Israeli Tanks Occupy Dar al-Kalima School and Wellness Center in Bethlehem
(photos by Rev. Sandra Olewine)
Saturday, March 9, 2002 at 14:00 hr. local time:
Israeli military tanks have just occupied Dar Al Kalima Model School and Wellness Center in southern Bethlehem. They are using our hilltop location in an attempt to control surrounding sections of the city. The tanks rolled into the premises of the School and Center around 2:00 pm, destroying parts of the green area and soldiers broke down the Wellness Center iron door. The destruction of our facilities is still going on. No further information on inside damage is currently available, as no one is able to get close to the site, according to the Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church and founder of the Dar al-Kalima school.
The Dar al-Kalima School and Wellness Center, an outreach ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the International Center of Bethlehem, was recently built with the support of friends from several countries to help create hope and a better future for the children of Bethlehem. Currently there are 240 students enrolled in the school. The Wellness Center is due to open on 24 May 2002. The Wellness Center has as one of its ministries to bring healing to the many traumatized children and adults of Bethlehem area.
We denounce in the strongest way possible the actions of the Israeli occupying forces that know no boundaries, not of church properties, schools or health centers. The sanctity of religious institutions is being defiled. Such deplorable actions compromise the security and future of our children. When their places of education are destroyed and used as sites from which to launch military actions on the surrounding population, children lose their sense of security.
We urge you to act swiftly by contacting your representatives, foreign ministries, religious authorities, human rights organizations and other official bodies to demand an immediate withdrawal from our Dar al-Kalima School and Wellness Center, the city of Bethlehem, its refugee camps, and for an end of the occupation of Palestine.
We beseech you to use the Sunday services tomorrow morning as a time for prayer and action in support of this vital ministry. We need you to join us in order that aggression and might may not destroy our dreams, hopes, and vision for a better future for the children of the Holy Land. Occupation will not have the last word. We will persevere in our ministries of education and healing. Dar al-Kalima, the House of The Word, will not surrender to the powers of this world.