Wednesday, May 1st, E. Jerusalem - Day Seven

This morning following breakfast we met Rev. Gustaf Odquist, who has been seconded from the church in Sweden these past three years to work with the ELCJ. I have been in conversation with him many times by e-mail and phone these past months, and it was good to finally put a face to the voice.

The Lutheran World Federation's Vocational Training Center in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem, was our first stop of the day. Director Randa Nassar welcomed us and gave us the tour of this exciting school. Gustaf indicates that from the perspective of the Church of Sweden this is the crown jewel of such programs they support worldwide. The training center began on the hospital grounds in 1948, and by the early 60's they had to decide what to do for the future. LWF purchased the present site and buildings in 1964 and established vocational training programs for carpentry, metal work, plumbing/heating, and lathing. Since they have added auto mechanics and electronics and stopped the lathing program. Women have begun the program, too, despite the resistance of families and fellow students, and now 22 of the 160 students are women. Students pay about 10%, or $450, of the cost of their training per year. The remainder is covered by the global church community and receipts from contract work for area industries.

A boarding school was added for 60-70 students who are unable to travel to and from their hometowns because of the closures and checkpoints. Those who live in Ramallah, only ten minutes away, need 2-3 hours each way, which makes for a very difficult day. Those students who still do face checkpoints daily carry a LWF student card; sometimes this helps, and sometimes soldiers simply rip the cards up.

Augusta Victoria Hospital was our next stop today. Lutheran World Federation Representative Craig Kippels and Dr. Tawfiq Nasser shared some history of the hospital, which has been in LWF hands since 1950. In addition to extensive medical services, the hospital has recently become a key player in the distribution of humanitarian aid to towns such as Jenin, Ramallah and Bethlehem. Boxes destined for area hospitals were piled in the first floor hallways and re-packaged by volunteers. More than $1.6 million was raised in two days from Palestinian philanthropists to help purchase supplies. Ironically, the hospital has needed to purchase more and more medical supplies from Israel due to quickly diminishing resources. A supply warehouse on the grounds is nearly empty, and Craig Kippels wonders how easy it will be to get the next shipment from LWF.

We heard from Kippels over lunch an update on the tax case against AVH and many other church-operated programs throughout East Jerusalem. Quickly, long-standing tax exemptions are being challenged by the tax assessor in Jerusalem, and Kippels chalks it up to a political maneuver to restrict and even threaten the operation of these humanitarian services. And the fear is that if AVH ends up paying any taxes that the door is opened for all the ELCJ schools and the churches, not limited to Lutheran. Kippels asked us to take a proactive stand on the case through our own government. He especially expressed his gratitude for our presence since so many other groups have cancelled.

This afternoon we met with Dr. Robert Waller, political officer of the Consulate General of the U.S. in Jerusalem. It was a useful conversation, that is as far as it could go. Waller still has to represent the Bush administration. The opinion in Jerusalem is that both the Consul General, which reports directly to Colin Powell, and the Ambassador in Tel Aviv are more aware and sensitive to the issues facing Palestinians than can be seen through American policy in the region. Waller suggested a much more intensive political effort behind the scenes, though he said that, in his opinion, the U.S. is much more restricted/limited than many might think. We were grateful for his presence with us. He does his job well.

Tonight we host the Younan family and Rev. Mary Jensen for dinner at our hotel. Tomorrow we have meetings with Jewish and Muslim leaders in the morning. Our hope is to get into Bethlehem in the afternoon, but the odds don't appear to be very good.

A thought that hit me today: there is an incredible amount of energy that Israelis and Palestinians expend in this conflict, and before. The Israelis invest an enormous amount of time and energy and resources into making life difficult for Palestinians and their institutions. I shake my head at how much effort it must require. And Palestinians must exert a tremendous amount of the same to find ways to work around all the methods of control and limitation. It feels pretty sad that all these resources are so needlessly spent.

We've really enjoyed the food, but today I had a hankering for a hamburger. Next week.

Peace to all.

Hans Arnesen

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