COMMUNITY VIEWS

A Christian's View Of Israel

DAVID BLEWETT

Special to the Jewish News

R

ecently, I led a group of
Christian leaders on a fact-
finding mission to Israel.
The group was made up of
members of the executive committee
of the National Christian Leadership
Conference for Israel, a national net-
work of Christian organizations and
individuals committed to the security
and well-being of the people, land and
State of Israel.
In organizing the NCLCI trip, I
had two goals in mind. I wanted us to
be familiar with areas that Israel would
likely be asked to sacrifice for peace
and I wanted us to meet with Christ-
ian leaders in Israel in order to under-
stand the current condition of the
church in Israel. Recent governments
of Israel have been accused of being
anti-Christian and, although I have
not seen proof of this on any of my
other _13 trips to Israel, I wanted to
look again.
Our day on the Golan with Israel
Eshed, general manager of the Golan
Tourist Association, was especially
poignant.
Several times, we asked Israel what
he thought of the negotiations going
on in Shephardsville, W. Va., at the
very time we were there on the Golan.
Each time, he shook his head and qui-
etly said, "We won't
talk about that."
When we were
standing on Mt.
Bental where, with
good binoculars, one
can see the outskirts
of Damascus, I
asked Israel, "How
many Israelis are
familiar with this
view? How many
people have seen
how close Damascus
is and how flat the
land is?"
He said, "Every
Israeli has been
here."
"Then how do
they feel about the
idea of Israel leaving the Golan?"
There was a pause and then Israel

David Blewett is president/national
director of the National Christian Con-
ference for Israel, based at headquarters
in Novi. He also is executive director of
the Ecumenical Institute for Jewish-
Christian Studies in Southfield.

2/18
2000

36

said, "Okay, now we'll talk about it."
For the next 45 minutes, he spoke to
us about how Golan residents feel
about their country making peace
with Syria. When he finished, I asked
him, "So, if word comes from
Jerusalem that you must leave, what
will happen?"
He quickly respond-
ed in a very quiet
voice, "We will go. We
will go crying, but we
will go. We will ask
why, but we will go."
That day, I asked
everyone we saw the
same question —
"What will you do?"
— and got the same
answer: "We will go."
It was not until later
that evening that it
struck me: Not only
had everyone said basi-
cally the same thing,
they had all said it
basically in the same
way! No one looked
me in the eye; they all
looked at the ground;
everyone spoke softly
and slowly, as if each
word hurt terribly.
How they answered
has made a deeper
impression on me than

what they said.
When we arrived in Jerusalem, a
unique event was concluding. For the
first time in church history, all 15
heads of the Eastern Orthodox
Church had met in a pan-orthodox
synod — and they had met in
Jerusalem! At the closing banquet,
held the night we arrived in Jerusalem,
the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of

of the church.
I am very concerned that the
Catholic and mainline Protestant lead-
ers continue to align themselves with
the source of this oppression, the
Palestinian Authority.
The accusations being made against
Israel by church leaders regard-
ing the situation in Nazareth is
just one example of this. We
went to Nazareth to speak with
city officials, with Padre
Johannes Simon, the Father
Superior of the basilica there,
and to see the situation for our-
selves. At each meeting, we
heard speakers confirm what
the press reported. Israel was
creating an intolerable situation
for Christians by allowing a
grand mosque to be built next
to the basilica. We saw some-
thing different.
The contested plot of land is
very small, half an acre, and
only 700 square meters of it
can be used for the mosque; the
rest will become a bus stop for
tourists. It is a city block away
from the basilica, at the bottom
of a hill. There is simply no
way to build a "grand mosque"
on such a tiny bit of land and
have it overshadow the basilica
on top of the hill.
I do believe the Christians
who told us that Muslim young
people intimidate and beat up
Christians on their way to ser-
vices at the basilica, but that is
not Israel's fault. It is a problem
for Christians and Muslims in
Nazareth to solve, or for the
Nazareth police department. I
now realize that Israel stepped
Top: His Eminence, the Rev. Abraham Isaac
in as a last resort, like the sher-
Jacob, pastor of St. Mary's Syrian Orthodox
Church in Bethlehem, expresses his appreciation iff in old westerns, to bring
quiet to the streets and ensure a
for NCLCI's support and cooperation to David
peaceful visit to the city in
Blewett.
March by Pope John Paul II
Left: Israel Eshed, center, the Golan Tourist
and thousands of tourists.
Association's general manager, helps the NCLCI
As always, I returned from
group understand the importance of the Golan
Israel with a refreshed commit-
Heights to Israel's well-being.
ment to the people and land of
Israel. But this time, I came
back very- concerned about the
Christian leaders there — can
they help bring peace or will they be
visiting St. Mary's Syrian Orthodox
politically aligned so as to have lost
Church in Bethlehem. The Palestinian
their voice? I wish they all had the
police recently opened a command
attitude of the German Propst, pastor
center directly across the street from
of the Lutheran Church of the
the little church. As we entered and
Redeemer in Jerusalem's Old City. He
left the church, it was obvious we were
told us that you must use two eyes to
being watched by two policemen in
really see Israel because for every nega-
the doorway and others in the upstairs
tive story, there is at least one positive
windows. I was most nervous when I
story and experience in response. ❑
saw two of them briefly enter the back

Jerusalem, speaking as the synod's
host, thanked Israel and the munici-
pality of Jerusalem for the kindness
and care the church has always
received from them.
Contrast that with the Palestinian
Authority intimidation we saw while

