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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Salaam and grace to you from a troubled Jerusalem / Palestine in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through your good persons, I want to greet all your churches/constituencies with God's blessings. Please do share this letter with them in order that you all together can act upon it. I herewith would like to update you about the recent occurrences/ developments as regards to the difficult crisis we are currently passing through.

The recent Arab Leaders' Summit came up with moderate decisions for the continuation of the peace process, but, at the same time, warning the Israeli government for its excessive use of force against the Palestinian civilians. In this regard, some practical measures have been taken as regards to the relationship of some Arab states with the State of Israel. These measures, however, might escalate, if the Israeli government continues to escalate the situation. They have also mentioned that peace must have substance, and must be built on justice. They reiterated the UN-resolutions pertaining to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict.

In fact, the Israeli government opposed these measures and answered with harsher measures against the Palestinian areas:

• The closure is still clamped over the Palestinian areas. The Israeli authorities closed off the Gaza International Airport, and the borders to Jordan and Egypt.
• The freedom of movement of people and goods is still restricted between the Palestinian cities. Many kinds of foodstuff are becoming rare on the markets. At the same time, the Israeli authorities are allowing only Israeli products to be sold in the Palestinian market.
• The Palestinian industrial and agricultural products are not allowed to be transported anywhere.
• Palestinian farmers are not allowed to reach their fields (mostly located in areas B & C which are under full Israeli security sovereignty) in order to pick their olive trees, where we have the best harvest since many years.
• In the Bethlehem region, as well as in other Palestinian areas the hotels are totally empty - no tourists and pilgrims. It is worth-mentioning that the Bethlehem region is living mainly from tourism. Factories are also working in a 15% capacity.
• Hospitals are lacking medical materials and equipment.
• High unemployment is prevailing now.
• The Christian schools are depending on tuition fees they cannot collect them at the moment. In consequence, they will not be able to pay the salaries of the teachers for some months, for example: the ELCJ schools will be in a serious economic situation to pay the salaries of our teachers for the next three months at least. This is very typical for all the Christian schools.

During the past days, Israeli army forces shelled with tanks, helicopters and automatic weapon residential areas in the town of Beit Jala, a Christian town, west of Bethlehem from Gilo, an Israeli settlement built on the lands belonging to Beit Jala inhabitants, causing injuries and huge damage in properties. Just yesterday, Israel's Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert stated in the voice of Israel's morning radio-news journal that the night-time raid was a "proportional Israeli response" to the Palestinian shooting. It was according to Olmert, an insufficient response, because only a "disproportional Israeli response" could reach the aim of silencing the Palestinian uprising.

The shelling on Bethlehem area, especially in Beit Jala and Beit Sahouris paralyzing the life of Palestinian Christian towns. It is creating horror and terror in the hearts of the families. Our Church has a boarding section accommodating social cases. We had to transport foodstuff from Jerusalem, so that they can be fed and cared for. In addition, we have to treat the children psychologically. Our fear is that al these undue measures will force the Christians to emigrate due to the lack of vision for the future.

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November (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44