News Archive

World UMC Urges Boycotts & Sanctions, Not Divestment

elaine — Sat, 05 May 2012 09:27:51 -0700

from the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=3205

World United Methodist Church Recommends Boycotts & Sanctions; Rejects Divestment

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation was honored to witness and support a historic vote by the world United Methodist Church (UMC)’s 2012 General Conference (GC), the highest decision-making body of the church, to adopt a resolution:

1. Urging the U.S. government to “end all military aid to the region”;

2. Calling on “all nations to prohibit… any financial support by individuals or organizations for the construction and maintenance of settlements”; and

3. Calling on “all nations to prohibit… the import of products made by companies in Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.”

At the same time, the US Campaign regrets that the GC subsequently voted against a resolution to divest from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and Hewlett Packard (HP) due to the corporations’ complicity in the Israeli occupation. For more than forty years, the UMC has passed countless resolutions condemning the Israeli occupation and affirming the rights of the Palestinian people to freedom and self-determination. The divestment campaign, led by United Methodist Kairos Response (UMKR), a US Campaign coalition member, sought to align UMC policy with UMC pension fund investments in response to the Kairos Palestine document, a call from Palestinian Christians to move from sympathetic words to tangible action.

The votes followed multiple impassioned speeches on the GC plenary floor, witnessed by 1,000 voting delegates; hundreds of supporters, bishops, and church leaders; and thousands around the world online. (TO CONTINUE READING, CLICK HERE) or go to:

http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=3205

Methodists Boycott Settlement Products

elaine — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:26:10 -0700

Wallwritings: http://wallwritings.me/2012/05/03/methodists-boycott-settlement-products...

Methodists Boycott Settlement Products

By a vote of 558 to 367, a strong majority of lay and clerical delegates to the United Methodist General Conference called this week for a boycott of Israeli companies operating in Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

The resolution denounces the Israeli occupation and the settlements in a sweeping indictment.

It calls for “all nations to prohibit the import of products made by companies in Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.”
The resolution was focused specifically on the settlements, not on the state of Israel. It states:

“The United Methodist Church does not support a boycott of products made in Israel. Our opposition is to products made by Israeli companies operating in occupied Palestinian territories.”
That was not an easy vote. It also was an important victory for anti-occupation forces in Tampa since it calls attention to one of three actions in the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that Palestinians have adopted as a non-violent way to attack the occupation.

The vote on a resolution calling for the UMC to divest its pension funds from three US Corporations, Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola Systems, was brought to the floor on Wednesday afternoon.

That resolution was a long shot from the outset. It lost after a series of votes that ended in a final 685 to 246 decision that the UMC would continue to finance the occupation.

One loss and one victory will prepare the United Methodist Church to take the next step in ending United Methodist support for the occupation. Like the segregated church it was until 1964, the United Methodist church can change.

In 1964, a United Methodist layman, W. Astor Kirk demonstrated how that change can happen. His life story was distributed by United Methodist News Service after his death eight months ago. The full story may be found at the end of this posting. (To continue reading, click here.)

Methodists Reject Divestment

elaine — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:32:18 -0700

from United Methodist Kairos Response:

United Methodist Church Fails to Align its Words with its Actions

Today, United Methodist Kairos Response (UMKR) did not get the decision that we had hoped for, as the General Conference plenary voted against a motion calling for divestment from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions, companies that profit from Israel's violations of Palestinian human rights and denial of Palestinian freedom. The conference faced a choice between standing with the oppressed as Jesus did, or yielding to fear. It appears that they yielded to fear as a result of misinformation spread about the consequences of supporting divestment.

However, we have achieved a great victory nonetheless. We have succeeded in raising awareness amongst the general public and in our churches about the suffering of Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians, living under Israel's nearly 45-year-old military occupation, and the colonization of their lands. The brutal reality of the Israeli occupation can no longer be hidden, and the myth that Christians are leaving the Holy Land because of Muslim pressure has been exposed as false. Palestinian Christians who traveled 6,000 miles to share their reality told delegates that they suffer alongside their Muslim neighbors from Israel's occupation.

Though the Pension Board has chosen to keep church funds in companies that profit from the occupation, a number of annual (regional) conferences within the church have already divested. Individual United Methodists will also do so. Friends Fiduciary, the large Quaker financial services corporation, voted last month to divest from Caterpillar. Other churches will soon follow the Quakers.

This issue has brought together conservative, moderate and liberal leaders in our own denomination, as well as others, who support justice and human rights for all, and we believe our shared experience in advocating for this issue will result in closer working relationships on other issues as well. The quest for justice unites people in ways that go far beyond theology, ethnicity, or politics. Deep and lasting interfaith friendships have been forged through this initiative. We have been humbled by the rabbis and other Jewish supporters who traveled to Tampa to stand with us.

Despite this disappointment, our efforts to inform and educate United Methodists and others about the plight of the Palestinians, and the ways in which church investments further their suffering, will continue, as will the global struggle for peace and justice for all the peoples of the Holy Land.

Tutu: "Justice requires action . . "

elaine — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:41:46 -0700

Justice requires action to stop subjugation of Palestinians

By Desmond Tutu, special to the Times
In Print: Tuesday, May 1, 2012

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/justice-requires-action-to-stop-subjugation-of-palestinians/1227722

A quarter-century ago I barnstormed around the United States encouraging Americans, particularly students, to press for divestment from South Africa. Today, regrettably, the time has come for similar action to force an end to Israel's long-standing occupation of Palestinian territory and refusal to extend equal rights to Palestinian citizens who suffer from some 35 discriminatory laws.

I have reached this conclusion slowly and painfully. I am aware that many of our Jewish brothers and sisters who were so instrumental in the fight against South African apartheid are not yet ready to reckon with the apartheid nature of Israel and its current government. And I am enormously concerned that raising this issue will cause heartache to some in the Jewish community with whom I have worked closely and successfully for decades. But I cannot ignore the Palestinian suffering I have witnessed, nor the voices of those courageous Jews troubled by Israel's discriminatory course.

Within the past few days, some 1,200 American rabbis signed a letter — timed to coincide with resolutions considered by the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA) — urging Christians not "to selectively divest from certain companies whose products are used by Israel." They argue that a "one-sided approach" on divestment resolutions, even the selective divestment from companies profiting from the occupation proposed by the Methodists and Presbyterians, "damages the relationship between Jews and Christians that has been nurtured for decades."

While they are no doubt well-meaning, I believe that the rabbis and other opponents of divestment are sadly misguided. My voice will always be raised in support of Christian-Jewish ties and against the anti-Semitism that all sensible people fear and detest. But this cannot be an excuse for doing nothing and for standing aside as successive Israeli governments colonize the West Bank and advance racist laws.

I recall well the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail in which he confesses to his "Christian and Jewish brothers" that he has been "gravely disappointed with the white moderate … who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action;' who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom. ..."

King's words describe almost precisely the shortcomings of the 1,200 rabbis who are not joining the brave Palestinians, Jews and internationals in isolated West Bank communities to protest nonviolently against Israel's theft of Palestinian land to build illegal, Jewish-only settlements and the separation wall. We cannot afford to stick our heads in the sand as relentless settlement activity forecloses on the possibility of the two-state solution.

If we do not achieve two states in the near future, then the day will certainly arrive when Palestinians move away from seeking a separate state of their own and insist on the right to vote for the government that controls their lives, the Israeli government, in a single, democratic state. Israel finds this option unacceptable and yet is seemingly doing everything in its power to see that it happens.

Many black South Africans have traveled to the occupied West Bank and have been appalled by Israeli roads built for Jewish settlers that West Bank Palestinians are denied access to, and by Jewish-only colonies built on Palestinian land in violation of international law.

Black South Africans and others around the world have seen the 2010 Human Rights Watch report which "describes the two-tier system of laws, rules, and services that Israel operates for the two populations in areas in the West Bank under its exclusive control, which provide preferential services, development, and benefits for Jewish settlers while imposing harsh conditions on Palestinians." This, in my book, is apartheid. It is untenable. And we are in desperate need of more rabbis joining the brave rabbis of Jewish Voice for Peace in speaking forthrightly about the corrupting decadeslong Israeli domination over Palestinians.

These are among the hardest words I have ever written. But they are vitally important. Not only is Israel harming Palestinians, but it is harming itself. The 1,200 rabbis may not like what I have to say, but it is long past time for them to remove the blinders from their eyes and grapple with the reality that Israel becoming an apartheid state or like South Africa in its denial of equal rights is not a future danger, as three former Israeli prime ministers — Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert and David Ben Gurion — have warned, but a present-day reality. This harsh reality endured by millions of Palestinians requires people and organizations of conscience to divest from those companies — in this instance, from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett Packard — profiting from the occupation and subjugation of Palestinians.

Such action made an enormous difference in apartheid South Africa. It can make an enormous difference in creating a future of justice and equality for Palestinians and Jews in the Holy Land.

Desmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, is archbishop-emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa.

[Last modified: Apr 30, 2012 05:41 PM]

Tutu Supports United Methodist Divestment

elaine — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:46:08 -0700

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Endorses United Methodist Divestment Resolution

26 April 2012

Dear Friends of the United Methodist Church

The situation in Israel and Palestine pains me greatly since it is the place where God formed a very particular relationship with a particular group of people; Hebrews who were oppressed as slaves in another land. As time moved on, this people disobeyed God and time and time again the prophets had to call them back to their deepest values.

The Jewish Holocaust, engineered and implemented primarily by Europeans, gave some ideologues within the Jewish and Christian community an excuse to implement plans that were in the making for at least 50 years, under the rubric of exceptional Jewish security. In this way began the immense oppression of the Palestinian people, who were not at all involved in the Holocaust. Not only is this group of people being oppressed more than the apartheid ideologues could ever dream about in South Africa, their very identity and history are being denied and obfuscated. What is worse, is that Europe and the USA are refusing to take responsibility for their actions with regard to both the Holocaust and the over-empowering of the Israelis, their disregard for the international conventions and regulatory framework of the nuclear industry and their continued oppression of the Palestinian people.

But God, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, neither slumbers nor sleeps. Prophetic voices have been calling this empowered people who were once oppressed and killed, to their deepest values of justice and compassion, but they have refused to listen even to the most reasonable voices. The human community cannot be silent in the face of the gross injustice being meted out to the people of Palestine. If international courts and governments refuse to deal with this matter, we in the churches and in the rest of civil society really have no choice but to act in small ways and big ways.

God is busy doing a new thing. And God is using all of us to be partners with him. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians have to be liberated, but at this stage the greater onus is on the Israelis since they are the ones who are in power, economically, politically and militarily. We have to think about ways that will allow them to reflect deeply on what it is that they are doing and bring them back from the brink, not out of spite or revenge, but because we love them deeply.

I therefore wholeheartedly support your action to disinvest from companies who benefit from the Occupation of Palestine. This is a moral position that I have no choice but to support, especially since I know of the effect that Boycotts, Disinvestment and Sanctions had on the apartheid regime in South Africa.

May God bless your conference as you deliberate on this matter, and I pray that your decision will reflect the best values of the human family as we stand in solidarity with the oppressed.

God bless you.

Archbishop-Emeritus Desmond Tutu
Cape Town, South Africa.

Source: https://www.kairosresponse.org/Endorsement_Statements.html

Opposing Christian Tourism to Holy Land, by Daoud Kuttab

elaine — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:35:40 -0700

THE PALM BEACH POST

Commentary: Ros-Lehtinen opposing Christian tourism to Holy Land
By Daoud Kuttab

Posted: 7:23 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The Palestinian people received some good news last month. After an eight-month delay, the hold placed on funds approved by Congress to Palestinians was lifted. This decision, however, came with some unusual conditions and restrictions.

The hold was apparently loosened after the executive branch threatened to override the objections of two members of Congress. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, announced on March 23 that she was ending her restriction on the funds, which were supposed to have been spent last year, after being satisfied that release of the aid was in the interests of peace and stability in the Middle East.

A second hold, placed by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, was only partially lifted, allowing for $88.6 million of the $147 million to be disbursed. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen conditioned the lifting of the hold with the understanding that the money not be used for assistance in Gaza. She also prohibited use for road construction projects in the West Bank, except if directly related to security.

Finally, and bizarrely, she denied use for trade facilitation, tourism promotion, scholarships for Palestinian students and other aid for Palestinian Authority agencies and ministries.

It is hard to understand why a member of Congress would set such conditions over the recommendations of USAID. The USAID money for reconstruction of Gaza was pledged by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and doesn't go to the Hamas-led government but to the people of Gaza, who suffered tremendous hardships during the Israeli war in 2008-09. Road construction and trade facilitation projects in the West Bank fit perfectly with the two-state solution, which Israel's prime minister supports.

But perhaps Rep. Ros-Lehtinen's most perplexing decision is her opposition to promoting Christian tourism to the Holy Land. According to a request for proposals from USAID, the U.S. government was looking for contractors able to help in rebuilding the following Christian sites in the occupied West Bank:

Burqeen church near Jenin, a Christian sanctuary dating to the early Byzantine era. The current structure dates to the 12th century.
Sabastia/Samria. The biblical capital of the Northern Kingdom of (Ancient) Israel, the current ruins date from the Roman period.
Tell Balata Archaeological Park in Nablus, which is listed as an archeological biblical site. It's the site of the Canaanite and biblical city of Shechem.
Jacob's well, reputed to be the site of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman. The site is also associated with the biblical patriarchs.
Shepherd's field in Beit Sahour, which is a Christian site near Bethlehem

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen's actions put her outside the positions of Catholic and Protestant leaders, who have made numerous public declarations in support of the Christian Palestinian community. Promoting tourism and pilgrims' visits to Christian sites in the Holy Land is something most Americans surely support

A hint of explanation might be found in reviewing Rep. Ros-Lehtinen's donor base. Campaign-finance records show that her top campaign contributor is Irving Moskowitz, the Florida businessman who is developing a controversial apartment project - intended exclusively for Jews - in occupied East Jerusalem's Shepherd Hotel.

In the U.S., as in most democratic countries, foreign policy is made by the executive branch. It is irrational that a Republican congresswoman, supported by a radical donor, can single-handedly oppose the will of the people.

The full Congress voted last summer on the entire aid package to the Palestinians. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen is the sticking point, and her restriction on the aid bill is damaging U.S. policy. Worse, she has taken a position that harms Christian Palestinians as well as American Christians who might want to visit the sites to which she is denying reconstruction funds.

Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist and a former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton.

Find this article at:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/commentary/commentary-ros-lehtinen-...

Open Letter from Naim Ateek to Bishop Jefferts Schori

elaine — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:37:03 -0700

An Open Letter to Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

3 April 2012

Dear Bishop Schori,

Greetings from Jerusalem on this holy week in which we remember the passion and suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Your words at the March 25th Los Angeles luncheon in which you emphatically said, invest in Palestine don't divest from Israel, reached us on Monday of Holy Week. Those words shocked and hurt us. They felt like nails hammered into our bodies and the truth of our reality, as though we Palestinians are living a lie -- only imagining things, and if we only eat, talk, and share our stories, everything will be alright.

For twenty years now, that is exactly what we have been doing - eating, drinking, telling each other our stories, not to mention hugging and embracing, meanwhile Israel was feasting on our land. Your words sounded as someone who never came and never saw. As we go through holy week, we feel the ongoing agony, pain, and oppression of our people -- our homes demolished, our land confiscated, our olive trees uprooted, our human and political rights denied and our dignity trampled. After over 40 years of misery we only hear "the Episcopal Church does not endorse divestment or boycott."

Economists' reports, including the World Bank's, have emphasized the futility of investment under occupation since all key aspects of a true economy are directly in the hands of Israel, the occupier. Israel alone holds control of the area's water, movement and access, every border, air-space, electricity, electromagnetic spectrum, and trade relations. Moreover, the Palestinians have recognized Israel (1988) and its right to exist (1993). They have renounced and denounced "terrorism" and accepted a Palestinian state on 22% of historic Palestine.

Yet, the occupation is not over. The settlements are expanding, our suffering continues, and the international community is unable to halt the injustice. Consequently, we see boycott, divestment, and sanctions as nonviolent direct action for the common good.

We thank God for those people - Christians, Muslims, and Jews who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Thank God for people of conscience who are lifting up their prophetic voice! Thank God for all those, religious and secular people that are standing with us in our nonviolent struggle.

By the mercy of God we will not allow the prophetic voice to die. Thank God for the prophetic voices of people who wrote comments after your words. Thank God for Bishop Desmond Tutu, who was not afraid to speak the truth to the powers when he saw the oppression of the Palestinians and declared that it was worse than Apartheid in South Africa!

It is appropriate to recall Jesus' entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to silence the disciples and the crowd who were shouting "Hosanna!" The word hosanna means save us now. It was the cry of oppressed people who were living under Roman occupation. They were looking for liberation from the yoke of the Romans. The powers were embarrassed and afraid of what the Roman soldiers might do as they were watching on. They turned to Jesus and said, "order them to stop." Jesus' response was, "if these were silent, the stones will shout out" (Luke 19:40).

If the church is afraid to cry out against injustice and oppression, the living stones, the common people will cry out. It is the cry of the widow to the unjust judge, "give me justice!" Ultimately, the future is for truth and justice because God is a God of truth and justice. It is only on such foundations that genuine peace can be built. It is not money that Palestinians need most, it is justice and liberation. Everything else will be added to us.

Next Sunday we will proclaim the victory of life over death, of justice over injustice, light over darkness, liberation over enslavement. We will continue to struggle for a just peace for all the people of our land.

Christ is Risen.

Naim Ateek
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, Jerusalem

cc. Bishop Suhail Dawani
Bishop J. Jon Bruno

Embodying Prophetic Consciousness, by Don Wagner

elaine — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:56:45 -0700

Embodying Prophetic Consciousness: The Case of Kairos-Palestine and the U.S. Response

by Don Wagner

March 28th, 2012
http://www.ecclesio.com/2012/03/embodying-prophetic-consciousness-the-case-of-kairos-palestine-and-the-u-s-response-by-don-wagner/

The Separation Wall as seen from inside Bethlehem

Theologian Walter Brueggemann’s recently updated volume The Prophetic Imagination opens with the author’s reflections on why the Prophets might have renewed relevance in 2012. Two of his observations struck home for me. The first concerns how “liberation theology” was barely on his radar in the first edition (1978), but today he sees it as an essential Biblical hermeneutic for interpreting the Hebrew Prophets and Jesus.

Brueggemann’s second observation sharpens his theological point and “gets in our face” a bit, claiming there is an absence of “prophetic consciousness” in our churches, synagogues, mosques, the academy, and society at large. He writes: “When one considers the issues of liberation and exploitation on the ground, then the intimate contact between biblical texts of a prophetic sort and matters of social justice, social interest, and social criticism seem to me to be incontrovertible. Moreover, the enmeshment of the United States church in the raging force of globalization and the easy accommodation of church faith and practice to consumer commoditism make the urgency of “prophetic consciousness” palpable among us.”1 Let’s call it “embodying prophetic consciousness.”

OK Walter, that’s easier said than done. “Embodying prophetic consciousness” is usually a slippery slope and one that raises the bar of consequences, whether it is institutional financial stability, job security, personal reputation, or a politician’s election campaign. Think of Jesus’ return to his hometown when he commented on the daily Torah portion in the local synagogue. The congregation responded by escorting him to a nearby cliff and threatened to throw him down into the abyss. Jesus’ casual remark after the incident is clearly understated: “No prophet is welcome in his hometown.”2 And quite often the prophet is not welcomed in the pulpit, as was his experience in Nazareth.

There are few contemporary issues that illustrate severe consequences and institutional angst as much as the long, protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many of us are aware of the pressures on politicians or even past Presidents who have challenged the pro-Israel narrative that dominates the mainstream media and political discourse in the United States. Jimmy Carter is among those who have seen what Israel is doing in the occupied territories and written about it, taking considerable abuse. Archbishop Desmond Tutu is another. Admittedly, the pro-Israel lobby organizations (both Jewish and Christian) have been highly successful in telling their side of the story by framing it with attractive sound bites: “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East,” and “our closest ally in a sea of Islamic extremism,” or “the tiny ‘David’ going up against the mighty Goliath” (the Arab and Islamic world). It’s easy to grasp, and their points make sense—at least until you question the logic, or better, see the Occupation up close.

Occasionally another Israeli narrative surfaces, such as recent claims by Israeli officials that Christians in Israel have grown by 1000% under Israeli rule. This was followed by an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on March 9, 2012, by Michael Oren, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, where he claimed Israel was the only safe haven for Christians in the Middle East. According to Oren, “Islamic extremism” is the reason some Christians leave the Israeli occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. His message is intended to resonate with the predominantly Christian west, especially the United States.

What Oren fails to tell us, however, is that Palestinian Christians and Muslims have been living together in harmony for centuries in what we call the Holy Land. They also face the same brutal treatment at the hands of the Israeli occupiers, die from the same bullets, see their homes bulldozed and their lands confiscated and turned into illegal Jewish (only) settlements. They live behind a 24-foot wall that chokes their towns and villages and cuts off farmers from tilling their lands, whether they are Christians or Muslims. The Israeli occupation is an equal abuser of Palestinian Christians and Muslims.

Israel’s respected daily, Ha’Aretz, carried a biting response to Ambassador Oren on March 26, 2012, by reporter Amira Hass. Hass cited a letter sent by eighty prominent Christian Palestinians, accusing Oren of manipulating the facts, stating: “Your attempt to blame the difficult reality that Palestinian Christians face on Palestinian Muslims is a shameful manipulation of the facts intended to mask the damage that Israel has done to our community.” They added, “The exaggerated growth of the Christian population in Israel that Mr. Oren claims is due primarily to the immigration of Russian Christians whom Israel was unable to distinguish from the Jewish immigrants pouring into the country after the fall of the Soviet Union.”3

In 2006, a survey of Palestinian Christians was conducted by Rifat Qassis, coordinator of Kairos-Palestine, asking why they were leaving their homeland. Qassis told Ha’Aretz: “the vast majority said their desire to emigrate was linked to the lack of security and stability they feel under Israeli rule. Less than one percent spoke about being afraid of Muslims.” The Kairos-Palestine letter to Oren added: “In the case of Bethlehem, it is in fact the rampant construction of Israeli settlements, the chokehold imposed by the separation wall and the Israeli government’s confiscation of Palestinian land that has driven many Christians to leave.”4

Palestinian Christians have been appealing to the world for nearly five decades concerning the rapid decline of Christianity in the occupied Palestinian territories. Few have listened. It is no mere coincidence that when Israel’s military occupation began in June 1967, Palestinian Christians were 13% of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip population. Today they are a meager 1.1 to 1.2% and well below 1% if you factor in 500,000 Jewish settlers now living in illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories. Some church leaders fear that at this rate there will be no Christians left in these parts of the Holy Land within a generation, unless something dramatic causes Israel to change its intransigence.

Palestinian Christians have stepped up their appeals to the world in recent years, culminating in the December, 2009 Kairos-Palestine Document. The statement is modeled after the 1985 Kairos South Africa document that awakened the global church and peace movement concerning the evils of the white South African Apartheid system and declared Apartheid a “sin.” Kairos-Palestine pinpoints the Israeli military occupation in the same way, a “sin” that has in fact become a racist apartheid system, privileging Jewish settlers and exploiting Palestinians within their own territories.

Like Kairos-South Africa, Kairos-Palestine is a prophetic cry to the global church and civil society, calling for an immediate response and courageous, prophetic actions. The authors of Kairos-Palestine summarized the essence of their message in a postscript to the Declaration: “In this historic document, we Palestinian Christians declare that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity, and that any theology that legitimizes the occupation is far from Christian teachings because true Christian theology is a theology of love and solidarity with the oppressed, a call to justice and equality among peoples.”5 Echoes of Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” are unmistakable.

In one of its most controversial sections, the authors invoke non-violent strategies, like those conducted during the struggle for civil rights and opposition to Apartheid in South Africa. No one in the pro-Israel community complained when these methods were used in those cases, and Israel used the boycott strategy in a number of cases. But when Palestinians call for divestment or boycotts, and their friends follow their lead, everything is different.

Kairos-Palestine argues that endless peace conferences, dialogue, and diplomacy have only brought more suffering to the Palestinian people. Now it is time for other methods, and they choose to follow the ethics of Jesus: “Christ our Lord has left us an example we must imitate. We must resist evil, but he taught us that we cannot resist evil with evil. This is a difficult commandment, particularly when the enemy is determined to impose himself and deny our right to remain here in our land…(Therefore) Palestinian civil organizations, as well as international organizations, NGOs and certain religious institutions call on individuals, companies and states to engage in divestment and in an economic and commercial boycott of everything produced by the occupation. We understand this to integrate the logic of peaceful resistance. These advocacy campaigns must be carried out with courage, openly and sincerely proclaiming that their object is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the perpetrators and the victims of injustice.”6

Inspired by Kairos-Palestine, a group of U. S. clergy, theologians, and laity met recently to consider “a bold, prophetic stand for justice in the Holy Land.” They added: “In acknowledging this Kairos moment, we call on the U.S. churches to take up the challenge. There is an urgent need to support nonviolent resistance to oppression on the part of Palestinian and Israeli civil society and to continue to build the growing international grassroots movement that will break the current political log-jam.”7

“Kairos-Palestine: A US Response” plans to bridge the divide among U.S. Evangelicals, mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, and African-American denominations, as all were represented at the organizing meeting. Among the programmatic goals of this response are calls for pilgrimages to Israel/Palestine; dissemination of a “Call to Action” with accompanying study materials for churches, universities, and community organizations; convening a summit on the theology of the land, peoplehood, and prophetic justice; and connecting U.S. churches, synagogues, and mosques to civil society in Israel and Palestine, as well as to Kairos Palestine movements around the globe.

The timing of these efforts could not be more relevant as at least two major U.S. Protestant denominations will consider resolutions on morally responsible investment in the coming months. In late April 2012, the United Methodist Church will consider such a resolution at their international assembly in Tampa, Florida, followed by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in July 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA at its General Assembly. Both resolutions are responses to the call from their sister churches in Israel and the Occupied Territories. The churches are applying the same ethical principles for morally responsible investment as they have applied in previous cases such as Apartheid in South Africa, Sudan ethnic cleansing in Darfur, and divesting from corporations producing weapons or instruments that destroy lives or the livelihood of civilians.

Perhaps it is ironic that the global church, and particularly churches in the United States, are being challenged by a courageous, prophetic “call” from a small but courageous community, their sisters and brothers in the very lands where the Christian message was first heard. These sisters and brothers are hoping and praying that the global church will not let them down in their hour of need and will begin to embody prophetic consciousness.

1. Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, Augsburg Fortress Publications: (2012, Kindle Edition).

2. Luke 4: 24 (English Standard Version; read Luke 4:14-30 for the whole incident).

3. “Christian Palestinians: Israel ‘manipulating facts’ by claiming we are welcome,” Amira Hass. Ha’aretz (March 26, 2012) (www.haaretz.com. accessed March 26, 2012)

4. Ibid.

5. Kairos-Palestine, www.kairospalestine.ps

6. Ibid.

7. “Kairos-Palestine: A US Response” will provide theological analysis and resources starting with a “US Document”; please address requests to info@kairosusa.org

Rev. Dr. Don Wagner is the National Program Director of FOSNA, Friends of Sabeel–North America, working closely with faith based communities in the US and Canada to promote a just peace in Israel/Palestine. Previously he was a Professor of Middle East Studies and Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University in Chicago. He is an ordained PC(USA) clergyman.

Christian Palestinians: Israel 'Manipulating Facts'

elaine — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:58:23 -0700

Christian Palestinians: Israel 'manipulating facts' by claiming we are welcome

Israel's envoy to U.S. writes that Christians are morethan elsewhere in Mideast. Too bad the Christians disagree.

By Amira Hass

HAARETZ, March 26, 2012

http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/christian-palestinians-israel-manipulating-facts-by-claiming-we-are-welcome-1.420718

Here's some information that Interior Minister Eli Yishai might want to consider: Since the 1948 establishment of the State of Israel, its Christian communities have expanded 1,000 percent.

This information might have excited the Americans who read a March 9 opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal written by Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, about Christians being forced out of Arab countries but flourishing in Israel.

Of course, Oren does not mention the Christians who lived in the country before 1948 and fled the horrors of war or were expelled by us - and who, like their Muslim compatriots, were not allowed to return to their homes after the establishment of the state.

He does, however, bring up the Jews who were expelled from Arab states. (Zionist ideology wants to have its cake and eat it too: It wants all the Jews from around the world to immigrate to Israel, and for this purpose it sent special emissaries who not only prepared the flying carpets but also encouraged and intensified the panic and flight; in the meantime, it complains about bans on Zionist activity and about the expulsion of Jews. )

Nor does Oren mention the systematic decline in the status of Jews from Arab states, who became third-rate citizens after they moved to Israel, a proxy agent of the enlightened West (a fan of slaves and other countries' natural resources ) in the barbaric Middle East. He is too busy with current matters:

"As 800,000 Jews were once expelled from Arab countries, so are Christians being forced from lands they've inhabited for centuries," he writes. Of all the countries in the region, he adds, a Christian community is thriving only in the State of Israel.

Oren distinguishes between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In these Palestinian areas, he says, the Christian community is dwindling: "Christians in those areas suffer the same plight as their co-religionists throughout the region."

This statement sparked the following rebuke from Yisrael Medad, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Shilo, to post a comment: "Mr. Ambassador, Your repetitive use of 'West Bank' is unfortunate. Not only is it incorrect geopolitically, historically and legally; not only does it go against the direction of your superior, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who calls the area 'disputed'; but it is simply damaging diplomatically. Use 'Judea and Samaria,' please." And here we have the Israeli right wing airing its dirty laundry in public, or at least in front of whoever bothers reading the more than 240 reader comments.

The Wall Street Journal also published four letters rebutting Oren's article. Geographic definitions were the least of the concerns expressed by Rev. Robert O. Smith of Chicago, who wrote: "The biggest problem with Mr. Oren's analysis, however, is that it stands in sharp disagreement with the perspectives shared by those he presumably wants to protect. Mr. Oren seeks to speak for Palestinian Christians before he has spoken with them."

And Oren's piece did, in fact, anger these Christian Palestinians. Eighty prominent Christian Palestinians signed a letter sent to the ambassador last week in response to his article, accusing the ambassador of manipulating the facts.

"Your attempt to blame the difficult reality that Palestinian Christians face on Palestinian Muslims is a shameful manipulation of the facts intended to mask the damage that Israel has done to our community," they said in the letter. "The exaggerated growth of the Christian population in Israel that Mr. Oren claims is due primarily to the immigration of Russian Christians whom Israel was unable to distinguish from the Jewish immigrants pouring into the country after the fall of the Soviet Union."

One of the letter's signatories is Rifat Qassis, the coordinator of Kairos Palestine, an umbrella organization of Palestinian Christians of various denominations that was founded in 2009 to explain, primarily to fellow Christians, what Israel's occupation is all about. Speaking in measured tones, Qassis, who lives in the West Bank town of Beit Sahur, told me: "Oren is trying to reap propaganda dividends from what is occurring in the Arab world, whereas the context in which we Christian Palestinians live is completely different. There are problems in this region, and I don't want to downplay them, but Oren is trying to erase the occupation as the main cause of Palestinian suffering."

In 2006, Qassis conducted a survey of Christians who live in the occupied Palestinian territories, and, he says, the vast majority said their desire to emigrate was linked to the lack of security and stability they feel under Israeli rule. Less than 1 percent spoke about being afraid of Muslims.

Kairos Palestine also sent a letter to The Wall Street Journal that blamed Israeli policy for driving away Christians, but it was not published. "In the case of Bethlehem, for instance, it is in fact the rampant construction of Israeli settlements, the chokehold imposed by the separation wall and the Israeli government's confiscation of Palestinian land that has driven many Christians to leave," the letter states. "At present, a mere 13 percent of Bethlehem-area land is left to its Palestinian inhabitants."

The letter also states that Oren's article "reveals a disturbing conception of democracy itself" by claiming that Israel is acting to promote the prosperity of Christians who live under its rule.

"Oren implies the Israeli state's lack of interest in ensuring the same [prosperity] for Muslims. Any democratic state that bothered to implement its own ideals - and, moreover, any ambassador to such a state - would be ashamed of such an evidently distorted attitude toward its inhabitants and their rights," the Palestinian Christians write.

They also expressed amazement at Oren's "ludicrous boast" that Israel guarantees free access to all Christian holy sites, writing that "one of occupation's chief outrages is the fact that anyone would need a permit to visit the city to begin with: restricted freedom of movement is among the fundamental injustices constricting our lives."

"Out of Palestine", America Magazine

elaine — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:39:03 -0800

Out of Palestine
Solidarity with a displaced people

Elizabeth G. Burr | America Magazine | FEBRUARY 27, 2012

Recently I asked Dominique Najjar, a Palestinian Christian who lives with his wife and children in Minneapolis, why so many Palestinians are leaving Palestine. He told me the story of how he and two of his three brothers, all aspiring professionals, immigrated to the United States from East Jerusalem out of “economic necessity,” starting in the early 1970s. “My parents needed support,” he said, explaining that economic advancement was impossible under Israeli control. This took place within the first decade of the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, which began after the 1967 war and is illegal under international law.

But there is more to Mr. Najjar’s story. He and one of his brothers did not intend to emigrate permanently from their homeland. After they had moved to the United States, however, Israel revoked their Jerusalem residency status. Now they are given 90-day tourist visas when they return to their hometown, where their 89-year-old mother lives alone. Since none of her seven adult children enjoys residency status in Jerusalem any longer, none can do more than visit her. She receives daily “compassion and attention” from her Muslim neighbors next door. Najjar remarked that the revocation of his residency status is “all part of the Israeli effort to minimize the number of non-Jews in Jerusalem.”

It is difficult for citizens of other countries to appreciate what the occupation means for Palestinians who are not citizens of the country that rules them (unlike Israeli Palestinians who live in the recognized State of Israel). A reading of the 30 articles of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) reveals that very few of these rights are applied to occupied Palestinians. Directly relevant to Mr. Najjar’s story, for example, Article 13 (2) states, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” People of conscience are faced with the oppression of an indigenous population in their own homeland, and Christians worldwide must confront the truth that Palestinian Christians are walking down a long Via Dolorosa from which, without international intervention, the only exit is exile.

Indigenous Christians have lived in Palestine since the origins of Christianity about 2,000 years ago. Over the centuries other Christians immigrated to Palestine. Palestinian Christians comprised at least 15 percent of the Palestinian population in the late 19th century, under Ottoman Muslim rule, and about 7.5 percent by 1944, in the final years of the British Mandate. During the 1948 war, which resulted in the establishment of the State of Israel in much of historic Palestine, more than a third of Palestinian Christians were among the 750,000 to 800,000 refugees forced to flee their homes in Palestine. The Israeli historian Ilan Pappé has described Israel’s “war of independence,” which Palestinians call the nakba (catastrophe), as “the ethnic cleansing of Palestine” in his book by that title published in 2006.

The Lydda Death March

Audeh Rantisi, a Palestinian Christian, has written in The Link, a journal published by Americans for Middle East Understanding, about his family’s expulsion from Lydda, near Tel Aviv, in July 1948, along with that of thousands of other residents. An 11-year-old at the time, Rantisi witnessed: an infant being crushed to death by a cart after his mother lost hold of him, an Israeli soldier shooting to death a newly married young man who would not hand over his money, people dying of thirst and many more horrors. He reports that “scores of women miscarried, their babies left for jackals to eat.” On the fourth day of the “Lydda death march,” his 13-member family reached Ramallah, in the West Bank, “carrying nothing but the clothes we wore.” His father also took with him the key to their house. Generations of the Rantisi family had lived in Lydda for some 1,600 years.

Mr. Pappé is not alone among scholars who have identified a Zionist ideology of exclusion as the engine driving the expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 or who have interpreted Israeli policy since then as a continuing campaign of ethnic cleansing. By 2011 the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip had reached its 44th year. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the occupation has brought the construction of scores of “settlements” in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which currently house at least half a million Israeli settlers. Five years ago Israel had already expropriated 87 percent of East Jerusalem and 75 percent of the West Bank for settlements, parks and military areas. Thus less and less Palestinian land is available for Palestinian housing, agriculture or other uses. Human rights abuses of Palestinians abound under the occupation, which appears designed to make their lives so unbearable that they will “voluntarily” leave.

The emigration of Palestinian Christians from the occupied territories to the West since 1967 has also reduced their number to the point where Christians currently account for less than 2 percent of the Palestinian population under occupation. And the rate of population growth for Palestinian Christians in the West Bank amounts to just half of their emigration rate. Without a stabilization or reversal of the net decline, the extinction of Palestinian Christians in the territories is conceivable. Even in 2006 only about 50,000 Palestinian Christians were living in the West Bank and Gaza.

What explains the ongoing exodus of Christians from Palestine? Some attempts at an explanation are misleading. In line with the Islamophobia notable in Europe and in the United States, Israeli propaganda points to tension and conflict with Palestinian Muslims, who comprise more than 98 percent of the Palestinian population under occupation, as the key reason for Palestinian Christian emigration. Israel has long encouraged political and religious division among Palestinians. Yet when I interviewed the Christian Palestinian secretary general of the East Jerusalem Y.W.C.A. in June 2009, she said that relations between Palestinian Muslims and Christians have been and remain largely positive. In her view “religious extremism” has been fostered by the environment of stress, chaos and conflict produced by the Israeli occupation. Indeed, there is a long history of good relations between Palestinian Muslims and Christians. Palestinians of both faiths experienced the catastrophe of 1948 together, and since 1967 those in the West Bank and Gaza have experienced the catastrophe of the Israeli occupation together.

‘Pull’ and ‘Push’ Factors

Palestinian Christians have tended to be well educated, relatively advantaged economically and more likely than their Muslim counterparts to have contacts in the West. Those could be considered “pull” factors behind the Palestinian Christian exodus. The “push” factors are the economic, political and social consequences of the Israeli occupation, with its “apartheid wall,” checkpoints and segregated road system; its ever-expanding settlements, destruction of Palestinian agriculture and demolition of Palestinian homes; its lawless, weapon-toting settlers; and its incarceration, with systematic torture, of thousands of Palestinians.

A 2006 survey of Palestinian Christians conducted by the Palestinian Christian peace organization Sabeel confirms the decisive influence of these “push” factors. Romell Soudah, a faculty member in business administration at Bethlehem University, a Catholic institution, writes that “the continuous confiscation of land...coupled with restrictions on mobility and access, give the impression that people are living in a cage, dehumanized, with little hope for freedom and normal living. This situation...is the primary factor…forcing Christian Palestinians to leave.” These Israeli actions, plus water confiscation and economic strangulation, which drive unemployment and poverty levels upward, are seen as calculated means of emptying the land of Palestinians. Thus Christian Palestinian emigration is the most visible effect of Israel’s deliberate, if gradual, ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population.

Why Care?

Why should Americans care if Palestinian Christians in the West Bank are leaving their homeland twice as fast as their population there is growing? The erasure of native Christians from Palestine should be unthinkable. Palestine is where Christianity originated, and Palestinian Christians have a unique status in the worldwide Christian community. Americans should be outraged that U.S. policy, buttressed by generous funding from their tax dollars, makes possible the Israeli occupation and its discriminatory policies.

These policies include a campaign to revoke the time-honored tax-exempt status of Christian churches and other Christian institutions, like the Lutheran Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives, and prohibition of access to holy sites (for example, barring West Bank Christians from visiting the Holy Sepulcher, traditionally regarded as the burial place of Jesus, in Jerusalem’s Old City). Orthodox Jewish harassment of Christian clergy in the Old City is commonplace. Hanan Chehata, a journalist, reports that “numerous churches have been destroyed during Israeli military incursions, divided from their congregations by the wall, and exposed to dilapidation.” Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity suffered physical damage during the Israeli incursion and siege of 2002. The wall now encircles Bethlehem, separating it from nearby Jerusalem; residents of Bethlehem are prevented from entering Jerusalem and vice versa. A majority of Bethlehem’s Christians hold Israel responsible for the departure of record numbers of Palestinian Christians from their city.

Yet Western Christians often fail to recognize the imperiled existence of their Palestinian co- religionists. Moreover, there are millions of Christian Zionists whose interpretation of New Testament prophecies allies them with Israeli Zionism and against the Christians of Palestine. They imagine that there is serious division between Palestinian Muslims and Christians, whereas the far more prevalent tension is between Palestinian Christians and some Israeli Jews (settlers, military and government leaders or those who represent them). The continued presence of Palestinian Christians in Palestine offsets the misperception that the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” is really about relig ion—a conflict between Muslims and Jews, rather than one about land, human rights and international law.

A Palestinian Christian friend wrote to me recently regarding the typical pattern of Muslims and Christians working together cooperatively and harmoniously within Palestinian institutions and organizations. Among the examples she mentioned is the Rawdat El-Zuhur (Garden of Flowers) elementary school in East Jerusalem, which has a Christian principal, a Muslim accountant, a mixed teaching staff and a mixed student body. Rawdat El-Zuhur, she wrote, “serves the community irrespective of [the members’] faith.” Likewise at Birzeit University, north of Ramallah, the president is Muslim and the chairman of the board is Christian; the board members are mixed, as are the staff and the student body.

To their credit, Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, are prominent among church leaders who have advocated worldwide Christian solidarity with Palestinian Christians. Informed American Christians committed to peace with justice are called to stand up both to Christian Zionism and to U.S. government underwriting of the illegal Israeli military occupation that is driving Palestinians, and disproportionately Christian Palestinians, out of their native country. In the prophetic words of the Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

Elizabeth G. Burr, who teaches part-time at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minn, has been concerned with the Israel-Palestine issue for more than 40 years.

SOURCE: http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=13275

BDS: Olympia Food Co-Op Wins

elaine — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 09:35:36 -0800

Olympia Food Co-Op Wins Anti-SLAPP Motion, Court Dismisses StandWithUs Lawsuit

by: Richard Silverstein, RichardSilverstein.com | Report
http://www.truth-out.org/olympia-food-coop-wins-anti-slapp-motion-court-dismisses-standwithus-lawsuit/1330530579

Today, a Washington state court dismissed a lawsuit brought against the Olympia Food Coop by StandWithUs and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

[The] court dismissed the case, calling it a SLAPP – Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation – and said that it would award the defendants attorneys’ fees, costs, and sanctions. The judge also upheld the constitutionality of Washington’s anti-SLAPP law, which the plaintiffs had challenged.

In a court hearing last Thursday, lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP argued that the court should grant the defendants’ Special Motion to Strike and dismiss the case because it targeted the constitutional rights of free speech and petition in connection with an issue of public concern.

“We are pleased the Court found this case to be what it is – an attempt to chill free speech on a matter of public concern. This sends a message to those trying to silence support of Palestinian human rights to think twice before they bring a lawsuit,” said Maria LaHood, a senior staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights.

…We’re thrilled that the court saw fit to protect the board’s right to free speech. This decision affirms the right to engage in peaceful boycotts without fear of being dragged through expensive litigation,” said Bruce E.H. Johnson of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, who drafted Washington State’s Anti-SLAPP law.

…“Today’s victory is not only for the Co-op, but one for free speech,” said Jayne Kaszynski, spokesperson for the Olympia Food Co-op, and one of the defendants in the case.”

In this case, the issue was whether the food coop had the right to ban nine Israeli products from its shelves in support of the global BDS movement. This action was taken according to coop rules which permitted the board by concensus to approve this measure. The plaintiffs could’ve requested a vote of the entire membership to confirm or reject the board’s decision, but refused to go this route. They ran for the coop board in the next election on a platform that opposed the board’s BDS decision and lost.

Though five coop members sued the coop itself in this case, the plaintiffs were recruited by the right-wing pro-Israel advocacy group, StandWithUs and Israel’s Northwest Consul General, Akiva Tor. SWU and the MFA also recruited the lawyers representing the anti-BDS group. Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, told an Israeli TV news show that the government was using such suits in order to pre-empt what he called efforts to delegitimize Israel internationally. Thus, today’s court victory is a small, but important victory in the battle to bring Israel’s human rights abuses and illegal Occupation to a broader public audience. It is a defeat for the Israeli government and its NGO allies who seek to sweep such issues under the rug and use lawfare tactics to battle human rights activists.

The plaintiffs refuse to declare who is paying the legal fees and the attorney has refused to say that he is doing the case pro bono. Bob Sulkin, the senior partner responsible for the case, has been publicly associated with SWU fundraising efforts in the past and his wife is on the group’s board. It’s also not known who will be paying the fine and court costs ordered by the judge.

Plaintiff’s attorneys told The Olympian that the matter would be decided in the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court, indicating an appeal is likely. It would also appear that the Israeli government, seeing this type of lawfare as a potent strategy in the fight against what they see as delegitimization, would want to maintain the suit as long as possible and as high up the judicial food chain as possible. Even judicial sanctions and fines like the ones the judge levied today are unlikely to deter.

Presbyterian Leadership Takes Historic Stand

elaine — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:35:06 -0800

Press Release - for immediate release
contact: info@theIPMN.org

Presbyterian Leadership Takes Historic Stand

LOUISVILLE, KY - February 17, 2012 - The General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to send a recommendation to the July meeting of the 220th General Assembly (national Presbyterian voting body) to divest its holdings from Caterpillar, Inc., Hewlett Packard, and Motorola Solutions. The original recommendation came from the denomination’s Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee (MRTI) at its meeting of September 2011. MRTI’s recommendation first went to the GAMC Subcommittee on Justice, who passed it on to the larger body by unanimous consent.

Brian Ellison, Chair of MRTI, made presentations to both the subcommittee and the larger body, covering the long and painstaking process of corporate engagement that led to this recommendation. A Presbyterian pastor from Kansas City, Ellison made it clear that MRTI’s attempts at engagement with the top executives of these companies over the years have borne no fruit and that according to the Presbyterian Church’s own investment guidelines, MRTI is left without any choice but to recommend divestment as the last step of the process. When asked why these companies are being singled out among all those that do business in Israel, Ellison said that these companies profit from non-peaceful pursuits by supporting illegal occupation, which is not in line with Presbyterian values or investment philosophy.

When a member of the subcommittee mentioned that she had received information by e-mail from a Presbyterian opponent of divestment suggesting that MRTI had not gone far enough in contacting company executives, Ellison disagreed and went on to say that MRTI and its ecumenical partners persistently contacted CEOs and top executives of the three companies over several years, and received no meaningful responses to their questions or concerns.

The Israel Palestine Mission Network of the PC(USA) [IPMN]commends the General Assembly Mission Council for this historic vote. Much like the decision by Presbyterians in 1983 to divest from companies profiting from Apartheid in South Africa, this is an action that will send a clear message to the world that our Church will do everything in our power to make sure it does not profit from violence or the systematic violation of Palestinian human rights. If history is our guide, then such action, when combined with those of other religious bodies and individuals of conscience, will help bring change and transformation to the land that holds deep meaning for all the people of the three Abrahamic faiths.

About IPMN: In joyful obedience to the call of Christ, and in solidarity with churches and our other partners in the Middle East, this network covenants to engage, consolidate, nourish, and channel the energy in the Presbyterian Church (USA) toward the goal of a just peace in Israel /Palestine by facilitating education, promoting partnerships, and coordinating advocacy.
Our network speaks TO the Church not FOR the Church.

for story by Presbyterian News Service on PC(USA) website, please click here.

"Collapse With Agency", Jeff Halper

elaine — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:26:11 -0800

YOU CAN’T GET THERE FROM HERE: THE NEED FOR “COLLAPSE WITH AGENCY” IN PALESTINE

Jeff Halper

Even as I write this, the bulldozers have been busy throughout that one indivisible country known by the bifurcated term Israel/Palestine. Palestinian homes, community centres, livestock pens and other “structures” (as the Israel authorities dispassionately call them) have been demolished in the Old City, Silwan and various parts of “Area C” in the West Bank, as well among the Bedouin – Israeli citizens – in the Negev/Nakab. This is merely mopping up, herding the last of the Arabs into their prison cells where, forever, they will cease to be heard or heard from, a non-issue in Israel and, eventually, in the wider world distracted from bigger, more pressing matters.

An as-yet confidential report submitted by the European consuls in Jerusalem and Ramallah raises urgent concerns over the “forced expulsion” of Palestinians – a particularly strong term for European diplomats to use –from Area C of the West Bank (the 60% of the West Bank under full Israeli control but which today contains less than 5% of the Palestinian population). Focusing particularly on the rise in house demolitions by the Israeli authorities and the growing economic distress of the Palestinians living in Area C, the report mentions the fertile and strategic Jordan Valley (where the Palestinian population has declined from 250,000 to 50,000 since the start of the Occupation), plans to relocate 3000 Jahalin Bedouins to a barren hilltop above the Jerusalem garbage dump and the ongoing but accelerated demolition of Palestinian homes (500 in 2011).

At the same time the “judaization” of Jerusalem continues apace, a “greater” Israeli Jerusalem steadily isolating the Palestinian parts of the city from the rest of Palestinian society while ghettoizing their inhabitants, more than 100,000 of which now live beyond the Wall. Some 120 homes were demolished in East Jerusalem in 2011; over the same period the Israeli government announced the construction of close to 7000 housing units for Jews in East and “Greater” Jerusalem. “If current trends are not stopped and reversed,” said a previous EU report, “the establishment of a viable Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders seems more remote than ever. The window for a two-state solution is rapidly closing….”

In fact, it closed long ago. In terms of settlers and Palestinians, the Israeli government treats the whole country as one. Last year it demolished three times more homes of Israeli citizens (Arabs, of course) than it did in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The demolition of Bedouin homes in the Negev/Nakab is part of a plan approved by the government to remove 30,000 citizens from their homes and confine them to townships.

None of this concerns “typical” Israelis even if they have heard of it (little appears in the news). For them, the Israeli-Arab conflict was won and forgotten years ago, somewhere around 2004 when Bush informed Sharon that the US does not expect Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders, thus effectively ending the “two-state solution,” and Arafat “mysteriously” died.

Since then, despite occasional protests from Europe, the “situation” has been normalized. Israelis enjoy peace and quiet, personal security and a booming economy (with the usual neoliberal problems of fair allocation). The unshakable, bi-partisan support of the American government and Congress effectively shields it from any kind of international sanctions. Above all, Israeli Jews have faith that those pesky Arabs living somewhere “over there” beyond the Walls and barbed-wire barriers have been pacified and brought under control by the IDF. A recent poll found that “security,” the term Israelis use instead of “occupation” or “peace,” was ranked eleventh among the concerns of the Israeli public, trailing well behind employment, crime, corruption, religious-secular differences, housing and other more pressing issues .

As for the international community, the “Quartet” representing the US, the EU, Russia and the UN in the non-existent “peace process” has gone completely silent. (Israel refused to table its position on borders and other key negotiating issues by the January 26th “deadline” laid down by the Quartet, and no new meetings are scheduled). The US has abandoned any pretence of an “honest broker.” Months ago, when the US entered its interminable election “season,” Israel received a green light from both the Democrats and Republicans to do whatever it sees fit in the Occupied Territory. Last May the Republicans invited Netanyahu to address Congress and send a clear message to Obama: hands off Israel. That same week, Obama, not to be out-done, addressed an AIPAC convention and reaffirmed Bush’s promise that Israel will not have to return to the 1967 borders or relinquish its major settlement blocs in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. He also took the occasion to promise an American veto should the Palestinians request membership in the UN – though that would merely amount to an official acceptance of the two-state treaty that the US claims it has been fostering all these years. No, as far as Israel and Israeli Jews are concerned, the conflict and even the need for pretence is over. The only thing remaining is to divert attention to more “urgent” global matters so that the Palestinian issue completely disappears. Voila Iran.

Oh, but what about the “demographic threat,” that “war of the womb” that will eventually force a solution? Well, as long as Israel has the Palestinian Authority to self-segregate its people, it has nothing to worry about. While the Palestinian Authority plays the “two-state solution” game, Israel can simply herd the Palestinians into the 70 tiny islands of Areas A and B, lock the gates and let the international community feed them – and go about placidly building a Greater Land of Israel with American and European complicity. Indeed, nothing demonstrates self-segregation more than Prime Minister Salem Fayyad’s neoliberal scheme of building a Palestinian ...something… “from the ground up.” By building for the well-to-do in new private-sector cities like Rawabi, located safely in Area A, by building new highways (with Japanese and USAID assistance) that respect Israeli “Greater” Jerusalem and channel Palestinian traffic from Ramallah to Bethlehem through far-away Jericho, by expressing a willingness to accept Israeli territorial expansion in exchange for the ability to “do business,” Fayyad has invented yet a new form of neoliberal oppression-by-consent: viable apartheid (viable, at least, for the Palestinian business class). And as in the Bantustans of apartheid South Africa, the Palestinian Authority maintains a repressive internal order through its own American-trained/Israeli-approved militia, a second layer of occupation. (During the 2008 assault on Gaza, one of the few places in the world in which there were no demonstrations was the West Bank, where they were forbidden by the Palestinian Authority. Then-Prime Minister Olmert crowed that this was evidence of how effectively the Palestinians had been pacified.)

Indeed, by clinging to the two-state solution and continuing to participate in “negotiations” years after they have proven themselves a trap, the Palestinian leadership plays a central role in its own people’s warehousing. The reality – even the fact – of occupation gets buried under the diversions set up by the fraudulent yet unending “peace process.” This only enables Israel not only to imprison the Palestinians in tiny cells; witness today’s mini-ethnic cleansing, just one of thousands of micro-events that have the cumulative effect of displacement, expulsion, segregation and incarceration. It also enables Israel to then blame the victims for causing their own oppression! When a Palestinian leadership assumes the prerogative to negotiate a political resolution yet lacks any genuine authority or leverage to do so, and when, in addition, it fails to abandon negotiations even after they have been exposed as a trap, it comes dangerously close to being collaborationist. For its part, Israel is off the hook. Instead of going through the motions of establishing an apartheid regime, it simply exploits the willingness of the Palestinian Authority to perpetuate the illusion of negotiations as a smokescreen covering its virtual imprisonment of the Palestinian “inmates.” Once the current mopping up operations are completed, the process of incarceration will be complete.

Today the only alternative agency to the Palestinian Authority is segments of the international civil society. The Arab and Muslims peoples for whom Palestinian liberation is an integral part of the Arab Spring, stand alongside thousands of political and human rights groups, critical activists, churches, trade unions and intellectuals throughout the world. Crucial as it is for keeping the issue alive and building grassroots support for the Palestinian cause that will steadily “trickle up” and affect governments’ policies, however, civil society advocacy is a stop-gap form of agency, ultimately unable to achieve a just peace by itself. We, too, are trapped in the dead-end personified by the two-state solution, reference to a “peace process” and their attendant “negotiations.” There is no way forward in the current paradigm. We must break out into a world of new possibilities foreclosed by the present options: a “two-state” apartheid regime or warehousing.

In my view, while advocacy and grassroots mobilization remain relevant, several tasks stand before us. First, we must endeavour to hasten the collapse of the present situation and subsequently, when new paradigms of genuine justice emerge from the chaos, be primed to push forward an entirely different solution that is currently impossible or inconceivable, be that a single democratic state over the entire country, a bi-national state, a regional confederation or some other alternative yet to be formulated. The Palestinians themselves must create a genuine, inclusive agency of their own that, following the collapse, can effectively seize the moment. Formulating a clear program and strategy, they will then be equipped to lead their people to liberation and a just peace, with the support of activists and others the world over.

A necessary and urgent first step towards collapsing the otherwise permanent regime of oppression in Israel/Palestine is that we stop talking about a two-state solution. It’s dead and gone as a political option – if, indeed, it ever really existed. It should be banned from the discourse because reference to an irrelevant “solution” only serves to confuse the discussion. Granted, this will be hard for liberals to do; everyone else, however, has given up on it. Most Palestinians, having once supported it, now realize that Israel will simply not withdraw to a point where a truly viable and sovereign state can emerge. The Israeli government, backed by the Bush-Obama policies on the settlement blocs, doesn’t even make pretence of pursuing it anymore, and the Israeli public is fine with the status quo. Nor does the permanent warehousing of the Palestinians seem to faze the American or European governments, or the Arab League. Even AIPAC has moved on to the “Iranian threat.”

Behind the insistence of the liberal Zionists of J Street, Peace Now, the Peace NGOs Forum under the umbrella of the Peres Center for Peace and others to hang on to a two-state solution at any cost is a not-so-hidden agenda. They seek to preserve Israel as a Jewish state even at the cost of enforcing institutional discrimination against Israel’s own Palestinian citizens. The real meaning of a “Jewish democracy” is living with apartheid and warehousing while protesting them. No, the liberals will be the hardest to wean away from the two-state snare. Yet if they don’t abandon it, they run the risk of promoting de facto their own worst nightmare of warehousing while providing the fig-leaf of legitimacy to cover the policies of Israel’s extreme right – all in the name of “peace.” This is what happens when one’s ideology places restrictions on one’s ability to perceive evil or to draw necessary if difficult conclusions. When wishful thinking becomes policy, it not only destroys your effectiveness as a political actor but leads you into positions, policies and alliances that, in the end, are inimical to your own goals and values. Jettisoning all talk of a “two-state solution” removes the major obstacle to clear analysis and the ability to move forward.

The obfuscation created by the “two-state solution” now out of the way, what emerges as clear as day is naked occupation, an apartheid regime extending across all of historic Palestine/Israel and the spectre of warehousing. Since none of these forms of oppression can ever be legitimized or transformed into something just, the task before us becomes clear: to cause their collapse by any means necessary. There are many ways to do this, just as the ANC did. Already Palestinian, Israel and international activists engage in internal resistance, together with international challenges to occupation represented by the Gaza flotillas and attempts to “crash” Israeli borders. Many civil society actors the world over have mobilized, some around campaigns such as Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), others around direct actions, still others engaged in lobbying the UN and governments through such instruments as the Human Rights Council, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and international courts. There have been campaigns to reconvene the Tribunal that, under the Fourth Geneva Convention, has the authority and duty to sanction Israel for its gross violations. Dozens of groups and individuals alike engage in public speaking, mounting Israel Apartheid Weeks on university campuses, working through the media and much more.

And here is where Palestinian civil society plays a crucial role, a role that cannot be played by non-Palestinians. If it is agreed that the Palestinian Authority must go if we are to get beyond the two-state trap – indeed, the dismantling of the PA being a major part of the collapse of the present system – then this call must originate from within the Palestinian community. Non-Palestinians must join in, of course, but the issue of who represents the Palestinians is their call exclusively.

Non-Palestinians can suggest various end-games. I’ve written, for example, about a Middle East economic confederation, believing that a regional approach is necessary to address the core issues. The Palestinian organization PASSIA published a collection of twelve possible outcomes. It is obvious, though, that it is the sole prerogative of the Palestinian people to decide what solution, or range of solutions, is acceptable. For this, and to organize effectively so as to bring about a desired outcome, the Palestinians need a new truly representative agency, one that replaces the PA and gives leadership and direction to broad-based civil society agency, one that has the authority to negotiate a settlement and actually move on to the implementation of a just peace.

As of now, it appears there is only one agency that possesses that legitimacy and mandate: the Palestinian National Council of the PLO (although Hamas and the other Islamic parties are not (yet) part of the PLO). Reconstituting the PNC through new elections would seem the most urgent item on the Palestinian agenda today – without which, in the absence of effective agency, we are all stuck in rearguard protest actions and Israel prevails. Our current situation, caught in the limbo between seeking the collapse of the oppressive system we have, and having a Palestinian agency that can effectively lead us towards a just resolution, is one of the most perilous we’ve faced. One person’s limbo is another person’s window of opportunity. Say what you will about Israel, it knows how to hustle and exploit even the smallest of opportunities to nail down its control permanently.

“Collapse with agency,” I suggest, could be a title of our refocused efforts to weather the limbo in the political process. Until a reinvigorated PNC or other representative agency can be constituted, a daunting but truly urgent task, Palestinian civil society might coalesce enough to create a kind of interim leadership bureau. This itself might be a daunting task. Most Palestinian leaders have either been killed by Israel or are languishing in Israeli prisons, while Palestinian civil society has been shattered into tiny disconnected and often antagonistic pieces. At home major divisions have been sown between “’48” and “’67” Palestinians; Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank have been effectively severed; and within the West Bank restrictions on movement among a bewildering array of “areas” – A, B, C, C-Restricted, H-1, H-2, nature reserves, closed military areas – have resulted in virtual, largely disconnected Palestinian mini-societies. Political divisions, especially among secular/traditional and Islamic factions, have been nurtured, not least by Israel. Overall, the Palestinian population, exhausted by years of sacrifice and resistance, impoverished and preoccupied with mere survival, has been left largely rudderless as many of its most educated and skilled potential leaders have left or are forbidden by Israel to return.
For its part, the Palestinian leadership has done little to bridge the wider divisions amongst those falling under PA rule, Palestinian citizens of Israel, residents of the refugee camps and the world-wide Diaspora, divisions that have grown even wider since the PLO and the PNC fell moribund. Indeed, major portions of the Palestinian Diaspora (and one may single out especially but not exclusively the large and prosperous communities of Latin America), have disconnected from the national struggle completely. The Palestinians possess some extremely articulate spokespeople and activists, but they tend to be either a collection of individual voices only tenuously tied to grassroots organizations, or grassroots resistance groups such as the Popular Committees that enjoy little political backing or strategic direction.

Ever aware that the struggle for liberation must be led by Palestinians, our collective task at the moment, in my view, is to bring about the collapse of the present situation in Palestine in order to exploit its fundamental unsustainability. The elimination of the Palestinian Authority is one way to precipitate that collapse. It would likely require Israel to physically reoccupy the Palestinian cities and probably Gaza as well (as if they have ever been de-occupied), bringing the reality of raw occupation back to the centre of attention. Such a development would likely inflame Arab and Muslim public opinion, not to mention that of much of the rest of the world, and would create an untenable situation, forcing the hand of the international community. Israel would be put in an indefensible position, thus paving the way for new post-collapse possibilities – this time with an effective and representative Palestinian agency in place and a global movement primed to follow its lead.

But given the underlying unsustainability of the Occupation and the repressive system existing throughout historic Palestine – the massive violations of human rights and international law, the disruptive role the conflict plays in the international system and its overt brutality – collapse could come from a variety of places, some of them unsuspected and unrelated to Israel/Palestine. An attack on Iran could reshuffle the cards in the Middle East, and the Arab Spring is still a work in progress. Major disruptions in the flow of oil to the West due an attack on Iran, internal changes in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, instability in Russia and even the fact that China has no oil of its own could cause major financial crises worldwide. Sino-American tensions, environmental disasters or Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling into the hands of the Taliban with unpredictable Indian reactions may all play an indirect yet forceful role. Who knows? Ron Paul, President Gingrich’s newly appointed Secretary of State, might end all military, economic and political support for Israel, in which case the Occupation (and more) would fall within a month.

Whatever the cause of the collapse – and we must play an active role in bringing it about – it is incumbent upon us to be ready, mobilized and organized if we are to seize that historic moment, which might be coming sooner than we expect. Effective and broadly representative Palestinian agency will be critical. Collapse with agency is the only way to get “there” from “here.”

Jeff Halper is the Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD).

Presbyterian Mission Network Condemns Smear Campaign

elaine — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:44:41 -0800

NEW YORK — This week has brought broad-side attacks on the Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from the organized Jewish community in the U.S. In order to understand the latest vitriol coming from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) towards the IPMN, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), one has to imagine the feeling of sheer desperation that results when a fantasy world comes crashing down. The world where Israeli government policy cannot be criticized is a thing of the past. There is vigorous debate within the Jewish community around Israel’s military occupation, and groups like the JCPA and others are losing control of the narrative.

For the record, the Israel Palestine Mission Network is not an anti-Semitic organization. It does oppose Israeli government policy that sustains illegal occupation and violates Palestinian human rights every day. The IPMN is also a proponent of open dialogue and debate about the issues that prevent a just peace. The truth is that the JCPA, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and other “pro-Israel” organizations do not desire open and free discussion about these issues in America, and when they don’t want to talk about the facts on the ground, they resort to slanderous smear campaigns.

The recent attack by the JCPA on IPMN, as well as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mirrors exactly the criticism leveled at these same faith groups at roughly the same time of year back in 2010. What is the correlation? This is the run-up to the national summer gathering of the Presbyterian General Assembly that deliberates on church policy every two years. In 2010 the bogeyman was the Middle East Study Committee Report that came before that body for approval. For all the critical hype from the JCPA, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and others at that time, and all the credit these organizations shamelessly took for supposedly changing the document to their liking, the reality is that the report was never substantially changed. All the original recommendations were approved, but JCPA leadership somehow called that a win. That final report is on record and can be compared to what had been originally proposed. The comparison shows no substantive difference between what was recommended and what was ultimately approved. But in today’s climate, if you say you won loud enough, you actually start to believe it yourself.

This year the JCPA concern comes in trying to stem the unstoppable tide of a growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Presbyterians and Methodists are leading the way in the faith community, along with many other Christian, Jewish and secular grassroots organizations across the United States, to stop profiting from the Israeli Occupation. The BDS movement is saying the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is wearing no clothes; you can’t say you want a just peace and at the same time build settlements on Palestinian land at break-neck pace. With Archbishop Desmond Tutu publicly stating that the present state of affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is akin to what he vividly remembers as South African Apartheid, the pro-Israeli groups are desperately losing ground. Part of their tactics, as outlined by the Tel Aviv-based Reut Institute, is to delegitimize any opposition to Israeli government policy by accusing those who disagree with it of engaging in anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and even anti-Semitic behavior. It is a campaign known as “delegitimizing the delegitimizers” and it has millions of dollars behind it.

For too long pro-Israel groups in the United States have promoted a two-state solution even while Israeli policy insures that such a thing cannot possibly exist (all one needs to do is travel there to witness the facts on the ground). They have perpetuated the lie that those city-sized, Jewish-only settlements being built nonstop deep into Palestinian territory are not really illegal colonies; and have disingenuously insisted that the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Palestine has not been on the Zionist agenda since the days of Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, long before 1948.

Answering every false charge leveled against IPMN by these groups accomplishes nothing more than plunging a peace-dedicated volunteer mission network, whose projects are funded by small pledges by its members, into a mud pit where paid “pro-Israel” lobbyists desperately fight to take back control of a debate they can no longer win through their bullying behavior. The JCPA, AJC and others should spend their time and energy on the issues that are barriers to peace, not on name-calling and attacks in an attempt to change the subject.

About IPMN: According to our General Assembly mandate, in joyful obedience to the call of Christ, and in solidarity with churches and our other partners in the Middle East, the IPMN covenants to engage, consolidate, nourish, and channel the energy in the Presbyterian Church (USA) toward the goal of a just peace in Israel/Palestine by facilitating education, promoting partnerships, and coordinating advocacy.

http://religionnews2.ehclients.com/press-releases/presbyterian-mission-network-condemns-smear-campaign

FOSNA Names New Program Director

elaine — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:39:39 -0800

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Sister Elaine Kelley
Friends of Sabeel-North America
PO Box 9186, Portland, OR 97207
friends@fosna.org
(503) 653-6625

Friends of Sabeel—North America Names The Rev. Dr. Donald E. Wagner as Program Director
New Position to Facilitate Growing Sabeel Volunteer Network

PORTLAND, Oregon, January 24, 2012 – The Rev. Dr. Donald E. Wagner has been named Program Director of Friends of Sabeel-North America (FOSNA), a nonprofit Christian ecumenical organization seeking peace in the Holy Land and working directly with Palestinian Christians through the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. The new staff position was established to address an increasing awareness among American Christians of the Palestinian Christian community and the principles required for a “just peace” between Israel and Palestine.

Rev. Wagner, an ordained Presbyterian minister who holds a Master in Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, has been an active volunteer “friend” of Sabeel since its beginnings in the early 1990s, as an organizer of local events and as a frequent lecturer at FOSNA regional educational conferences and Sabeel’s international events in the Holy Land. He recently served as Research Professor for Interfaith Engagement at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. From 1995 to 2010 he was Professor of Comparative Religious Studies and Middle East Studies at North Park University in Chicago where he also founded and directed its Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He is the author of four books, including Anxious for Armageddon: A Call to Partnership for Middle Eastern and Western Christians (1995) and Dying in the Land of Promise: Palestine and Palestinian Christianity from Pentecost-2000 (2003). His extensive experience and knowledge include five years as a leader of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding where he worked in collaboration with the Middle East Council of Churches to organize conferences and educational travel throughout the Middle East. He was Director of Middle East Programs at Mercy Corps International in Chicago from 1990 to 1995 and served as the National Director of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign in Chicago from 1980 to 1989.

The Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, founder and director of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem said, “I am very pleased to have Don leading FOSNA’s programs. He has been committed to this issue for many, many years, especially to Palestinian students whom he helped to obtain scholarships. He demonstrated long ago his passion for justice for oppressed Palestinians, and he has been committed ever since.”

Part of Rev. Wagner’s job as program director will be to support regional volunteers in organizing FOSNA events (see conference history pages at fosna.org). Sabeel conferences attract wide participation from an ecumenical audience by offering speakers representing the Palestinian Christian and Muslim communities as well as the Israeli Jewish community—religious leaders, scholars, writers and activists.

Rev. Wagner will be giving much attention to efforts to develop the Kairos Palestine movement in the U.S. The Kairos Palestine Document (http://www.kairospalestine.ps/) is a statement launched by Palestinian Christian leaders in the Holy Land in December 2009. Subtitled “A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering”, it is their “word to the world about what is happening in Palestine”, a historic statement modeled on the Kairos call of South African religious leaders striving to end Apartheid. Kairos Palestine is a call to action, including the use of nonviolent tools like boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). “Kairos Palestine is a hopeful and natural partner for FOSNA and Sabeel worldwide”, says Wagner, “who have been prophetic voices throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States on BDS, particularly with the churches.”

Rev. Wagner comes to a new staff position that for the past ten years has been accomplished through the dedicated volunteer efforts of the Rev. Canon Richard K. Toll of Portland, Oregon, a retired Episcopal priest who has served both as volunteer program director and as chair of the board of directors. Rev. Toll will continue to serve on the board of FOSNA and to participate in its activities. “We have accomplished much in the past decade,” said Rev. Toll, “but the times call for new energy and new leadership to take the Sabeel message to a wider Christian audience. I am very pleased that we now have Don to carry things forward.”

Rev. Dr. Wagner can be reached through FOSNA by email at don.wagner@fosna.org.

Desmond Tutu Christmas Message to FOSNA

elaine — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:23:37 -0800

A Message from our Patron, Archbishop Desmond Tutu

TREE of LIFE
The Healing of the Nations

Dear Friends of Sabeel,

Greetings from our home in Cape Town, South Africa, and our blessing to all of you as you begin your celebrations for Advent and Christmas.

This is the season of the Prince of Peace whom we call our Savior and Healer. Our message, as we end the 15th year of faithful ministry of Friends of Sabeel-North America, is The Healing of the Nations, and we enclose as our Christmas gift to you an original design of the Tree of Life from Revelation 22:2, whose leaves hold medicine for the healing of the nations. This painting, donated by artist Linda Dalal Sawaya, depicts the native olive tree of the Holy Land as an integral part of its beautiful landscape and of Palestinian heritage, as well as the source of livelihood for Palestinian farmers.

For those of us in the worldwide movement for justice and peace, the healing of the nations will come out of a long struggle for justice and an enduring quest for peace through truth and reconciliation--made visible in the political and economic life of nations. We are witnesses to the Palestinian quest for justice, for a free and viable state of their own in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. We have heard the eloquent statement of President Mahmoud Abbas before the general assembly of the United Nations and await the historic decision on the recognition of Palestine as a nation among nations.

You, as a supporter of Friends of Sabeel, are a leaf on the Tree of Life, "and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." (Rev 22:2). It is your local work, your educational events, your letters to lawmakers, your donations, your prayers, your voice raised up! Your faithfulness and generosity help the tree grow higher, wider, its roots grow deeper and stronger.

We are grateful for your witness, for the work you are doing in your communities, and we encourage your continued faithful endurance in the quest for justice and peace. Be assured we will continue this struggle, even in the face of the ongoing crisis of injustice which prolongs the suffering of the Palestinian people. May the enclosed Tree of Life poster serve as a daily reminder of your "rootedness" in a contemporary international Christian movement based in the Gospel of the Prince of Peace and his promise of the peaceful future to come. Please send your generous Christmas donation to Friends of Sabeel in the envelope provided.

Wishing you a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year,

+Desmond M. Tutu Archbishop Emeritus

Your Christmas Donation
If you are a Friends of Sabeel member you will be receiving the above letter from Archbishop Tutu and an enclosed gift poster (11" x 14") by regular mail. If you are not on our membership mailing list and would like a poster mailed to you, please donate online and provide your mailing address, along with a note requesting the poster. MERRY CHRISTMAS! AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Click here to donation now.

SABEEL Christmas Message 2011

elaine — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:30:14 -0800

SABEEL’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2011

Envisioning a world where peace with justice reigns

The message of the angel to the shepherds was one of liberation, “Fear not, for I bring you tidings of great joy which will be for all people…” As the company of angels joined the first messenger and gave glory to God, they emphasized the gift of peace and goodwill. The only possibility for peace and goodwill is through work for justice; work that moves the world in a direction away from empire, away from war, and toward God’s vision of peace and reconciliation. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem embodies this movement.

Sabeel started the year 2011 in a way that reflected this embodied movement with its 8th international conference. Titled “Challenging Empire: God, Faithfulness, and Resistance” we gathered over 300 participants from around the world to give glory to God, and analyze the situation of empire which makes the realization of peace with justice difficult in Palestine-Israel.

We continued throughout the year to examine the concept and reality of empire through Sabeel’s grassroots programs (for the community, women, clergy, and youth). As 2011 approaches its end, we offer the following Christmas message:

The Christmas narrative according to the Gospels paints a realistic picture of the historical contexts in which Jesus was born. The greatest empire the ancient world had known, the Roman Empire, was in complete control. Caesar Augustus stood at the top of the hierarchy. Herod is named as a client king, and the text mentions religious leaders who collaborate with the imperial system. This system created an environment of total domination; many were oppressed and caught up in these damaging societal structures. Others rejected the system and engaged in occasional uprisings against the Romans; while others retreated into the desert to escape oppression. Into such a milieu, Jesus was born.

The message that the Gospels record about Jesus’ birth include words that ordinary people living under occupation and oppression long to hear, “Do not fear! There is good news that will give joy to all people, a savior is born!” God has sent a liberator, and he is born in a humble setting. Indeed, liberation will neither come from the king’s palace nor from the courts of religious leaders but from among the people. In addition to being a message of comfort, it is a word of invigorating challenge: a strong invitation for each person to take part in and witness to the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God.

This message brings to mind the vision of a world transformed, without war, a world of peace and security. This vision was already articulated by some of the prophets in the Old Testament, a vision of a world without violent conflict in which people change their weapons into farming tools, and instead of bloodshed, a life of peace and security emerges (see Micah 4:1-5; Isaiah 2:2-5; Psalm 46:9-12).

The message of the angels at Jesus’ birth and the vision of the prophets about peace, both reflect the accumulated experience of people through the journey of history: wars, violence, and corrupt economic systems fail to achieve an enduring peace.

How long will it be until we learn the lessons of history? How many more Christmas readings of the Gospels will occur before we jump out of our pews and run with the message?

Alas, the peace of empire is achieved by the crushing of the enemy; and it does not endure. The angels were shouting about a different kind of peace. Perhaps it sounded like the shouting of the millions around the world who have taken to the streets from Tahrir Square in Cairo to New York City to Brisbane to say “Khalas! Enough is enough!”?

Though justice, peace, and security for all continue to be elusive, we live in hope and act in confidence. To be sure, peace for the state of Israel will not come through eliminating the Palestinians, denying their political rights, and stripping them of their human dignity and land. Peace will not come by building the separation wall or expanding Israeli-only settlements and bypass roads in Palestine. Peace will come when the government of Israel implements the demands of international law and shows respect for the humanity of the Palestinians.

In a gesture for peace and reconciliation, the Palestinians have recognized the state of Israel and accepted a much smaller share of historic Palestine. It is time for the government of Israel to recognize the people of Palestine and their right to sovereignty and statehood. It is then that people can sit under their vine and fig trees and not be afraid. The message of the angels at the birth of Jesus Christ will be realized and peace on earth can become a possibility.

The challenge of the Christmas message for this year is to envision a world without empire, without war, without nuclear weapons, and without destructive arms. We must envisage a different world where peace is built on justice.

Sabeel wishes all of our friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Naim Ateek
Sabeel, Jerusalem
5 December 2011

"Peace with Justice" Greeting Cards

elaine — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:42:08 -0800

Holiday Greetings to all supporters of Peace with Justice in the Holy Land!

Friends of Sabeel–Detroit is sponsoring a fundraiser in support of Friends of Sabeel—North America by offering

these greeting cards featuring four designs by artist Michael Shamat:

Each pack of four unique cards includes four blank white mailing envelopes.
The 6 ¼ x 4 ½ cards are blank on the inside so they can be used for any occasion.

Minimum purchase—3 sets. Price includes shipping via US Postal Service:
3 sets (12 cards and envelopes) for $12 (or $8 for local sales without postage)
4 sets (16 cards and envelopes) for $14 (or $9 for local sales without postage)
5 sets (20 cards and envelopes) for $16 (or $11 for local sales without postage)
6 sets (24 cards and envelopes) for $17 (or $13 for local sales without postage)

Make checks payable to FOSNA and mail to:
FOSNA – Detroit
10104 Vernon Ave
Huntington Woods, MI 48070

We will promptly mail your order.

We wish you and yours a joyous Christmas Season and a Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

George Khoury
Nakba Survivor

Palestinians Get UNESCO Seat

elaine — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:33:48 -0700

Palestinians get Unesco seat as 107 vote in favour

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15518173

The UN cultural organisation has voted strongly in favour of membership for the Palestinians - a move opposed by Israel and the United States.

Of 173 countries voting, 107 were in favour, 14 opposed and 52 abstained.

Under US law, Washington can now withdraw funding to Unesco. This would deprive the agency of some $70m (£43.7m) - more than 20% of its budget.

The UN Security Council will vote next month on whether to grant the Palestinians full UN membership.

Membership of Unesco - perhaps best known for its World Heritage Sites - may seem a strange step towards statehood, says the BBC's Jon Donnison, in Ramallah, but Palestinian leaders see it as part of a broader push to get international recognition and put pressure on Israel.

This is the first UN agency the Palestinians have sought to join since submitting their bid for recognition to the Security Council in September.

"This vote will erase a tiny part of the injustice done to the Palestinian people," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the Unesco meeting in Paris, after the result was announced.

Widespread applause greeted the result of Monday's vote in the chamber, where a two-thirds majority is enough to pass the decision and no country has the right of veto.

The BBC's David Chazan in Paris says Arab states were instrumental in getting the vote passed despite intense opposition from the US.

He says that in an emotional session, China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa voted in favour of Palestinian membership, while the US, Canada and Germany voted against and the UK abstained.
'No shortcuts'

The outcome was swiftly denounced by the US and Israel.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Unesco vote was "premature and undermines the international community's shared goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East".

Earlier, US ambassador to Unesco David Killion said the "counterproductive" move "will complicate our ability to support Unesco's programmes."

"The only path to the Palestinian state that we all seek is through direct negotiations. There are no shortcuts," he told journalists.

A US law passed in the 1990s allows Washington to cut funding to any UN body that admits Palestine as a full member.

The US currently funds more than 20% of Unesco's entire budget. The proposed budget to be agreed by the conference for 2012 and 2013 is $653m, up $10m on the previous two-year figure.

An Israeli foreign ministry statement called the vote a "unilateral Palestinian manoeuvre which will bring no change on the ground but further removes the possibility for a peace agreement".

"The Palestinian move at Unesco, as with similar such steps with other UN bodies, is tantamount to a rejection of the international community's efforts to advance the peace process," it said.

The statement added that Israel would be considering further steps regarding its co-operation with Unesco.

Correspondents say Monday's vote is a symbolic breakthrough but that on its own it will not create a Palestinian state.

A vote is expected in November at the UN Security Council on granting full membership of the UN to the Palestinians. The US has said it will exercise its veto.

In the Holy Land, a Changed Christian World

elaine — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:11:37 -0700

Matti Friedman
The Statesman (Analysis)

October 27, 2011 - 12:00am
http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/in-the-holy-land-a-changed-christian-world-1936839.html

The schedules for Mass at the two Roman Catholic churches in Jaffa, on Israel's Mediterranean coast, reveal a change that has dramatically, if quietly, altered the face of Christianity in the Holy Land.

The two Masses in Arabic for the town's native Arab Christian population are outnumbered by four in English, attended mainly by Filipina caregivers. Then there are others in Spanish, for South Americans; French, for African migrants; three South Asian languages, including Konkani, spoken in the Indian district of Goa; and, for a generation of Christians raised among Israel's Jewish majority, Hebrew.

In September, a colorful celebration for Indian Catholics alone drew 2,000 people. That's twice the total number of native Catholics in the parish.

For centuries, Christianity here meant the ancient communities of Christian Arabs. They were here when Israel was created around them in 1948, and they have kept their distinct identity within the Jewish state since. The past two decades, however, have seen one of the most significant influxes of Christians into the Holy Land since the Crusades, and it has created a wholly new Christian landscape shaped by the realities of Israel.

The newcomers include guest workers from dozens of different countries who provide the economy with cheap labor, and asylum-seekers from Sudan, Eritrea and elsewhere in Africa who sneak across the border from Egypt. And for the first time, there is a significant population of non-Arab Christian Israeli citizens, mainly immigrants from the former Soviet Union who, unlike Arabs, are fully assimilated into the Jewish Israeli mainstream.

Their presence has created new challenges for local churches that are simultaneously, like churches across the Mideast, facing the uncertain future of their local flocks. The numbers of Israel's 110,000 native Arab Christians have largely stagnated: They're not shrinking, but neither are they growing, as many young people leave for the West, squeezed by the conflict between Jews and Muslims and party to the general sense of neglect shared by Israel's Arab citizens.

Father Ramzi Sidawi, an Arab Catholic from Jerusalem, is the parish priest in Jaffa. Outside the church windows, he said, he now listens every day to children from Africa and the Philippines playing in Hebrew, the language of their schools and their parents' employers.
"You have to divide yourself, switch between languages. We have to serve everybody," he said. "The biggest challenge is to maintain the community united and not divided."

That's a difficult task, considering the gulf of language and culture that divides the newcomers from each other and from Arab Christians. There don't seem to be overt frictions or resentments, but in practice, Sidawi said, there is little contact among them beyond shared Masses on Christmas and other festivals. The non-Arabs who attend church in Jaffa, for example, live elsewhere, mainly in foreign worker-dominated districts of nearby south Tel Aviv.

If one counts all of the people in Israel who are neither Jewish nor Muslim, these newcomers outnumber Arab Christians by more than five to one. The number of newcomers who are practicing believers is far smaller, but by some estimates they equal or outnumber the members of local churches.

"This creates concern for some that in the long term there could be a change in who the Christians of the Holy Land are, and concern about what will happen to the historic churches," said Amnon Ramon, who has researched these demographic changes as an expert on Christianity in Israel at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.

There are enough newcomers now for a Catholic cathedral in every major Israeli city, said Rev. David Neuhaus, who heads the Church's vicariate for Hebrew-speakers.

"We do not have enough clergy, and we do not have enough places to pray," he said. So services are held in ad hoc locations or in the existing Arab churches.

Clergymen now find themselves dealing with problems like Sudanese asylum-seekers trying to prove paternity without papers, choir members deported by Israeli immigration police, and children who go to Jewish public schools and are drawn not by their parents' Christianity but by the culture of their Israeli peers.

On a recent Sunday, the chapel at the Ratisbonne monastery in downtown Jerusalem rang with the sound of hymns in Tagalog, one of the languages of the Philippines. Most of the worshippers were women who serve as caregivers for elderly Israelis.
There were 5,000 Filipino workers in Israel when Father Angelo Beda Ison, a Manila-born Franciscan who tends to the local Filipino community, arrived in 1991. Today there are 40,000.

For the first time, the Catholic Church has to deal with Catholic kids who are assimilating into a Jewish majority. There are now several thousand children born to foreign workers who speak Hebrew as a first language, celebrate Jewish holidays with their classmates and are subject, like children everywhere, to the pull of the mainstream.

To bolster their faith, the local church has produced a catechism in Hebrew — "Meet the Messiah" — provides classes on Christianity in Hebrew and invites them to a Catholic summer camp, Rev. Neuhaus said. The church now has 25 clergymen tending to the transient populations, some brought in from the workers' countries of origin, he said.

Catholics are not the only Church dealing with demographic shifts.

Immigrants from the former Soviet Union began moving to Israel en masse in the early 1990s. Among the 1 million who came, about a third were not Jewish according to Jewish law but qualified for citizenship because they had a Jewish spouse or lineage. Among them were an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 practicing Christians, mostly Orthodox.

So the Russian Orthodox Church now holds services in Hebrew every week in Jerusalem.

"The Church never dreamed of such an arrival," said Father Alexandr Winogradsky, the priest who leads those services and a convert from Judaism originally from Ukraine. His job is to "try to acculturate the Church within the new Israeli culture and language."

Some of the new members, especially the young, are so assimilated into the Israeli mainstream they are uncomfortable entering a church, he said. Winogradsky goes to meet them, dressed in cassock and cross, for confession in cafes instead.

The tiny Ethiopian Orthodox Church, too, has been dealing with its own newcomers: asylum seekers from Eritrea reaching Israel in increasing numbers, smuggled in from Egypt by Bedouin. At a baptism ceremony on the Jordan River earlier this year, Eritreans were the most noticeable group.

These disparate groups of Christians share one trait — they have gone almost unnoticed by the majority of Israelis.
"This is a population that is present and absent at the same time," said Hana Bendcowsky of the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations. "No one here knows anything about their lives."