"From day one, I said, this is not the end of the occupation. This is the beginning of the new occupation," the Bishop disclosed. "Palestinians are not allowed to move in or out of The Gaza without being searched by Israel. The withdrawal was unilateral. It did not come about through negotiations," said Rev. El-Assal.

He pointed out that Israel has not said it is ending the occupation of The Gaza, but has instead chosen to a path of 'disengagement'. But, as it does so, Israel retains control of Gaza's sea, borders and the air. As it is now, he said, the Palestinians left in The Gaza are left to fend for themselves without any meaningful support systems related to health care and food.

The clergyman ended a six-day visit to the island yesterday. He was here to speak at a series of events planned to celebrate the 340th anniversary of the St. Andrew Parish Church.

NO HISTORICAL WORTH

Quizzed about the destruction of synagogues that followed Israel's withdrawal from The Gaza, the bishop said these places of worship were of no historical worth. Furthermore, he said, the Israelis should have taken their synagogues with them as they left the Gaza area, but instead 'they left the synagogues so people could say, 'you see what the Palestinians have done'."

The bishop, whose charge includes Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian region, said there are about 6,500 Anglicans in the diocese all of whom are drawn from 31 congregations. Jerusalem with 149 worshippers has one of the smaller Anglican communities. The largest group of Anglicans are to be found in Amman, Jordan where there is a church with 1,700 members ­ most of whom are Palestinian refugees.

The Anglican church has had a presence in those lands from as early as 1841. But, since 1948 when Israel was reborn as a state, Arab Christianity had been on the decline. To illustrate the scope of the problem, he noted in 1948, St. Peter's Church in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, had 800 Anglicans worshipping there. Today, there are about six Anglicans there, he said. The continuous decline in Anglican witness in the diocese, he said has declined largely because of continued conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as migration occasioned by the search for improved employment and educational opportunities.

Bishop El-Assal, 68, is an Arab Palestinian with Israeli citizenship. He was born in Nazareth and has had a long career in socio-political engagement. He was active as part of a team of church leaders who regularly met with former chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, in a bid to broker peace.

He won a municipal seat in 1975 and was secretary-general for a political party. He was most outspoken against the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel. This earned him the ire of the administration of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, which imposed a travel ban on him, from 1986 to 1990. When the ban was lifted, he travelled to Norway to address a meeting of Christian students. While there, he met with Norway's Foreign Minister, Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik (now the outgoing Prime Minister) and urged him to meet secretly with Yasser Arafat, late leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and high-ranking members of the Israeli Government. The Foreign Minister acted on the suggestion and that initiative bore fruit as the Oslo Accord on Monday, September 13, 1993.

WALL CONDEMNED

The bishop of the Diocese of Jerusalem has condemned the wall that has been erected in The Gaza and other occupied lands by Israel's government. The wall was put up as a response by Israel to a spate of Palestinian suicide-bombings. The bishop argues that this is the era for building bridges, not walls. Though the suicide-bombings has been curbed, Bishop El-Assal said the credit should not go to those who erected the wall. Instead, he said, the suicide-bombings declined because the Palestinians themselves recognised that such actions served to escalate the sufferings of their own people. Furthermore, the bombings stopped, he said, because of strategic interventions made by church groups.

Bishop El-Assal, who has been in charge of the Diocese of Jerusalem since 1996, was himself a signatory to the Windsor Report, the study commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt. Rev. Rowan Williams, in the wake of the ordination in November 2003 of the openly homosexual Gene Robinson as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire and the blessing of same-sex unions by sections of the Anglican Church in Canada.

Critics of this 2004 report have said the recommendations do not go far enough. Critics say the report is merely a slap on the wrist of errant churches and that the Anglican communion is sacrificing truth to preserve unity. Bishop El-Assal agrees that the report does not go far enough. But, he said, "It is only a step in the right direction. It was not meant to resolve everything. It requires a lot of courage, a lot of humility, a lot of transparency, when it comes to such delicate issues (as homosexuality).

The Mideast-based clergyman was in Minneapolis when Fr. Gene Robinson won the vote to become bishop of New Hampshire. He said he told Robinson that he would be welcomed in Jerusalem as a brother, but not as a Bishop. "He (Gene Robinson) knew deep in his heart that this would divide the church and he allowed himself to be an instrument of division, rather than an instrument of healing," Bishop El-Assal said.

He anticipates that the fragmentation of the Anglican church will continue because of the homosexuality issue. But he sees another divisive issue looming on the horizon.

According to the bishop, for some time the global Anglican leadership has been concerned about the primacy of the Archbishopric of Canterbury, where the incumbent is automatically the titular head of the global Anglican church. The feeling among some, Bishop El-Assal said, is that the way needs to be cleared to allow the titular head to come from any part of the world. Furthermore, this concern has greater gravity as many Anglican bishops outside of Britain are unhappy with the present process by which the Archbishops of Canterbury are appointed. In other jurisdictions, bishops are elected by a synodical vote. However, in the United Kingdom, it is the Prime Minister who appoints the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Bishop El-Assal lists among the accomplishments of the church on his watch:

# The attainment of self-sufficiency by the diocese.

# The appointment of 11 priests, which is enough to give meaningful care to the churches within the diocese.

# The raising of US$3 million for the various projects within the diocese.

# The building of two high schools; one in Jordan and the other in Nazareth.

# The establishment of a school for the handicapped in Beirut.

There is, he observed, a warming of young people to the Anglican way. Most of the new candidates for the priesthood are in their 20s. Similarly, he said, most of the deacons and priests he had ordained are in their 20s or 30s.

Despite the decline in the number of Anglican worshippers in the Diocese of Jerusalem, Anglican witness in this area is not dead, Bishop El-Assal said.

END