November 20, 2009
By Matthew Davies

The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem has announced that one of its institutions, Christ School in Nazareth, is expanding to serve the needs of the Palestinian youth in the city, at the request of the Ministry of Education of Israel.

The addition of eight classrooms to the upper school program "reduces overcrowding and allows for added enrollment from the waiting list," according to a Nov. 18 press release from the diocese.

The school has been at the center of a legal dispute after the former diocesan bishop, the Rt. Rev. Riah Abu El-Assal, claimed ownership of the property immediately after his retirement on March 31, 2007.

In early 2008, the Israeli High Court ruled in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and ordered the former bishop and all founding members of the Amouta society, which had been established a few days before El-Assal retired, to refrain from entering or managing the school and collecting pupils' fees.

The school, which El-Assal had named "Bishop Riah Educational Campus" in honor of himself, has since been restored to "Christ School."

One of 37 institutions run by the Jerusalem diocese, the school serves more than 1,600 students from Christian and Muslim families.

The expansion required the elimination of a significant portion of the school's playground, including "a monument built and installed by Bishop Riah in his own honor, without the consent of the Christ School Board of Directors or the Diocesan Council," according to the diocesan release. "Bishop Riah has been very vocal in his objections to the removal of the monument."

In a Nov. 6 e-mail received by Episcopal News Service, El-Assal said: "The destruction ... is not the work of an invading hostile army. It is the work of Christ-less Anglicans messing up with our Jerusalem diocese." El-Assal said that he holds his successor, incumbent Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem Suheil Dawani, responsible.

During the past two years, El-Assal and his daughter Rania have sent out bulk e-mails that have included inflammatory remarks about Dawani and called for his resignation.

El-Assal had publicly endorsed the other candidate who stood with Dawani in the 2006 election for bishop coadjutor of the Jerusalem diocese. Shortly after the election, El-Assal told Episcopal News Service that he was not satisfied with the results and did not approve of Dawani taking over as his successor.

Other cases of financial mismanagement by El-Assal are still being investigated and "a court case is pending in a separate issue concerning funds held by Bishop Riah" which the diocese claims belong to the school, the press release said. "The Church Council of the diocese had hoped to avoid taking Bishop Riah to court, but had no choice as Bishop Riah refused to relent in the matter."

Dawani, after repeated efforts to settle the matter out of court, said that the legal case had been in the church's best interests and a necessary measure to secure the diocesan institutions for future mission.

"Several persons, with high standing in the community, were asked to intervene and urge Bishop Riah to rescind his claim and hand over the school to the diocese, but all efforts were to no avail," Dawani said in statement made in early 2008. "Therefore, the diocese, after exhausting all such endeavors, was compelled to resort to the judicial system in order to regain its rights."

The Nov. 18 press release said that the Diocese of Jerusalem and Dawani continue "to strive to meet the needs of the students of the schools of the diocese. Part of this commitment is to establish clear communication among our students, their families and our faculties. Bishop Suheil has established a strong track record of integrity and credibility to provide for transparency and accountability in all business matters for the benefit of the education of our students."

El-Assal's son, Hanna Abu El-Assal, who previously served as the headmaster at Christ School, had refused to comply with requests of the diocese, stating that he was not a diocesan employee, a diocesan lawyer told ENS.

Under the direction of newly appointed Headmaster Yusuf Bilan, Christ Church "continues to move forward with renewed vision for a bright future," the press release said. "Bishop Dawani sees education as a vitally important bridge for peace and understanding among the people of our region. For Palestinians, as for all people, education provides dignity and equal opportunity. Education is the promise of a future in the building of a healthy society and is critical for sustaining the local Christian population in the Land of the Holy One."

Episcopal News Service
Matthew Davies is editor and international correspondent of Episcopal News Service.