JERUSALEM, March 5 (UPI) -- The U.S.-educated Anglican bishop of Jerusalem has sued the Israeli government because it denied him and his family a residency visa for the city.
The Right Reverend Suheil Dawani, his wife and daughter have been ordered to leave Israel immediately, but so far the order has not been enforced, The Guardian reported.
A letter from the Israeli interior ministry accused the bishop of "acting with the Palestinian authority in transferring lands owned by the Jewish people to the Palestinians and also (helping) to register lands of the Jewish people in the name of the church."
Dawani, a Palestinian by birth, has denied the claim but so far has been unsuccessful in his demands to know the names of his accusers.
The U.S. State Department and British Foreign Secretary William Hague have raised the issue with the Israeli government.
"No one can figure out what the Israelis are playing at," said a senior church official outside Israel. "This is not the kind of message they should be sending out. They really don't need to be doing this. Dawani is a very decent, good man and no one has produced any evidence against him. As far as we can tell there is no substance to any accusations."
