Middle East Finland must recognize Palestine, says Bishop who led the Lutheran Church of the Holy Land at the birthplace of Jesus

Bethlehem

“What would it be a Holy Land without Christians who have lived in this country for 2,000 years? ” bishop Munib Younan asks in Bethlehem, where Of Jesus believed to have been born.

“We are an integral part of this society. We do not have a minority complex, and we do not live in fear, “he says in a smooth Finland.

Younan, 71, a Palestinian Arab, studied theology in Finland. In his long career, he served as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land and as president of the Lutheran World Federation.

Younan retired three years ago, but is still commonly referred to as a bishop. Today, he holds an honorary position at Religions for Peace International and lectures at universities.

Bethlehem is located in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank. The city is usually full of pilgrims and holidaymakers at Christmas, but the pandemic keeps it quiet now for the second Christmas.

“People live hand to mouth. We should get tourists here, ”says Younan.

“The significance of Bethlehem since biblical times has been to be a source of peace.”

The proportion of Christians in the population of the West Bank and Israel has decreased.

In Bethlehem, for example, Christians were still a solid majority in the first half of the last century, but today their share is 12 percent.

According to the Israeli Statistics Authority, the number of Christians in Jerusalem has remained roughly the same for more than 50 years, at between 10,000 and 15,000, although the city’s population has multiplied to about 950,000 at the same time.

In 2016, there were 2.5 times as many Jews living in Jerusalem as there were 50 years earlier. During the same period, the number of Muslims increased sixfold.

There were a total of 180,000 Christians in all of Israel last year, about two percent of the population. The 2015 figure was also in the order of a couple of percent in the West Bank, less than one percent in Gaza.

Younanin According to Christians, the problem in Palestine is that 80 percent of young people would like to move abroad.

“We try to train them and find them a job so they don’t leave. We are trying to tell them that we can build a democratic state here based on human rights, equality and freedom of expression, ”he says.

“We want a Nordic model of society here.”

Of the Palestinian territories, the West Bank is dominated by the traditionally secular and center-left Fatah Party, while Gaza is ruled by Islamist Hamas.

Younan believes that Finland can help Christians stay in Palestine. His Evangelical Lutheran Church has a partner diocese in Kuopio.

“It is important that Palestinians see how Finns live with their religion, and vice versa.”

Jordanian and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Land is small, “only a part of one Finnish congregation,” but Younan believes that it too has a reciprocal contribution to Finland.

“You have tensions with Muslims in Europe. We can teach you how to live with them. We have 1,400 years of experience living together, ”he says.

“Freedom of religion is very important. Arab Christians understand the different faces of Islam, and Muslims understand the different faces of Christianity. We respect each other’s differences but at the same time similarities. We both have the same goals when we live in the same country. ”

When young Munib Younan would have liked to study theology in Germany. He then heard about a scholarship for a Palestinian Christian in a distant country from which he knew nothing and was therefore not enthusiastic about it at first.

However, at the encouragement of his parents, Younan traveled to Finland at the age of 19 in April 1969 to study diaconia. At the same time, he studied Finnish eight hours a day for three months.

One case taught that even a single letter can change the meaning of an entire word.

“I was walking on Tähtitorninmäki, and I was met by a man who was very drunk. I went to say [Lähetyskodin] hostess Vuokko to Tuominen: ‘I saw Hämäläinen in the park.’ ”

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Many educated people in Finland have risen to important positions in their home countries.

Järvenpää Director of the Parish College Simo Palosuo raised money for the education of a Palestinian youth. On his 50th birthday, Palosuo directed the funds he received as a gift to the Younan Support Fund.

According to Younan, it is worthwhile for the Mission Society to continue the scholarship activities of young foreigners, as many of those who have been educated in Finland have risen to important positions in their home countries.

“I learned in Finland how I can influence my own people with the word of the Lord.”

After three years of diaconia studies, Younan enrolled at the University of Helsinki to study theology. Three Ostrobothnian congregations – Himanka, Toholampi and Kannus – supported his master’s studies through the Mission Society. The bishop says he is grateful to the congregations, even though his connection to them has been severed.

Younan later defended his doctorate in the United States. He has translated religious literature, among other things Augsburg recognition in Arabic. He has been awarded numerous honors, including the Cross of St. Henry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

Palestinian Younan has long worked for peace in the Middle East. He has been awarded several peace awards, the most recent from South Korea and the United States.

According to Younan, the most important condition for peace is justice, which in Palestine means independence. Nearly 140 states, including Sweden, have recognized Palestine as an independent state. Finland, most of the countries of Western Europe and, for example, the United States are not included.

“Finland must dare to recognize Palestine and not expect things to get more complicated in this country. We need not only charity but also justice. It means the two-state model and the 1967 borders. ”

In a two-state model, the West Bank and Gaza would become an independent Palestinian state neighboring Israel.

Younan lives in the city of Beit Safafa in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, near Bethlehem but on the other side of the Israeli-built West Bank wall.

“We have problems mainly with those who say that this country belongs only to the Israelis. The obstacle to peace is not the Jews but the Zionist ideology, ”Younan says.

“Another obstacle to peace is the settlements that Israel has built on the West Bank.”

Younan already in 1991 set up a discussion group between Christians, Jews and Muslims. In 2005, he co-founded the Interfaith Council of Institutions of the Holy Land.

The Council has identified a number of challenges to peace. One of them relates to how priests, rabbis, and imams teach people to live with people of other religions.

The council has also examined books from different denominations.

“Books don’t teach coexistence. There are many different narratives in this country, some of which incite hatred. The narrative of the other must be respected, even if there is disagreement, ”Younan says.

There is also room for improvement in the content of religious instruction.

“Nothing is taught about Judaism in Palestine, and little about Islam in Israel. Very little is taught about Christianity in Israeli and Palestinian school curricula. How can one live if one does not know other religions? ” Younan asks.

“Religions teach that Jerusalem is only for their religion. It must be remembered that Jerusalem belongs to all. ”