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January 17, 2001
Israeli soldiers fire at bishop's car at checkpoint
Israeli soldiers fired at a bishop's car with a Vatican flag as it tried to pass through a border checkpoint.
Auxiliary Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo of Jerusalem, his secretary, Father Elie Kurzum, and Father Elias Odeh, parish priest of the Israeli Arab village of Shefa Amer, were driving to the West Bank village of Zababdeh to visit a sick priest when the shooting occurred. No one was injured in the Jan. 9 incident.
An Israeli official met with the bishop and apologized for the soldiers' actions.
Father Kurzum, who was driving the car, said he approached the checkpoint, which was not manned by soldiers, at about 6 mph, zigzagging around a series of cement blocks, when some 165 feet away he saw soldiers running toward them from the adjacent military camp with their guns aimed at the car.
"I stopped the car when I saw they were pointing their guns — their M-16s — at us, and one soldier said to go back. He spoke in English so he knew we were in a foreign car. We had the Vatican flag and (foreign) license plates," said Father Kurzum.
He said the soldiers did not ask for their identity cards.
Father Kurzum said he then drove back a bit and stopped at the side of the road. It was at that point, he said, that the first shot was fired.
"It was very near to us. I heard it like it was in the car. I knew that he wouldn't shoot us directly, so I opened the window and told him in Hebrew to come talk to us. He said `Get away from here or you will have a bullet in your head,'" Father Kurzum told Catholic News Service.
Another soldier fired two more shots at the car, the priest said, so he turned the car around and drove toward Zababdeh via another route.
"They have shot at Palestinian cars before, but this is the first time it has happened at a patriarchate car," he said. "Even if they didn't know we were from the Vatican, they saw the flag and knew we were representatives of somebody."
The churchmen stopped at another military camp along the way to report the incident to a commanding officer. The officer apologized for the soldiers' behavior and escorted the car to the village.
Father Kurzum said they told the officer they would be returning the same way, and he said he would speak to the soldiers.
Deciding that they should return to Nazareth, Israel, where the bishop lives, while it was still daylight, the churchmen stayed only 40 minutes in Zababdeh, Father Kurzum said.
At 4:40 p.m. they returned to the same checkpoint. Father Kurzum said he put on his emergency flashers to signal their approach to the soldiers, but the soldiers once again came out pointing their guns. The priest turned the car around and went a circuitous way back to Nazareth.
Israeli Justice and Religious Minister Yossi Beilin met with Bishop Marcuzzo Jan. 10 and apologized for the incident.
A statement from Beilin's office said he told the bishop he hoped there would be clearer instructions of conduct for soldiers regarding the passage of religious representatives so the incident would not be repeated.
The statement said the bishop accepted Beilin's apology and asked to receive a copy of the investigation report when it was completed.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli Defense Forces said statements would be taken from all those involved, and as soon as the facts were reviewed, a formal response would be issued.
The Vatican issued no comment on the incident.
Father Raed Abusahlia, chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate, said his office was awaiting the return of Patriarch Michel Sabbah Jan. 11 before issuing an official response.
However, he said, although there have not been any other incidents of this gravity involving patriarchate officials, Patriarch Sabbah has faced difficulties moving around Israeli checkpoints.
Once, the patriarch arrived an hour late for a Mass because he was forced to take a longer route due to problems at the checkpoints. Another time when the patriarch and chancellor were traveling to Nazareth via Jericho, West Bank, they were initially confronted by soldiers with pointed guns. After the soldiers saw their Vatican passports, they apologized, Father Abusahlia said. "The daily life of every person here is already complicated, and this is making it more complicated. It is a situation of fear," he said, calling the incident an "unjustified action." "The soldiers have their orders, and we respect their orders; I can understand their fear, but they have to deal with people," he said. "We appeal to Israel to stop the closure and remove all the checkpoints which are separating our cities and towns and making this whole area one big prison. They have to end this last bloody occupation in the world." - CNS
