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Rev Clarence Musgrave  
and his wife Joan  
were our mission partners. 
They  worked at 
St Andrews Church of Scotland Church 
in Jerusalem before they retired in the summer of 2006.

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Index
No 25-30
No 31-36
No 37-41
No 42-48
No 49-60
No 61-69
No 70-79
No 80-89
No 90-100
No 101-109
No 110-119
No 120-129
No 130-139
No 140-149
No 150-159
No 160-169
No 170-179
No 180-189
No 190-199
No 200-209
No 210-219
No 220-229
No 230-239
No 240-249
No 250-259
No 260-270

Liturgy for Prayers for Peace
Held in the churches of Jerusalem
August 15th to 28th 2001 

Monday Diary 22nd October

Not a circular Letter – just a few notes to let you know what is happening here – perhaps supplement the fare that you are getting from other news sources.


Sunday 21st October.

0800 hours Phone Helen Shehadeh. I had heard that water supplies had been cut off in Beit Jala, so it was reassuring to know that she was having a bath! At least their water was on. Fresh bread had not yet come – hoped that it would be available later in the day.

0805 hours Phone John Gang – the Korean Elder of our congregation who lives in Bethlehem. They are safe, at the moment. A Tank is outside his house. They put their mattresses up against the windows, as once already they had had bullets through their windows. However, later in the night, they went down to the garage and tried to sleep there – it was safer, they felt. They have not been able to get out of their house for 2 days.

0930 hours Getting ready for church service. Speaking with the elders on duty – she is the Deputy Consul General for the UK accredited to the Palestinian Authority. On Friday, we had asked them to come and join a small group having supper, but they had got home about 1900 hours from work, and felt like having a quiet night. Ten minutes later a phone call, and they were asked to come to Gaza to receive a message for the UK Government. Home about 0030 hours on Saturday morning. Only one part of what is intense “diplomatic” activity.

1000 hours Service – no Helen Shehadeh for the second week, no John Gang and family. Difficult to sing or say anything joyful in the circumstances.

1100 hours Talk with one of the members of the congregation. Her whole family is in the Bethlehem area – one of those killed is the son of her brother-in-law. All her family are together in mourning, she is not able to get there. If she did get there, would she be able to get back?


You wonder where the world is, and what it is doing? Would it allow the same sort of activity if it were a European country? You can understand the bitterness of the Palestinians who feel that they have no-one to support them. They ask, what has changed?


1600 hours Go down to the Church of the Redeemer, which is the principal church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem. There is to be a service of Installation for the new Propst of the Church, one of the posts associated with it, which is held by a representative of part of the Lutheran and Reformed Church in Germany. It is along service – 2 hours. Eventually the Installation takes place – a German Lutheran Bishop (male) leads; Palestinian Lutheran Bishop is next; a German Lutheran Bishop (female) comes next, and then an assortment of clerics from different denominations, including the Church of Scotland, to offer their prayers for the new ministry of the new Propst.

Can’t help reflecting on the fact that 60 years ago, the Germans were the ones whom most of the rest of the world were fighting – and defeating – and yet here we were, sitting in a German Church, offering prayers for the ministry of a German pastor in Jerusalem. Who would have thought that, if you had asked them in 1940? 

Who would have thought that there would have been a female Bishop? (In a Magazine from Crown Court Church of Scotland congregation in London, I see that of the 4 nominees for the post of Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for next year, there are two women. If I were a betting person, I would put my money on the women!)

Interestingly, about 30 visitors have come from Germany to be present at, and some to participate in, the service. 

I do not know if the change of the political scene in 60 years, vis a vis Europe, holds any hope for the Palestinians, or the Israelis – one would hope they would not have to wait that long to have their conflict resolved. Or maybe 60 years is just the blink of an eye in a conflict which has its roots in the family of Abraham.

There is a part close to the Hospice and Church in Jerusalem – called the Bell Park with a replica of the Liberty Bell of the USA hanging in it. It is a place where lots of families come with their children – and where you see some Arabs families among the Jewish ones. There is a stone with an inscription on it – for the children of Abraham – in English, Hebrew and Arabic.


Monday 21st.

Up early, and peruse the paper. 

Headlines : Page 1


Likud (party of Mr Sharon), Labour (party of Mr Peres) clash over IDF actions in territories – tensions between Mr Sharon and Mr Peres – will Mr Peres and the Labour ministers stay 8in the government of will they leave, saying they cannot support the policies of invasion of the West Bank? Mr Sharon says he is under no US pressure to end his invasion. 


Four Palestinians killed as West Bank fighting goes on. Much of the fighting is around Bethlehem – but there is one reference to an 18 year old shot and killed while picking olives on his family’s land, near Jenin. Further on, near the bottom of the article, a paragraph reads : “Israeli police in Hebron yesterday uncovered acts of vandalism in a local mosque, involving the tossing of sacred Koran texts and damage to various pieces of equipment.” 


Shades of Lebanon. It speaks of fears among some members of the Cabinet, that there might be starting another process similar to that in which the Army got involved in Lebanon – (part of which resulted in the massacres in the Palestinian camps in Beirut) – and asking what is the real agenda of the Government and Army – is it to topple Mr Arafat? It concludes with the admission by the Army that the officer in charge of the unit which killed the school girl in her school in Jenin last week had taken his unit into the wrong area, without permission. 

Headline Page 2.

French Volunteer shot by IDF in Bethlehem. Pierre-Yves Salingue, aged 50, a municipal inspector from Rennes, took a year off work to come to Bethlehem as a volunteer to document events in the Bethlehem are in video and voice recordings. He was standing on a staircase in a house in a Refugee camp when it was hit by Israeli Army fire, killing one person outside and injuring him inside. He could only be taken to hospital 30 minutes later, due to the intense firing.


Headline Page 3.

Sharon defends Yatom appointment.

Mr Sharon defended the appointment of Mr Yatom to head an anti-terrorism council. In 1984, Mr Yatom confessed that he, with two others, had obeyed the orders from the head of Shin Bet (Security Police) and killed two terrorists. Yatom, at that time Shin Bet chief of operations, admitted killing the captured terrorists with “a pipe and some rocks” and had believed that he was acting on orders from the Prime Minister. Yatom, along with several others, was granted clemency by the late President Chaim Herzog, before they could be tried for murder. Mr Sharon insists in his affidavit that Yatom is the right person for the anti-terror job because of his professional qualifications.


Headline Page 4.

Former diplomats urge Bush to solve Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

28retired US diplomats, who specialised in Middle East affairs, sent a letter last week to President bush urging him to work toward a solution of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. At the end of the letter is the sentence “ Until Palestinians and Israelis can live normal lives, confident that they need not fear mass murder, maiming and grieving, Americans too are unlikely to be assured of a return to domestic security and tranquillity.”


Headline Page 3 International Herald Tribune.

Silent Suspects : US may get tough. Frustrated investigators talk about using Israeli-style measures. The article speaks of the silence of some of those being held for questioning by the FBI - - ‘we are into this thing for 35 days and nobody is talking’. Among the alternative strategies under discussion are using drugs or pressure tactics, such as those occasionally employed by Israeli interrogators, to extract information.


0800 hours

Phone call to Helen. She is all right. Tanks are not on her road, though they are higher up the hill and along at the end of the road to the school, near the Lutheran Church. No-one going out. Shortage of bread – an appeal on the TV for people to light their ovens and bake. Her cook managed to get in yesterday and again today, so they had home-made bread. Children are tense but well – only Helen and Abla to run the school. Hard work for them to keep the 20 children interested and occupied – but they are all safe.

Phone call to John Gang. Not at home. I a lull in the shooting yesterday about 1700 hours, they got into his car and moved round to the Kindergarten Centre. It is down the hill and bit from the Church of the Nativity. They had a reasonable night, but even there, there was shooting in the vicinity. 




Personal – on a lighter note.

On the phone yesterday to Edinburgh, I remarked on the good Rugby match that had taken place in Dublin where a team wearing white jerseys was beaten by a team wearing green jerseys. I was asked why I did not comment on a match in Edinburgh a few weeks ago, when a team wearing blue jerseys had been the same team in green jerseys? No comment!

There may be a church leaders walk to Bethlehem today – if there is more about it later in the week.


God bless

Joan and Clarence

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Circular Letter No 59 
15 October, 2001


The background noise to this letter is the Press Conference being given in Downing Street by Mr Blair and Mr Arafat. As you will know, Mr Blair spoke first – and one of the most notable phrases that he used was the full implementation of all UN Resolutions. Two of the major ones of these call for the withdrawal of the Israeli government from the West Bank, and for the right of return of Palestinian refugees. If Mr Blair means what he says, and is able to push for its implementation, it will be a very important factor n future negotiations indeed. Mr Arafat spoke of the State of Palestine beside the State of Israel, an explicit recognition of the right of Israel to exist, in security. Interestingly, both leaders spoke of their opposition to terrorism; I am sure that the Israeli government will question the Palestinian understanding of that statement – and the barb in the remarks of Mr Arafat was his opposition to state-sponsored terrorism.


By the time that this gets to you, you will have had all the news coverage that you can take of this meeting – so lets move on.


This morning’s paper carried headlines about a row between the Chief of the Army and the Government. I have on many occasions mentioned how strange it felt to me to see the influence of the IDF on the policies of the Israeli government. On this occasion the row is about the decision of the Government to order the IDF to withdraw from the positions it took up in Hebron about 10 days ago. The General went public with his disagreement with this decision and his opposition to it. He has been reprimanded, but the paper reminds us that his term of office is up in July 2002 – if he lasts that long – and then he will be free to follow the example of the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister – both former generals – and enter politics. 

The paper also carries a report on the resumption of its policy of assassinations by the Israeli Government. The government has acknowledged that on Sunday it assassinated one of those whom it regarded as responsible for the bombing in Tel Aviv at the Dolphinarium Night Club. Again today there has been a car bomb in Nablus and a Palestinian killed. The Israeli government has refused to comment. 

There is also a news report from the Jerusalem Court. Two young Jewish men, settlers, were rescued by the IDF from a house in a Palestinian village, hiding in a house, armed with submachine guns. The police suspected that the two were planning vigilante action against the village and they were taken into custody. However the Judge said he was not convinced that the two were a danger to anyone other than themselves, and ordered them to be released. 

Three single incidents in the past couple of days.

To whom do you listen? As one reporter on TV said, the timing of the resumption of the assassinations was “interesting” – stipulating that there had to be a 48-hour cessation of violence before the Israelis would sit down to talk with the Palestinians, and then when it looks as if this might actually happen, send in the troops to kill someone, knowing that the likelihood would be some form of retaliatory violence. Or am I too influenced by that well known Scotsman, MacHiavelli?


Last Tuesday I had a chance to take a Canadian member of the congregation out to Bethlehem to visit the Kindergarten run by John Gang. John is an Elder of our congregation, supported in his work by his Presbyterian Church in Korea. His Kindergarten, the House of Joy, has about 25youngsters in it, - 4 and 5 year olds – almost all Muslims. He sees his mission as being to surround them with at atmosphere of love, and let them and their families experience Christian love at work. It is interesting that though there are Muslim kindergartens in Bethlehem, he has never any trouble filling the places in his school, which has now been running in its present premises for over 6 years. The first children who have gone through his kindergarten are now at the end of their Primary education, and their reports are excellent.

John is very concerned at the problems faced by families in the current economic climate in the West Bank, and their inability to pay for some of the most basic needs for their children in schools. So he has set out to raise NIS 10,000 to buy exercise books, which he will then give to the Primary School system, so that kids will at least have a chance of one notebook. He thought that he would get 10,000 books, but it transpires that he may be able to get 20,000 – through a contact of our Session Clerk in East Jerusalem. So far he has got over NIS 3,000. 

One of the most vivid remarks that he made when speaking to us was about the need for people to have a Dream. He alluded to the speech made by Martin Luther King in Washington – with his famous repetition of the phrase that he had a dream. Sadly, said John, few people whom he met in Bethlehem had much of a dream at present. Hopes dashed. Closures enforced, land taken over, settlements all the way round their city, no work, no money – and no future. Who can dream? Yet John said that he had a dream, and his dream was to share with the folk around him the Love of Christ – and do it in his daily work in the Kindergarten. 

It was John and his family who came home from their first family holiday to Korea after 5 years, to find a bullet in their apartment, having come through the window – and not shot from a direction that a Palestinian would be shooting from. Despite it all, he brings his kids in to Jerusalem for school, taking them though the check points – and still smiles and says that he has a dream.


Friday evening saw Joan being abandoned at home. I had been invited by the Anglican Bishop, Bishop Riah, to drinks and a meal to meet the ”Archbishop” of Scotland. I did not know that we had a new Archbishopric in Scotland, nor did I know who occupied the position. However, when I got there, I found that when sending out the invitations to people of different churches, many of whom would be unfamiliar with the title “ Primus “ – the Bishop and the Dean had decided to give him a title which would be comprehensible to people here. It was a strictly male only evening with about 15 local people and the Primus. I had a little chuckle to myself that he had felt able to come, admittedly a couple of weeks after our Church of Scotland leaders had been booked to come – whereas they had been advised that it was unwise, and perhaps even unsafe, to come. Strange old world.


On Saturday, I sat in the garden of the Hospice for a while and listened to a young American couple. He is a Presbyterian minister, and his wife is a teacher. As their church had no place for them on the West Bank, they just came out, found a job in Zababdeh, and are living there. Zababdeh is north of Nablus, a reasonable sized village, with a large percentage of its inhabitants Christians. He was speaking of the present situation there – of the difficulties of getting from one village to another, of the pressures on families, of the lack of work, of the fear instilled by the IDF and the Settlers, and so on and so on. 

They spoke of their reaction to September, and from them, as from other Americans, I heard of the desire to be with their families. However, that was not possible, and they have had to accept long-distance communication, rather than getting home just to be with people. One interesting side-effect of September 11th they have noted is that, whereas a few months ago their families were asking them when they were going to leave the dangers of the West Bank, and come back to the safety of America – that question has stopped being asked, and it is they who are asking if it is safe for them to go back to America!

What was interesting about them was their commitment to being where they are now, and seeing it as their area of life and witness. They spoke of ministry in Zababdeh, but also of ministry to the folks in the States. Like us, they send a letter home from time to time, trying to share their experiences, and trying to help people get a handle on what is happening here. I have found their letters very informative, and challenging. Their situation is so much more “in the front line” than ours can ever be here in Jerusalem. If any of you would like to get in touch with them, they are Marthame and Elizabeth Sanders, and their e-mail address is sanders@palnet.com 


For folk from Murrayfield, we had a joyous reunion on Sunday at church with Pavel and Iva Jungwirth, and three of their four children. For the rest of the world – Pavel and Iva were connected with the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren congregation of Vrsovice in Prague, with which Murrayfield established a link in the mid-1980’s. They were part of the first group to come to Edinburgh, and we have vivid memories of “vertically challenged” Iva who was quite pregnant, walking round Iona and leading the folk in for a swim. We last saw them in Prague in 1992 – and they are now in Jerusalem for a month on two as part of Pavel’s post-graduate studies, having recently been living for some months in California. We will see them again and have time to catch up on all their news. What a wonderful thing friendship is, and what marvellous opportunities we have been given – to visit Prague when the Iron Curtain was still very much in place, and then to go back and see it when it was transformed. I still can never remember the Czech for “Cheers” when you are sharing a drink with someone. The words for “cheers” and for “railway stations” are horribly alike, and I fear that I often wish people “railway stations”.


Sunday evening saw the start of our series of Taizé services. There were about 17 of us there, with the lights at the rear of the church switched off, and the front lit partly by candles and partly by electric light. Half of the congregation came from the Ecce Homo Convent, and the rest from St Andrew’s and the Hospice. It was simple, restful, and the music was well led by Catriona, the 18-year old volunteer working at the Hospice, playing her flute. (She is from Fort William, and is here for a year.) Again, wonderful how along the way of life somehow one moves from fear of Catholics, or ignorance of Catholicism, to being able to share worship and friendship with them – and to recognise that we both need each other to share in our Christian witness here in Jerusalem.

Next month, we are down in the Old City at the Convent.


This afternoon, at 1700 hours, we start a “Prayer Time” for any who wish to come – to pray for peace. Hopefully we will do this each Monday. Join us, wherever you are.


The weather is becoming autumny or even wintry. We have a thermometer on the verandah beside our bedroom, and each morning we record the maximum and minimum temperature for the previous 24 hours. There was a distinct nip in the air when I went out at 0800 hours this morning to get the readings – it was a mere 20 degrees C.(How we suffer!) So far, we have had clouds, but no rain, and people are saying prayers for good rains – there has not been all that much rain in the past few years. Plans to build 2 de-salination plants have been approved, but it was estimated in one newspaper report that when they are brought into operation, they will merely be making up for the increased consumption that will occur with population growth – and make no impact on the over-consumption of water from the Sea of Galilee or over-pumping from the underground water sources.


Those with a long memory will recall that it was in 1342 that the Holy See appointed the Franciscan Order as the Custodian of the Holy Sites. They are still at it, and on Wednesday we will have a talk at our discussion group from Fr Sylvestre, one of the current Custodians, and not one of the original ones – about the work of caring for such churches as the Church of the Beatitudes, the Church of Dominus Flevit etc. 


I have rambled enough this week – perhaps far too much these months! 

In the e-mails this week was one from Scotland reporting the discovery of a terrorist cell in Glasgow. Smart work by the police resulted in three of the group being arrested, but of the fourth there was little trace. Bin Drinkin, Bin Fightin, Bin Sleepin had been apprehended, but they were still looking for Bin Workin.


Bye for now. God bless. Love from both of us – Bin Writin and Bin Paintin - persimmons this time. 
Joan and Clarence. 

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Circular Letter No 58 
8th October 2001


Having had wall to wall coverage of the actual happenings of September 11, since last night on our news channels we have been getting wall to wall coverage of the news from Afghanistan. The headlines in the paper in this morning are :

New York Herald Tribune : Bush : Battle joined

Ha’aretz : PM (Sharon) – Israel to keep low profile : Security officials – chances of Israel being attacked are low.

This morning’s early TV news bulletins – coming up to 0600 GMT – there are the heads of European governments expressing their support for the action, and leaders of the Muslim communities across the world voicing their reservation or opposition. One wonders where this particular action will end.


Public opinion here, as reflected in newspapers and TV news programmes, shows several different strands.

There is that which has been expressed in the last few hours by interviews given by Mr Peres (Foreign Minister) that the USA will win as it has the moral high ground.

There is that which is dismayed that Israel has, at least on the open level, been excluded from the Coalition put together by the United States, while countries that it regards as being involved in terrorism are invited to be part of the Coalition.

There is that which is angry at the thought that Mr Arafat has not been identified as a Terrorist and a Target, - indeed may even be invited to be part of the movement to gain Arab and Muslim support for the actions.

There is a certain amount of anxiety as to what possible retaliations may be aimed at Israel, and how it will affect the general situation here.

There is also a great deal of uncertainty as to exactly what price Israel may have to pay to cope with American pressure to settle its conflict with the Palestinians, and a feeling that it may be compelled to come to terms and make some form of settlement.

You will have heard of the speech last week in which Prime Minister Sharon said that Israel was not willing to be another Czechoslovakia – reference to the way in which Germany was appeased in 1938, in an effort to retain peace. There was wide-spread support for his remarks, though also concern at the possible effect on US- Israel relations.


While matters unfold on the international stage, it is a case of business as usual here on the domestic front.

One of the major causes of conflict between the Jewish community and the Palestinian community is the whole question of Settlements. This has come very much to the fore this week with yet another IDF takeover of areas of Hebron that are supposed to be under full Palestinian control. It is hard to convey the significance of Hebron for the two communities. 

For the Jewish community, there is the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is a site to which Jewish people wish to make pilgrimage. To demonstrate its determination to assert its rights, years ago a Settlement was established in the heart of Hebron, with other settlements on the outskirts of the town. The Settlement inside the city is perhaps 500 or 600 people at most, who have the reputation of being one of the most aggressive and uncompromising groups of people in the country. Their Settlement is in the middle of a large Arab town of thousands. To protect this Settlement, there is a large IDF presence, with frequent clashes taking place between soldiers and Palestinians, and between settlers and Palestinians. To allow the Settlers “freedom” there have been long periods of curfew when the Palestinians are confined to their homes. It was here that there was an attack some years ago on worshippers at a Mosque and 29 were killed by a Jewish doctor. I am often asked questions about the “hate” that is taught against Jews in Arab schools – in Hebron the Jewish doctor who killed the Arab worshippers is regarded as a hero and his exploit was celebrated, certainly last year to my knowledge, and perhaps other years when I was not here. With that sort of expression of their feelings by the Settlers, how does one expect the Arab community to react?

During Jewish celebrations in Hebron last week (when even Jewish papers asked who allowed busloads of outsiders to go to Hebron) shots were fired at the worshippers. The response of the IDF was to occupy areas from which shooting came, and at the time of writing, they are still there. No fatalities were reported as a result of the Palestinian shooting – at least 5 Palestinians were killed in the first few hours of the IDF action.


I recount this to try to highlight the problem that Settlements pose – 

for the Palestinians who see them as illegal in terms of UN Resolutions, and as theft of their land, and which will have to be given up if there is to be any peace between Palestine and Israel

for the Israelis – where opinion is divided between those who feel that Settlements have been a mistake and that settlers should be brought back to land within the pre-1967 borders, and those who feel a religious compulsion to maintain and expand the network of Settlements.

This weekend, at least two new settlements have been established, with the presence of representatives of the Government – this despite the Mitchell Report saying that no new Settlements should be created. A report last week by Peace Now stated that, since February this year, 24 new Settlements have been set up. In the face of international UN Resolutions and Conventions about what occupiers of captured land can, and cannot do, how does one expect the Palestinian community to react? Can it really have a balanced educational curriculum? I remember years ago a discussion with our church friends in Prague, who were telling of the difficulties encountered when people of Gypsy background moved into a neighbourhood. They were finding it difficult to be balanced. How much more difficult it must be when such encroachment, confiscation of land, is institutionalised.


The ambivalence of the Jewish community to Settlements was graphically illustrated this weekend in a lengthy article about Settlements in the Jordan Valley. On the one hand, statistics were given about settlements which could be regarded as “secular” - Yafit, 8 of 32 families have left; Gilgal 6 of 36 families have left; Gitit 8 of 22 familis have left; Na’aran has now only 6 families remaining. On the other hand, communities which are regarded as “national/religious” in the area close to Beit Shean at the northern end of the West Bank ; Mehola has grown from 68 to 72 families; Shdemot-Mehola from 66 to 71 families, and Hemdat, the newest of the three, has grown from 10 to 14 families.


Each new Settlement is given army protection etc – so they are creating greater strains on the army’s resources, and creating more areas of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. 


In the Public Relations war that is going on, the Israeli side tries to depict the Palestinians as the perpetrators of violence. On the other hand, the Palestinians say that the Settlements are examples of violence also. 


Tomorrow I am going through to Bethlehem – or perhaps that should be I am planning to go – as there is always the possibility that the Closure will be such that I will not get through. One of the places that I am going to visit is Al Shurooq School. There are about 15 youngsters there, with varying degrees of visual handicap. At least twice a month they are encouraged to go home for the weekend – Helen feels that it is important that the pupils do not lose touch with their families and become institutionalised. That sounds all right in theory – go and come back. Only to go 15 kms down the road towards Hebron, when you are not allowed to travel on the main road, means a journey over dirt roads that can take 3 hours, as well as costing several times what it cost before. Recently one youngster went home, and on the day to return to school, had a tank parked outside the house! Needless to say, no trip was undertaken that day.


Last week, talking with a young woman who is the Secretary for the Anglican Bishop,.whose baby is due at the beginning of November, I was asking where she was planning to have her baby. Although working in Jerusalem, her home is in Ramallah. The day that I was speaking to her, it had taken her and her husband 4 hours to get to work – she has no idea what will happen if she should encounter the same delays when in labour and en route to hospital. 


Tomorrow is the last day of the current season of holidays. It is the day of Thanksgiving for the Law – Simhat Torah. It has been interesting to see the large crowds of Jewish people celebrating the holiday of Sukkot. West Jerusalem has been quite festive, while East Jerusalem has been at work as normal. Normal – except for the very tight security. There has been a much larger number of people going down to the Western Wall than usual – many family groups, on almost an “outing” – many dressed in their best clothes. The one drawback is that this has meant a heavy police presence to control vehicular access to the Old City. I found myself the other day the meat in a sandwich of two minibuses carrying ultra-orthodox Jews down to the Western Wall. A rotund gentleman from the minibus behind me, a bit fed up with all the delays, came up and spoke to the young policewoman on duty. The two minibuses were waved through, and myself along with them!


Life in the congregation goes on. The Country Dancing on a Tuesday evening is back in full swing – if you pardon the expression. The Discussion Group has recommenced – watching the TV series from the BBC entitled the Son of God. I certainly found it so much more meaningful when I could identify many of the places pictured in the video – the first episode made such an impact on us that we all decided we had to hire a bus and go to Nazareth to see the Nazareth Village, a modern attempt to re-create a village from the time of Jesus. Some of you may remember the way in which on notices advertising church functions – years ago – there were the letters DV, meaning Deo Volente (God willing).. Here one says, Inshallah (God willing). We will go to Nazareth on 27th October (Inshallah, or DV). Singing group has restated on Thursdays. Friday we had a barbecue for folk to get together. With members of the congregation working all over the city, and living quite isolated from each other, such events have greater significance than they may have for people who see each other every day, and live in the same neighbourhoods. 


Sadly, our church building is subject to the same sort of vandalism as many that I used to see in Edinburgh. On Sunday when we came for service, we found that someone had thrown a stone at the window on the south side of the church, breaking one of the circular panes of glass in the middle of the Cross. (The Cross is composed of 8 circular panes of glass) One sad aspect of such an “attack” is that it was almost certainly carried out by a non-Christian. Anyway, not much damage was done, compared to what is happening all round us. The walls of the church carry scars from bullets from the time when fighting took place in and around Jerusalem, and the Church was in the firing line for both sides.


Lone big item of family news from the past week is that Chris Morgan, the husband of my young sister Anne, is going to be consecrated as Suffragan Bishop of Colchester in December at a service in Westminster Abbey. Fame at last. Now we will be able to sign our letters as the brother-in-law or sister-in-law of the Bishop of Colchester. That will impress our Anglican friends.


I find that I have made a note on the computer, to let you know that inflation in Israel reached 3.4% for August – what the effect of the current upheavals will be is anyone’s guess. The number of visitors coming overland to Israel for January – August 2001 was 208,540, down from 649,670 last year. Some hotels in Tel Aviv are planning to lay off 25% of their staff after this holiday – some in Jerusalem will close down. Such is life here.


As usual, we are well, and we hope you all are well too.

God bless.

Love,

Joan and Clarence.



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from Joan and Clarence.

Circular Letter No 56 
Saturday 22nd September 2001


This day last week was the enthronement of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I mentioned the length of the speeches etc etc. What I did not recount was the presence of the Pussy Cat! While the congregation was assembling, we became aware of what sounded like a cat – but surely not in such dignified surroundings. Then up on one of the ledges under an arch, there it was – a fairly sleek and well fed tabby cat – accompanying the ringing of the bells with its own song. It stayed with us for quite some time, making its own interjections into the proceedings, before wandering off to find lunch, I suppose. One wonders what would have happened if it had stayed until the white dove was released, and then somehow managed to get that for lunch! 

For early morning light reading today, I took down a book of Old Testament Theology – you have no idea how it helps the digestive processes! Looking through the Index I found the pages that I wanted – to give me some information about Yom Kippur. Now that I have had the chance to live here for a year, and thus get some idea of the rhythm of life and the pattern of Festivals, it is so much more comprehensible to turn up page after page about Jewish festivals in the Old Testament. Fear not, said he, I have no intention of trying to inflict you with reams of information – merely to say that at the beginning of the New Year there are three festivals – New Year itself, ten days later the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and four days after that the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). It is a great time for holidays, as all these are holiday seasons for the Jewish community. So, last week, 2 days for Rosh Hashanah, this coming week one day for Yom Kippur and then a whole bunch of days for the Feast of Tabernacles. Slip in time off to mark the Muslim prayer days, the weekly day off for ministers (usually Monday), and the regular Shabbat – it really is a hard life!

Yom Kippur – The Day of Atonement – or as someone explained in a sermon that I once heard – the Day of At- one-ment, when the reality of the breakdown in relations between God and humans, and between individuals, is marked. To repair this breakdown depends on God. It seems so tremendously relevant this year – 

with the Intifada that has gone on here for the year cruelly epitomising the break down in human relations and the impossibility of rectifying it; 

with the horror of New York and Washington, and the preparations to try to achieve justice which are under way by the USA and those who will join it. Does anyone seriously think that it will end terrorism, and usher in a new era of world peace? I do not have the book here to consult, but at the end of Churchill’s History of the Second World War (I think) there is a speech where he speaks of people on the way to the broad sunlit uplands of peace. They were inspiring words, but they have found little by way of reality since then.

New relationships are needed – and it seems to me that the lesson of Yom Kippur is that it is above all a spiritual matter. End of sermon.


We are well – as I say each week. Just how easy our life here is can be seen from comparing it to our Church of Scotland colleagues in Pakistan, who have been evacuated. I had an e-mail from one of them sitting in the airport at Lahore waiting for a flight to Dubai and then on to the UK. Mercifully we are not – or not yet – in that situation. We were asked some time ago to prepare “contingency plans” – kind of hard to do in the abstract. Also kind of hard to think of a pastor leaving his flock, no matter how small, at the very time when they are in danger themselves. 


Like all of you, we can only watch and wonder at the mobilisation of forces by the US and allies. For us, we wonder at the effect it will all have on Christian/Muslim relations, and where it is all heading. 

Domestically here, there is talk in the papers of the enormous pressure that is being put on both Israel and Palestine by the US to find some resolution of the conflict here. So, early in the week we had Mr Arafat announcing a cease-fire – which has been partly observed – and the Israeli government announcing that it was pulling out its forces from positions in Area A – that is what is supposed to be under full Palestinian control. It has been quiet since then – at least in our hearing. There have been no bombardments at night, no flights of military helicopters over our part of the city. What has not changed, and indeed in some areas has got worse, is the Closure. Joan’s friends were unable to get out of Ramallah this week to come to the Art Group in our house. When we went in to Bethlehem on Friday- it was like a waste land – uninhabited near the check point except for a few soldiers, a very few cars, and perhaps 20 pedestrians. At-one-ment sure is needed.

Those who have stayed at the Hospice here in Jerusalem may remember Najla – one of the staff from Beit Sahour. George, her husband, works at a school in Hebron and has to make his way there each day. He was marooned there on Friday, as the road between Hebron and Bethlehem was closed to Palestinian traffic, following a shooting on Thursday when a young Israeli Jewish mother was killed while her husband was injured. Their three children in the car with them were uninjured. It is hard to justify such an action. Then you hear someone speaking of a person killed walking across the fields trying to get to his village– or people going to their banana orchard to pick bananas, as happened this week in the Jericho region, and they were shot by the IDF who thought they were carrying mortars. It is equally hard to justify these actions. How to bring about At-one-ment?


One of the hardest nuts to crack when negotiations begin will be that of the Settlements. Just under the report on the front page of the newspaper about the killing of the young mother near Bethlehem is an advertisement. It is for property in Har Homa. Har Homa is the newest settlement in the Jerusalem area – on land facing Beit Sahour, which residents of Beit Sahour will tell you is their land, and it is being built on illegally. Habustan Hasepharadi (Spanish Garden). In Jerusalem’s Har Homa section. A different kind of project. Do you like a high standard of living? Do you like living opposite a breathtaking panoramic view? Do you like waking up every morning facing the sunrise? Do you like quiet and a pastoral setting? Habustan Hasepharadi in Har Homa is just the place for you. The view will be across in Beit Sahour, looking up to Bethlehem. The land will be land that was taken over after the 1967 War – and the settlement is in violation of UN resolutions. It also happens to be the latest place in the area from which the IDF direct tank fire to Beit Sahour – from which the shots were fired last week which killed a young man trying to rescue people wounded in shooting. How do you get At-one-ment in this sort of situation?


Complicating matters yet further are all the new people who have come to live here in Israel. We used the New Year holiday to go down to the coast for a swim – going this time to a place called Bat Yam, just south of Jaffa. With unerring accuracy, we managed to drive down the motorway from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv without getting lost(!) – and with the same unerring accuracy managed to get well and truly lost when we got off the motorway. We saw parts of Tel Aviv that no other tourists have seen! – both on the way to the coast and the way back. However, we did get there in the end, and found a parking place. We assumed that as it was a holiday, parking was free – and no-one put a ticket on the car to inform us that we were misguided.

The beach stretched out in front of us – about 20 metres below us – so next problem was to get down there without getting lost again! Joan was in charge, and with her astute guidance, the heights were descended and we reached the sand. A place was found beside the rocks, and one at a time we ventured forth into the sea. We both remarked how much easier it is to summon up the courage to swim here than it ever was at North Berwick! The Water was clean, clear and warm, and it even felt cool when we came out. People were everywhere – all sorts and shapes, but one thing struck us very forcibly – the predominant language that we heard was what we understood to be Russian. By the evening time, when we had watched the sun set, we were peckish, and went along the beach to get some chips! Good healthy food. Up on the sort of promenade, where the car was parked, we noticed an ice-cream shop, so chips were followed by ice-cream – even more healthy. Walking along the promenade we were parading in front of rows of people sitting taking the air. We were struck by the number of vertically challenged people – and again by the number of Russian speakers. We did see, in 40 minutes walking, two men wearing the traditional kippas (men’s head covering) which most of the folk in our neighbourhood here wear, and three women wearing hats. How different it all was from Jerusalem, and only 70 kms away.


We were to have a visit at the end of September from the Principal Clerk of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland – but acting on advice in Scotland, this visit has been cancelled. Another visit – a private one – planned by a Church of Scotland minister and his wife – has also been cancelled. However, we expect to have a group of a dozen or so at the end of the week, led by a Church of Scotland minister from Arran – assuming that they come, they will be the first group we have seen for a long time. We hope we will have enough chairs for them all in the church. As those of you who have been here will know, the chairs in St Andrew’s are a tasteful colour of dull brown! This is the accumulation of dirt, dust, smoke etc over the years. It was decided to change all this, and so a programme of cleaning has been started. One lot has come back, a rich honey colour when the surface dirt has been cleaned off. The second lot is away - when I went in to the church last week, momentarily I thought that I was in the wrong place – empty space where there should have been chairs, bright colours where they had been dull ones. The one drawback is that we now have to pay for this – wait for it. Donations, in form of cheques! – can be sent to Bill Taylor, Braid Road, Hawick TD9 9LZ – who will forward them to us. It is about £25 per chair.


While on the commercial aspect of things – thanks to those who have ordered and to whom I have been able to post bags and purses, and Christmas packages. 40 bags and 36 purses, together with some packages have been sent. In the hope that more people will want to support this village – Idna – I have ordered another 20 bags and purses - $16 per set. You are Idna’s favourite people, as you are giving them work and self-respect. Thanks – send some more orders, and (hopefully) pay for the last ones. We have begun to talk in Sunbula about the future – and we have a problem that is similar to all organisations which depend a lot on tourists – there are few, and so there is little money. I am not sure if I told you, but Notre Dame Centre – the big Catholic Guest House and Conference Centre, closed a few weeks ago, and laid off all its staff – it employed almost 100 people, mostly from from East Jerusalem. 


Two bits of house-keeping. 

First. One of the things of which I have been guilty in the past few weeks is sending on to one and all articles that have come in to me. Perhaps it is because people do it to me, that I did not stop to think and have done it to you. Some of you have come back and said that you do not wish to have Israel Shamir’s articles. Thank you for letting me know, and for making me aware of doing something which I sometimes complain about other people doing. So, if anyone wants to get a letter from Israel Shamir, you will have to let me know. I will send them only to those who have asked to get them.

Second. We are going on to winter time on Monday morning – so from this weekend we will be only one hour in front of UK – until you all move your clocks. I have not heard yet if East Jerusalem is also changing from Daylight Saving Time. However, if any of you are thinking of calling us, we will be delighted to talk with you, as long as you work out what time it is!


From a very domesticated scene, with Joan doing her cross-stitch cushion cover, bye for this week.

God bless. Love. 

Joan and Clarence.

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Lord God, we hear so many voices around us calling for peace - requiring others to admit their mistakes; demanding that others make the first move, insisting that others make concessions, and asserting that peace will come.

Lord God, if we are among those who ask others to admit their mistakes while being slow to admit our mistakes, forgive us; if we are among those who demand that others make the first move forgive us; or if we are among those who insist that others make concessions while finding excuses to avoid making concessions ourselves, forgive us.

My peace I give you, said Jesus, which is different from the peace the world tries to give you.

Lord Jesus, your version of peace was apparently disastrous for yourself.

By making contact with those who did not conform to what was accepted as the normal standards of behaviour, you split your family;

By offering your friendship to those who were more often regarded as the enemies of your own people, you were regarded as a renegade;

By challenging the positions of those in authority you incurred their opposition, which led to your execution.

Yet, Lord Jesus, you found peace even in these circumstances, by committing your spirit into the hands of God.

Remove from us those fears which inhibit us from following your example, and which thus prevent us from sharing your p