Israeli Palestinian

Israel Trip

Israel Day 8: Saving Children, Israeli General, & Suffering

Wolfson Medical Center

There are those who think health care in this country is poor, but what about billions of people who have no health care?

In the morning, we arrived at the Wolfson Medical Center in Tel Aviv. We met Tamar and she shared with us about To Save a Child’s Heart. To Save a Child’s Heart works with communities around the world who have children that need serious heart surgeries. The surgeries cost around $10,000. These children come from countries where there is no medical expertise in heart surgery. Surgeons are Jews and Muslims working side by side with their patients, some of which are Christians. These surgeries take place in Israel.

A doctor with To Save a Child’s Heart

The medical team travels abroad to diagnose and treat children with these heart conditions. Many travel hundreds of miles to be seen by the doctors of To Save a Child’s Heart. Around 40% of patients come from Arab counties. After the surgery, children are able to live a full and vibrant life. Since 1996, more than 3,000 children have been saved from 44 different countries around the world. And, many of these children are Palestinians. There are over 70 Wolfson staff and doctors that work with the To Save a Child’s Heart organization. The organization raises money from private and public (including the European Union) funds to cover the cost of the evaluations and surgeries.

Medical team

Next, we traveled to the port city of Jaffa, where St. Peter received the vision that he should eat unclean food from God , as recorded in Acts. This marina area provided great views of the sea. Lunch was curbside at a great bakery.

In Jaffa.

Israel Retired General

Israel Trip

Israel Day 6: History, Business, & West Bank

World Council of Churches

We started off the day by meeting with Yusef Daher, a Palestinian Christian working for the World Council of Churches. He works for non-violent ways to wage peace. He is the Executive Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center of the Heads of Churches of Jerusalem in association with the World Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of Churches. Also, Yusef teaches at Bethlehem University in tourism.

Yusef works within the World Council of Churches drawing together several church centered organizations and theologians striving for causes of residency, peace, current challenges for Christians. In 2009, these groups issued the Palestine Kairos document. (He told a joke: Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a theologian? The difference between a terrorist and theologian is that you can negotiate with a terrorist.) The Kairos document was based on three themes: word of hope (Palestinian Christians will survive this conflict), word of faith (how to read the Bible together), word of love (what is requested of Palestinian Christians)..

Jerusalem is a focus for the World Councils of Churches because this is the main center for much of Israel. What happens here sets the stream for the rest of the region.

Residency of Israelis is another focus of the WCC. Many who are Palestinian born Israelis and travel abroad can lose their residency because of frequent travel or staying in a country to long. Also, if Palestinians live outside Israel for longer than 7 years, you automatically lose your citizenship. Sometimes husbands and wives can only see one another on a one month visa because of this. The WCC focuses these concerns, through the Vatican, to the Israeli government.

NCC was a part of issuing the Kairos Palestinian Document, a document issuing declaring wrongs done to the Palestinians by the Israeli government and outlining how God calls people to reconciliation. Upon issuing a document of the Palestinian Kairos, the Jerusalem Post criticized the writers but not the content of the Kairos document of calling for peace. However, two local Israeli Jewish theologians opened communication by calling the document a valid concern.

Danny Seidemann tour and meeting

American Baptist Churches, Israel Trip

Peace mission to Israel

Just six days from today, I’ll embark on a peace mission on behalf of American Baptists to travel to Israel. This trip will serve as a good-will delegation to Israelis and Palestinians. In light of the recent conflict and violence, it is more important than ever to find a peaceful solution for this area of the Middle East.

This is no Holy Land Tour.

The delegation consists of the American Baptist Churches General Secretary, Roy Medley, the President of ABC-USA, Ruth Clark, and a handful of lay and clergy leaders within the denomination. We will meet with local leaders in business, media, health care, education, human rights, faith, culture, and politics. The delegation will be guided by a panel of experts who will also help balance and interpret these meetings so that, by the end of the trip, the delegation will grasp the basic issues of the conflict and a variety of perspectives and emotions. We will meet with both Israelis and Palestinians.

So, what is the purpose of this trip?

Israel Day 8: Saving Children, Israeli General, & Suffering

Israel Day 6: History, Business, & West Bank

Peace mission to Israel

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