Revd Ashraf Tannous’ Visit
SFOP were privileged to host on Saturday 18th October Revd. Ashraf Tannous, the Pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. He spoke to around fifty people at a coffee morning at St. Philip and St.Paul with Wesley jointly organised by SFOP & Sabeel-Kairos UK.
Revd Ashraf began his talk reminding us that he is a human, a semite, an Arab, a Palestinian, a Christian. One attendee said she found his statement ‘I am a human being’ so poignant in the light of the constant dehumanising of Palestinians.
Listening to the Reverend & the Imam speaking together was heartwarming especially hearing the Imam recalling his own family’s experiences of neighbourly relationships between Jews and Muslims in Alexandria, echoing Ashraf’s family's memories of similar stories of life in Yaffa before the Nakba when Jew, Muslim, Christian lived side by side as neighbours, illustrating the fact that this is not a religious war. Indeed, Palestinians from the churches & the mosques offer protection to each other's places of worship. Revd Ashraf spoke too of the Jews who refuse to be a part of Israel’s military occupation of Palestine.
He described to us the day to day humiliation of having to go through checkpoints, either for his work in Bethlehem, or to take his children to school, and the constant presence of Israeli soldiers. He spoke of an incident where soldiers searched his 5 year old son's school bag with a female soldier holding a gun to the boy's head with the resulting trauma for his son whenever he had to cross a checkpoint. Yet, despite the difficulties he faces trying to create a family life under military occupation, he is aware that because he has a clerical collar, compared to others he is 'privileged'.
The audience very much appreciated hearing first hand what it is like to live and work in the West Bank as a Christian and went away with a deeper understanding of the occupation and its consequences.
Straight after the coffee morning Rev Ashraf attended our fortnightly demonstration in Southport town centre and addressed the gathering.
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