January 14, 2008

Israel's visal policy aims to paralyse Christianity in the Holy Land

by Stuart Littlewood

I have nothing but admiration for the work of Catholic
priests in the Holy Land. Unlike church life in the
leafy suburbs of England, theirs is a dangerous job in
a perpetual war zone, a world where religion and
international politics collide.

With great skill and dedication they hold together the
Christian communities in towns and villages that
suffer greatly under Israeli occupation and where
Catholic schools teach Muslim as well as Christian
children. These courageous men are routinely abused
and humiliated by Israeli troops, and some have been
shot at. Also, let's not forget the nuns in the front
line, surely the most remarkable women on the planet.

While visiting Palestine recently a priest friend
explained how he can't go home to see his family in
Jordan because Israel's new visa policy would prevent
him returning to his parish. The effect cuts deep. A
large number of priests and nuns in Palestine are
Jordanian, and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
covers the territories of Palestine, Israel and
Jordan. If Jordanian priests and church personnel are
not allowed to travel back and forth across these
borders the Church will eventually be divided. The
Custody of the Holy Land, its Christian churches and
their religious congregations will also be badly
affected.

If students at the Latin Patriarchal Seminary in the
West Bank, most of whom are Jordanians, visit their
families for Christmas, Easter or any other occasion -
including family emergencies - these lads
automatically lose their residence visa. They must
apply for a new visa while outside the country and
this can take 3-4 months. Even then, re-entry is not
guaranteed.

The same applies to fully-fledged Jordanian and other
Arab priests. When their residence visa runs out they
have to leave, then apply for a new visa, which might
very well be refused, in which case they cannot go
back to their parishes and ministries.

Fr Manuel, the Catholic priest in Gaza, is a case in
point. He has been trapped there for 9 years knowing
that if he leaves to visit his family the Israelis
will not allow him back. So he stays where he is,
isolated by the devastating siege and determined not
to abandon his 'flock' or his excellent school where,
incidentally, most of the pupils are Muslim.

The Israelis are expanding their all-to-familiar
'administrative' controls to disrupt the life and
work of the Christian Church. By June this year, the
Catholics in the Holy Land stand to lose many of their
clergy to visa restrictions and the Seminary, founded
in 1852, may have to close. Struggling parishes will
be left priest-less.

Like the Muslims, no Palestinian Christian living
outside Jerusalem is allowed to visit the Holy Places
in the Old City. This goes for priests too, although
the Israeli military may from time to time grant
'permits' restricted to certain entry points, limiting
duration of stay and forbidding the use of a car.

Nevertheless priests are subjected to humiliating
searches and permits are often cancelled. These
bully-boy tactics make pastoral work a nightmare and
participation at religious ceremonies in the Holy
Places impossible. It even makes office meetings at
the Latin Patriarchate difficult.

The freedom of the Church, set out in the Fundamental
Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel
in 1993 (but never ratified by the Knesset, I'm told)
is treated with contempt. Buried deep within this
high-sounding document is the clause: "The State of
Israel recognizes the right of the Catholic Church to
carry out its religious, moral, educational and
charitable functions, and to have its own
institutions, and to train, appoint and deploy its own
personnel in the said institutions or for the said
functions to these ends."

It turns out to be another broken promise from a
regime that occupies the Holy Land illegally, ignores
countless UN resolutions, disregards International
Court of Justice rulings and is in permanent breach of
human rights and Geneva Conventions.

Israel's latest attempt to hinder and paralyse
Christianity in the Holy Land is one more turn of the
screw in a process that's been going on for years.
When Palestine was under British mandate Christians
accounted for 20 percent of the population. Sixty
years of hostilities and economic ruination imposed by
military occupation have reduced their presence to 2
percent at most. Soon there will be none left in the
land where Christianity was born.

Those who remain stand with their Muslim friends and
neighbours against the common enemy... an enemy,
ironically, that's armed and bankrolled by Christian
extremists in the west.
___________________________________________________

Stuart Littlewood is author of a book 'Radio Free Palestine' (see www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk ). He was in the West Bank and Gaza two months ago.
(Originally published at Uruknet) http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=40106&s2=15)

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