24 August 2005
Dear friends,
The thoughts of many of us have turned toward Gaza as Jewish settlers have been forcibly removed in the past week. Since my family and I lived for nearly five years with the Arab people of Gaza, directly alongside the Jewish settlements, several have asked me how to understand what they are seeing. “Is this a good thing? What will happen?”
It is moving to witness Jewish families clinging to their homes until the last possible moment because of their faith in the God of Israel and his promises to them in the Hebrew scriptures. But I also think of the fathers to whom the promises were given: Abraham humbling himself before the other inhabitants of the land in Genesis 23, or Jacob leaving the promised land with scarcely a backward glance for what turned out to be a 400-year exile. I admire their assurance that God will be faithful and work out his purposes in his time despite changing circumstances.
So I look for God to use these events in Gaza for good, and particularly to draw near both these peoples in the land who are close to his own heart. Healing of the relationship between Arabs and Jews is inextricably bound up with the coming of Messiah to the region.
How will the changes affect our mission of bringing children from the
Gaza Strip into Israel for heart surgeries?
Pictured above is Philip Berg from our Jerusalem office (second from right) and Wolfson Medical Center pediatric ICU head Dr. Sion Houri (left foreground) meeting with the Israeli official responsible for health issues at the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel. Philip writes:
The Israeli humanitarian office at Erez has made it clear that they will still allow free passage to any child in Gaza that needs medical care. In the photo below you can see Hussein who was brought up to Wolfson Medical Center in the midst of the disengagement for an emergency heart surgery. We as volunteers at Shevet Achim find this especially amazing. We can not think of many other countries that would deal with these sorts of medical issues in the middle of a very complex disengagement operation.
Perhaps the best barometer of what is happening at the border crossing
is the number of busy taxi drivers. They will tell you that the flow of
traffic across this border crossing has changed dramatically. The Israelis
are building a huge brand new complex complete with a terminal building.
They are obviously preparing the site as a large, new, international border.
It is most likely that it will take a long time until Gaza is able to
build a hospital infrastructure that can meet the needs of their own population.
In the meantime, the volunteers at Shevet Achim will count it a privilege
to continue to offer logistical and financial support to help these children
in need.
Next week I hope to visit with Philip and all our volunteer staff in Jerusalem and in Jordan, and encourage them with the knowledge that we are standing behind them with the prayer and support that they will need to continue carrying out their work.
Yours thankfully,
Jonathan Miles
Coordinator
Shevet Achim
“Behold how good and how pleasant for brothers to dwell together
in unity” (Psalm 133:1).
Baby Hussein made it into Israel during the Disengagement