News Archive

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."

Christian Leaders Say Yes to Palestinian UN Membership

elaine — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:19:58 -0700

Christian Leaders Say Yes to Palestinian U.N. Membership
International law, basic fairness at stake, say PC(USA)’s Parsons, others

Presbyterian News Service
October 25, 2011

Louisville

Leaders of four denominations, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, have issued a statement backing the Palestinian Authority’s bid for membership in the United Nations.

U.N. membership for the Palestinians is deserved, the four leaders say, “not only on the basis of international law and basic fairness … but to preserve a multi-religious holy land that includes Christian Palestinians.

In addition to Parsons, the statement was signed by the Rev. Geoffrey Black of the United Church of Christ, the Rev. Sharon Watkins of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Jim Winkler of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society.

The full text of the statement, given to Presbyterian News Service on Oct. 24:

The Palestinians deserve membership in the United Nations — not only on the basis of international law and basic fairness — but to help preserve a multi-religious holy land that includes Christian Palestinians. We write as elected leaders of Protestant denominations with mission histories in the Middle East, a deep commitment to our sisters and brothers in Christ in the region, and a concern for the security of Israelis and Palestinians. We serve a God who calls us to seek justice. We look forward to the day when, by God’s grace, swords are beaten into plowshares. We stand united in prayer for peace and reconciliation among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. We write aware that an Obama Administration veto of Palestinian membership in the United Nations would put further pressure on Palestinian Christians and Christian minorities elsewhere in the Middle East.

We understand the view expressed by United States and Israeli representatives that international recognition by the UN is no substitute for two-party, two-state negotiations. But the reverse is also true, given the prolonged and undeniable failure of the negotiations between parties of vastly different power. Membership for Palestine does not preclude either the need for or the possibility of negotiations. Outstanding issues including an end to the occupation, final borders, the status of Jerusalem, settlements, and the right of return would remain to be resolved through negotiation. We believe that UN membership for Palestine would increase the likelihood of fair and transparent negotiations on these issues, as those negotiations would then take place between two members of the United Nations.

Moves in Congress to cut development aid to the Palestinian Authority to punish it for seeking UN membership seem unwise and counter-productive. Funds to strengthen security, education, and healthcare programs for ordinary Palestinians should not become pawns in the politics of a UN confrontation. In fact, cuts in aid from the U.S., the largest single-state donor to the Palestinians, would erode the quality-of-life improvements that have been achieved in the West Bank. Moreover, these cuts would be detrimental to the security of Israelis and Palestinians alike, not to mention U.S. interests in the region.

We are committed to the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security with their neighbors, within internationally recognized borders as described by UN resolutions that envision two viable states. We believe UN membership for Palestine would be a step in that direction.

No church leader wants controversy, yet we share a Bible that includes the critical and self-critical voices of the prophets. We invite those who disagree with us to visit Palestine and Israel, to go through the walls surrounding Bethlehem and Gaza, to understand the economic chokehold of the occupation.

We urge the Obama Administration not to use the veto for a 42nd time when the Security Council considers the recommendation for membership for Palestine, but to abstain—for the sake of a better future for the entire holy land.

Geoffrey A. Black
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ

Gradye Parsons
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sharon E. Watkins
General Minister and President
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Jim Winkler
General Secretary
United Methodist General Board of Church & Society

Source: http://www.pcusa.org/news/2011/10/25/christian-leaders-say-yes-palestine...

National ME Presbyterian Caucus Support and Endorses BDS

elaine — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:27:55 -0700

Nahida H. Gordon, Ph.D.
Moderator, National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus
Nahida.gordon@case.edu

National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus Supports and Endorses the Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions Campaign Against the Israeli Occupation of Palestine

As Middle Eastern Americans who trace their faith origin to the apostolic age, the members of the National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus (NMEPC) have a particular responsibility to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ; and to be a voice of justice, peace, and reconciliation in the USA and the Middle East.

To that end, NMEPC upon due consideration and deliberation at its biennial meeting August 23, 2011, endorsed the call by the Palestinian civil society for a boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

As noted in their call, "the representatives of Palestinian civil society call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era."
Further they request that "these non-violent, punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194."

Keeping in mind that a BDS campaign is an internationally accepted means for non-violent opposition to discrimination, racism, and bigotry and keeping in mind that a similar BDS campaign was instrumental in ending apartheid in South Africa, the NMEPC endorsement is in expectation that BDS will also be instrumental in ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and ending the Israeli government's crime of apartheid against the Palestinian.

The end of the occupation of Palestinian lands and the end of the system of apartheid against the Palestinian people will provide the basis for justice with reconciliation between the Israeli and Palestinian people.

Source: http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/pressreleases/nmepc_support_boyco...

Abbas' Historic Speech at UN

elaine — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:04:41 -0700

Full transcript of Mahmoud Abbas speech at UN General Assembly

View Video

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas addresses United Nations General Assembly after submitting application for recognition as independent Palestinian state to UN Chief Ban Ki-moon

Friday, September 23, 2011

Mr. President of the General Assembly of the United Nations,
Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the outset, I wish to extend my congratulations to H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser on his assumption of the Presidency of the Assembly for this session, and wish him all success.

I reaffirm today my sincere congratulations, on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian people, to the government and people of South Sudan for its deserved admission as a full member of the United Nations, wishing them progress and prosperity.

I also congratulate the Secretary-General, H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on his election for a new term at the helm of the United Nations. This renewal of confidence reflects the world’s appreciation for his efforts, which have strengthened the role of the United Nations.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Question Palestine is intricately linked with the United Nations via the resolutions adopted by its various organs and agencies and via the essential and lauded role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - UNRWA - which embodies the international responsibility towards the plight of Palestine refugees, who are the victims of Al-Nakba (Catastrophe) that occurred in 1948. We aspire for and seek a greater and more effective role for the United Nations in working to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in our region that ensures the inalienable, legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people as defined by the resolutions of international legitimacy of the United Nations.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

A year ago, at this same time, distinguished leaders in this hall addressed the stalled peace efforts in our region. Everyone had high hopes for a new round of final status negotiations, which had begun in early September in Washington under the direct auspices of President Barack Obama and with participation of the Quartet, and with Egyptian and Jordanian participation, to reach a peace agreement within one year. We entered those negotiations with open hearts and attentive ears and sincere intentions, and we were ready with our documents, papers and proposals. But the negotiations broke down just weeks after their launch.

After this, we did not give up and did not cease our efforts for initiatives and contacts. Over the past year we did not leave a door to be knocked or channel to be tested or path to be taken and we did not ignore any formal or informal party of influence and stature to be addressed. We positively considered the various ideas and proposals and initiatives presented from many countries and parties. But all of these sincere efforts and endeavors undertaken by international parties were repeatedly wrecked by the positions of the Israeli government, which quickly dashed the hopes raised by the launch of negotiations last September.

The core issue here is that the Israeli government refuses to commit to terms of reference for the negotiations that are based on international law and United Nations resolutions, and that it frantically continues to intensify building of settlements on the territory of the State of Palestine.

Settlement activities embody the core of the policy of colonial military occupation of the land of the Palestinian people and all of the brutality of aggression and racial discrimination against our people that this policy entails. This policy, which constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law and United Nations resolutions, is the primary cause for the failure of the peace process, the collapse of dozens of opportunities, and the burial of the great hopes that arose from the signing of the Declaration of Principles in 1993 between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel to achieve a just peace that would begin a new era for our region.

The reports of United Nations missions as well as by several Israeli institutions and civil societies convey a horrific picture about the size of the settlement campaign, which the Israeli government does not hesitate to boast about and which it continues to execute through the systematic confiscation of the Palestinian lands and the construction of thousands of new settlement units in various areas of the West Bank, particularly in East Jerusalem, and accelerated construction of the annexation Wall that is eating up large tracts of our land, dividing it into separate and isolated islands and cantons, destroying family life and communities and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families. The occupying Power also continues to refuse permits for our people to build in Occupied East Jerusalem, at the same time that it intensifies its decades-long campaign of demolition and confiscation of homes, displacing Palestinian owners and residents under a multi-pronged policy of ethnic cleansing aimed at pushing them away from their ancestral homeland. In addition, orders have been issued to deport elected representatives from the city of Jerusalem. The occupying Power also continues to undertake excavations that threaten our holy places, and its military checkpoints prevent our citizens from getting access to their mosques and churches, and it continues to besiege the Holy City with a ring of settlements imposed to separate the Holy City from the rest of the Palestinian cities.

The occupation is racing against time to redraw the borders on our land according to what it wants and to impose a fait accompli on the ground that changes the realities and that is undermining the realistic potential for the existence of the State of Palestine.

At the same time, the occupying Power continues to impose its blockade on the Gaza Strip and to target Palestinian civilians by assassinations, air strikes and artillery shelling, persisting with its war of aggression of three years ago on Gaza, which resulted in massive destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, and mosques, and the thousands of martyrs and wounded.

The occupying Power also continues its incursions in areas of the Palestinian National Authority through raids, arrests and killings at the checkpoints. In recent years, the criminal actions of armed settler militias, who enjoy the special protection of the occupation army, has intensified with the perpetration of frequent attacks against our people, targeting their homes, schools, universities, mosques, fields, crops and trees. Despite our repeated warnings, the occupying Power has not acted to curb these attacks and we hold them fully responsible for the crimes of the settlers.

These are just a few examples of the policy of the Israeli colonial settlement occupation, and this policy is responsible for the continued failure of the successive international attempts to salvage the peace process.

This policy will destroy the chances of achieving a two-State solution upon which there is an international consensus, and here I caution aloud: This settlement policy threatens to also undermine the structure of the Palestinian National Authority and even end its existence.
In addition, we now face the imposition new conditions not previously raised, conditions that will transform the raging conflict in our inflamed region into a religious conflict and a threat to the future of a million and a half Christian and Muslim Palestinians, citizens of Israel, a matter which we reject and which is impossible for us to accept being dragged into.

All of these actions taken by Israel in our country are unilateral actions and are not based on any earlier agreements. Indeed, what we witness is a selective application of the agreements aimed at perpetuating the occupation. Israel reoccupied the cities of the West Bank by a unilateral action, and reestablished the civil and military occupation by a unilateral action, and it is the one that determines whether or not a Palestinian citizen has the right to reside in any part of the Palestinian Territory. And it is confiscating our land and our water and obstructing our movement as well as the movement of goods. And it is the one obstructing our whole destiny. All of this is unilateral.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

In 1974, our deceased leader Yasser Arafat came to this hall and assured the Members of the General Assembly of our affirmative pursuit for peace, urging the United Nations to realize the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, stating: “Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand”.

In 1988, President Arafat again addressed the General Assembly, which convened in Geneva to hear him, where he submitted the Palestinian peace program adopted by the Palestine National Council at its session held that year in Algeria.

When we adopted this program, we were taking a painful and very difficult step for all of us, especially those, including myself, who were forced to leave their homes and their towns and villages, carrying only some of our belongings and our grief and our memories and the keys of our homes to the camps of exile and the Diaspora in the 1948 Al-Nakba, one of the worst operations of uprooting, destruction and removal of a vibrant and cohesive society that had been contributing in a pioneering and leading way in the cultural, educational and economic renaissance of the Arab Middle East.

Yet, because we believe in peace and because of our conviction in international legitimacy, and because we had the courage to make difficult decisions for our people, and in the absence of absolute justice, we decided to adopt the path of relative justice - justice that is possible and could correct part of the grave historical injustice committed against our people. Thus, we agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22% of the territory of historical Palestine - on all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967.

We, by taking that historic step, which was welcomed by the States of the world, made a major concession in order to achieve a historic compromise that would allow peace to be made in the land of peace.

In the years that followed - from the Madrid Conference and the Washington negotiations leading to the Oslo agreement, which was signed 18 years ago in the garden of the White House and was linked with the letters of mutual recognition between the PLO and Israel, we persevered and dealt positively and responsibly with all efforts aimed at the achievement of a lasting peace agreement. Yet, as we said earlier, every initiative and every conference and every new round of negotiations and every movement was shattered on the rock of the Israeli settlement expansion project.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I confirm, on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, which will remain so until the end of the conflict in all its aspects and until the resolution of all final status issues, the following:

1. The goal of the Palestinian people is the realization of their inalienable national rights in their independent State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on all the land of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in the June 1967 war, in conformity with the resolutions of international legitimacy and with the achievement of a just and agreed upon solution to the Palestine refugee issue in accordance with resolution 194, as stipulated in the Arab Peace Initiative which presented the consensus Arab vision to resolve the core the Arab-Israeli conflict and to achieve a just and comprehensive peace. To this we adhere and this is what we are working to achieve. Achieving this desired peace also requires the release of political prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons without delay.

2. The PLO and the Palestinian people adhere to the renouncement of violence and rejection and condemning of terrorism in all its forms, especially State terrorism, and adhere to all agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel.

3. We adhere to the option of negotiating a lasting solution to the conflict in accordance with resolutions of international legitimacy. Here, I declare that the Palestine Liberation Organization is ready to return immediately to the negotiating table on the basis of the adopted terms of reference based on international legitimacy and a complete cessation of settlement activities.

4. Our people will continue their popular peaceful resistance to the Israeli occupation and its settlement and apartheid policies and its construction of the racist annexation Wall, and they receive support for their resistance, which is consistent with international humanitarian law and international conventions and has the support of peace activists from Israel and around the world, reflecting an impressive, inspiring and courageous example of the strength of this defenseless people, armed only with their dreams, courage, hope and slogans in the face of bullets, tanks, tear gas and bulldozers.

5. When we bring our plight and our case to this international podium, it is a confirmation of our reliance on the political and diplomatic option and is a confirmation that we do not undertake unilateral steps. Our efforts are not aimed at isolating Israel or de-legitimizing it; rather we want to gain legitimacy for the cause of the people of Palestine. We only aim to de-legitimize the settlement activities and the occupation and apartheid and the logic of ruthless force, and we believe that all the countries of the world stand with us in this regard.

I am here to say on behalf of the Palestinian people and the Palestine Liberation Organization: We extend our hands to the Israeli government and the Israeli people for peace-making. I say to them: Let us urgently build together a future for our children where they can enjoy freedom, security and prosperity. Let us build the bridges of dialogue instead of checkpoints and walls of separation, and build cooperative relations based on parity and equity between two neighboring States - Palestine and Israel - instead of policies of occupation, settlement, war and eliminating the other.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Despite the unquestionable right of our people to self-determination and to the independence of our State as stipulated in international resolutions, we have accepted in the past few years to engage in what appeared to be a test of our worthiness, entitlement and eligibility. During the last two years our national authority has implemented a program to build our State institutions.

Despite the extraordinary situation and the Israeli obstacles imposed, a serious extensive project was launched that has included the implementation of plans to enhance and advance the judiciary and the apparatus for maintenance of order and security, to develop the administrative, financial, and oversight systems, to upgrade the performance of institutions, and to enhance self-reliance to reduce the need for foreign aid. With the thankful support of Arab countries and donors from friendly countries, a number of large infrastructure projects have been implemented, focused on various aspects of service, with special attention to rural and marginalized areas.

In the midst of this massive national project, we have been strengthening what we seeking to be the features of our State: from the preservation of security for the citizen and public order; to the promotion of judicial authority and rule of law; to strengthening the role of women via legislation, laws and participation; to ensuring the protection of public freedoms and strengthening the role of civil society institutions; to institutionalizing rules and regulations for ensuring accountability and transparency in the work of our Ministries and departments; to entrenching the pillars of democracy as the basis for the Palestinian political life.

When division struck the unity of our homeland, people and institutions, we were determined to adopt dialogue for restoration of our unity. We succeeded months ago in achieving national reconciliation and we hope that its implementation will be accelerated in the coming weeks. The core pillar of this reconciliation was to turn to the people through legislative and presidential elections within a year, because the State we want will be a State characterized by the rule of law, democratic exercise and protection of the freedoms and equality of all citizens without any discrimination and the transfer of power through the ballot box.

The reports issued recently by the United Nations, the World Bank, the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) and the International Monetary Fund confirm and laud what has been accomplished, considering it a remarkable and unprecedented model. The consensus conclusion by the AHLC a few days ago here described what has been accomplished as a “remarkable international success story” and confirmed the readiness of the Palestinian people and their institutions for the immediate independence of the State of Palestine.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is no longer possible to redress the issue of the blockage of the horizon of the peace talks with the same means and methods that have been repeatedly tried and proven unsuccessful over the past years. The crisis is far too deep to be neglected, and what is more dangerous are attempts to simply circumvent it or postpone its explosion.

It is neither possible, nor practical, nor acceptable to return to conducting business as usual, as if everything is fine. It is futile to go into negotiations without clear parameters and in the absence of credibility and a specific timetable. Negotiations will be meaningless as long as the occupation army on the ground continues to entrench its occupation, instead of rolling it back, and continues to change the demography of our country in order to create a new basis on which to alter the borders.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a moment of truth and my people are waiting to hear the answer of the world. Will it allow Israel to continue its occupation, the only occupation in the world? Will it allow Israel to remain a State above the law and accountability? Will it allow Israel to continue rejecting the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations and the International Court of Justice and the positions of the overwhelming majority of countries in the world?

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I come before you today from the Holy Land, the land of Palestine, the land of divine messages, ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the birthplace of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people in the homeland and in the the Diaspora, to say, after 63 years of suffering of the ongoing Nakba: Enough. It is time for the Palestinian people to gain their freedom and independence.

The time has come to end the suffering and the plight of millions of Palestine refugees in the homeland and the Diaspora, to end their displacement and to realize their rights, some of them forced to take refuge more than once in different places of the world.

At a time when the Arab peoples affirm their quest for democracy - the Arab Spring - the time is now for the Palestinian Spring, the time for independence.

The time has come for our men, women and children to live normal lives, for them to be able to sleep without waiting for the worst that the next day will bring; for mothers to be assured that their children will return home without fear of suffering killing, arrest or humiliation; for students to be able to go to their schools and universities without checkpoints obstructing them. The time has come for sick people to be able to reach hospitals normally, and for our farmers to be able to take care of their good land without fear of the occupation seizing the land and its water, which the wall prevents access to, or fear of the settlers, for whom settlements are being built on our land and who are uprooting and burning the olive trees that have existed for hundreds of years. The time has come for the thousands of prisoners to be released from the prisons to return to their families and their children to become a part of building their homeland, for the freedom of which they have sacrificed.

My people desire to exercise their right to enjoy a normal life like the rest of humanity. They believe what the great poet Mahmoud Darwish said: Standing here, staying here, permanent here, eternal here, and we have one goal, one, one: to be.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

We profoundly appreciate and value the positions of all States that have supported our struggle and our rights and recognized the State of Palestine following the Declaration of Independence in 1988, as well as the countries that have recently recognized the State of Palestine and those that have upgraded the level of Palestine’s representation in their capitals. I also salute the Secretary-General, who said a few days ago that the Palestinian State should have been established years ago.

Be assured that this support for our people is more valuable to them than you can imagine, for it makes them feel that someone is listening to their narrative and that their tragedy and the horrors of Al-Nakba and the occupation, from which they have so suffered, are not being ignored. And, it reinforces their hope that stems from the belief that justice is possible in this in this world. The loss of hope is the most ferocious enemy of peace and despair is the strongest ally of extremism.

I say: The time has come for my courageous and proud people, after decades of displacement and colonial occupation and ceaseless suffering, to live like other peoples of the earth, free in a sovereign and independent homeland.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to inform you that, before delivering this statement, I submitted, in my capacity as the President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, an application for the admission of Palestine on the basis of the 4 June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, as a full member of the United Nations.

I call upon Mr. Secretary-General to expedite transmittal of our request to the Security Council, and I call upon the distinguished members of the Security Council to vote in favor of our full membership. I also call upon the States that did not recognized the State of Palestine as yet to do so.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The support of the countries of the world for our endeavor is a victory for truth,freedom, justice, law and international legitimacy, and it provides tremendous support for the peace option and enhances the chances of success of the negotiations.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Your support for the establishment of the State of Palestine and for its admission to the United Nations as a full member is the greatest contribution to peacemaking in the Holy Land.

I thank you.

View Video

Joint Quaker Statement on Palestinian UN Bid

elaine — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 19:08:13 -0700

Palestinian U.N. Bid: U.S. Should Press for Peace, Not Punishment
Joint Statement of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), and the Quaker United Nations Office in New York (QUNO)

http://fcnl.org/issues/middle_east/joint_quaker_statement_on_palestinian_un_bid/

We are gravely concerned that the response of the Obama administration and Congress to the Palestinian quest for statehood recognition at the United Nations will further fuel violent conflict in the Middle East. Rather than punish Palestinians for pursuing an international forum for addressing their right to self-determination, the United States should welcome this nonviolent approach and use its diplomatic influence and resources to leverage the political opening toward securing a comprehensive and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Obama administration's plan to veto Palestine's anticipated U.N. membership application regrettably signals the continuation of U.S. policy that obstructs Palestinian self-determination and undermines prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Many members of Congress are proposing the elimination of development and humanitarian assistance for Palestinians and the withholding of all funding to U.N. programs that recognize any upgrade to the status of the Palestinian mission. Threats to unjustly punish Palestinians and possibly even the entire U.N. system in response to decisions by U.N member states on Palestine will only undermine security for Israelis and Palestinians and amplify the voices of extremists on all sides of the conflict.

Palestinians' Turn to the U.N. Reflects Failure of U.S.-led Negotiations
As a matter of international law and practice, the Palestinians, like any other aspiring peoples seeking statehood recognition, have the right to present their case to the international community. The legitimacy of this effort was referenced a year ago by President Obama himself when he stated forthrightly before the U.N. General Assembly the goal of securing "an agreement that can lead to a new member of the United Nations, an independent, sovereign state of Palestine living in peace with Israel".

Unfortunately, the U.S.-brokered process for resolving the conflict has failed to reach this goal, and in fact, led to further deterioration of the conflict over the past year. Negotiations collapsed only a month after President Obama's speech at the U.N., and Israeli settlement expansion has continued at an alarming rate, claiming de facto territory that under international law and longstanding U.S. policy should belong to a future Palestinian state. With negotiations stalled and settlements expanding, the Palestinian leadership has chosen to take its case for statehood to the United Nations.

Nonviolence Should Be Welcomed, Not Punished
Millions of peoples across the Middle East and North Africa are employing nonviolent means to bring about widespread, far-reaching reforms in support of more transparent, democratic self-governance. Nonviolent approaches to Palestinian self-determination at the U.N. and in both the Palestinian territories and Israel should similarly be encouraged.

In this context, we urge the U.S. to use its voice and vote at the U.N. to welcome the Palestinian initiative for its nonviolent approach to self-determination and conflict resolution.

While Palestinian civil society leaders and the Palestinian Authority have committed to a path of nonviolence in September, the specter of violence in the aftermath of decisions at the U.N. looms large. We are opposed to the use of violence by all parties, and are deeply troubled by reports that the Israeli military's directives have permitted the use of violence to confront unarmed, Palestinian demonstrators at protests planned to coincide with U.N. deliberations on Palestine.

Next Steps for the U.S.: Seize Opportunity to Take Bold Steps for Peace
The Obama administration and Congress should craft any U.S. policy response in ways which uphold the U.S. commitments to international law, self-determination, and the continued search for justice and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.

Recommendations for the Obama administration:
* Use U.S. voice and vote at the U.N. to welcome the use of nonviolent approaches rooted in international law to resolve conflict. A lone U.S. veto in the Security Council would be a sharp rebuke to Palestinian nonviolence and would undermine the rising forces of democracy and nonviolence throughout the Middle East.
* Call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint in the aftermath of the deliberations at the U.N. on Palestine.
* Invest in high-level diplomatic energy to press for comprehensive negotiations in good faith between Israel and a unified Palestinian government, encouraging rather than impeding Palestinian reconciliation efforts.
Recommendations for Congress:

* Reject H.R. 2829, The United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act of 2011 introduced by Representative Ros-Lehtinen, which unjustly punishes not only Palestinians, but the entire U.N. system and all those around the world who benefit from its life-saving programs.
* Reject cuts to U.S. development and humanitarian aid for Palestinians, which would only increase the potential for further violence in the region.

Toward a Just and Lasting Peace
We urge the Obama administration and Congress to avoid retaliatory measures against the Palestinians that would increase political despondency at this critical juncture, and instead demonstrate U.S. leadership to press for a comprehensive negotiated settlement that offers a path toward lasting peace and security for all.

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has worked for more than a century to promote a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. FCNL and AFSC are national Quaker organizations that are committed to pressing the United States to play a more constructive role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. QUNO represents the global community of Quakers at the United Nations in New York. Our work is rooted in historic Quaker testimonies on peace and equality and longstanding Quaker witness in the region.

Presbyterians Call for Divestment

elaine — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:45:41 -0700

MRTI reports on engagement with companies doing business in Israel-Palestine

LOUISVILLE

At its meeting on September 9, the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) approved its report to the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on its engagement with corporations doing business in Israel-Palestine. As part of its regular process of corporate engagement, and based on directives given to it by each General Assembly since 2004, the committee recommended that three companies be added to the General Assembly divestment list: Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions.

“The General Assembly asked us to do everything we could to bring about change through dialogue, and we have done this, even asking the Assembly for more time over the years,” said committee chair the Rev. Brian Ellison, a pastor from Kansas City, Mo. “Today we are sadly reporting that these efforts have not produced any substantive change in company policies or practices, and that there is little reason for hope they will do so in the future. According to the Assembly’s prior directives and the church’s ordinary engagement process, we have little choice but to recommend divestment.” [Emphasis added].

Continue reading this report on the PCUSA website:
http://www.pcusa.org/news/2011/9/12/mrti-reports-engagement-companies-doing-business-i/

Sabeel Statement: Dilemmas & Opportunities

elaine — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:10:42 -0700

Sabeel Statement

Dilemmas and Opportunities Facing the Palestinian People

The idea of the Palestinian leadership going to the United Nations in order to press for full recognition of Palestine as a state has run into many complexities. Sabeel would like to reiterate that after sixty years since the original conflict over Palestine, it is time for the international community to push for the liberation and independence of Palestine. One of the main obstacles in the way is not only the unjust policies of the Israeli government, but the inability of the administration of the United States of America to act in line with the demands of international law and on the basis of UN resolutions. We can expect that a country like Israel pursuing its own political interests, would disregard UN resolutions. What we find difficult to understand is why a country like the United States, as the major power in the world today, allows itself to protect and defend the very country that is flouting UN resolutions and eroding international law. Consequently, due to United States collaboration and collusion with Israel, we find ourselves at a deadly impasse and far from approaching the resolution of the conflict.

The situation on the ground is intolerable since it is clear that Israel with its unstoppable settlement policy and its ravenous appetite for devouring Palestinian land will not leave even a patch of land for the Palestinians to call home. What Israel does on a daily basis is being carried out in clear daylight before the eyes of the world while no country is able to stop the stark expanding injustice.

In the statement that Sabeel circulated on August 24, 2011, we tried to help our friends understand the pros and cons of going to the UN in September. In this paper, we would like to elaborate on some details and background information that could further clarify the situation.

Futile negotiations:

For twenty years the Palestinians and the Israelis have been engaged in negotiations for the resolution of the conflict. Obviously this happened with the encouragement of the United States and the international community. When the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the Oslo Declaration of Principles (DOP) in 1993, it was upon the understanding that within five years a comprehensive agreement will be reached ending with the establishment of a Palestinian independent state. This did not happen, and the negotiations have not yielded the desired results. They went into a vicious circle and became utterly futile.

More recently, the Palestinian Authority (PA) insisted that in order for the negotiations to achieve their goal, both sides must accept two basic and essential principles, namely, the terms of reference for the negotiations and a time frame. The PA insisted that the terms of reference must be the pertinent UN resolutions on the question of Palestine, and a set timetable. Israel did not only refuse to do that, it set seven pre-conditions:

1. No right of return for Palestinian refugees.

2. Jerusalem is not negotiable.

3. No return to the 1967 borders.

4. No stopping of settlement building.

5. The recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

6. Keeping the Israeli army along the Jordan Valley.

7. A demilitarized Palestinian state.

The United States could not provide a solution to this deadlock. President Obama tried but failed to impress on Israel to halt settlement building while the negotiations went on. In fact, the Israeli government refused to comply, and President Obama embarrassingly, had to back down.

So it has become abundantly clear that Israel is doing everything possible to block the establishment of a Palestinian state, and is unilaterally creating a one-state reality. Theoretically, this can point to one of two directions, either a racist, apartheid-like state which is already in the making, or a state with full democracy for all citizens that can possibly emerge.

Since we know where Israel stands on “democracy for all,” we believe that the movement is surely towards a racist state. At the same time we know that Israel does not want to rule or govern millions of Palestinians, so it is easy to conclude that Israel’s policy is to get rid of the Palestinians. Its strategy is becoming clearer by the day. It wants to drag, stall, and prevaricate in order to devour more and more Palestinian land. As it devours, it builds and expands the settlements and constructs its separation wall in order to include what it wants and to exclude what it “wishes” to leave for the Palestinians. When it completes its scheme, what is left of the West Bank will be less than 10% of historic Palestine, instead of the 22% which originally comprised the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. (And instead of over 45% that was allocated by the UN Partition Plan of 1947) The Palestinians would be confined to a small area that is not contiguous and viable but fragmented and impossible. As far as Israel is concerned if the Palestinians then want to call it a state, so be it.

Sabeel has always maintained that the ideal solution for the resolution of the conflict is the establishment of ONE civil democratic state for all the inhabitants of the area of mandated Palestine - Palestinians and Israelis, Jews, Christians, and Muslims. But for many reasons including pragmatic considerations, UN resolution for the two-state solution, and especially for the sake of peace and security for all, Sabeel has stood for and promoted the two-state solution which we consider the historic and generous offer of the Palestinians for a permanent peace. The Palestinian state, therefore, must include all the 1967 occupied lands with East Jerusalem as its capital, and no more compromises or concessions or swaps of land should be asked of the Palestinians. Other options that could be considered are: a bi-national state in Palestine-Israel or a confederation or federation of states in the region.

The United Nations:

To get out of the present deadlock, the PA announced that it has no option except to turn to the UN as the world governance system, and seek the support of the international community of nations. Israel’s immediate response was to announce the building of thousands of new settlement units in the occupied territories. As usual the U.S administration and other western countries expressed their regret and opposition to the Israeli decision but failed to act against it. In the face of such a clear provocation, the U.S administration kept insisting on the resumption of the fruitless, endless, and ineffectual negotiations.

As we write this statement, the PA is determined to go to the UN on September 20, 2011 with an application for recognizing Palestine as a state with full membership in the international body. Such recognition will help the Palestinians to negotiate with the Israelis from a position of equal status as a recognized state.

It is important to remember that the conflict over Palestine started in the UN General Assembly in 1947 when it voted to partition the country into two states totally ignoring the will of the Palestinian majority and their right to self determination. The UN, therefore, is the right address; it created the problem and it has the responsibility to resolve it.

Protecting the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people:

The “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people” is a matter of utmost importance that we need to flag. For Palestinians it is the most sensitive matter. There is a potential danger that the whole issue will turn into a trap that could jeopardize their legitimate rights. Therefore the questions that need to be posed are:

1. Will the recognition of a Palestinian state under the present circumstances be the end of the road?

2. Will such recognition lead to the establishment of a viable independent, sovereign state within the 1967 borders that can realize the inalienable rights of the Palestinians?

As we try to respond to those dilemmas we can envisage the following:

1. To have a state that is non-contiguous and non-sovereign without the legal authority and jurisdiction over its land, will only amount to a non-state.

2. Without strong allies, the Palestinians might be denied any further right to struggle for the liberation of their land, and will put a lid on our fate.

3. The PLO was established as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people throughout the world; and it is important that the PLO continue in that role in order to protect the inalienable rights of all Palestinians.

The PA is hoping that the UN General Assembly will overwhelmingly vote to recognize the right of the Palestinians to independence and sovereignty over all the land that was occupied by Israel during the 1967 war - the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Palestine will become the 194th state within the United Nations. If that happens in September 2011, three threatening and crucially fearful questions would still need answers:

One: How will the UN enforce its decision to end the Israeli occupation so that full Palestinian sovereignty can be realized over all the liberated land?

Two: What happens to all the illegal Israeli settlements that fall within the Palestinian state?

Three: What happens to UN Resolution 194 regarding the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees?

Sabeel as a liberation theology movement working basically for justice, peace, and reconciliation prophetically offers the following suggestions:

1. If Israel refuses to comply with the UN decision, the UN can ask all member states to use the whole range of nonviolent methods of resistance including boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) to make it comply. It will take time, but it is a start. There are other options that the UN has at its disposal. If there is an international will to force the government of Israel to conform with and submit to the demands of the international community, it can be done. We have seen the UN in action when other countries have not complied with UN resolutions.

2. Whereas the Israeli settlements on the West Bank and in and around Jerusalem are considered illegal according to international law, and thus illegitimate, then all the settlements become automatically an integral part of the Palestinian state. And whereas the Palestinians aspire for a civil democratic state irrespective of race, ethnicity, or religion, there will be no objection if some Jewish people choose to live in Palestine peacefully under Palestinian Jurisdiction.

3. The government of Israel must recognize its responsibility for the displacement of the Palestinian refugees between 1947- 49. Israel has consistently refused to implement UN Resolution 194, on which basis it was allowed to become a member of the UN. The Right of Return is an international right, as well as an individual inalienable right. Once Israel accepts that this right applies to the Palestinians, then its implementation would be negotiated.

It is important to remember that the United States is not only unwilling to support the Palestinians in their decision to go to the UN, it is exerting great pressure to persuade them not to go. This is a real obstacle, especially when one remembers that President Obama himself mentioned the establishment of a Palestinian state in his speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2010. He said that the world can have an agreement that will lead to the creation of a new Palestinian state next year (that is, 2011). It seems also that the Europeans are not willing to take a strong and clear stand apart from the United States.

Crossroads:

As we stand at this juncture confronted with these dilemmas and opportunities, it is difficult to predict whether going to the UN in September will be a great opportunity for the Palestinians to claim their rights, or whether Israel and the United States, because of their opposition and influence, can turn it into a trap. If it is turned into a trap, it could entail unforeseen disastrous consequences to all the people of the region and the prolongation of the occupation to every body’s misery.

If going to the UN is a right that must be claimed come what may, it will provide an opportunity to the international community to stand up for the rights of the Palestinians and put an end to the occupation and the ongoing injustice, suffering and dispossession.

However, we need to realize that such a step might demand renewed unity among our people, new elections, new leadership, and a new strategy that could bring about the establishment of a viable state in Palestine and at the same time achieve the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, and peace in the region.

Therefore, as we move to this new stage, we ask our friends to pray for us and to stand with us as we continue our struggle for justice, peace and liberation on the basis of United Nations resolutions and the demands of international law.

Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center
Jerusalem
September 5, 2011

Sabeel Statement-UN: Problem or Solution

elaine — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:06:09 -0700

The UN: Problem or Solution

As September 2011 approaches, we would like to ask our friends to remember the Palestinian people in their prayers so that our leadership would be guided into the best possible course of action in the coming weeks for the service of peace in the region and the world.

The idea of going to the United Nations in order to receive full recognition as a state is a legitimate initiative that has become entangled with complications. On the one hand, after more than sixty years since the original conflict, it is time for the international community to act for the liberation and independence of Palestine. On the other hand, the seemingly unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel has obstructed and prevented the UN from implementing its many resolutions to date. Instead of being drawn closer to a resolution of the conflict, we find ourselves farther away and at a deadly impasse. The only movement on the ground is the building and expansion of the Israeli illegal settlements with a wide spreading infrastructure to support them, that abolish any hope for a viable Palestinian state.

Why are the Palestinians going to the UN?

Since 1991 the Palestinian leadership has focused on realizing the political rights of the Palestinians through negotiations. Obviously, this happened with the encouragement of the United States, the international community at large, and the Quartet (the UN, USA, Russia and the European Union). The Oslo Declaration of Principles of 1993 gave false hope that direct negotiations would lead to the end of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip; and the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state by 1999, alongside the state of Israel in accordance with UN resolutions. The negotiations, however, have not yielded the desired results. They went into a vicious circle and became utterly futile. The government of Israel refused to accept the UN resolutions as terms of reference for the peace process and did not agree to a set time frame for the negotiations. Moreover, Israel considered the major final stage issues, namely, refugees, Jerusalem, settlements, and the 1967 borders as nonnegotiable. Such preconditions render any negotiations useless and senseless. At the same time, President Obama tried his best to impress on Israel to halt settlement construction and expansion, but to no avail.

The United States could not provide a solution to this deadlock but instead, kept insisting on the resumption of direct negotiations between the two sides despite their proven futility. The inaction of the United States and western powers left the Palestinians with one logical and natural option which is to turn to the UN as the world governance system. It is worth noting that the conflict over Palestine started with the UN in 1947 when it voted to partition the country into two states, totally ignoring the will of the Palestinian majority and their right to self determination. The UN, therefore, is the right address. It created the problem and it has the responsibility to resolve it.

The sad fact remains that the United States has already declared its intention to use its power of veto in order to abort the Palestinian attempt to achieve their long overdue right to an independent state, although in his speech at the 65th session of the United Nations in September 2010, President Obama praised the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and said that the world can have an agreement that will lead to the creation of a new Palestinian state next year {2011}.

According to the UN Charter, a state can obtain UN membership if both the Security Council and the General Assembly vote affirmatively in its favor. In September the Palestinians will submit their application for membership. The Palestinians realize that to go to the UN Security Council first is to be repulsed by a guaranteed United States veto; while to go to the General Assembly first where there is no veto, they stand a good chance to acquire the needed two thirds majority vote. It is important to note that there are 193 countries that make up the UN body. For Palestine to become a member, at least 129 countries must vote for it, of which 122 already recognize the state of Palestine within the 1967 borders. Such an achievement would not mean the resolution of all the difficulties but it will definitely send a strong message about the will of the international community, and will help the Palestinians to negotiate with the Israelis from a position of strength and equal status as a recognized state. If, however, Israel continues to spurn Palestinian rights, we hope and pray that there will be NO resort to war or violence but that the international community of nations will utilize all peaceful means that will compel Israel to submit to the obligations of international law for the benefit of all.

Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center
Jerusalem
August 24, 2011
www.sabeel.org

Note: Sabeel will forward, as soon as possible, more detailed background information.

ELCA Assembly "declines" Divestment

elaine — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:00:56 -0700

Middle East Network Newsletter
http://capwiz.com/elca/issues/alert/?alertid=53175326&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]

August 22, 2011

Churchwide Assembly Votes to Affirm ELCA Commitment to Justice in Palestine and Israel
(but Declines Review of Investment Funds)

The Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA, meeting in Orlando on August 18, voted to continue the ELCA’s strong commitment to justice in Palestine and Israel. The Assembly decision demonstrates that the church has remained steadfast in its commitments, in keeping with the original strategy for engagement in Israel and Palestine adopted in 2005.

The action of the Assembly related to the Middle East – the full text of which is copied below – includes an official reception of the Kairos Palestine document, the foundation of an initiative launched in December 2009 in Bethlehem by Palestinian Christians. Referencing Bishop Hanson’s statement from the day the document was first unveiled, the Assembly called Kairos Palestine, “an ‘authentic word from our brothers and sisters in the Palestinian Christian community’ that ‘warrants our respect and attentiveness.’”

The vote for this action was overwhelmingly positive: 868 to 73. Important and affirming floor statements were made by several assembly members, including Bp. Richard Graham of the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod and Bp. Bruce Burnside, of the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin and chair of the bishops’ Middle East Ready Bench.

This renewed mandate is an encouragement to ELCA members, congregations, and synods to redouble efforts among our network of committed volunteers throughout the church, as well as among staff in the churchwide offices, to raise awareness throughout the ELCA and to work for changes in U.S. policy that promote a just and lasting peace for our neighbors in the Middle East.

Rev. Robert O. Smith, Ph.D.
ELCA Global Mission
Area Program Director for the Middle East
Coordinator, Peace Not Walls Campaign

Action of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly
Passed August 18, 2011

To receive with gratitude the memorials of the Northeastern Pennsylvania, Lower Susquehanna, and Metropolitan Washington, D.C., synods related to investment for positive change in Palestine;

To encourage members, congregations, synods, and agencies of this church to:
1. seek ways to achieve a deeper understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the perspectives of other faith communities, and receive, read, and discuss the Kairos Palestine document as an “authentic word from our brothers and sisters in the Palestinian Christian community” that “warrants our respect and attentiveness”;

2. affirm this church’s commitment to non-violent responses to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the Peace Not Walls campaign’s efforts toward strengthening accompaniment, awareness-building, and advocacy; and

3. consider making positive economic investments in those Palestinian projects and businesses that peacefully strengthen the economic and social fabric of Palestinian society;

To commend the policy, “ELCA Economic Social Criteria Investment Screens,” to the members, congregations, synods, and agencies of this church; and

To decline to undertake a review of the investment of funds managed within the ELCA but to commend these recommendations to the Office of the Treasurer, the Office of the Secretary, the Congregational and Synodical Mission unit, the Mission Advancement unit, and the ELCA Board of Pensions for consideration.

Open Letter from Bishara Assaly

elaine — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:52:06 -0700

Greetings,

I am home safely in Canada. I understand from my father that many of you sent letters of support while I was in detention in Israel. This experience of detention and deportation was a quick but thorough educational glimpse into the injustices that Palestinians face daily.

I was on my way to a Christian youth conference, hosted by Sabeel, and a couple of weeks research for which I was to receive college credit. As soon as I arrived at passport control at Tel Aviv airport I was segregated for interrogation. After 8 hours and innumerable questions on my Lebanese ancestry, my Arab name, my place of birth Jerusalem, even though I am a fourth generation Canadian, I was continually told that I wasn't who I said I was and that they were going to find out who I really was. Then I was taken by paddy-wagon to a jail 15 minutes from the Airport and locked up with other detainees from Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. The jail cell had a solid steal door and a privy. Despite being repeatedly promised that I could make a phone call I was never allowed to do so. Friends and family eventually tracked me down and I was contacted by the Canadian consul. After 24 hours I was put on a plane to Athens, only recovering my passport when the pilot gave it to me upon deplaning. Despite having asked that my passport not be stamped it was returned with a "Denied Entry" stamp; furthermore I was advised that I've been banned for 10 years from my birthplace-also the spiritual centre of my faith. I was warmly welcomed by Greek border control personnel.

I would like to thank all who wrote notes to my parents, who kept me in their thoughts and prayers, and mostly to Cathy and Asher for tracking me down in jail, notifying my family and even arranging hospitality for me in Athens with their friends.

I thank you for all your support and ask you never to forget those who have it much worse in the Holy Land.

Sincerely,

Bishara Assaly

bisharaassaly@gmail.com

Statement of Interfaith Peace Builders African Heritage Delegation

elaine — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:09:12 -0700

AUGUST 2, 2011

www.ifpb.org/africanheritage/statement.html

We, the members of the Interfaith Peace Builders’ first African Heritage Delegation, participated in a study tour to Palestine/Israel, July 16-29, 2011.

The delegation consisted of seven men and seven women from 25 to 73 years of age who came from different parts of the U.S. — the West Coast, the East Coast, New England, the Midwest and the South. The group included teachers, professors, college administrators, human rights activists, and ministers and lay leaders from both Christian and Islamic faith traditions. Our primary mission was to listen and to learn about the impact of the Israeli Occupation upon the lives and livelihood of Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel as well as those who have been dispersed throughout the world.

Many of us have worked in support of civil and human rights in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, the antiapartheid movement, the Haiti solidarity movement, and anti-war movements against U.S. wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. For 11 of us, the tour was our first trip to Palestine/Israel.

Because of our experience of fighting racism and exploitation in the United States, we are united in our support for civil and human rights of all peoples of the world. Before going on the delegation, we had an intellectual understanding of the impact of the Israeli Occupation on Palestinian people but we wanted to get a first-hand account from members of Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations, faith-based groups, civil society and grassroots organizations.

Based on our observations and discussions with Palestinians and Israelis, we have come to the following conclusions:

1) The Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of the Gaza Strip are in direct violation of international laws and several United Nations Resolutions;

2) The Occupation has led to the physical, psychological and spiritual oppression of Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel, as well as the forced expulsion of millions of Palestinians from their homes, farms, businesses and their homeland;

3) In addition to the illegal occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government, many Israeli businesses and wide swaths of Israeli society discriminate against Palestinians with Israeli citizenship and against Mizrahi Jews (Jews of Arab descent) who are citizens of Israel;

4) The Israeli Occupation and the suppression of Palestinian rights conform to the United Nations definition of Apartheid.

As a result of our findings and conclusions, we adopted the following resolutions:

1) We call on African Americans and all people of good will to support an end to the Occupation, including the removal of all Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the dismantling of the apartheid wall; the end to the military and economic blockade of the Gaza Strip; the granting of full equality to all Palestinian citizens and Mizrahi Jewish citizens of Israel; and the recognition and realization of the right of return for Palestinian refugees and internally displaced Palestinians.

2) We call for the humane treatment of Palestinian children and adults in the custody of the Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli Police; the release of all political prisoners; and an end to indefinite detentions without trial.

3) We call for the United States government to cease its military aid of $3 billion of our tax dollars annually to Israel, which, in the name of security, is used to further oppress, harass, maim and kill Palestinians.

4) We endorse the international campaign calling for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel in support of Palestinian freedom, justice and equality.

5) We call on U.S. citizens to join an Interfaith Peace Builders delegation and travel to Palestine/Israel to learn about the impact of the Occupation firsthand. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. told us, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We believe in the indivisibility of our human rights and those of Palestinians and all oppressed peoples. We will not rest until all of humanity is free.

African Heritage Delegation Members:
Queen Adams - Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia
Avery Blakeney - Washington, DC
Carolyn L. Boyd - Alexandria, Virginia
Gloria Brown - Streetsboro, Ohio
Jesse Hagopian - Seattle, Washington
Oscar Harrell - Sudbury, Massachusetts
Keith Harvey - Wareham, Massachusetts
Trina Jackson - Decatur, Georgia
Gerald Lenoir - Berkeley, California
Michael Nettles - College Park, Maryland
Sterling Pack - Marriottsville, Maryland
Mark Pollard - Atlanta, Georgia
Raheemah Raheem - Tulsa, Oklahoma
Paula Watts - Fort Washington, Maryland

Media Contact:
Jacob Pace (Interfaith Peace-Builders staff) at 415-240-4607 or media@ifpb.org

For more on the African Heritage Delegation see: www.ifpb.org/africanheritage

To read reports from the ground and view photos from the delegation see: www.ifpb.org/del38

Interfaith Peace-Builders believes in the power of eye-witness experience and transformation. Given the opportunity to speak directly with Israelis and Palestinians, delegates return to North America better informed, more energized, and with a deeper understanding of the possibilities for true justice in the Middle East. Learn more at: www.ifpb.org.

The 'real' future for Christians in the Holy Land

elaine — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:55:17 -0700

By Vicki Gray, July 28, 2011

Episcopal News Service
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_129258_ENG_HTM.htm

[Episcopal News Service] In mid-July some 90 religious, political, and media representatives gathered at London's Lambeth Palace at the behest of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, to discuss in conference the situation of Christians in the Holy Land.

The purpose, according to Archbishop Williams, was to raise "literate, compassionate awareness" of the plight of Palestinian Christians in light of the "very significant" and "accelerating" decline of their population and to consider "What we can we do to help those Christians who so urgently want to stay in their homeland, and to imagine a future there for themselves?"

The conference followed closely on the heels of a mid-June BBC interview, in which Williams spoke of Palestinian Christians as a minority in a largely Muslim population and, with no mention of the effects of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, attributed the Christian exodus solely to Muslim extremism. This led the Rev. Naim Ateek, the director of Sabeel, the Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, to write the archbishop to point out that "as Palestinian Christians, we perceive ourselves as an integral part of the Palestinian people ... [and] do not refer to ourselves as a minority."

Ateek noted, moreover, that "as Palestinians, whether Christian or Muslim, we equally live under the oppression of the illegal Israeli occupation of our country." This was reiterated at the conference by Samer Makhlouf, a Roman Catholic, who reportedly called the occupation "the father of all problems in the region." (See John Allen's report in the National Catholic Reporter.)

Others at the conference tried to draw attention to the specifics of those problems… the sorts of hardships I have seen firsthand visiting Palestinian Christians in late 2008 and again this March. These effects are most clearly evident in Taybeh, the only entirely Christian village in Palestine, whose economic livelihood is threatened by the settlements and military outposts that surround it, and Bethlehem, whose many Christians are cut off from Jerusalem by the thirty-foot high separation wall and a tightening ring of settlements, including the veritable cities of Gilo and Har Homa. At the Christian-run Bethlehem University, for example, students with Jerusalem identity cards described the daily hassle they must endure at Israeli checkpoints, while those with West Bank papers complained about their complete inability to visit the holy sites -- or relatives -- in Jerusalem.

No wonder the population of Christians in Israel/Palestine has stagnated, growing only from about 150,000 in 1946 to fewer than 160,000 in 2006 rather than the far higher figure that might be expected from natural demographic growth. As the Palestinian Christian academic Bernard Sabellah noted, according to Allen, this stagnation is accounted for by the "missing" Christians who have emigrated.

Almost amusingly, Rabbi Daniel Sperber of Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University reportedly told the conference not to worry … "the churches are full" thanks to Filipino guest workers and 50,000 Christians who have immigrated from the former Soviet Union. These latter "Christians," he failed to note, are for the most part Soviet "Jews" who have made aliyah to Israel and brought with them racist, fascist attitudes that have given rise to neo-Soviet policies that would discriminate against Palestinians and Filipinos alike and, in the process, threaten Israeli democracy.

So, to return to Archbishop William's pregnant question, "What we can we do to help those Christians who so urgently want to stay in their homeland, and to imagine a future there for themselves?"

For the most part, the archbishop and others danced around the "realities on the ground" -- realities made worse each day by the bulldozers that daily create thousands of new illegal settlements, home now to half a million Israeli Jews on the West Bank -- preferring instead to talk of "balance," as if a confrontation between Israel's behemoth military machine and a people on its knees could ever be "balanced" -- and bottoms-up grassroots "constructive engagement;" the sort of "constructive engagement" engaged in by the Episcopal Church since 2002.

To what effect, one has to ask? According to Canon Robert Edmunds, chaplain to Suheil Dawani, the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Jerusalem, such an approach risks ending in "words and goodwill" that don't change the lived reality of Palestinian Christians. They are, he said, but "band-aids," adding that "if we don't encourage the government of Israel to cut a deal, we're going to be putting on band-aids for a very long time."

It is far past time not just to encourage, but to insist that the government of Israel cut the two-state deal demanded not just by justice but by the best interests of Israel. It is time for the Episcopal Church to consider and adopt a policy that will get the attention of the governments of Israel -- and the United States -- a policy of divesting from all companies that enable the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and boycotting all products manufactured in Israeli settlements in the West Bank or East Jerusalem.

The bleeding Palestinian Christians -- indeed, all Palestinians -- deserve not just our words, prayers, goodwill, and conferences. They are not just some object of abstract historicity and, therefore, in the eyes of our archbishop, "critical to Christianity's identity." They are living, breathing, bleeding human beings whose dignity we are called by our baptism to respect.

-- The Rev. Vicki Gray is deacon at Christ the Lord Church in Pinole, California and a member of the Executive Council of the Diocese of California.

Friends of Sabeel–North America 15th Anniversary Appeal

Lea — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:41:56 -0700

A Message from Bishop Edmond Browning

Tree of Life

for the Healing of the Nations

Dear Friends of Sabeel,

As an elder of the Sabeel international movement I have been called upon to proclaim the 15th year of faithful ministry of Friends of Sabeel–North America and to make this appeal to all of you to renew your commitment, amplify your voices, strengthen your resolve and increase your support and volunteer efforts.

Now is the time for peace in the Holy Land and in all the world. As Christians we are called to be peacemakers, and we know that means not only to pray but also to work, to give, to join with other peacemakers in a worldwide community of active peacemaking. In this way the Tree of Life will grow higher, its roots will go deeper and wider and take hold of the earth. This original design of the Tree of Life was donated by the artist, Linda Dalal Sawaya of Portland, Oregon, in recognition of FOSNA's 15th anniversary. This card is our gift to you.

Please send your gift in support of our 15th anniversary appeal.

In Gratitude and Hope,

Edmond Browning

The Rt. Rev. Edmond Browning Friends of Sabeel – North America

Archbishop Tutu: TIAA–CREF should hear us

Lea — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:59:09 -0700

A Message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009

TIAA-CREF should hear us

Sunday, July, 17, 2011

As shareholders with the retirement giant TIAA-CREF head to Charlotte this week for their national meeting, there is one issue they will find conspicuously absent from the agenda: divestment from the Israeli Occupation. Despite pleas from shareholders, including medical professionals, students and academics from universities across the United States, the pension fund refused to allow a vote on a resolution that would have compelled TIAA-CREF to consider divestment from companies such as Caterpillar or Elbit. These are companies that profit substantially from the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

In an effort, presumably, to avoid the topic altogether, TIAA-CREF even went so far as to move its annual meeting to Charlotte from its usual location in New York City. But even in Charlotte, they will not be able to escape from "occupation." Throughout the United States and the world, people will continue to speak truth to power about the apartheid perpetrated in the Holy Land.

I, for one, never tire of speaking out against these injustices, because they remind me only too well of what we in South Africa experienced under the racist system of apartheid. I have witnessed firsthand the racially segregated roads and housing in the Occupied Palestinian territories. I have seen the humiliation of Palestinian men, women and children at the checkpoints and roadblocks. I have met Palestinians who were evicted and replaced by Jewish Israeli settlers; Palestinians whose homes were destroyed even as new, Jewish-only homes were illegally built on confiscated Palestinian land.

This oppression, these indignities and the resulting anger are only too familiar. It is no wonder that so many South African leaders in the anti-apartheid struggle, including Nelson Mandela and numerous Jewish leaders, have found ourselves compelled to speak out on this issue.

Though the situation deteriorates daily, I am not without hope. Before apartheid ended, most South Africans did not believe they would live to see a day of liberation. They did not believe that their children, or even their children's children, would see it. But we have seen it, and I know that if apartheid can end in South Africa, so too can this occupation.

We could not have won our freedom in South Africa without the solidarity of people around the world who adopted non-violent methods to pressure governments and corporations to end their support for the apartheid regime. Faith-based groups, unions, students and consumers organized on a grassroots level and catalyzed a global wave of divestment, ultimately contributing to the collapse of apartheid.

More than two decades later, another wave of divestment has emerged, this time with the goal of ending Israel's 44-year-old occupation and its unequal treatment of the Palestinians.

The TIAA-CREF campaign is important because it is one of the most broad-based divestment efforts in the U.S.: thousands of professors, doctors, students, and many other people of conscience are coming forward demanding that the suffering of the Palestinians not be ignored in the company's bottom line. The campaign originated with a call from the American group Jewish Voice for Peace, whose members understand that ending the occupation means a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians; a future in which both the violence of the occupier and the violent resistance of the occupied come to an end, where one people no longer rule over another, and where the cycles of suffering, humiliation and retaliation are broken.

In South Africa we understood that true peace could be built only on the basis of justice and an unwavering commitment to universal rights for all humans, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, national origin or any other identity attribute. I encourage TIAA-CREF, whose slogan is "for the greater good," to heed the call for divestment, to refuse to profit from oppression of a people, and thus to stand on the side of what is right: a safe, secure and peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis.

Source: The Charlotte Observer

Petition to put shareholder proposal on the agenda of TIAA-CREF Shareholder Meeting, Tuesday, July 19,2011.

Simon Wiesenthal Center Tactics Shameless

elaine — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:25:28 -0700

NEW YORK—The Israel Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)* responds to yet another shameless attack by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) on concerned Christians who work tirelessly towards peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. This time it follows SWC's response to the release of the Kairos Palestine Document Study Guide that was recently published by a special committee of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.

The irony of the attack is that by rejecting the Kairos Palestine Document and the Presbyterian Study Guide, the SWC has placed itself in the untenable position of rejecting both violent and nonviolent responses to illegal occupation and apartheid. Kairos Palestine, written by Christian leaders in Palestine, embraces the nonviolent approach towards oppression, modeled by such important historical and global figures as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

It is shameless that the Simon Wiesenthal Center now equates Christian nonviolent response to oppression with fanatical, extremist violence. This is no surprise given the organization's own tolerance of the same, in regard to extremist Jewish groups that have settled illegally in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the Center's refusal to back down on building their "Museum of Tolerance" on top of an 800 year-old Muslim cemetery.

Since 2004, the rank and file of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has gained a growing awareness of the injustice of occupation in Palestine. Israel's illegal occupation and apartheid policy (Hafrada, separation in Hebrew) makes the use of words like ‘peace' by the Israeli government and such Zionist organizations as the Simon Wiesenthal Center a cruel and cynical joke being perpetrated on all peace-seeking Palestinians and Israelis.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center's credibility as an honest broker came into question as a result of its ill-conceived attack on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) just prior to that body's national gathering in Minneapolis in 2010. The SWC unilaterally condemned a Middle East Study Committee report that had not yet been published or released. It is now using similar tactics in regard to the work of the PC(USA) Middle East Monitoring Group and its just-released Kairos Palestine Study Guide in order to muzzle dialogue.

The Study Guide gives all Presbyterians the opportunity to honestly reflect on the reality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and on how Christian believers maintain their faith and respond to their calling by Jesus Christ, in the face of oppression. The Study Guide responsibly places the important emphases of "hope for liberation, nonviolence, love of enemy, and reconciliation" from the document in the context of the Biblical values of faith, hope and love.

The Israel Palestine Mission Network stands behind every effort to foster healthy and open debate about the conflict in Israel/Palestine in a way that sheds light on truth rather than perpetuate the darkness of falsehoods. In this way, the new study document of the PC(USA) Middle East Monitoring Group continues the historic Presbyterian tradition of honest dialogue regarding faith and the most difficult issues with which the people of God contend.

* www.theIPMN.org 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 (U.S.A.) 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.