assisted, and continue to do so in our current crisis. Keep up your prayers, and may the blessing of God rest upon you all. This comes with our own prayers, and best wishes, in Christ

Riah