Peace Not Walls

ACTION ALERT: Urge your lawmakers to support Augusta Victoria Hospital!   

Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) is operated by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Jerusalem, serving Palestinians in the West Bank. It is the first and only hospital to provide radiation therapy for cancer patients in the Palestinian territories and is the only medical facility in the West Bank offering pediatric kidney dialysis. The hospital is in need of funding to serve the people referred for care by the Palestinian Authority. Although Congress released $25 million in early 2017, the hospitals in East Jerusalem face another financial crisis because the amount released does not cover the amount owed for treatment in Gaza and the West Bank. Since the President is meeting with Mahmoud Abbas on May 3, this is a good time to ask our members of Congress to insist that this be on the agenda for their meeting. Read and respond to the action alert: https://secure2.convio.net/elca/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=913

Churchwide Assembly Actions - the 2016 assembly took two actions urging action for peace with justice in the Holy Land:

• Peace with Justice in the Holy Land: Urging the US to make our foreign aid to Israel contingent on Israel's cessation of settlement construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem 
• Justice for the Holy Land through Responsible Investment: Asking for development of an ELCA human rights social criteria investment screen, specifically addressing Israel and Palestine

Read a FACT SHEET about the two memorials.

In the Rocky Mountain Synod, we participate in a special ELCA campaign working for justice and peace in Palestine and Israel, through

• Accompaniment
• Advocacy
• Awareness-raising

Peace Not Walls connects us with our Palestinian Lutheran companions—promoting dignity, full respect for human rights, healing and reconciiation. With our companions in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), we also accompany Palestinians and Israelis, Jews, Christians and Muslims working together for peace with justice. Learn more about the ELCA campaign.

Some ways you and your congregation can be involved:

• IMPLEMENT the ELCA resolutions on Israeli settlements and responsible investment - read a FACT SHEET on the Memorials
• WATCH a video introduction to Peace Not Walls
• Watch PALESTINE SHORTS: Four Palestinian Christians tell their stories in video interviews 
• CONTACT a speaker
• STUDY the KAIROS PALESTINE document, the Palestinian Christians' call to Christians around the world, asking for support in their struggle for human rights
• SUPPORT the ministries of CHRISTMAS LUTHERAN CHURCH in Bethlehem through Bright Stars of Bethlehem
• WHY have more than 200 Israeli settlements been buily on Palestinian land? Watch "The Iron Wall" documentary
• WHY is a two-state solution unlikely? Watch a two-minute video: "Israel-Palestine, a Land in Fragments"