Getting volunteers into the country hasn't been a problem in the past, say Christian leaders living in Israel - volunteers have received tourist visas upon arrival at Ben-Gurion International Airport, and then routinely applied for volunteer visas when the allotted three months were up. "We've been doing that since I arrived 28 years ago," Clarence Wagner, director of the Jerusalem-based Bridges for Peace, told Anglo File this week.

But all that seemed to change earlier this month when Ina Lackert, a German volunteer for Bridges for Peace, went to the Interior Ministry for what she thought was a routine appointment. Lackert works in the organization's personnel department and wanted to arrange volunteer visas for seven recent arrivals - something she has done several times since taking up her post six months ago. "I never had any problems before, but this time, they refused to process my visa requests," Lackert recalled. "The clerk told me that volunteer visa applications need to be arranged before the volunteers arrive. But we never even heard of this before - there wasn't even a transition period."

A spokesman for the ministry, however, said this week that Christian volunteers have always needed to arrange their volunteer visas before arrival in Israel; a change of status from tourist to volunteer has only been granted on rare occasions, she said.

But if the law has been in effect over the last few decades, heads of local Christian organizations certainly haven't encountered it. "I found out about the change when Bridges [for Peace] got hit," David Parsons, a spokesman for the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem said. According to Parsons, the majority of volunteers for his organization have also entered the country as tourists, only to apply for volunteer visas when their first three months are up. "This is all new to us," he added.

The time crunch


In the past, Christian leaders say the only problems organization have encountered with their volunteer visas have involved restricted times. Theoretically, volunteer visas can be renewed for up to five years, though most are generally limited to 27 months.

Now, however, the seven Bridges for Peace volunteers from the United States, South Africa and Australia may have to leave the country so that their paperwork can be processed outside of Israel. Flying them to a place like Cyprus, however, can cost hundreds of dollars per person, and for a charitable organization like Bridges for Peace, which donates some 35 tons of food to poor Israelis a month, the expense is certainly an unwelcome one. "If such a law existed, it's never been enforced, and I would think they should notify people who are effected by it," Wagner said. "We don't mind complying, but we wish someone would have told us."

The organization is also trying to remedy the visa problem for volunteers due to arrive in the coming weeks, but appointments at the ministry need to be arranged far in advance, and Lackert is worried that "the time crunch" just won't be sufficient.

Visas for Christian clergy have received a great deal of attention in recent months with the dissolution of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the subsequent visa chaos that it left in its wake. With the formation of the Christian Caucus Allies in the Knesset, members of Jerusalem's Christian community have been able to redress many of their concerns and Interior Minister Avraham Poraz committed himself earlier this month to solving the crisis that temporarily left many clergy members without appropriate paperwork.

Herzl Gedj, head of the population administration and the man many believe was behind these visa difficulties, was also removed from his post last week, a move many in the Christian community see as a step in the right direction.

"In the past few weeks, Minister Poraz has become personally involved in this issue," Yuval Yerushalmi, legal counsel to many Jerusalem based-Christian organizations, including Bridges for Peace, told Anglo File this week. "[Poraz] realizes these organizations donate a great deal to the country and it's important to allow them to operate smoothly."