Historic gatherings in Birmingham hear Naim Ateek make case for "Justice with Mercy" for Palestine

Jerry Levin
EPF & Friends of Sabeel North America

(Birmingham, AL July 12, 2001) Unprecedented standing room audiences of mainstream Christians, Muslims and Christians of Middle Eastern heritage, as well as a few local Jews met for the first time ever Tuesday evening July 19th at the Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Advent in downtown Birmingham, Alabama to hear Naim Ateek, President-Founder of Jerusalem based Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center concede that Palestinians are willing to accept a peace based not "on absolute justice, but justice with mercy." He explained that justice with mercy minimally means that Israel must "get out of the West Bank, and Gaza," even though the state of Palestine, which would then be created, would not occupy all the land originally assigned to it by the United Nations in 1947.

In answer to the continuously circulating charge that the Arab world's aim is to eliminate the Jewish State of Israel, the Anglican theologian/nonviolent peace activist countered by asserting that "contrary to what you have heard, we want to live in peace...To destroy Israel would be creating an injustice, although creating Israel was a great injustice."

Later in a talk to a noontime audience at the Cathedral the next day, Wednesday, July 11th, he reiterated, "We are not saying that Israel must come to an end. But we are saying that the occupation must come to an end." He drew a sustained applause when he specifically emphasized that ending the occupation means that Israel must "get out of the settlements." The settlements, currently housing more than 400,000 Israelis, he suggested could be used to resettle many Palestinians who were forced to flee even before the creation of Israel in 1948, and again after the 1967 war.

Reverend Dr. Ateek's words were in dramatic contrast to other words disturbing many in the audience still discussing among themselves a Commentary published two days earlier in the state's largest newspaper, the Birmingham News. Written by the Executive Vice-president of the local Jewish Welfare Federation, Richard Friedman, it argued that the IDF's (Israel Defense Force) massive retaliation to the current uprising in the occupied territories was a legitimate case of "do it to them, before they do it to us...I think the job of Americans who care about Israel and who support a strong, mutually beneficial US-Israel relationship," Friedman added, "is not to say what Israel should or shouldn't do."

But Ateek who says his calling is to speak prophetically rather than politically, acknowledged that "peace will only be made in Washington, DC....[and that won't happen until the US understands that if there] is no justice, there can be no peace."

The heavily promoted visit to Birmingham of the internationally known author of "Justice, and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation," drew its audience from as far away from Birmingham as Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the North Alabama Cities of Huntsville and Gadsden.

His two days of public talks and private meetings were coordinated by the North Central Alabama Episcopal Peace Fellowship in partnership with a rainbow of area interfaith and intercultural organizations: the Birmingham Human Rights Group, the Birmingham Muslim Community, the Muslim Students Association, (University of Alabama at Birmingham Chapter), Mary's House Catholic Worker, National Council on US Arab Relations Gulf States Committee, and Pax Christi Birmingham.

The Advent Cathedral hosted his two public presentations: Tuesday evening July 10th and Wednesday noon July 11th, as well as an enthusiastic reception/buffet at the Cathedral guest house before his Tuesday evening talk. In addition the Birmingham Muslim Community hosted another speaking opportunity at a breakfast in his honor at a local restaurant. Although he insisted that international law acknowledges the right of people under occupation to resist by any means, he warned his early morning listerners that the sides are farther apart than ever because of the unprecedented turn to violence by both Israel and Palestine. Hate is on the increase, he said, because neither Israeli nor Palestinian leadership are able to contain the tendency to eliminate all direct action except violence.

Reverend Ateek also met with the editorial boards of Birmingham's two daily newspapers, the Birmingham News and the Birmingham Post Herald. In discusions with Editors at the Birmingham News he offered his vision of a Jerusalem that would be an open city that could be the capital of both Palestine and Israel. The areas occupied by each he explained, would be administered by Jewish and Palestinian municipal councils.

The Birmingham News followed up with a story on Ateek the following day (July 12th), and it also published three letters to the editor, which were critical of the Friedman commentary. The News is notorious in Alabama peace and justice circles for its heavily pro-Israel editorial leanings. So the article and three letters constituted an extremely rare editorial break for Palestine and nonviolence in Birmingham.

Naim Ateek's visit to Birmingham was also used as a catalyst for a small unpublicized meeting of area Muslims, Christians, and pro-justice for Palestine Jews who at the end agreed to build on the initial contact and dialogue.

Reverend Ateek was deeply moved by his reception in Birmingham and to know that his visit had sparked the largest gathering in city history of all "the people of the book," (Muslims, Christians, and Jews) on behalf of ending Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem. He confessed privately that he had never expected to be able to state Palestine's case publicly in Birmingham, but having experienced the enthusiasm with which he was received, he hoped it would not be the last.