26 Friday, December 8, 1918
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
True Friend of Israel: Dr. G. Douglas Young, Christian Theologian
(Editor's note: Joan
Campion of Bethlehem,
Pa., is a gentile who de-
scribes herself as "a stu-
dent of Hebrew, and a
student of Jewish and
Middle Eastern history.
This article is one of a
series she wrote after a
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By JOAN CAMPION
He is sometimes called
"Israel's gentile ambas-
sador." As a rule those who
use the expression do not
mean well by it, but that
doesn't bother Dr. G. Doug-
las Young, evangelical
Christian theologian and
soon-to-retire .founder-
director of the Institute of
Holy Land Studies on
Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
For Young, it has been a
long career journey to
.
Jerusalem, where he has
lived since 1963. Born in
Korea in 1910 to Canadian
educator parents, he
graduated from Acadia
University, Nova Scotia,
Canada, in 1939, and 16
years later took his docto-
rate in Assyriology and
Egyptology from ,Dropsie
University, P4iiladelphia.
He has been pastor, profes-
sor, college administrator,
archeologist, scholarly
writer, lecturer and
traveler.
Along the way he has
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picked up many honors,
both in Israel and abroad.
He is listed in "Who's Who
in Israel," "Who's Who in
the Midwest," Who's Who in
American Education," and.
"International Scholars Di-
rectory." He has received
the Bnai Abraham Medal
for promoting the develop-
ment of Hebrew studies in
the U.S., and the Israel Pil-
grim Medal.
As a Jerusalemite, he
has entered fully into the
life of his adopted city.
During the Six-Day War
of 1967 he drove an ambu-
lance assigned to a civil
defense unit, while his
wife cared for 60
neighbors in what was
then the Institute of Holy
Land Studies building.
He is a board member of
the city's Shaare Zedek
Hospital, past president of
its Rotary Club, a member
of the Municipal Commis-
sion for Street and Suburb
Naming, a board member of
the Israel Interfaith Com-
mittee, and an impassioned
defender of Israel.
In his whitewashed office
in the fortress-like former
Anglican Bishop Cobat
High School, now the head-
quarters of the Institute of
Holy Land Studies, Young
answered questions about
the Middle EaSt and related
topics.
"The struggle here is
theological," he explained.
"It isn't over land. Most
people don't understand
this.
"You know, under
Koranic law, the Moslem
religious law by which
most Arabs lived for
many centuries and
which still has a great
inuence
on them today,
fl
Jews and Christians
were 'protected people.'
This meant they couldn't
ride horses, they had to
step out into the street
when Moslems passed,
and so on."
He paused for a moment
to let the point sink in, then
continued, "Along came
these Jews and took a little
strip of desert where
300,000 people lived a cen-
tury ago, and turned it
green and productive
enough to support millions.
`Protected people' are not
supposed to act like this,
and the Arabs find it hard to
take."
Young has been in Israel
long enough to see world
opinion swing against the
Jewish state. He believes
one reason -for this is anti-
Semitism, which he and
others see on the rise in var-
ious parts of the world.
"Part of the line is to deny
that Hitler's Holocaust ever
took place," he.noted.
-
"For instance, in
Canada where I come
from it is fashionable to
say there was no Anne
Frank. According to this
thinking, the famous
`Diary of a Young Girl'
which she wrote is pure
fabrication.
"Well; now, I know the
man who hid Anne Frank
and her family," went on
Young.
Young feels that the atti-
tudes of his fellow • Chris-
tians often add fuel to the
anti-Israeli propaganda
fire:,
"We had threats by the
Arabs, especially by the
PLO, that they would do a
lot of damage to, Christian
tourists visiting
Bethlehem. So the govern-
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ment lined the road out
there with soldiers to pro=
tect the pilgrims. Most of
the soldiers were not even
visible. But the result was
that people went back and
said this was a police state."
Was it true, I asked, that
Moslem and Christian vis-
itors were being kept from
their holy places by the Is-
raeli government?
Young denied it firmly.
"Access is freer than it
has ever been. I neve(
heard of any Moslem who----- -fl
can't visit the Mosque of
Omar (the Dome of the
Rock). For great festivals
in the churches, passes
are issued. Some people
tend to interpret this as
an Israeli effort to keep
them out, but. the fact is
there are only so many
places in the churche."
Warming to the subject of
access -- a perennial sore
spot and possible flash point
in a city where the sacred
places of three religions
crowd together — he added:
"Between 1948 and 1967,
when the Israelis captured
the entire city, no Israeli
Jew was.allowed to visit the
Western Wall, the remains
ofthe second Jewish temple,
or to go to any part of East
Jerusalem. Yet in the
Rhodes agreement of 1948
Jordan said they would be
allowed in.
"No Israeli Moslem was
allowed to visit the Mosque
of Omar. Christians / were
allowed in once a year, but
the Jordanian government
gave them a -hard time."
Young went on, "In
those years Jordan also
Jewish
desecrated'
and
synagogues
cemeteries in East
Jerusalem. When people
making peace have a re-
cord like that, no wonder
the Israelis don't trust
them."
Over the years Young has
done what he could to bol-
ster Israel's image in the
world, especially pleading
for understanding on the
part of his fellow evangeli-
cal Christians. When he re-
tires from the Institute of
Holy Land Studies at the
end of the 1978-79 academic
year, he will leave behind
him an organization dedi-
cated to continuing the ef-
fort to improve Jewish-
Christian relations. The
organization, Bridges for
Peace, is at 1 Brenner St.,
Jerusalem.
.
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Latin, Meetings
BUENOS AIRES (JT
— World Jewish Congress
general secretary Gerhart
Riegner has arrived here to
inaugurate the second con-
o ference of ethnical and cul-
tural pluralism in Latin
America, the first in two
years.
The conference will take
place -under the auspices of
the Latin American Jewish
Congress at the Buenos
Aires municipal theater
with the participation of
Jewish and Christian lead-
ers.
"For instance" is not!
proof.