Title: Lutheran Palestinians Working for Peace Not Featured in News
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
February 13, 2002
NEWS
LUTHERAN PALESTINIANS WORKING FOR PEACE NOT FEATURED IN NEWS
02-030-MR
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Palestinians working for peace and
reconciliation in the Middle East are not featured in most international
news reports, according to the Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (and Palestine).
In a Feb. 6 interview, Younan said most media outlets portray a
"wrong image" of Palestinians -- that they are "terrorists" who "should
not exist." He called that portrayal "dehumanizing" and a "mass media
war."
The dehumanization is "counterproductive" to negotiation efforts
between Israelis and Palestinians, Younan contended. He said
international media should "show the right face of the Palestinian."
Most of the world does not know about the "90 percent of Palestinians
who are seeking justice, peace and reconciliation or two-state
resolution."
Younan said some international editorial writers and political
leaders, including some in the United States, have "linked" Palestinians
to the Taliban. He said any linkage between "Palestinians and the
Taliban is not acceptable. We are not the Taliban."
"Osama bin Laden does not care for the Palestinian cause. To make
an analogy that Mr. Yassar Arafat is against the American administration
and like Bin Laden is wrong. Mr. Arafat is with the American
administration, not against it," Younan said.
"The source of all problems" for Palestinians in the Middle East
is Israeli occupation, said Younan. "What has developed is spiraling
violence and spiraling hatred. As a church leader, I believe that the
violence must end," he said.
"Palestinians want to live in a civil, democratic and modern
society. That is what we want as Palestinians," he said. "End
occupation, everything will end. Then, United Nations resolutions can
be implemented. But, as long as occupation [remains], nothing will
develop," he said.
Younan said members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) "continue to walk" with members of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Jordan (and Palestine). "We appreciate that accompaniment,"
he said during a visit at the ELCA churchwide office here Feb. 6.
Younan's visit to the United States included meeting with Jewish leaders
here and in New York.
During the visit to the ELCA, Catherine I.H. Braasch, executive
director, Women of the ELCA, presented Younan a $5,000 grant to support
schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (and Palestine).
Braasch was part of an ELCA delegation that visited Palestine in
November 2001.
"When we visited the schools and other ministries of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan, there were times when we simply
did not have the words to describe what we saw and felt," Braasch said,
"yet the words must be found and spoken."
"The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan is speaking the gospel
of hope powerfully, daily, through the witness of its schools,
congregations and other ministries. This grant is accompanied by much
prayer and gratitude for the witness of Palestinian Lutherans,
especially through the schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Jordan," she said.
The 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly called for an end to suicide
bombings, urged international protection for Palestinian people in
Israeli-occupied territories and acknowledged the "pain and suffering"
of all involved in Middle East tensions.
-- -- --
Resources about the Middle East are maintained at
http://www.elca.org/co/mideast.html on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
|