By Daoud Kuttab

The leaders and congregations of Anglican churches in Jordan sent a strongly worded letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, about the latest round of violence in Gaza which has resulted in massive human suffering.

The letter dates October 26 and was released to the public on November 9^th criticized the Archbishop Welby made before the House of Lords on October 24.  “You contrasted Hamas with the state of Israel and described Israel as a “legitimate state whose citizens since 1945 have written much of the laws of war.” We want to remind you that the struggle between Israel and Palestine is a national struggle which extremist voices on the Israeli side would like to end in the defeat of Palestinian dreams for a national home for their people in the Holy Land,’ Anglicans in Jordan said.

Reverand Fayeq Haddad pastor of the Anglican Redeemer Church in Amman said that Church leaders sought to wait before making the letter public. “We thought it was only proper that we give the Right Honorable Reverend enough time to review it and possibly reply. Since after two weeks we have not heard a word, we felt that our congregations needed to have their voice heard.”

The letter refers to the disappointment of Palestinian Anglicans that the archbishop called in interviews on British media for “condemnation of Hamas but cautioned against criticism of Israel.” However, the letter does refer to a subsequent clarification “The people of Gaza, and all Palestinians, must be able to express their trauma, anger, and horror at the profound suffering being endured by innocent people living under Israeli bombardment and siege.”

Palestinian Anglican congregations in Ramallah and Bir Zeit sent a three-page letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, criticizing his biased and one-sided public comments in the media and noting: “We don’t remember a single statement from our Church referring to the well-documented crimes of the Israeli occupation as “evil and heinous crimes”, even when Anglicans have been affected.”

Anglicans in Jordan said that they expected to hear from the leader of the Anglican Communion, “a strong call for justice and freedom for the Palestinian people, and to use the term Palestinian to describe our people in the Holy Land.” The letter went on: “Our people in the occupied territory are facing ongoing violence, oppression, and deprivation. Israel will interpret anything less than support for the Palestinian cause for statehood as carte blanche for further Israeli violations of our rights and sovereignty.”

Below is a copy of the letter sent to Archbishop Welby: