Update: Episcopal leaders dismayed at Israel’s denial of Jerusalem bishop’s residency permit
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Bishops John Bryson Chane of the Diocese of Washington and J. Jon Bruno of the Diocese of Los Angeles have released statements regarding the Israeli government’s refusal to renew the temporary residency visa of the Rt. Rev. Sueheil Dawani, bishop of the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East.
Bishop Chane’s statement was mailed to diocesan clergy yesterday:
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus:
It is with a great deal of concern that I share this news: After six months of negotiations with the Israeli government regarding the revocation of the visa and residency cards that enable them to live in Jerusalem, the Right Rev. Suheil Dawani, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, his wife and daughter have arrived at an impasse.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem have joined me in the effort to reinstate the bishop’s visa and residency cards for his family. Almost four weeks have passed since our letters, expressing our deep concern and calling for the Israeli government to correct this indignity and injustice, were delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Our efforts have been met with silence. I have asked for another meeting with Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, with whom I have met regularly in the past, but my request has been met with silence.
I am enclosing a recent press release from Bishop Dawani and the Diocese of Jerusalem. It is a brief but accurate account of the events that have led me to write directly to you today.
Israel prides itself on being a democracy – the only one in the Middle East. Yet a true democracy adheres to the rule of law and defends the religious freedom of all persons. This has not been the case for Bishop Dawani, a Palestinian Christian.
The church has too often been silent in addressing the abuses of power by the Israeli government. I have spoken to many Christians who are fearful and believe if they speak out against human rights abuses by the government of Israel they will be labeled as anti-Semitic. But not to speak out when injustices are done to a Christian religious leader and a much respected bishop of the Anglican Communion is to be guilty of a greater crime; the crime of silence.
I strongly urge you to e-mail both Ambassador Oren and President Obama.
By the time this letter reaches you, I will have met with Sen. John Kerry of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and DAS Kathleen Fitzpatrick at the Religious Freedoms Desk at the State Department. I will continue to press this issue until it is resolved, and trust that you will do the same.
In Christ’s Peace, Power and Love,
The Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, D.D., Bishop of Washington
Bishop Bruno’s statement appeared as a column in The Episcopal News, his diocesan paper. He writes:
[H]ow to explain this seizure? Recall that last March, when Vice President Joe Biden visited this area amid great world expectation that he was planning to launch renewed Middle East peace talks, there was a sudden announcement that 1,600 homes for settlers would be built on contested lands of East Jerusalem. This unexpected announcement that was horribly embarrassing to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu came from the Ministry of Interior.
It is this same Ministry of Interior that has offended the world’s 80 million Anglicans and Episcopalians by targeting our bishop. Indeed, Bishop Dawani has been forced to file suit challenging the Interior Ministry’s decision, noting that it “is a grave, serious act that strips the bishop of his ability to carry out his functions while harming the church and its devotees, not to mention the image of the state of Israel and its foreign relations.” Church leaders have written to Prime Minister Netanyahu and visited with Israel’s ambassador, Michael Oren, in Washington.
Bishop Dawani has been informed that, without a passport, he is likely to be deported. But, I ask, deported to where? He is a native of the area in which he serves, born in Nablus, and has spent his entire life as a Christian serving his people.