THE detention of a young Anglican from the West Bank is an example of the “deeply discriminatory” use of administrative detention by the Israeli authorities, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
His statement on Tuesday followed news that an Israeli military court had renewed the administrative detention of Layan Nasir, a 23-year-old Anglican taken at gunpoint from her parents’ home in April (News, 12 April, 3 May).
“This young Palestinian Christian from Birzeit, in the West Bank, has been held in detention since 6 April on classified evidence that leaves her facing unknown allegations with no way to disapprove them — not knowing when she will be released, all the time without being charged, tried, or convicted,” he said. “This is an egregious state of affairs, as is the fact that her transfer outside the West Bank to Damon Prison is in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
“I ask the Israeli Government to look again at her case, and that she be released. The widespread and routine manner in which Israel uses administrative detention of Palestinians as an instrument of Occupation is deeply discriminatory. It cannot be legally or morally justified.”
The statement follows an advisory opinion, issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month, which concluded that Palestinians in the occupied territories were subject to “systemic discrimination” (News, 26 July). On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory raised concerns about the “forced eviction” of more than 80 Palestinians from their homes in the Silwan area of occupied East Jerusalem, “facilitated by the unlawful application of discriminatory Israeli laws against Palestinians in the occupied territory”.
In the past week, the Archbishop has also called for an end to the “devastating cycle of violence” in the region, in the wake of killing of children in the region. “There is never any justification for killing children — whether in Palestine, Israel, or Lebanon,” he wrote on social media. He referred specifically to the killing of children at a Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Golan Heights, and at the Khadija school in Gaza.
The British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has attributed the first incident to Hezbollah, describing the deaths as “the consequence of indiscriminate firing and paying no heed at all to civilian life”. Addressing MPs last week, he said that scenes at the Khadija school “underline the desperate conditions endured by civilians”. Palestinian authorities reported on Saturday that at least 30 Palestinians had been killed in an Israeli air-strike on the school, which was housing displaced people.
In a response to the attack in the Golan Heights, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem issued a statement on behalf of the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land: “The cycle of violence must end. We urge all parties to seek understanding and mutual respect, for the future of our children and communities depends on it. Enough with this violence, hatred, and contempt. . .
“The future of children and the welfare of our communities hinge upon our ability to transcend hatred and to embrace the principles of compassion and coexistence.”
Calls for a ceasefire were repeated by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Most Revd Michael Curry, last week. In a letter to President Biden, which coincided with the visit to Congress of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bishop Curry wrote: “We recognize your longstanding support of Israel, but call on you to recognize that we cannot continue with this level of impunity, with assurances of change but ongoing violence and killing of civilians, targeting of medical facilities and staff, and bombing of refugee camps, U.N. facilities, and hospitals. Please take this moment and use the power of the U.S. government to ensure Israel makes meaningful changes and to push forward a way of peace in the region.”
In the UK, the Government is facing calls to suspend the sale of armaments to Israel. On Monday, the Times reported that a decision had been delayed, “because ministers are seeking to suspend export licences for specific weapons that they can link to suspected war crimes”. Investigations were expected to take weeks.
On Friday of last week, the Board of Deputies expressed concern that reports of such a decision might signal a “significant shift in policy, away from Israel being a key UK ally”, referring to, in addition, the decision to restore funding to UNWRA (News, 29 January), and news that the Government would not be pursuing the UK’s original objection to the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction over the current Israel-Gaza conflict (News, 24 May).
Mr Netanyahu has said that there would be no permanent ceasefire until Hamas had been destroyed. On Thursday of last week, Israeli media reported that the bodies of five more hostages, four men and a woman, had been recovered by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in Khan Yunis. On Wednesday, Hamas reported that its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had been assassinated in Iran.
The UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction co-ordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, spoke last week of the “horrendous maelstrom of human misery” in the enclave.
Last week, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee announced that it had decided to include the Monastery of Saint Hilarion (Tell Umm Amer), in Gaza, on the World Heritage List, and the List of World Heritage in Danger. One of the oldest sites in the Middle East, it was founded in the fourth century by Saint Hilarion, and was home to the first monastic community in the Holy Land.