Lutherans Charge Israelis Using Schoolchildren as Human Shields, by Elaine Ruth Fletcher. San Diego Union-Tribune, August 31, 2001 "Lutheran church officials around the world have decried the invasion by Israeli army troops into a Lutheran church boarding school in the Palestinian-controlled village of Beit Jallah earlier this week. The Rev. Jadallah Shehade, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation and principal of the church's boarding school, charged the children were being used as 'human shields' by the Israelis, who had postioned themselves on the rooftop of the church compound. Ironically, the soldiers had stationed themselves on a new church building known as Abraham's Residence, which was being built as a seminar center for Christian-Muslim-Jewish peace dialogues. 'We denounce in the strongest possible terms the Israeli occupation of our buildings and demand that the army immediately withdraw from our church premises as well as from Beit Jallah,' said Bishop Munib Younan, head of the Lutheran church in the Holy Land. Younan said he was appealing to human rights organizations and Lutheran church bodies overseas to protest the Israeli action. In Geneva, the Lutheran World Federation sharply condemned the occupation of the town near Bethlehem, particuarlly 'the forces' misuse of the Lutheran church as a base for weapons fire and military activities. In a brief note to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, Lutheran World Federation general secretary, called the incursion 'an outrage' and said the troops had invaded 'one of the holy places of the Christian community.'"