07.03.2006

Church of Scotland leader critical of Israel’s security wall

The moderator of the Church of Scotland David Lacy was scathingly critical of Israel’s controversial West Bank barrier after viewing a section near Bethlehem during a visit to the Holy Land in November 2005.

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	Church of Scotland moderator David Lacy makes a point during discussions with senior rabbis in Israel.

Lacy viewed the barrier during a two-week visit to the Holy Land aimed at showing solidarity with the Christian population as well as visiting the Church of Scotland’s projects there.

The leader of Scotland’s largest church told the Scotland on Sunday newspaper that his visit to a towering concrete wall section of the barrier near Bethlehem had left him astounded.

“I was very much in sympathy with why the Israelis built a wall here and still am to a certain extent,” Lacy told the Scottish newspaper. “But when you actually see where it is, you see that it’s not for security, it’s for making political statements.

“It’s theft of land and I don’t know how you can justify it on the grounds of anti-terrorism.”

Israeli officials say the barrier of mostly wire fences – about six per cent will be concrete wall – has stopped 90 per cent of suicide bombings planned by Palestinian militants in the West Bank since construction began more than two years ago.

Still, Lacy criticized Israel for not placing the barrier along the Israel-West Bank frontier. In many places the barrier cuts into the West Bank and cuts families off from one another as well as placing properties and farms of Palestinians on both sides of the barrier.

It is, he said, “a huge, horrible, oppressive sign of distrust and hatred in the birthplace of the son of God.”

The Church of Scotland leader urged Christians to fight Israel’s West Bank barrier by flooding into Bethlehem to strengthen the local Palestinian population. He said that Christians should see the “oppressive” wall themselves so they can better understand the suffering of the local Palestinians.

“If we flood back into the country to visit the holy sites but also to link up with Palestinian Christians then the whole world will see the actual wall,” Lacy said. “It will be an actual sight of the wall separating Palestinians from their hospitals and schools, quite illegally, in my opinion, and that would put pressure on Israel.”

Lacy explained he felt sympathy for the Israeli people who have suffered attacks by Palestinian bombers infiltrating into Israel from the West Bank but he did not believe the location of the barrier was aimed at providing Israelis with security.

“It must have been very difficult for Israeli citizens to live with the constant threat of suicide bombers,” said Lacy.

“I’ve been told the statistics show that the number of bombers have been reduced by 90 per cent but I also saw that the wall is also in Palestinian territory where it does not separate Palestinians from Israelis but rather it separates Palestinians from Palestinians, creating cantons all over the country and that, I thought, has nothing to do with security.”

Israel has built about half of the 720 kilometre barrier. Israel’s supreme court has ruled the government must re-route large tracts of the barrier closer to the West Bank-Israel frontier to minimize the harm to local Palestinians.

But Palestinians say that thousands of people are still being separated from their relatives and friends as well as their fields and local facilities such as hospitals.

Lacy said Presbyterians had shown solidarity with Israelis who moved to the Jewish state following centuries of persecution.

“We should also now focus on Palestinians. It’s pretty easy for them to be condemned as terrorists but none of the people I met (during the trip) are terrorists and their lives have been badly affected by the occupation,” he said.

During his visit, Lacy met Israeli and Palestinian officials, including Israeli President Moshe Katsav and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He also met church leaders and visited Israel’s Yad Vashem holocaust memorial.

Ecumenical News International