Israeli-Barred Palestinian-American Minister Now Speaking Out in U.S.

By the Reverend L. Humphrey Walz

A few blocks north of the medieval city walls and a comfortable stroll beyond the U.S. Consulate on Nablus Road, the East Jerusalem Baptist Church has been struggling along for almost five years without a pastor. It's not that the congregation doesn't know what kind of spiritual leadership to seek among its very special challenges. It made its choice—Jerusalem-born Rev. Alex Awad—back in 1988.

Awad, in turn, was elated at the prospect of living again, however strenuously, amidst his family roots, youthful haunts and lively reminders of past professional associations and historic religious traditions. The United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, with whom he now is working out of McKinney, Texas as a mission interpreter, immediately recognized the significance of the proffered post. It readily commissioned him to serve the Jerusalem parish and guaranteed his salary for the course of his service there.

The one persistent obstacle to such plans has been the Israeli government's refusal to grant him the appropriate papers to return to Jerusalem, let alone labor there. Nor will it permit his American wife, Brenda, to teach in nearby Bethlehem Bible College, which wants and needs her. It also has barred their student daughter, Christy, from going there, separately, as a short-term volunteer.

Why? In Israel numerous Jews, including human rights activists, some rabbis and three Knesset members, have raised that question. In the U.S., more than a score of congresspersons and uncounted church leaders have presented it to Israeli officialdom. In the rare instances where any answer is given, it is in evasive generalities like those Israeli Embassy spokesman Warren Adelman gave Washin writer Larry Wirtham. In his C feature headed "Israeli Visa Denial for Minister Stirs Protestant Protest, " Wirtham quotes Adelman thus: "Records of the Interior Ministry in Israel show that on four separate occasions Reverend Awad overstayed in Israel illegally."

More serious, though even vaguer, were the charges made by Israeli Embassy Chief of Staff Michael Shiloh on Sept. 12, 1991 to a delegation of Methodist bishops and other leaders who visited the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC to present Awad's case in person. After waiting two months for answers to questions raised by the bishops, on Nov. 15 Global Ministries' Deputy General Robert J. Harman wrote a reminder to Shiloh.

The Israeli diplomat responded on Feb. 12, 1992 that Awad had "violated the law of Israel on several occasions. His history of behavior causes the people back in Israel to doubt the ultimate objectives of Rev. Awad in Jerusalem, and I regret that I have to inform you that, given his past record, there is no way to provide Rev. Awad with a visa." Soothingly, he added: "I wish to assure you, dear Mr. Harman, that we value our relationship with the United Methodist Church and... we will be happy to consider any other candidate for the position in Jerusalem."

Follow-up efforts to get more satisfactory official answers having failed, the denomination's quadrennial General Conference in May 1992 passed a resolution for "Justice for the Reverend Alex Awad. " Recorded on pp. 589-591 of the 1992 Book of Resolutions, it deals with the matter in the light of the Methodist social principle that "We hold governments responsible for protecting the rights of the people to ... the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly and communications media."

It bluntly suggests the likelihood that Alex Awad actually is being "prevented from pastoring this church because he is the brother of Mubarak Awad, founder of the Palestinian Center for the Study of Non-Violence, who was deported by the Israeli government in 1988. " However, the resolution notes, "Rev. Awad has no history of political activity and wishes to resume his role as pastor for religious, not political, reasons .... Support for indigenous Christian congregations is especially important during this time of great stress, which has led to increased Christian emigration from East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in response to the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli occupation."

Specifically, pending further information, the United Methodist resolution expresses the belief that "Israel's refusal to grant a visa to Rev. Awad represents ... a denial of religious freedom, an affront to the United Methodist Church ... a spiritual burden to the congregation in Jerusalem ... a source of grave concern as to whether this is a part of a policy to intimidate and reduce the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem, and a travail for the Awad family. " Among remedial actions it "urges all United Methodists who travel to Israel/Palestine to share with Israeli authorities their deep concern about this denial of religious freedom, and use the special opportunity afforded by their travel to learn about, and share with, the Palestinian Christian community. " May 9 was then celebrated as "Alex Awad Day. "

By November 1992, according to the Christian Century, 2,296 persons had signed a petition circulated on behalf of Alex Awad by the Middle East Network of United Methodists-an adjunct of the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA, Shalom House, 76 Clinton Ave., Staten Island, NY 10301). The petition was mailed to Israeli Prime Minister Rabin. Another 1,200 signatures subsequently were delivered to the Israeli government by a Methodist Federation for Social Action study tour visiting the Holy Land from April 19 to 29 of this year.

Last Dec. 23, with the specifics of the Israeli accusations still not given, Hebrew University Professor Eddie Kaufman suggested that the Methodist groups submit in writing to Israeli Minister of Religious Affairs Uzi Bar Am their understanding of the underlying facts. As explained in the consequent memorandum, Alex Awad left his native land from 1965 to 1971 and again from 1972 to 1976 to study theology in Europe and the U.S.

In 1976 he became both an ordained minister and an American citizen. It is the latter status that requires him, like his wife, Brenda, to obtain a work visa to accept employment in Israel or the occupied territories.

At first, in 1979, they had no major problems in getting permission to teach for a few years at Bethlehem Bible College. As with other foreign Christian workers on the West Bank, however, their subsequent attempts at renewal on schedule became increasingly difficult.

The time-consuming obstacles placed in their way created a "Catch-22" situation in which they could go through all the steps for visa renewal only by overstaying their visas. Citing associated "violations," a military official (an immigrant to Israel from Russia) ordered them to leave in November 1986.

By staying till August 1987 to try to comply with the various requirements, they acquired yet another "violation" charge before they gave up and departed for the U.S. It was shortly thereafter that the East Jerusalem Baptists extended their call and made it seem worth resuming the struggle for permission to return.

Alex Awad was permitted by Israeli authorities to visit for one week at Easter 1991, upon his written guarantee not to overstay. The visit, in the wake of the Gulf war, during which the Israeli "iron fist" policy clamped a devastating total curfew on the occupied territories, enabled him to observe the deteriorating Palestinian condition. In the May 1991 issue of Christian Social Action, he described how "the Christian population all over the West Bank and Gaza Strip is receiving blow after blow from the Israeli government, the Israeli military and the Israeli settlers. "

A year later New World Outlook published in its March/April 1992 issue his "Palestinian Plea to the Whole Church," in which he declared: "while world leaders talk about peace, Israeli policies of displacing and transferring the Palestinian population are slowly and surely being accomplished. " Pointedly, he told American fellow-Christians that "Even as Palestinians appeal to the West for help, ironically their greatest support and encouragement comes from the Jewish groups in Israel who oppose the policies of military occupation and share the Palestinian longing for a peaceful solution ... Peace Now, New Jewish Agenda, Women in Black, The Other Israel and Yesh G'vul. " Paying special tribute to Abie Nathan who, under a recently rescinded Israeli law, was jailed repeatedly for talking with Palestinian political leaders, he concluded: "Both justice-yearning Palestinians and peaceloving Jews long to see Christians around the world respond to Palestinian suffering ... with bold action ... that will move clearly toward a secure settlement for all parties."

In his present travels throughout the United States, Alex Awad brings similar messages to church audiences of thousands monthly. Their supportive responses encourage him to believe that, with fuller access to the facts, Americans increasingly are ready to support peace with justice in the Mideast.

Though unaccompanied journalists are barred from what one reporter called the occupied territories' "massive collective prison" of Palestinians, the news media have passed along enough information to lend urgency to Reverend Awad's statements and his listeners' questions. Prime Minister Rabin's April 12 declaration of intent, since reiterated weekly, to deprive at least 50,000 more Palestinians of their jobs makes it easier to understand Alex Awad's problems in getting a work visa.

News of the obstacles barring some 65,000 Palestinian Christians from attending services on the Western and Orthodox Easters clarified his sense of urgency for getting back to work in Jerusalem. Here and there Israeli employers and officials have been quoted in ways that support his contention that many individual Israelis want to be fair and conciliatory. In turn, the story he tells American audiences provides a beacon to energize sound U.S. policies toward the peoples of his native region.

World Methodist Council Leader Decries U.S. Aid to Israel

As executive director of the World Methodist Council, the Rev. Joe Hale represents 29 million members in 96 countries. He tries to keep all of them in mind whenever circumstances call on him to "speak the truth to power." It is primarily as a concerned, conscientious American taxpayer, though, that he has written President Bill Clinton that U.S. aid to Israel has become "obsolete and unnecessary. "

"If U.S. citizens realized what was being done with their money," he explains, "they would demand drastic cuts." He cited the obstacles to peace created by the expansion of Jewish settlements in Israeli occupied territory, the destruction of human lives by "stripping them of their rights as human beings," the stacking of legal processes against the Palestinians, and the persistent imposition of collective punishment.

Reverend Hale is willing, he says, to pay more taxes; but he is "torn when my country, by its largest foreign aid grant, supports behavior that runs counter to the most basic principles of democracy. "

Reflecting similar conclusions, the (USA) Methodist Board of Global Missions, at its 1993 spring meeting in Indianapolis, called on "both the Israeli and U.S. governments to stop abuses of Palestinian urban rights and to recognize Palestinian claims."

Wisconsin Church Hosts University "Arab-Israeli Peace” Course

Northshore Presbyterian Church of Shorewood, WI, will host a three-credit course on "Arab-Israeli Relations: The Search for Peace" for the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee's Department of History and its off-campus program. In two three-hour sessions weekly from June 22 to July 29, Bombay-born Muslim historian Abbas Hamdani, who will conduct the course, plans to highlight the prospects for the Middle East peace process launched at the Madrid conference in the fall of 1991.

This will be Prof. Hamdani's fourthseason of peace-related lectures under this joint sponsorship. His three earlier courses dealt with Muslim and Christian approaches to peacemaking, the stakes in the Gulf war, and the problems of Palestine/ Israel. Presbyterian Elder Nancy Theroharis, married to a Marquette University historian, has been a catalyst for the courses in her capacity as Milwaukee Presbytery representative to the Wisconsin Ecumenical Partnership for Peace and Justice.

Palestinian Teachers Return from U.S. to Tightened Israeli Military Occupation

The March 31 farewells at Chicago's O'Hare Airport between four West Bank teachers and their American hosts were particularly emotional. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, back in Israel from his first crucial consultation in Washington after President Clinton's inauguration, had just decreed a total, indefinite closure of the occupied territories. The new U.S. administration's seeming indifference over his expulsion of 400 Palestinian Muslims into Lebanon last December apparently had convinced Rabin he could continue his program of rights violations without jeopardizing the flow of U.S. foreign assistance.

Nevertheless, neither the four Middle Eastern visitors, pictured below—representing a Catholic School in Bethlehem and Catholic, Quaker and UNRWA schools in Ramallah—nor the American hosts from the Midwestern Quaker-Presbyterian-ecumenical partnership that had brought them over, let themselves be daunted.

Speaking of the welcomes they had received at schools, colleges, libraries, churches, resource centers, bookstores and student unions, the Palestinian guests' comments included: "You and your colleagues have not only exposed us to fresh techniques, literature and perspectives. You have also stimulated and encouraged us. Best of all, the surprising warmth your fellow Americans have accorded us has given us new hope."

The American sponsors expressed their admiration for their visitors' commitment to education as a major instrument for nonviolent problem resolution on every level. The Palestinian teachers must cope with double-session, four-hour school days, military interruptions, unpredictable collective punishment, diminishing employment possibilities for their graduates, imposed impoverishment and the absence of libraries or extracurricular activities.

The Great Lakes district office of the American Friends Service Committee subsequently reported that the travelers had landed safely in Tel Aviv and had met no unusual obstacles on their roads home. The tightening of Israeli postal, wire and wireless monitoring, however, has made candid communications between Americans and Palestinians, increasingly dangerous for the Palestinians.

The American hosts nevertheless were able to report on some of the obstacles their guests encountered upon returning to the occupied areas. The closure order makes it impossible to travel through Jerusalem, between Bethlehem and Ramallah, only 20 miles away. This has forestalled plans for a teacher get-together to discuss future international cooperation. The closure also means that students or teachers needing medical assistance can't get through the military checkpoints to otherwise handy Makassad, Augusta Victoria and St. John's Ophthalmological hospitals. Palestinian doctors, nurses, therapists and technicians face similar restrictions.

The closure has reduced Palestinians' incomes by some $2.5 million daily. The Rabin cabinet's April 11 announcement of a policy of reducing Palestinian job opportunities as much as possible has further undermined morale in the classroom and student incentives to continue their schooling. The Bethlehem and Ramallah schools have, however, been able to stay open, unlike 58 East Jerusalem schools which have had to close because their 2,500 teachers and 25,000 students from the West Bank are barred from passing through the barricades.

West Bank Closures Halt Christian Easter Observances

April 11 and April 18 observances of the Western and Eastern Orthodox Easters, respectively, were considerably restricted by Israel's closure order barring most access between Israel and Jerusalem on the one hand and the West Bank and Gaza on the other. The majority of residents of both Bethlehem and Ramallah are Christian, but this year traditional family reunions from village to village, unimpeded for centuries, had become impossible. Nor were Palestinian Christians able to follow their annual tradition of attending Easter worship services in Jerusalem.

To forestall interference with this latter custom, the Arab Orthodox Conference had appealed to the Israeli High Court to facilitate Palestinian pilgrim travel permits for Jerusalem on Easter. The court promised to oblige, but there is no tangible evidence of its having kept its word.

On April 15th, Maundy Thursday, soldiers tried to arrest Rev. George Mahlouf of the Ramallah Orthodox parish as he conducted prayers at a Jerusalem roadblock, but the supportive presence of Knesset member Hashem Mahameed apparently saved him. The following day, Good Friday, a thousand Bethlehem Christians marched with protest signs from Caritas Hospital to the first checkpoint on Jerusalem Road, where soldiers with toxic gas stopped them.

The fact that the eighth round of Middle East peace talks took place in the wake of such events made it harder for the four teachers to lift their students' spirits as they read current history in the headlines. Memories of the Midwest made it easier.

The Rev. J. Humphrey Walz, D. D., retired associate executive of the Presbyterian Synod of the Northeast, is active in denominational and ecumenical peacemaking activities.