Often we forget

We are pointed  (here)to  an interview on the BBC with Bishop Suheil Dawani, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem

He notes that the Syrian conflict has probably meant that we have probably lost the Anglican Church in Syria.

He notes, too, the importance of Anglican institutions throughout the Holy Lands (see the footnote 1. below)

The Anglican Church has a number of important healthcare facilities including a significant medical presence in Nablus, {where a much loved Adelaide Doctor has worked}, Gaza {which has been the backbone of dealing with the medical misery of that sad place }[hospitals in each] and Zababdeh (The Penman Clinic {of course named after a former and much loved Archbishop of Melbourne...who was keen that we should not forget the awful suffering that the poor and disenfranchised suffer in a place of such political conflict )...all in Palestine .
Recent requests for support (eg. from the Anglican Board of Missions)  have not been to further political ends but rather  to ensure that the poor are cared for.

We also forget that most Christians, almost all Anglicans (as for example Bp Suheil),  in the Holy Lands are ethnic Arabs. Many of whom can trace their ancestry back to the time of our Lord. The same is true of Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics

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1.      Please note it is appropriate to use the term Holy Lands (in plural form)  rather than Holy Land to refer to the places we hold so dear. Not all of the “traditional sites” of the Gospels lie within the modern state of Israel.  And it would be incorrect to suggest that the Hol Land is co-terminus with either the present bounds of the State of Israel  or what some radical Zionists consider to be the legitimate  border of a "potential Israel".  Bethlehem itself lies in Palestine, as do Bethany, and Jericho.  Of course cities such as Gaza, Ramallag abd Nablus, often in the news lie in PalestineMount Nebo (where Moses died  and was taken to heaven) is in Jordan……