Israel Revokes Anglican Bishop's Residency Permit

By Judith Sudilovsky
Religion News Service

JERUSALEM (RNS/ENInews) Israel has declined to renew a residency permit for Anglican Bishop Suheil Dawani of Jerusalem, according to the leader of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center (ICC).

The action took place several weeks ago but the bishop's office was trying to resolve the issue without media attention, said ICC Executive Secretary Yusef Daher. Subsequent appeals and inquiries from Western diplomats have failed.

The ICC is an umbrella group sponsored by Jerusalem churches, the World Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of Churches.

Born in Nablus, Dawani, like all West Bank Palestinians, must have a special residency permit to stay in East Jerusalem, where St. George Anglican Cathedral and the bishop's offices are located.

"There is a feeling among church leaders that Israel has no respect for Christians or Christian leaders," Daher said Tuesday (March 1). "There is no respect for the request of the issuing of residency visas."

Israel's Interior Ministry revoked the residency permit after accusing the bishop of selling property to a Palestinian, according to Daher.

In a written response to a question from ENInews, the Ministry of the Interior responded, "We are talking about a sensitive issue that was presented in front of the Interior Minister and our detailed answer will be delivered in the court, in the frame of the petition that was served."

Church leaders are following the case with concern, Daher said, because many bishops and clergy serving come from abroad, including Arab countries, and must renew Israeli permits every two years to remain in Jerusalem and enter Israel to reach the West Bank.

Comments

[DenaSilver]

05:38 AM on 03/06/2011

Obvious from the comment of Israel's Ministry of Interior, there is more to this story than meets the eye here. Let's wait to find out.

[Gracie fr]

04:54 PM on 03/05/2011

The Bishop is a native of the Holy Land and has spent most of his life and ministry here, but cannot obtain either citizenship or legal residence in Israel, since he was born in Nablus, i.e. in the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, but has not been annexed to Israel. East Jerusalem, on the other hand, where the Anglican Cathedral and Diocesan offices are situated, was also occupied at the same time, but Israel annexed it and considers it part of its national territory (although no other country in the world recognizes this annexation). Therefore, Bishop Dawani is considered by Israel to be a foreigner who can only visit – let alone live in – East Jerusalem with a special permit, which the Israeli authorities can either grant or deny at their sole discretion. In fact, even the original Palestinian inhabitants of East Jerusalem, and their descendants, are considered by Israel to be foreigners who are no more than possessors of a residence permit, which Israel can revoke.
Apartheid No?

[pburman505]

06:03 PM on 03/06/2011

So many falsehoods here one does not know where to begin to refute them. But just taking one, East Jerusalem was majority Jewish for centuries until 1948, when Jordan attached Israel and took control of East Jerusalem. (Google Mark Twain's diary account, among other factual accounts.) When Jordan took military control, they forced out or killed all the Jews and systematically destroyed all evidence of Jewish existence there. From 1948 to 1967, Jordan forbade Jews from entering East Jerusalem or praying at the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism where Jews have prayed for over 2,000 years, from the time of the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans. For more on the insanity of the Apartheid issue, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns2Fi2Jesg0

[FreeAmerican7]

01:29 PM on 03/05/2011

Must see;

http://www.jerusalemites.org/crimes/destroyed_villages/index.htm

Look for Deir Yassin near Jerusalem and find out
the NEW NAME of the COLONY KIBBUTZ
built upon the Palestinian BURIAL GROUNDS of Deir Yassin
and tell the American RE "Developers" who in some instances are NOT allowed
to build upon Native American Indian BURIAL GROUNDS
but "they" sure can build "settlements" upon Palestinian BURIAL GROUNDS !
The worst thing ever happening is to all those young American Jews whose Zionist Parents send them to Israel in a
"Summer in a Kibbutz" vacation
without telling them what is UNDER their feet while there; namely
Massacred Dead Palestinians like the ones of Deir Yassin!
Perhaps the idea of Hollywood's HORROR Movies
(Zombies coming out of the GRAVES) came during a Kibbtz visit?

[FreeAmerican7]

09:53 AM on 03/05/2011

Israeli Prime Minister (currently Benjamin Netanyahu) is the BOSS Mafiaoso of the Zionist Jewish Americans and their underlings/stooges the Christian Zionists (Huckabee to name ONE) since such Christians are NOT the "Chosen people of GOD" as per the strong beliefs of the fanatic Jews which are totally different than the honest and decent Jews we find everywhere even in Israel itself but NOT in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Illegal Settlements).
Benjamin Netanyahu in his AIPAC speech in March 2010 said that a 2000 year old "trinket" was found in Jerusalem that has the word Netanyahu etched in it and the 8000 Americans in the AIPAC meeting have applauded him.
Being a simple American and NOT a POLITICIAN; I have one simple question:
if tomorrow 2 more trinkets were found with the name Wolfowitz or Lieberman; does that mean that the Ancestors of these POWERFUL Zionist Jews were in Jerusalem tending to their goats OR they simply lost their trinkets while visiting the Western Wall OR worse their Ancestors were with the CRUSADERS that massacred every resident of Jerusalem!
Jerusalem was liberated before by Salahdin and the CRUSADERS Europeans (Non-Middle-Eastern) went back to Europe where they belong. Since 1940's Europeans/Russians/Americans/etc Jews left their FIRST HOMES in Europe/Russia/America/etc to have a SECOND HOME in Occupied Palestine thus displacing Palestinians and making them refugees.
President Obama cannot do a damn thing since the BOSS of the USA is the Foreign Country : ISRAEL !

[cliffhammond]

11:20 PM on 03/04/2011

The bishop just needs to sign a Transfer Agreement with Netanyahu so that a Final Solution can be found for the Christian Problem.

[Gracie fr]

03:21 PM on 03/05/2011

Not nice.......!!!!!!!!!

[tallen]

08:44 PM on 03/04/2011

I just have to wonder that this is considered news, yet HP never covered the Egyptian army's assault on Coptic monasteries.

Egypt's military attacked Coptic monasteries in late February
WASHINGTON — Egypt's new military regime has launched a massive attack on the Coptic community.
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2011/me_egypt0226_03_03.asp

[Manchurian]

08:59 PM on 03/04/2011

A very good point, tallen. The story of Egypt's oppressed Coptic Christian community deserves much more media exposure.

[gibranII]

10:15 PM on 03/04/2011

yes thanks for bringing out the horrible Muslims again and again ... as if we havent heard that ,,, I amso pleased that you are concerned for the safety of Egytian Christians... as well we all should..as well as the Israeli ones and our Jewish Brothers and sisters all over the world..glad you recognize that there is such diversity in the Christian faith as well. So will you recognize that in the Muslim world too? We all recognize this in the Jewish world too.

[colah]

08:42 PM on 03/04/2011

The list of things Israel has "respect" for is short indeed.
$$$ would be 1.

[GZLives]

11:00 PM on 03/04/2011

How do you figure colah?

[colah]

08:27 AM on 03/05/2011

How do I "figure"?
Well, lets see......Respect for Palestinians....no.
Respect for Arab notions as a whole.....no.
The US....f*** no.
Human rights.....no.
International community....no.
Corrie family no, blacks no, Muslims no, international flotillas no, wounded activists no, Christianity, Buddhism, UN no, no & no.........
Money...............yes.
Its just a short Saturday morning list.

[FreeAmerican7]

07:00 PM on 03/04/2011

Israel does NOT have any respect whatsoever to the Real Christians under OCCUPATION
INCLUDING the Armenian Christians and the MARONITE PALESTINIAN Christians of Northern Israel who -like their close relatives in Lebanon (religiously speaking) - are the OLDEST LEBANESE MARONITE Christians who were NOT corrupted by the Europeans CRUSADERS!

[gibranII]

07:47 PM on 03/04/2011

MAY I add speak Aramaic... and have been silienced in Isreal when some of their villaiges were wiped out or renamed. Not all Israelis feel this way but a trend that is alarming in the right..support Christians Zealots.here at the expense of them there.. it goes back top BIBI courting and manipulation of the Right wing here. and his associations in the 1980's and earlier with the Christian Zionists.. he has actively sought out funds... sad thing is that many harobor anti-sematic feelings and want to convert the Jews.. and push for a Greater Israel

[FreeAmerican7]

09:46 PM on 03/04/2011

Yes indeed!
The Quest for "Greater Israel" aka "Ertz Israel" VIA Invasion & OCCUPATION!
Just like Hitler's QUEST for the 3rd Reich (REALIZED) to be followed by the
4th Reich (if Russia LOST); 5th Reich (If Britain LOST) etc... VIA Invasion & OCCUPATION!

"Anti-Semitic" cries by
NON-Semites = European/Russian Zionist Jews who don't speak Aramaic
is like
White Apartheid Europeans cries at those
"attacking/demeaning" Black Africans!

In America; a Family name like "BAKER" is derived from the fact that HUNDREDS of Years ago ONE man was a real BAKER who made breads and sold them for a living thus was called "BAKER" and his children became the "BAKERS".
The same is true in the Middle-East where the word "Khoury" is derived from the fact that HUNDREDS of Years ago ONE man was a real Christian who preached real Christianity and thus was called "Khoury" and his children became the "Khourys".
I met a Palestinian "Khoury" a long time ago who said it means
a Religious person like Bishop/priest/Reverend/Father/etc...
The Israelis are STEALING the LAND of the Semite Christian "Khourys" of Jerusalem to give it to the NON-Semite Russians whose Family names end with "itz" as in Wolfowitz with the support of the NON-Semite Christians Zionists of the US whose
LEADERS Family name is
Hagee ????
Parsley ????
to name TWO. Well Three is the CHARM...Huckabee.....
whose Arkansas would bring more TOURISTS with a name change:
"Judea or Samaria"

[Manchurian]

06:03 PM on 03/04/2011

This is simply indefensible - to deny a man residency in the land of his birth.

[GZLives]

06:56 PM on 03/04/2011

I agree so why doesn't he leave Israel and return to Nablus where he was born?

[Luschnig]

08:10 PM on 03/04/2011

He and his family going back innumerable generations was born in the Holy Land, something few Israelis can say.

[Manchurian]

08:56 PM on 03/04/2011

Because he isn't in Israel, GZLives. He's in East Jerusalem, which is part of the occupied territories, not part of Israel:

"Born in Nablus, Dawani, like all West Bank Palestinians, must have a special residency permit to stay in East Jerusalem, where St. George Anglican Cathedral and the bishop's offices are located."

[gibranII]

05:57 PM on 03/04/2011

P;lease the linking Israel to Nazi is wrong.. and insensitive.. while I am no supporter of settlements and many of the policies ...this dabate is cheapend when calling Jewish Israeli NAZIs..

I understand the oppression, I understand the responses...but I do not accept as a person who knows these people personally accept any comparisons that demoniza Palestinians or Israels. with that demonstrative

[Talab]

06:35 PM on 03/05/2011

What i will never understand is this , the nazis used the same types of terms to assert jews were not human beings and that they deserved to be expelled at the least if not killed outright. they called them theives and liers and subhuman.. Look at the text of zionists and tell me what is different . . It was wrong then and it is wrong now

[tallen]

08:51 PM on 03/04/2011

>>the new Nazis

here they are

http://ivarfjeld.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/palestiniannazisalute01.jpg

[gibranII]

10:32 PM on 03/04/2011

right on clue talle

[Khalid Motawaze]

08:26 AM on 03/05/2011

Or this one

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8ZLZsV89Ns0/TJzIg7G8UGI/AAAAAAAAAho/nkSbCwk-yPE/israel-nazi-like-07.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8ZLZsV89Ns0/TJzIqvp9rAI/AAAAAAAAAh4/lvZz-NdH00A/israel-nazi-like-08.jpg

The truth stands tall in the sea of falsehood...

[FreeAmerican7]

05:10 PM on 03/04/2011

,,,,,"There is a feeling among church leaders that
Israel has no respect for Christians or Christian leaders," .....
Israel has all the respects ONLY to the
Zionist Christians = UNDERLINGS of Zionist Jews.
Mike Huckabee would be the BEST witness to prove that Israel has "REAL" respect for Christians and his "TESTIMONY" would be THROWN OUT as the "BIG LIE"
ONCE the Palestinian Christians of Jerusalem testify...rather allowed to testify after being given PROTECTION... the kind of PROTECTION needed so that people testify against the
MOB (you know... Al Capone; etc.....)

[MelissaGoldman]

02:38 PM on 03/04/2011

So why can't he move to ramallah and visit the church in Jerusalem everyday in order to get to work? As far as I can tell, they only revoked his permit to live in Jerusalem; they are not precluding him from ever entering Jerusalem again so what's the big deal.
Mountain, molehill, as per usual....

[martin2]

02:51 PM on 03/04/2011

Read up on the brutality by the IDF against Palestinians as they attempt to move around in their own country.

[MelissaGoldman]

03:14 PM on 03/04/2011

outside of jordan, they don't have a country, at least not yet and we'll see if ever....

[tallen]

08:53 PM on 03/04/2011

Read up on the brutality of the palestinians towards Jews.
T

[arabia]

02:52 PM on 03/04/2011

"...mover to ramallah...."

That would be too logical. The dream, his "dream" outweighs reality.

[myopinion2]

02:25 PM on 03/04/2011

A post below cites a Haaretz article which alleges that the Bishop registered land that was not Church land as Church land and sold it.

[Darcha]

03:48 AM on 03/05/2011

'The Right Reverend Suheil Dawani, who is Palestinian by birth and US educated, has been denied the visa for more than six months after anonymous and unsubstantiated allegations against him of illegal land transactions and forgery. There are suggestions the accusations may have spilled over from an internal Anglican dispute within the diocese.

A letter in Hebrew from the Israeli interior ministry accused the bishop of "acting with the Palestinian authority in transferring lands owned by the Jewish people to the Palestinians and also [helping] to register lands of the Jewish people in the name of the church".

Dawani has denied the allegations and demanded details including the names of his accusers – so far unsuccessfully.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/04/anglican-bishop-jerusalem-sues-israel

[Gracie fr]

03:21 PM on 03/05/2011

May we consider an inversion of the fact?

[Just a passerby]

02:07 PM on 03/04/2011

It's illegal to sell property to a Palestinian?!

[Vlady]

02:14 PM on 03/04/2011

It's illegal to sell property that does not belong to you to anyone either Jew or Arab

[myopinion2]

02:31 PM on 03/04/2011

I admire the way you cut to the chast.

[martin2]

02:37 PM on 03/04/2011

What proof do you have that this deal was illegal?

[SamSeven]

01:52 PM on 03/04/2011

Oh Israel, you have such tolerance for other religions and groups, such a vibrant example of democracy in action.

[Vlady]

02:16 PM on 03/04/2011

which is contrary to any Arab country.

[martin2]

02:48 PM on 03/04/2011

Vlady unfortunately democracy's can be more brutal than dictatorships if the wrong the wrong people get elected.

[gibranII]

03:11 PM on 03/04/2011

deflection again.. did you get the award of the day

[OneFish]

04:19 PM on 03/04/2011

What I used to think of as a moral high ground has declined over the years to be simply par. Or perhaps with time I see a little more clearly.