19.02.2003
LWF Appeals Against Jerusalem Court Ruling
Decision to Revoke Tax Exemption Agreement Could Jeopardize Critical Health Services, People's Lives and LivelihoodsJERUSALEM/GENEVA, 19 February 2003 (LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has challenged a Jerusalem court ruling on the tax status of its activities in Israel-Palestine, saying the decision, if executed, could jeopardize the LWF's humanitarian work in the region.
In an appeal filed on February 12, the LWF argues that the 22 December 2002 decision by the District Court in Jerusalem to revoke a tax exemption agreement between the State of Israel and the LWF-operated Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) was incorrect.
The LWF appeal is based on the lack of any lawful notice or decision by the competent authorities to cancel the agreement, and failure to give the LWF the opportunity to argue its case. In the petition, the LWF notes it was not availed the chance to explain the substantive implications of the cancellation for itself, the population it serves, and for the State of Israel.
As the appeal document states, the result of the cancellation of the tax exemption agreement will be "the discontinuation or reduction to an absolute minimum of the activity of the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, including all the clinics," discontinuation of the LWF's health services to "tens of thousands of patients," laying off of numerous workers "in areas in which the unemployment rate is in any case unbearably high," termination of contracts with suppliers, and a substantial loss to the State of Israel resulting from the loss of income taxes paid by LWF's employees.
The LWF has been serving the needs of Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem and the West Bank for over 50 years, and through its humanitarian work continues to be an important expression of the Christian presence in the Holy Land. The LWF's main activity, the AVH, situated on the Mount of Olives, was established in 1910 initially as a hospice, recreational and parish center for the Augusta Victoria Foundation, named by German Kaiser Wilhelm II to honor his wife Empress Augusta Victoria. After the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the AVH was at first run by the Red Cross, and has been under LWF trusteeship and management since 1950.
The LWF's capacity to provide humanitarian services in the region has been greatly enhanced by a tax exemption agreement originally established with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1966, and adopted by the State of Israel after the war of 1967. More recently, the Government of Israel has sought to revoke this agreement. Last December the Jerusalem court ruled that the tax exemption agreement had been cancelled with effect from the end of 2000.
Reacting to the court's ruling, AVH chief executive officer, Dr Tawfiq Nasser said any additional tax imposed by the State of Israel "will greatly hamper the hospital's ability to provide the much-needed health care to the refugee and disadvantaged segments of the community." The development of the AVH as a model institution assisting in building a civil society in the Palestinian areas will be seriously undermined by the decision, according to Nasser.
AVH health services are available to all, but its particular role is to provide health care to the Palestinian refugee population. Around 65 percent of the hospital's patients come from the refugee camps. A growing number of patients turn to the AVH for medical services that are not available elsewhere in the West Bank or Gaza. The hospital plans to open soon the only radiation oncology center for cancer treatment dedicated to the West Bank and Gaza populations.
Jafar Al Faqeeh, father of 10-year-old Nena, receiving kidney dialysis at the AVH for the last four years, summarized his experience with the LWF-run hospital. "If it were not for the AVH dialysis services, my child would have died. We had nowhere else to go."
The LWF also operates a network of Village Health Clinics (VHCs) in five villages near Ramallah, which, together with their satellite communities, represent some 40,000 people. The Palestinian Health Authority (PHA) relies on the LWF-run VHCs to provide basic medical care to the area residents, since the PHA lacks sufficient resources, especially in the current circumstances, to take full responsibility for such services.
In addition, the LWF has been engaged in vocational training in Palestine since 1948, and founded a Vocational Training Center (VTC) at Beit Hanina in 1952, which has benefited thousands of people. Skills acquired in auto mechanics, carpentry, electronics and telecommunications among other fields, help to equip beneficiaries to become productive members in society, and give them hope.
Bishop Munib A. Younan, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan, [serving in Israel, Jordan and Palestine] said the effect of the imposition of tax liability upon the LWF's not-for-profit activities in Israel-Palestine would be to seriously jeopardize its capacity to continue to provide these humanitarian services, and to deprive large sections of the population of the West Bank and Gaza strip of essential health care and vocational training facilities.
Younan emphasized the growing importance of Christian witness in Israel-Palestine, saying the LWF's activities in the region, including the AVH itself, stand out as an example of the services that the church renders to community members irrespective of their religion, gender, racial or political affiliation. "This is what we are called to do as church. It is our duty to serve humankind," the ELCJ bishop stressed. He called on churches worldwide to actively lobby for the continued presence of Christian witness in the Holy Land, "which may be threatened in the region today."
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