September 15 2015
On Tuesday last week, I wrote a letter on behalf of Tabeetha School in Jaffa to Reuven Rivlin, the president of Israel. On Thursday, I helped craft a letter for Angus Morrison, the moderator of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland, to send to David Cameron on the same subject.
Life as minister of the Scots Memorial is endlessly fascinating, but I have to say that this is not the sort of thing I do every week.
Some may even think it is not the sort of thing a minister should be doing. The task of a minister, in their view, is to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments. But here I have to agree with William Temple, almost my favourite Archbishop of Canterbury. Temple said, “It is a great mistake to suppose that God is only, or even chiefly, concerned with religion.”
Here’s what I said in my letter:
Dear Mr President,
I write to you in my capacity as Chair of the School Board of Tabeetha School in Jaffa and on behalf of the Board.
Tabeetha is a Christian school in Israel, owned and managed by the Church of Scotland.
It was founded in 1863 by Jane Walker-Arnott, daughter of a Scottish professor. She felt a call to educate the local community and especially to educate girls, to give them dignity and a degree of independence. When she died in 1911, she made a gift of the school to a surprised Church of Scotland, and we have run it conscientiously ever since.
Tabeetha is an open, ecumenical, interfaith and international school. From the beginning, its pupils have always included Christians, Muslims and Jews, and today its student body includes a significant number of expatriates. But a key purpose of the school is still to serve the Arab Christian community, whose children form the majority of its pupils.
Last week Tabeetha School went on strike, in solidarity with the other Christian schools in Israel. We remain on strike, pending the outcome of the discussions between Christian representatives and the Israeli ministry tomorrow, which we trust will be fruitful.
Mr President, since you took office last year we have watched with appreciation as you have carried out your commitment to be a president of all the people. We think, for example, of your visit to Kafr Qasim last October, where you said truthfully that the Arab sector in Israel has suffered from years of discrimination. More recently, we were touched by your spontaneous reaction to the firebombing in Duma, with its tragic outcomes.
Last month, you graciously met with Christian educators. This meeting was much appreciated but so far, regrettably, has resulted in little sign of movement by the ministry of education or the government.
Like you, Mr President, we want to see an Israel that is the state of all its citizens, where all are treated equally and with respect. We pray that it may soon be so.
We ask you sincerely to use your good offices to encourage a constructive meeting at the Prime Minister’s office tomorrow, leading rapidly to the just resolution of a conflict that damages us all.
Postscript
On Wednesday September 9, The meeting between the six wise men heading the Christian schools protest and the directors-general of the Prime Minister’s office and the ministry of education duly took place – and got precisely nowhere.
“We made no progress,” reported Fr Abdel Masih, the amiable Franciscan who runs the Christian schools trust. “In fact, we went backwards.”
The protest continues – and will continue until the government can bring itself to make a sensible offer.