Israel visa policies deter clergy, volunteers

Christian Century, June 14, 2003 by Elaine Ruth Fletcher

THE POLICE VAN pulled up beside the three foreign-born women, volunteers at the Christian charity Bridges for Peace, as they strolled along a quiet Jerusalem street on their way to work. Before they knew what was happening, the women--from Papua New Guinea, Japan and South Africa--had been swooped up and were being taken to a detention cell, bound for deportation.

Later, police did discover that one woman had a valid visa in her pocketbook; she was dumped, disoriented, in a busy marketplace. Eight hours later, Bridges for Peace officials won the release of the others, but only after posting a $12,000 bond guaranteeing the immediate departure of the South African from the country. Unbeknownst to her or to Bridges for Peace, her visa extension request filed some months before in the Ministry of Interior had been denied.

While Israel suffers the biggest tourist slump in its history, the Christians who still dare to come for prolonged visits, including clergy, volunteers and seminarians, are having greater problems than ever in obtaining permission to remain in the country.

The visa policies have affected a cross-section of church institutions--Catholic churches that serve a primarily Arab and Palestinian laity and recruit clerics from across the Arab world, as well as ardently "pro-Israel" organizations like Bridges for Peace that seek to build bridges between Christians and Jews.

Within the Catholic Church, more than 100 priests, nuns, monks and seminarians are currently in legal limbo because the Israeli government has failed to renew or review visa requests, according to a recent report of a Catholic committee. In late March, the committee presented a detailed report on the problem to the Vatican's envoy to Israel, Monsignor Pietro Sambi.

These foreign-born clerics are critical to the operation of dozens of churches, charities, schools, old-age homes and cloistered monasteries or nunneries that have been fixtures in the Holy Land for centuries. Lacking valid visa extensions, they are unable to travel abroad, and are even afraid to move around locally, for fear of arrest and deportation.

"This practice has become so extensive and affects so many church institutions ... that the Israeli government is now in material breach of the principle of freedom of religion guaranteed by its Declaration of Independence, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Fundamental Agreement," the report said. The Fundamental Agreement, signed in 1993, outlined the framework for the opening of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Vatican.

Factors that have played a role in the current visa logjam include Israel's high unemployment rate, a new police crackdown on illegal foreign workers, and the hostile attitude of Jewish ultra-Orthodox Interior Ministry officials toward non-Jews and even secular Jews. In cases like the arrest of the three Bridges for Peace volunteers, the police and the authorities did not make a distinction between religious pilgrims and illegal foreign workers.

In addition, Christian communities--even pro-Israel Christian organizations--have always lacked the kind of domestic political clout that would make their visa issue a priority among government officials. Ultra-Orthodox politicians regularly accuse Christian groups of "missionizing" Jews even though most church organizations studiously refrain from doing so. A written request by Religion News Service for an Interior Ministry comment on the visa controversy, submitted in March, was never answered.

"Israel has something like 300,000 illegal workers, and they have about 250,000 people out of work, so I understand their problem," says Tony Higton, director of the Israel Trust of the Anglican Church, which manages institutions such as Jerusalem's historic Christ Church and Guesthouse and its Anglican School. "But it is also important for the authorities to realize that many Christian ministries like our own cannot afford to maintain our institutions only with paid staff," says Higton. "We rely on volunteers."

Clarence Wagner of Bridges for Peace, a group praised by Israeli politicians for allocating aid to Israeli needy from churches worldwide, said that whereas renewals of up to 27 months were previously allowed for volunteers, in January "we were told that volunteers would only be allowed to remain one year," Wagner said. "We were also told that we would have to get the volunteer a special volunteer visa prior to his arrival in Israel, rather than permitting him to first enter as a tourist." After appearing in person at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., and waiting for the procedure to finish, "they'll be ready to go back home."

As for clergy, the Ministry of Interior canceled an old policy under which a fixed quota of visas, which could be automatically renewed, were made available to every church and charitable institution. Instead, the visa of each pastor, monk or priest is subjected annually to a lengthy review process.