Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October/November 1997, PAGES 73, 86

Christianity and the Middle East

Quakers Continue Fight Against Palestinian Deportations

By Rev. L. Humphrey Walz

Quaker standards for Christian engagement in public affairs include thoughtful appraisal of the essential facts of any given troublesome situation, alertness to the challenges to set things right, and dedication to nonviolence even when confronting violent challenges. These standards are reflected in the petition being circulated for signatures (12 to a page) to be sent to Israeli Minister of the Interior Eli Sissel, with copies to the U.S. State Department and the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Its full text follows:

We urge your ministry to end the practice of "expiring" or confiscating identity cards belonging to Palestinian Jerusalem residents. We are aware that two or three Palestinian families are removed daily from the Israeli population registry, over 800 Palestinian identity cards (having been confiscated) within the last 12 months.

We are opposed to all policies in Jerusalem that support exclusive claims to the city and prejudice final status negotiations, in particular your Ministry's revocation of identity cards, which denies Palestinians their right to residency in Jerusalem.

(The petition is being circulated by the Family Reunification Project of the Great Lakes District of the American Friends Service Committee at 59 E. Van Buren #1400, Chicago, IL 60605.)

Church Team Reports Iraq "Devastated" by Sanctions

Iraq's medical system has been devastated by the continuing international embargo imposed in 1990 after it had invaded Kuwait, according to a team of church-related health specialists who visited Iraq in May and were interviewed in June by Tracy Early for Ecumenical News International. One of them, Charles Ausherman of the Reformed Church in America, who is president of the Institute for Development Training, called the embargo "immoral" because it used its political-economic weaponry against the most defenseless sectors of the population—women and children.

(The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on Iraq after Iraqi President Saddam Hussain's invasion of Kuwait and has said it won't consider lifting them until Iraq fully cooperates with U.N. monitors charged with overseeing the dismantling of Iraq's weapons programs. However, in a limited "oil-for-food" deal which came into force in December, Iraq is permitted to sell $2 billion in oil every six months to raise money for humanitarian needs.)

A "superior health system" in Iraq now was "worse than many developing countries."

Ausherman was one of nine professionals from the U.S., Switzerland and India specializing in obstetrics, pediatrics, public health and nursing who, amidst a heavy schedule, led a workshop in Baghdad, May 13-16. The team, which went to Iraq under the auspices of Venture Middle East (VME), an evangelical agency that has been sending medical supplies to Iraq, was led by James Jennings, a Southern Baptist who heads Conscience International, an agency based in Atlanta. A Middle East specialist who speaks Arabic, Jennings visited Iraq three times last year.

Ausherman, who formerly directed a planned parenthood program for Church World Service, the relief arm of the U.S. National Council of Churches, told Early that a "superior health system" in Iraq had formerly approached levels of the developed world but now was "worse than many developing countries I've been to." He said he had worked in 48 countries but during the visit to Iraq—his first—he found health care there worse than in much of Africa. He stressed that the group was not taking a political position on the Iraqi government. "We go in with our eyes open," he said. "But as a person with faith it is hard for me to comprehend punishing the most vulnerable—the children and mothers—this way."

While in Baghdad, the group had been able to obtain a report on health conditions in Iraq from the Iraqi Ministry of Health that the World Health Organization had prepared but refused to release, Ausherman said. He said its figures, probably an undercount, showed infant mortality at 92.7 per thousand.

The delegation visited a number of hospitals and found the buildings good, but not maintained in recent years and extremely short of medicine. Many of the beds were empty because the hospitals' supplies were so low they could do nothing for people in need of treatment. "So children are just dying at home," he said.

Leonard Rodgers, president of VME, said his agency had been able to obtain approval from the Iraqi government for shipment of medicines by agreeing to give half of each shipment to the Red Crescent, a "semi-government" agency like the Red Cross. Under this "deal we cut with them," he said, VME could work through the M.E. Council of Churches and channel the other half of the medicines to groups it was particularly concerned about, such as new mothers and infants.

(Infant malnutrition in central and south Iraq has increased from 9.2 percent of children in 1991 to 25 percent this year, according to figures released in Geneva May 29 by UNICEF. According to UNICEF, a Nutrition Status Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health showed an "alarming level of chronic malnutrition" (27.5 percent) among children under five. The survey, which was conducted jointly by UNICEF and the U.N. World Food Program, showed that there was a rate of chronic malnutrition of at least 20 percent in every governorate of central and south Iraq.)

Court Won't Silence Claims That Ark Is in Turkey

Melbourne University geology professor Ian Plimer lost his legal battle in Sydney to prove that a fundamentalist Church elder had been deceitful in trying to convince people that the remains of Noah's Ark are in Turkey. The case has generated publicity as a legal battle of "creationism vs. science" throughout Australia, according to Jeannie Zakharov of Ecumenical News International.

Plimer and an American marine salvage expert, David Fasold, initiated the action against Sydney elder Dr. Allen Roberts, alleging he had misled consumers in his "Ark search" lecture tour of Australia in which he said that the remains had been found. Fasold claimed Roberts had breached copyright by stealing a drawing he made of a site on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey which, some claim, is the resting place of the Ark. Both Plimer and Fasold wanted to stop Roberts making statements about the Ark site.

Plimer and Roberts say that the case has brought them close to financial ruin. Plimer says he invested five years in the case, working 20 to 30 hours a week, and had had to sell his house to cover legal costs. During the trial, Plimer told the court that the alleged "Ark site" was a boat-shaped geological formation which had been exploited in a "scientific fraud" to raise funds from Christian fundamentalists for a university in Turkey. He described the "Ark site" as Turkey's equivalent of Loch Ness, the Scottish lake which has been claimed—but never proved—as the home of a sea monster.

The case, which creationists hailed as a victory for free speech, sparked wide interest because it was believed to be the first time that advocates for evolution had sued believers in creationism. Roberts said outside the court that he had been "completely vindicated...The judgment has preserved the free speech of anyone who has something important to say publicly. I trust in future they'll not be harassed and pursued through the courts by someone who disagrees with them ideologically. The issue was what is under the mud and whether in fact it might have been a boat and if, on mature reflection and further research, it turns out to be a boat," he said. "Maybe it wasn't Noah's boat or even a boat at all. I can't be certain...I think it looks very much like a boat...The jury is still out on this one."

He said he bore "no personal antipathy" toward Plimer, but his defamation action against the professor was "still afoot." During a visit in 1991 he was kidnapped by Kurdish separatists who released him unharmed after three weeks. He began his Noah's Ark lecture tour a year later.

From the MECC

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)—the functional structure for cooperation and joint planning among Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Protestant churches throughout the Middle East—reports richly varied undertakings on all levels in all areas. Here is a sampling:

Its Drug Awareness Program, coordinated by Adeeb Nageeb, is planning three meetings in the course of the coming year—in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon—to review, adapt and apply the World Council of Churches document on "AIDS and the Responsibility of Churches Toward the Sick and Their Parents."

When its Ecumenical Awareness Committee met in Damascus in May, local church members were welcomed to join in the suggestion-making process. Among their proposals were: A meeting of youth from all church branches in the Syrian Orthodox monastery in Sednaya; a trip to visit the city and fortress of Shizer and Afamis; and an ecumenical recital.

Also in May, the Jordanian Youth Committee built on the recommendations of Jordan's second Ecumenical Youth Conference, held in late March in Abdaly, on "The Problems That Face Today's Youth." Highlighted issues were unemployment, disinterest in marriage and the lure of emigration.

During the same month the four MECC presidents held their regular meeting in Syria for the first time. Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro, Mufti of Syria, welcomed them to Damascus at the Abu-un-Noor mosque in the presence of thousands of worshippers, whom Coptic Pope Shenouda was invited to address. He emphasized the common elements of Christian and Muslim faith and pressed for unity in the struggle for human rights and democracy for all people.

A visit by the MECC participants to Al Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp added earnestness to their "call upon all peace-loving people who believe in human rights to stand firm against acts which undermine the character and vocation of our beloved Jerusalem." Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad, in welcoming the delegation to Syria, asked the presidents to be patient and steadfast in their pursuit of a just and comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace and in their quest for human rights.

The MECC Studies and Research Program has appointed 40 Middle Eastern and Oriental scholars to produce a university-level book, to be entitled Christianity Through History in the Orient and dealing with Christian culture as an integral element in the region and with how it has interacted with other cultures. Those involved held Spring meetings in Cairo and Beirut to assign responsibilities for developing a significant volume in time for the celebration of Christ's 2,000th birthday.

Persons interested in fuller coverage of regional Christian life can find it in MECC News Report, the international English-language periodical with 42 pages of Time-Newsweek style of writing and photography devoted to interpreting news and events of the churches of the Middle East.

There is no subscription charge. Its production cost of $5 per individual copy is funded in part by donations from readers. Its address is P.O. Box 4259, 3722 Limassol, Cyprus, where it assembles the contents for six issues a year from MECC headquarters in Beirut, and branch offices in Amman, Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem and Manama.