Christians and Israel - Autumn-Winter 2000

Editorial: A Time of Crisis

"Too long have I dwelt with those who hate peace.
I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war."
(Psalms 120:6-7)

If this issue of Christians and Israel is different from all our previous issues, the reason is not hard to fathom. To be sure, events like the ones you have been accustomed to read about in this journal, in the domain of interfaith relations and in the realm of relations between the Christian Churches and Israel, are still taking place - here and all over the world. However, the dramatic developments of the last few weeks and months in our region make it impossible not to relate, first and foremost, to these developments, and to try to put them into some kind of perspective. True to our calling, we shall do this with particular reference to aspects of the situation that are of special interest and concern to our Christian readers.

About the middle of September, Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, made good on a threat he has uttered on more than one occasion in the past: that, if Israel did not accede fully to all of his claims and demands in the peace negotiations, there would be violence. At the Camp David Summit Conference last August, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak responded positively to a series of proposals put forward by US President Bill Clinton that, in terms of political and territorial concessions to the Palestinians, went far beyond anything that any previous Israeli government had ever contemplated.

But compromise of any kind apparently was not on Mr. Arafat's agenda. Unlike Barak, Arafat was not prepared to entertain the notion of compromise, or sharing, on the subject of Jerusalem - as, indeed, on any of the other subjects discussed. To most of the world's leaders, it was clear, at that point, that the ball was in Arafat's court - and this is what he was told by a deeply disappointed President Clinton, as well as by the European heads of government.

Arafat, however, failed to rise to the challenge. Instead, he decided to implement his oft-repeated threats to resort to violence: threats that have been fed systematically, over the years, by an unrelenting campaign of incitement to hatred and self-sacrificial bloodshed - in Palestinian schools as well as in the mosques, the newspapers and the official radio and television stations of the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian children were instructed to go into the streets to "demonstrate their rage," with rocks and firebombs being hurled at Israeli military posts guarding access roads to Jewish villages. Often the stone-throwers were joined by Palestinian police firing rifles, semi-automatic and automatic weapons at the Israelis. Elsewhere, the targets of Palestinian shooting attacks were Israeli villages located near Arab towns in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district. Even the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, near Beit Jalla, a Christian suburb of Bethlehem, was not spared.(see The Palestinian Challenge).

Even after more than two months of Palestinian violence, Israel's armed forces exercised extreme restraint: They fired back - but only after being attacked, and only when the attackers used live fire.

As we go to press, in mid-December, the clashes continue. Whatever the ultimate outcome of this situation, one thing is clear: Arafat's total rejection of the Camp David proposals and his violent response to Israel's overtures have changed the political landscape in the Middle East. The "peace process" that has been a part of our lives here for the better part of a decade has been corrupted beyond recognition. But the quest for peace continues undiminished. Our hopes for peace in this region, our determination to secure our communal and national existence in this land of our fathers and our profound faith that, ultimately, peace will reign - continue to guide our lives and to inspire everything we do.

Needless to say, everything that happens in this sacred space is spelled out in the Word of God. Because that is so, we know for a fact that God, who guides our destiny, will have the last word in the drama now unfolding in our region. And what better way to express this than in the Psalmist's timeless utterance (Ps. 29:11), "The Lord shall give strength to His people; the Lord shall bless His people with peace!"

Photo: ICEJ

Dr. Johann Lückhoff, Director and co-founder of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, has announced his retirement as of November 1, 2000, citing a need for "fresh insight from new leadership." Dr. Lückhoff's retirement coincides with the celebration of the Embassy's twentieth anniversary this autumn. The Embassy's Board of Directors has asked the Rev. Malcolm Hedding, a credentialed minister of the Assemblies of God of Southern Africa, to become the new Executive Director.

Under Lückhoff's leadership, the Embassy has grown from a small organization - established on September 30, 1980, in response to the mass exodus from Jerusalem of dozens of embassies when Israel officially reaffirmed the status of Jerusalem as the nation's capital - to an impressively large institution with contacts and branches all over the world. Johann Lückhoff has travelled extensively, during this time, to visit the ICEJ's many branches overseas and to speak on Israel's behalf to government leaders and to Christian communities, but also in synagogues and Jewish community centers and at interfaith meetings organized in cooperation with Israeli representatives abroad.

As a Christian Zionist, Dr. Lückhoff attests that he finds it exciting "to be a part of the restoration of Israel." His speaking often focused on Israel and the dynamics of the Middle East political situation, which he was able to analyze against the backdrop of the Biblical prophetic picture. Dr. Lückhoff plans to take up residence at his family home in the Cape, South Africa.

Johann Lückhoff's successor in the post of Executive Director, Rev. Michael Hedding, is no stranger to Jerusalem or to the Christian Embassy, where he served as Chaplain from 1986 to 1989. In 1975, Hedding became involved with the Christian Zionist organization, Christians for Israel, becoming the Chairman of the organization upon founder Basil Jacobs' death in 1991. Malcolm and his wife Cheryl will move to Jerusalem in January 2001, at which time he will take up his new post. They have three children, two of whom are already living in Israel.

Speaking at this year's Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Jerusalem, the Rev. Michael Hedding called upon his audience of thousands "to stand with Israel" - a need that at this time, "a time of renewed crisis in Israel, is more urgent than ever before." He expressed the firm belief that "Israel is facing a 'low-level' war designed to ultimately bring about her destruction.... We must go home to our nations and tell the truth. We must stand up and not be silent, and we must, as never before, give ourselves to prayer: prayer for Israel and for her precious people, who have returned from the four corners of the world."

The Tabernacle Dance Company Dancers from Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Korea, Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and USA perform in Jerusalem   Marching in Jerusalem - for Israel Members of Finnish Christian Delegation marching through Israel's capital Photo: ICEJ

Braving international travel warnings and despite the current unrest, some 5,000 Christian pilgrims from around the world gathered in Jerusalem for the traditional week-long celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles organized by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ). It was an impressive show of support for an Israel in deep crisis.

"Your presence here is a powerful statement that Israel and Jerusalem need so much in these days," Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert told the assembled guests.

Referring to the "Jerusalem Petition," or Statement of Support, that had earlier been presented to him and to Cabinet Minister Michael Melchior, Mayor Olmert told the enthusiastic crowd: "This is a statement of convicion. This is a statement of faith. This is a statement of trust in God's will that Jerusalem will remain one: the united, undivided capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel!"

Addressing the gathering two days prior to the Mayor's appearance, Israeli Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior said: "It is precisely when your faith is put to the test that you find out who your true friends are, who is willing to stand up and be counted. Your unbreakable commitment to the people of Israel, to the cause of the Jewish homeland, gives us the strength to face the challenges of the hour."

Melchior filled in for Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who could not attend because of the security situation.

Christians around the world told Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert and Israeli Cabinet Minister Michael Melchior, during the week of Tabernacles in mid-October, that they stand behind Israel's sovereignty over an undivided Jerusalem.

'Scroll of Repentance'

A document entitled "Scroll of Repentance from All Nations to the Jewish People" was presented on October 2 at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Heroes' and Martyrs' Remembrance Authority, in Jerusalem. The scroll, signed by Tom Hess, International Coordinator, on behalf of the All Nations Convocation Jerusalem, attended by Christian delegates representing some 200 countries, expresses the recognition that, "to one degree or another, all of our nations have been guilty of antisemitism against the Jewish people ... including false teaching on Replacement Theology."

The scroll goes on to say that "we humbly repent of, confess and renounce the horrible sins of our own and former generations in our nations . . . [and] commit ourselves to comfort, support and stand with the Jewish people until Messiah comes."

This year's All Nations Convocation was attended by a record 2,000 delegates.

Solidarity With Israel

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, headquartered in Chicago, on October 31 joined with a number of Jewish organization that sponsored a massive Solidarity March to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Some 1,500 North and Latin Americans took part in the event - a highlight of the week that saw multiple solidarity missions converge on Israel, exhibiting not only support of Israelis but also a reaffirmation, for themselves, of each participant's commitment to the State.

After their visit to the Wall, the most revered site in Judaism, the groups proceeded to the Presidential Residence, where President Moshe Katsav welcomed them and expressed his appreciation for their coming here at this time.

A solidarity mission of over 100 evangelical Christian leaders from the USA, South Africa and Australia arrived in Israel on December 3 to show support for Israel and learn more about the present conflict. The group was organized by Bridges for Peace, an evangelical Christian organization headquartered in Jerusalem.

According to Clarence Wagner, Jr., International Director of BFP, the participants in this project represent more than 50 million Christians around the world. The delegates met with government, military and media leaders. Their purpose, Wagner said, was "to stand with Israel during the current crisis, as well as to identify with indigenous Christians caught up in the conflict."

"Now is the time," he added, "for responsible Christians to speak out on behalf of Israel as it is being maligned and falsely accused."

NCLCI: 'We Are Outraged'

Meeting in Springfield, Missouri, October 27-29, the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel (NCLCI) adopted a statement expressing "its profound sadness at the loss of lives - Palestinian Arabs, Israelis and Druze - during the recent hostilities in Israel and areas under Israeli and/or Palestinian authority."

With reference to the reported casualties among Arab children, the statement said:

"In this United Nations Year of the Child we are particularly outraged at the Palestinian Authority's exploitation of children and families as part of the machinery of war..."

It issued a challenge to community leaders and clergy of all faiths "to refrain from rhetoric that condemns the faith traditions of other peoples and incites their followers to violence."

Pastor Tommy Barnett of the Phoenix First Assembly in Phoenix, Arizona, was here at the end of October on a three-day visit to demonstrate his support of Israel, and that of many fellow-Christians in the United States, at this critical time. Pastor Barnett also serves as Senior Pastor of the LA Dream Center in Los Angeles, and is the host of a weekly TV show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Hosted here by Israel's Ministry of Tourism, Pastor Barnett presented President Moshe Katsav and Prime Minister Ehud Barak a proclamation, signed by a number of Christian leaders in the United States, calling for "American support for the State of Israel during this critical time."

The pastor's visit was carried by more than 100 Christian radio and TV stations.

The Dutch say it with flowers

Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem receive tulip bulbs from members of Dutch delegation of Christians for Israel. The delegation toured Israel from November 7-16, to distribute 100,000 bulbs and 50,000 postcards donated by the Dutch people. "The tulip," said delegation head Pee Koelewijn (in short-sleeves), "is a symbol of the friendship between the Netherlands and Israel."

Deep Hatred Fuels Middle East Crisis

By A. James Rudin

(Religion News Service) - The Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East frequently appears as a political battle that merely requires Western-style compromise from both sides. In the past it was easy to believe the central issue was where to set the border between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, or to focus on the peace process.

While such questions are obviously important, they never represented the ultimate reality of the conflict. But the recent Middle East violence has graphically stripped away the thin veneer many American and European leaders had conveniently placed upon the conflict.

Now the world is witnessing something else - deep hatred and loathing for Jews and Judaism from the "Arab street," the general populace, going far beyond geo-political questions or the various positions of moderate Arab leaders.

The growing evidence is everywhere.

The trashing of Joseph's Tomb, a Jewish Holy Place near Nablus - the Biblical Shechem - and the reported desecration of Jericho's ancient synagogue by Palestinians mark an ominous escalation. Attacks upon revered sacred space dangerously up the ante and strike at the heart of Jewish religious sensibilities.

On October 13 Ahmad Abu Halabiya, a member of the Palestinian Authority's Fatwa Council and former acting rector of the Islamic University in Gaza, delivered a fiery sermon at the Zayed bin Sultan Aal Nahyan Mosque in Gaza. His lengthy sermon was broadcast live on official Palestinian Authority television. An excerpt from his address reveals that the real enemy is not simply Israel, but Jews and their Christian friends in Europe and America:

They [Jews] are the ones who must be butchered and killed, as Allah the Almighty said: "Fight them: Allah will torture them at your hands, and will humiliate them and will help you to overcome them, and will relieve the minds of the believers." ... Allah, deal with the Jews, your enemies and the enemies of Islam. Deal with the Crusaders - and with America and Europe behind them!

The Jews are the allies of the Christians, and the Christians are the allies of the Jews, despite the deep enmity that exists between them....

Tragically, such inflammatory sermons and others like them have provided religious validation for the increasing number of anti-Jewish attacks that are taking place far from the Middle East. Synagogue burnings, physical attacks upon Jews and antisemitic propaganda: It all sounds so familiar. Have we learned nothing from the 1930s and 1940s?

(Rabbi Rudin is Senior Religious Adviser of the American Jewish Committee. His article has been abridged because of space constraints.)

As a Christian living in Jerusalem and working to build good interfaith relations - for the first time in 23 years I am worried. I can see clearly that the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) is threatening all the good work that has been accomplished over the past decades to bring faith communities together.

There are many reasons, from political to economic, that this conflict has erupted. Yet, its most disturbing manifestation now is that, as recent events have shown, the hostilities are turning into a religious confrontation that is bringing Judaism, Christianity and Islam into direct conflict: The Palestinians are making moves, in Israel and the territories, that are challenging Judaism and Christianity.

One such move affects my neighborhood of Gilo, on the southern edge of Jerusalem, which is predominantly Jewish, and adjacent to the PA town of Beit Jalla, which is predominantly Christian. Since 1967, these two communities have lived side-by-side in harmony. Now, there is almost daily machine gun fire upon Gilo from Beit Jalla - the work of Yasser Arafat's Tanzim (Fatah) militia, who take over a home or a factory and fire into the residences of Gilo, trying to get Israel to fire back. The Tanzim have chosen positions close to churches in Beit Jalla, notably the Church of St. Nicholas, hoping that Israel's return fire will hit a church. Then it will be front-page news for the "Christian West" that Israel is now destroying churches (a tactic often used, with variations, by the PLO in Lebanon in 1982).

For this reason, the Israeli Defense Force is being very careful about its targets in Beit Jalla. Meanwhile, innocent residents of Beit Jalla and Gilo are subjected to almost daily violence because of some outsiders who are coming in to victimize both communities and drive a wedge between Christians and Jews - not only locally, but also internationally.

Biblical sites sacred to Jews and Christians are also being taken over. In Jericho, the ancient synagogue was burned, and crowds prevented fire trucks from putting out the blaze. Earlier, Palestinians had taken control of Joseph's Tomb, near Nablus (Biblical Shechem), after days of fierce fighting. Under the Oslo Accords, this site was considered an important Jewish holy place where Jewish young men were allowed to pray and study Torah. The Muslims immediately converted it into a mosque - complete with a freshly painted green dome. Next came calls, among the Palestinians, to overrun and take Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, not far from my house, and the Patriarchs' Tomb in Hebron.

However, of greatest concern is the usurpation relating to the Temple Mount, the site of Solomon's and Herod's Temples, which is a central holy site for both Jews and Christians. At present, there are three mosques on this site, the third one built recently in the underground "Solomon's Stables," where many artifacts of Biblical significance were destroyed in the construction process.

The Temple Mount came into Israel's possession when Jerusalem was reunified, in the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War, and became a part of sovereign Israel. Nevertheless, in deference to the presence on the Mount of two structures held sacred by Islam (Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock), Israel granted the Muslim authorities religious and administrative control of the Temple Mount. The Muslims, however, for their part, refuse to acknowledge the importance of the site to the Jews. According to the PA's official website, "all historical studies and archaeological excavations have failed to find any proof" for the Jewish claim that their Temple once stood there.

This statement not only flies in the face of history and archaeology, but has the more sinister motive of eradicating the Biblical history of the area and undermining the validity of Judaism and Christianity. Furthermore, the PA calls its uprising the "Intifada of Al-Aqsa" and calls upon the Muslim world to proclaim a jihad (holy war) against Israel and to help "defend the mosque" - which, truth to tell, has never been threatened.

At a time when everyone is calling for religious freedom, freedom of access to holy places and freedom of worship, the record shows that Israel has been the only one who has respected and encouraged this practice - while the PA and its majority Muslim community have done just the opposite: The PA has not protected the sites and has not provided free access. The most recent incidents require us, as Christians and Jews, to speak out to the proper international authorities to protect our Biblical sites and places of worship before they are lost forever.

Why Aren't Christians Speaking Out?

Cynthia Ozick

Ariel Sharon's walk across the Temple Mount plaza, within sight of the seventh-century shrine known as the Dome of the Rock, has been nearly universally condemned as a "provocation," an indisputably hostile act responsible for setting off furious weeks of unstoppable Palestinian rioting.

Muslims as far away as Indonesia and Morocco (and France and New York) joined in the rage against this declared affront to Islam. But it was not only Muslims who spoke of provocation; Western opinion widely and emphatically agreed. As a consequence, what was only recently looked on as a clash of nationalities susceptible of rational border negotiations - "to nations, one land" was the liberal formula - has been turned into an ugly assault on Judaism itself.

The reason is plain. That Mr. Sharon is consistently described as a hardliner, that he is scorned by the Israeli left, that he is accused of bad faith and narrow party motives, that he is reviled and demonized by Arabs - none of this is to the point. What has enraged Muslims worldwide is the idea of a Jewish presence, any Jewish presence, on the Temple Mount - and by "presence" is meant not simply a visit by a party official of the Jewish state, but the claim of an immemorial, authentic Jewish connection to Jerusalem. The Temple Mount is called by that name because it was the site of the Second Temple before its destruction by Roman occupiers in the year 70, an event recorded nearly six centuries before the advent of Islam. The issue, then, is not the character or intent of Mr. Sharon; it is the willed erasure not only of Jewish history, but also of Jewish faith.

The current violent challenge to both Jews and Christians is in accordance with an evolving and fanatically accelerating Palestinian fabrication: that the Temple never existed, that it is a Jewish for local political gain, that the Jewish attachment to Jerusalem is historically and religiously nil. At Camp David last July, it was Yasser Arafat himself who boggled his interlocutors by this preposterous assertion, which is increasingly promulgated by influential Palestinians, whether lay or clerical. The insidious phrase, "the Judaizing of Jerusalem," is often heard in the mouth of Hanan Ashrawi, all the more absurdly because she is a Christian. Holocaust denial to one degree or another is rampant in all Arab societies; it is augmented now by Judaism denial.

So far, no mainstream Christian voices have been raised against these moral and historical depredations, and one wonders why. Why has there been no Christian protest over Muslim rioting when a Jew walks upon a historic Jewish site? The government and Jewish population of Israel have fully respected and protected the integrity of the mosques on the plaza, which have always been administered by the Muslim Waqf. Why has there been no audible Christian protest over the burning of a synagogue in Palestinian-ruled Jericho, or a mob's razing of Joseph's Tomb, a Jewish shrine supposedly under the protection of the Palestinian Authority? (Its surviving dome has now been painted Islamic green.)

Half a century ago, when the Jews of Europe were besieged and defenseless, Christian silence was infamous. Since then, some Jews are no longer defenseless, and Christian understanding, conscience and remorse have expiated that unforgotten and dire omission. But what of now? Where is the Christian outcry when profound hatred of Jews is once again being unleashed? When Mr. Arafat, last month's peace partner, gleefully consigns the prime minister of the Jewish state to hell?

In view of the origin and spread of intransigent Palestinian turbulence - Hamas and Hezbollah and Mr. Arafat's negations all preceded Mr. Sharon's walk - one can be certain that if Shimon Peres or the late Yitzhak Rabin, the architects of compromise and accommodation, had visited the Temple Mount, the result would be no different. The rocks maliciously stockpiled near the Dome of the Rock would go crashing down on Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall just the same.

When Jewish history and faith are pronounced barren of any bond with Jerusalem, then Palestinians can justify their exclusionary ideology by means of unrestrained rioting, the closing of schools, the use and abuse of the young. "The stones are our jewels," Mr. Arafat announced at the start of the Intifada in 1987, and in the summer of 2000 Professor Edward Said of Columbia University, also a Christian, was photographed hurling one of those jewels from Lebanon into Israel, caught up, he explained, in the jubilation of the stone-throwers. Today, however, firebombs, guns, a lynching, and a Palestinian militia 40,000 strong have been added to Mr. Arafat's jewel box.

Perhaps Jews ought not to expect, or hope for, vocal Christian empathy. To speak up for the venerable Jewish kinship to Jerusalem during a stormy time of pervasive defamation might require going the extra mile. But should not Christians speak up for the history and central claims of Christianity? If Judaism has no roots in Jerusalem, then Christianity was never born. And yet no Christian theological objection has been lodged against the denial of the Temple's historicity.

I am a Jew who a week ago, on the holiday of Simchat Torah celebrating the ethical mandates of a 4000-year-old tradition, opened the Gospels and read of the Christian connection to the Temple Mount. If the Temple is a Jewish chimera, as Palestinian and far-flung Muslim anger affirms, it is not only Jewish history and religion that is wiped away. The heart of Christianity, too, suffers erasure, and Christian muteness in the face of the annihilation of Christian belief becomes incomprehensible.

If there never was a Temple, then where did Jesus walk?

Let's Talk About the Children
(Or: Where Are the Mothers?)

By Naomi Ragen

Although it has become almost a routine sight on our television screens, I cannot help but gasp every time I see it: children throwing stones at armed soldiers. And nowhere, but nowhere, is there a mother running to grab her child's hand and lead him home.

Where are the Palestinian mothers? And what in heaven's name are they thinking when they let their children endanger their lives, and the lives of others, day in and day out? Because, make no mistake about it, when those kids throw those stones, they are trying to injure and kill our kids. Because those "flak-jacketed army regulars," just a little older than the kids trying to fracture their skulls, are our kids: 18-year-old draftees, not volunteers, handed guns and rubber bullets with strict instructions to be very careful not to hurt anyone unnecessarily.

True, an 18-year-old is not a 10-year-old. But if my son was 10, you can bet your life I would be out there dragging him off the street and locking him in his room. He'd be grounded forever.

And I would wonder, as the wails of mourning mounted in the homes of my friends and relatives and neighbors, why it was that my wise and fearless leader, Yasser Arafat, had abandoned the negotiating table and turned to bullets and thus invited bullets in return from those who had extended their hand in peace. I would wonder what in heaven's name he hoped to accomplish, and how many Palestinian children he intended to sacrifice on the altar of his monomaniacal dreams of glory.

I also have a young son the same age as the rock-throwers. He is no less enraged by Palestinian atrocities - buses blowing up near his school, Arabs running amok and stabbing passersby, lynchings, the desecration of Jewish holy places. And I ask myself, why is it that I don't have to keep him from throwing stones at the Arab village that is practically in our backyard? And I ask myself, why is it we don't have to restrain the children of Gilo, who have been subjected to gunfire, from unleashing a rock-throwing rage at Arab Beit Jalla?

There is a simple answer, of course, which somehow no one is willing to admit: In the seven years since Oslo, while Israeli children were learning to paint doves and sing songs in praise of peace, Palestinian kids were taken to summer camps where they were taught to shoot and sing patriotic war songs. While my son, and the kids in Gilo, have been subject to an endless barrage of peace programs, dialogues with Arab teenagers, pacifist plays, movies and songs, all lauding peaceful coexistence, Palestinian pre-schoolers got treated to a Palestinian version of Sesame Street which taught them the joys of becoming a sheehad, or suicide bomber for Allah.

While our children's textbooks inculcate democracy and respect for all cultures, post-Oslo Palestinian textbooks show no Israel on the map, and systematically demonize Israel and the Jewish people, demanding that children give their lives to free their land from the "depraved Jewish invaders."

What is the answer?

For starters, what about a call on Palestinian mothers and fathers to exercise a little parental responsibility - to go out there, take those misguided kids by the hand and bring them home? And if these parents are so incompetent or fanatic that they can't or won't try to save their children from harm, then I say those kids need to be cared for by public institutions that will take responsibility for their well-being. Perhaps the UN can start working on a plan to set up UNICEF boarding schools where Palestinian kids can be sheltered from exploitation, where they too can learn to paint doves and sing songs in praise of peace.

Child Sacrifice

According to the Palestinians, over 40 children have been killed in the waves of violence that began at the end of September. They have been killed in the front lines, providing cover for the armed Palestinian militias with machine guns and other weapons seeking to overwhelm isolated Israeli guard posts. Interviewed by journalists after these tragedies, some parents of these young victims refer to their children as shaheeds (martyrs), whose lives were given willingly and proudly to the Palestinian cause in fighting the hated Zionist enemy.

For a people who count Abraham (or Ibrahim) among their ancestors, this willful child sacrifice violates the fundamental tenets of morality and ethics. The message of Abraham's non-sacrifice of Isaac was and remains, first and foremost, the absolute rejection of such practices. This prohibition, for the Children of Abraham - Jews and, later, Christians and Muslims - stands in sharp contrast to the paganism and idolatry that existed at that time, and apparently still exists in some cultures. Child sacrifice was the most fundamental expression of idolatry and forms the basis for the central Biblical message prohibiting any contact with or tolerance for such practices. That the Palestinian leadership could encourage such behavior as part of their political and military campaign against Israel, or for any other purpose, is beyond belief or explanation.

When Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, it was not for sending children to be sacrificed as part of a wider war of terrorism and brutality against Israel. By revoking this award now, the Norwegian Prize Committee would reverse some of the damage it caused in the first place, and send a powerful message in support of basic human morality. It would also help to save Palestinian children.

'Sisters of Mary' Comfort Shoah Survivors
40th Anniversary of 'Beth Abraham'

Rabbi Rosen is greeted by Sister Pista Photo: Beth Abraham

"Beth Abraham," the Jerusalem branch of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, this year (and next) celebrates the fortieth anniversary of its founding. The celebration of this event was marked by a garden party for some 150 invited guests on October 5, officially opening a season of thanksgiving that is to conclude with an international conference of repentance and reconciliation, the Jerusalem 2001 Convention, from April 17 to 20, 2001.

Established on April 18, 1961 by Mother Basilea Schlink, one of the two Founding Mothers of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, Beth Abraham has made it a practice, ever since, to take in Jewish survivors of the Shoah (the Nazi Holocaust in World War II Europe) as its guests. This is how the Sisters themselves describe their purpose:

"Feeling the hurt with those who are hurting - this is what Beth Abraham is all about. We can never heal the wounds; they are too deep. All we can do is help soothe them.... With our Jewish guests, we read passages from the Tenach (the Hebrew Bible) showing that the Almighty never forgot His people in all their troubles, and never will. His covenant with them stands forever."

The Jewish/Israeli response to the Sisters' purpose and work in Israel was best expressed, perhaps, by the former Jerusalem Mayor, the late Daniel Auster, when he said: "If more people in Jerusalem had known what this consecration means, the whole city would be here... This is a token of something new coming from Germany ... [in terms of] the reconciliation and the love that you have brought to us."

Among those who addressed the garden party at Beth Abraham were Sisters Irene and Gratia; Sister Pista, Mother Basilea's personal representative, who came specially for the occasion from Germany; Propst Heinz Ronecker of the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem; Rev. Petra Heldt, Executive Secretary of the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel; Rabbi David Rosen, Director of the Jerusalem Office of the Anti-Defamation League and President of the International Council of Christians and Jews; the head of the Foreign Ministry's Department of Religions, Ariel Kenet; and the editor of the Jerusalem quarterly Christians and Israel, Moshe Aumann.

In Memoriam
David Flusser: A Giant of the Human Spirit

David Flusser, Professor of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was revered and respected in both the Jewish and the Christian communities. Born in Vienna and raised in Prague, Flusser immigrated to Israel on the eve of World War II when he was 20. Had he remained in Europe, he most likely would have been one of the six million victims of the Holocaust.

Because he lived in Israel, Flusser was able to devote his life to the intensive study of the Jewish roots of Christianity, especially the Jewishness of Jesus. Flusser's classic work, Jesus, was published in 1965 and translated into 11 languages.

Flusser asserted that Jesus lived and died as a faithful Jew. Executed by the Roman occupiers of ancient Israel, Jesus never meant to establish a new religion nor even a new sect within existing Judaism, whose fundamentals he never questioned. A master of the traditional Jewish texts in Hebrew and Aramaic, and thoroughly at home with Latin, Greek and Arabic sources as well, Flusser was able to separate the historically verifiable material about Jesus from the later Gospel writings and works by early Christians.

Many Christians, including Marvin R. Wilson, Professor of Biblical Studies at Gordon College, welcomed Flusser's research on Jesus: "I was privileged to know Professor Flusser. His impact, as a Jew, upon New Testament studies was for many Christians quite revolutionary. Flusser's teachings drew evangelical Christians to Jerusalem to pursue doctoral studies under this unassuming genius. He leaves a deep hole in Biblical scholarship."

David Flusser was, indeed, one of Israel's intellectual crown jewels - a giant of the human spirit.

We deeply mourn the death of our friend and colleague, Prof. David Flusser, scholar and renowned researcher of the Jewishness of the New Testament. His wide-reaching academic influence on the re-reading of the New Testament and his great ability to gather friends around the world are honored in our Festschrift, "The New Testament and Christian-Jewish Dialogue," Immanuel 24/25 (1990), edited by Malcolm F. Lowe. Included is the only existing comprehensive bibliography of his prolific work. Readers interested in obtaining this issue of Immanuel (US$20) may contact the Fraternity, POB 249, Jerusalem 91002, Israel - Tel. 972-2-625-4941, or by e-mail: ecu_frat@netvision.net.il

The Rothberg School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem will hold its next Study Program for Bible Translators from January 16 to June 22, 2001. The program, which is conducted in conjunction with the Jerusalem Home for Bible Translators, is designed to allow Bible translators to study the language of the Bible in its natural, historical and geographical setting, in order to deepen their understanding of the Biblical text.

The courses and workshops include Intermediate Biblical Hebrew, Historical Geography of the Land of Israel, Cultural Background of the Bible (including field trips) and Elementary Modern Hebrew. The program will be held in English; a similar program in French is planned for 2002.

For further details about both the 2001 and the 2002 programs, readers may contact the Home for Bible Translators, POB 1336, Mevasseret Zion 90805, Israel; Tel/Fax 972-2-533-3793; E-Mail: BibleTranslators@JerusalemSchool.org

During the Clinton-Barak-Arafat Summit Conference last July at Camp David, Maryland, rumors emerged that the participants were discussing how to divide up Jerusalem's Old City between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The heads of the three largest Churches in Jerusalem quickly dispatched a joint letter to Camp David. In it they expressed concern that they were not being consulted on matters of vital importance to their future.

HE Mr. Ehud Barak
Prime Minister of Israel

HE Mr. Yasser Arafat
President of the Palestinian National Authority

Jerusalem, 17 July 2000

Your Excellencies:

Greetings to you from Jerusalem as you strive to bring peace to our beloved Holy Land. We continue to pray that you will succeed in your prophetic mission of ending the long and painful conflict in our region. Yours is a difficult and challenging task, and we remain confident that you will conclude it in a manner that lifts up the hopes of the two peoples and three religions of this land - Palestinians and Israelis, Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.

Your Excellencies, it is an established fact that our Patriarchates and Churches enjoy a long history and a rich heritage in this biblical land. Local Christians have been represented by their ecclesial institutions here for centuries, and have enjoyed special privileges that were codified by the Status Quo provisions as much as by custom and tradition over many centuries. As you deliberate over those issues that impact the Holy City of Jerusalem, we trust you will not forget or overlook our age-long presence here. The rich tapestry of this land is made even richer and more precious with this continuous Christian life, witness and presence alongside the two other Abrahamic traditions of Judaism and Islam.

Conscious of this qualitative and quantitative reality as represented by all our Christian communities, we appeal to you as foremost political leaders and negotiators to ensure that the Christian communities within the wall of the Old City are not separated from each other. We regard the Christian and Armenian Quarters of the Old City as inseparable and contiguous entities that are firmly united by the same faith. Furthermore, we trust that your negotiations will also secure that any arrangement for Jerusalem will ensure that the fundamental freedoms of worship and access by all Christians to their holy sanctuaries and to their headquarters within the Old City are not impeded in any way whatsoever. Such freedom underline the special nature of this city and enhance its right to development.

We suggest that one possible way of ensuring this peaceful unity and cohesive prosperity of the Christian presence in the Holy City of Jerusalem - with its varied mosaic of worshippers, churches and sanctuaries - is through a system of international guarantees that will ensure to the three religious communities a quality of right of access to their respective holy places, of profession of faith and of development.

Your Excellencies, as Heads of Churches and being fully conscious of the heavy duty we carry with us, we also suggest that it might well be advisable to have representatives from our three Patriarchates and the Custody of the Holy Land at the Camp David summit meeting, as much as at any future fora, in order to provide continuity and consultation on our future and on our rights, so that our one collective presence here - with its history of rights and expectations - is maintained unequivocally and safeguarded fully.

In conclusion, and as we reiterate our prayers for the success of your summit meeting, we also recall that Jerusalem - Al-Quds the sacred and Yerushalayim the peaceful - will remain vital to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. And in so being, it will also reflect a sense of full equality for all the three religions witnessing in this land.

Rabbi Melchior Meets African Bishops

Rabbi Melchior meets (from left) Bishop Zakarias Johannes of Eritrea, Archbishop Ndingi Mwana'a Nzeki of Kenya and Archbishop John Onaiyeken Abuje of Nigeria, in Jerusalem. Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski / Jerusalem Post

Israel's Minister for Diaspora Affairs, Rabbi Michael Melchior, on September 21 met with a visiting delegation of African bishops and elicited support for his strong criticism of Palestinian policies downplaying the importance of Jerusalem to Israel and Judaism.

Rabbi Melchior stressed the special importance of Jerusalem to Jews, reminding the bishops that "Jerusalem is the only holy place of the Jewish people." The bishops reacted with visible surprise and distaste when Melchior mentioned Arafat's attempt, during the Camp David talks and thereafter, to deny that a temple ever existed on the Temple Mount and the official Islamic position that the Mount is an exclusively Muslim site. The Israeli Minister stated that Jerusalem must always be open to the believers of all faiths, as it has been ever since the city was reunited under Israeli sovereignty some 33 years ago.

Archbishop Ndingi Mwana'a Nzeki of Nairobi, Kenya, mentioned the need for the Palestinians to accept their role in the peace process, saying that he hoped "God will soften their hearts." He promised Melchior "our support and our prayers."

The Rev. John Onaiyeken Abuje, the Archbishop of Nigeria, asked Melchior, who had served as chief rabbi of Norway, how he came to be in Israel. Melchior, smiling, responded that "a bigger question is how I came to land in Norway!"

'When We Think of Jesus...'

"I believe that the very word 'Temple Mount,' in every Western language, carries the real story of this place. When we think of Jesus walking in the streets of Jerusalem, what he saw there was not a mosque, nor even a Christian church. What he saw was the Temple - the Second Temple of the Jews."

- Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak, at Press Conference, UN Millennium Summit, New York, September 7, 2000

Pastor Rudi Pinke, Christian Center, Frankfurt:

"Before we can repent for the Holocaust, we first need to repent for the events leading up to the Holocaust."

Sister Pista, Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, later elaborated on Pastor Pinke's statement:

"Long before the Holocaust, our nation was steeped in the blood and tears of Jewish people. At fault was largely the Church's teaching of contempt.... I'll never forget the horror I felt when I first began studying Jewish history in depth. Each era seemed to bring new atrocities. Was there no end to the sufferings of the Jewish people? If a sinful human being like me can feel such pain, what must God be feeling?"

Father Raniero Cantalamessa, Preacher to the Papal Household in the Vatican:

"If the Church takes responsibility for the guilt of its members, it exonerates God, declaring, 'God is not to blame. We are the ones who have sinned.'"