Hello Friend,
There's huge debate going on in American and Israeli Jewry over the occupation and what it has done and is doing to "Jewish democracy".
Peter Beinart is at the center of the debate, stirring things up with his book, THE CRISIS OF ZIONISM. There are countless pieces out there, pro and con. This is an op-ed in the NY Times (via Nicolas Kristof)
Now, he speaks out, and I think summarizes the debate up to the moment. If you read nothing else, read only the last three paragraphs, in bold. These are the dying gasps of the "Two-State Solution". Whether One State or Two, unless there is a willingness to look at root causes and treat each other with respect, the future looks grim and grimmer. (Giving "cover" to the settlement expansion continues to marginalize Palestinians, even though the Israeli Supreme Court has declared certain settlements must desist).
And remember to pray for me/us in the class at Christ Memorial Church for three weeks, starting this Sunday, in the Chapel (far E of the campus), 10:15 - 11:15 a.m., as we hear Palestinian Christians ask for understanding and support. JRK
Beinart Fires Back
The day my book, The Crisis of Zionism, hit the shelves I gave a speech at the University of Maryland. During question and answer session, an older Jewish man–grim-faced, teeth-clenched—demanded to know how I could criticize Israel for occupying the West Bank when most West Bank Palestinians effectively govern themselves, and when the Palestinians have shown themselves unwilling to live at peace. I responded that while Palestinians do indeed bear part of the blame for the lack of a Palestinian state, Israel’s policy of subsidizing Jews to move to settlements—including settlements deep in the West Bank—only strengthens the most militant forces in Palestinian society. He rose again in protest, then sat down and glared.
Then a college student got up. He said he’d enjoyed my talk, but as an American Jew who believed in separation of church and state, he didn’t understand why we need a Jewish state at all.The two of you, I said, gesturing to the student and the older man, really need to talk.
Generationally, I’m halfway between my two interlocutors. Like the college student, I’m too young to have seen the terrifying wars of 1948, 1967 and 1973, when Arab armies threatened to vanquish the Jewish state. I’ve never known an Israel that didn’t occupy the West Bank. But like the older man, I’ve seen whole communities of Jews take refuge in Israel. Among my formative memories of the Jewish state are the pictures of Anatoly Sharansky, fresh from a Soviet jail, descending onto the tarmac at Ben-Gurion airport and the images of nearly destitute Ethiopian Jews, separated from the rest of our people since the days when the Temple stood, entering the planes that the Jewish state had sent to take them home.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that my book argues that Jews need a state for self-protection and cultural expression, but worries that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank menaces the democratic ideals upon which the state was founded. Some in the organized American Jewish community think this places me on the left. I disagree. I actually occupy a shrinking center of American Jews fiercely committed to Israel’s existence but profoundly troubled by its current course. Our most high-profile critics sound like the man at my University of Maryland talk, unwilling to confront any contradiction between a nation whose declaration of independence promises “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of race, religion and sex” and an occupation that has held millions of Palestinians as non-citizens for more than forty years.
But more quietly, there is a growing cadre of younger American Jews with deep questions about the very notion of a Jewish state. According to a 2007 survey by the researchers Steven Cohen and Ari Kelman, while over 80 percent of American Jews over the age of 65 embrace the idea of a Jewish state, among those under the age of 35, the figure drops to just over 50 percent.
Zionism has not always been a consensus position in American Jewish life. Before Israel’s creation, and even to some degree before 1967, substantial elements within American Jewry questioned the notion of Jewish sovereignty.
I fear that unless something changes, those earlier divisions will reemerge in the years to come. The more permanent Israel’s occupation of the West Bank becomes, the more American Jews will be forced to choose between a Jewish state that is not fully democratic and a binational state that loses its Jewish character. And faced with that choice, a great chasm will divide American Jewry: with most older American Jews on one side, and many non-Orthodox, younger American Jews on the other.
Saving Israel as a democratic Jewish state and preserving the Zionist consensus in American Jewish life are two sides of the same struggle. Since my book came out, I’ve sometimes been called a controversial, polarizing figure in the American Jewish community. The accusation makes me sigh. I’ve seen enough questioners like that those at the University of Maryland to realize that if the two state solution dies, the real polarization will be yet to come.
Peter Beinart is the editor of Open Zion and author of The Crisis of Zionism.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Remembering Passover and Pascha (Easter)
Dear Friend,
Salim Munayer works in the trenches with Israelis and Palestinians. What he says is agonizing, sensitive . . . and truthful.
Saturday (between Good Friday death and Sunday New Life) is that in between time, when we wait for resolution, for answers, for "progress".
There is great controversy abroad. Some are wanting to stress 1) sitting down and sharing stories; 2) others want to attack the systemic roots of injustice to bring about structural change (boycott, disinvestment and sanctions, BDS).
Remembering our history, walking in others' shoes, considering "The Other", remembering that we are all "strangers", in need of God's grace and forgiveness is not an easy task.
Only when we face the darkness of dusk, can we be ready for the dawning of day. I'm grateful to you, this passover, Easter and post-Eid, for your faithful readership. All God's best this Holy, Happy season.
(Remember to pray for me/us as we hear the cry of Palestinian Christians (Kairos Palestine), for three weeks at Christ Memorial Church, starting next Sunday, April 15 @ 10:15 a.m). Faithfully yours, John Kleinheksel Sr
Freedom through Remembering Rightly
In our March women’s conference I taught a session on remembering rightly. As Passover and Pascha (Easter) approach, I would like to share some thoughts on our conflict and situation. These holidays have shaped the history of the world and our understanding of God’s sovereignty and intervention in our lives. Passover and Pascha teach us many things, including ways to remember well. How can we remember our history, communally and individually, in light of the Exodus and Resurrection? This is something we must all think creatively about as we seek God’s will for our lives. Coming to a proper understanding of what has happened to us and the redemptive plan God has for us will allow us to follow God more wholeheartedly, and serve others with more compassion and understanding.
Passover and Pascha are important events in the reconciliation process as they are times of commemoration that both the Israeli and Palestinian communities recall and value. Throughout the journey of reconciliation Palestinians and Israelis are challenged with the burden of memory, particularly with regard to our historical narrative, a topic we have shared with you in the past. We do not compare pain, but we discuss the most painful parts of our histories in order to understand one another. On the Israeli side, the Holocaust and Jewish suffering cast a looming shadow over Jewish history. This suffering, combined with the many wars Israelis have suffered from, and the threats they feel to this day shape Jewish identity. On the Israeli side, the Holocaust and the existential threat they perceive have influenced memory in Israeli education, culture and foreign affairs. On the Palestinian side, the past 100 years have been marked by suffering, from the world wars and how they played out in this land, bringing death and devastation, to the Nakba and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands from their homes and lands, to the betrayal of Palestinians by surrounding Arab countries, to the ongoing occupation that continues to this day. These events have profoundly impacted Palestinian identity, also, in terms of education, culture, and relation to the other. Both Israelis and Palestinians have acquired a victim mentality, which impacts many aspects of both communities’ everyday lives, and the relationship between the two groups.
In the session with the women we reflected on recent writings by Miroslav Volf as well as from our curriculum regarding remembering well. When we reflect on painful history, we often encounter situations where our pain hinders us from seeing other people’s pain. Sometimes we do not want to acknowledge other people’s pain because we feel that it will somehow diminish the legitimacy of our grievances. We often see this in our conflict. Many times, Palestinians have great difficulty coming to terms with the Holocaust and recognizing the legitimate suffering of the Jewish people; they are afraid that recognizing these terrible things would somehow lessen their cry for justice in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On the other hand, Israelis are often unwilling to recognize the suffering they have caused the Palestinian people, as they fear that this would lessen their claim to the land. When the other’s pain is presented before either of these parties, it is often met with denial, explanation, and justification; rarely do we see willingness to come to terms with the other’s pain.
Both sides suffer from a victim mentality that causes us to develop a fatalistic view about life. We often focus on remembering the dark moments of history rather than the positive moments. We actively recall moments of collective suffering more often than moments of collective success and joy. When we study remembering rightly we discuss the shortcomings of memory. We cannot remember everything, so what we remember is significant. We are not just shaped by memories; we ourselves shape the memories that shape us. And since we do so, the consequences are significant. Because we shape our memories, our identities cannot consist simply in what we remember. This is significant because what we or our society choose to remember of traumatic events in our past, influences how we think and what we do. Memory can be manipulated for political ends, and we can be drawn into blaming others for our suffering. Consequently, we can sometimes find ourselves legitimating others’ suffering due to our own suffering. We can lose our ability to look at our neighbor’s pain and recognize our complicity in causing them pain. Unfortunately, humans have a great capacity for justifying their actions against others. It is easier to justify our actions than to take responsibility for them.
To bring this back to where we are right now, as we approach the celebration of Passover and Pascha, we should reflect on how we are encouraged to remember these two salvific acts of history. Exodus tells us the story of the children of Israel suffering in slavery in Egypt. Interjected into the middle of that is an active God who hears the cry of his people and who intervenes on their behalf. He delivers them from Egypt and declares that he did so by his mighty hand and outstretched arm, and not due to their ability or righteousness. We see here a God who acts on behalf of the unworthy, who hears the cry of his people, and who seeks to deliver. At the last supper, Jesus sat surrounded by his closest friends, eating and drinking together. Breaking bread is one of the most holy acts one can partake in with another. Yet soon these very same friends would betray or abandon him. When Jesus was handed over to the authorities and crucified, he chose to remember the humanity of those who crucified him, the humanity of those he died for, entreating God to forgive them, for they did not understand the gravity of their actions. When resurrected, he sought the renewal and restoration of his friends, forgiving them for abandoning him, encouraging them to embrace their God-appointed path. Both of these events speak of God’s deliverance, but they also require a personal response from us. When the Exodus is recalled in the Bible it is often phrased “remember that you were strangers in Egypt” and many times, it is coupled with injunctions to be kind to the strangers in one’s own land. Likewise, God’s forgiveness toward us requires of us to forgive others. As we celebrate these two holidays, let us remember God’s deliverance of us both individually and communally, and reflect on God’s challenge to us as a result.
Wishing you all a blessed Passover and Pascha,
Salim J. Munayer
Musalaha Director
--
John & Sharon
Salim Munayer works in the trenches with Israelis and Palestinians. What he says is agonizing, sensitive . . . and truthful.
Saturday (between Good Friday death and Sunday New Life) is that in between time, when we wait for resolution, for answers, for "progress".
There is great controversy abroad. Some are wanting to stress 1) sitting down and sharing stories; 2) others want to attack the systemic roots of injustice to bring about structural change (boycott, disinvestment and sanctions, BDS).
Remembering our history, walking in others' shoes, considering "The Other", remembering that we are all "strangers", in need of God's grace and forgiveness is not an easy task.
Only when we face the darkness of dusk, can we be ready for the dawning of day. I'm grateful to you, this passover, Easter and post-Eid, for your faithful readership. All God's best this Holy, Happy season.
(Remember to pray for me/us as we hear the cry of Palestinian Christians (Kairos Palestine), for three weeks at Christ Memorial Church, starting next Sunday, April 15 @ 10:15 a.m). Faithfully yours, John Kleinheksel Sr
Freedom through Remembering Rightly
In our March women’s conference I taught a session on remembering rightly. As Passover and Pascha (Easter) approach, I would like to share some thoughts on our conflict and situation. These holidays have shaped the history of the world and our understanding of God’s sovereignty and intervention in our lives. Passover and Pascha teach us many things, including ways to remember well. How can we remember our history, communally and individually, in light of the Exodus and Resurrection? This is something we must all think creatively about as we seek God’s will for our lives. Coming to a proper understanding of what has happened to us and the redemptive plan God has for us will allow us to follow God more wholeheartedly, and serve others with more compassion and understanding.
Passover and Pascha are important events in the reconciliation process as they are times of commemoration that both the Israeli and Palestinian communities recall and value. Throughout the journey of reconciliation Palestinians and Israelis are challenged with the burden of memory, particularly with regard to our historical narrative, a topic we have shared with you in the past. We do not compare pain, but we discuss the most painful parts of our histories in order to understand one another. On the Israeli side, the Holocaust and Jewish suffering cast a looming shadow over Jewish history. This suffering, combined with the many wars Israelis have suffered from, and the threats they feel to this day shape Jewish identity. On the Israeli side, the Holocaust and the existential threat they perceive have influenced memory in Israeli education, culture and foreign affairs. On the Palestinian side, the past 100 years have been marked by suffering, from the world wars and how they played out in this land, bringing death and devastation, to the Nakba and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands from their homes and lands, to the betrayal of Palestinians by surrounding Arab countries, to the ongoing occupation that continues to this day. These events have profoundly impacted Palestinian identity, also, in terms of education, culture, and relation to the other. Both Israelis and Palestinians have acquired a victim mentality, which impacts many aspects of both communities’ everyday lives, and the relationship between the two groups.
In the session with the women we reflected on recent writings by Miroslav Volf as well as from our curriculum regarding remembering well. When we reflect on painful history, we often encounter situations where our pain hinders us from seeing other people’s pain. Sometimes we do not want to acknowledge other people’s pain because we feel that it will somehow diminish the legitimacy of our grievances. We often see this in our conflict. Many times, Palestinians have great difficulty coming to terms with the Holocaust and recognizing the legitimate suffering of the Jewish people; they are afraid that recognizing these terrible things would somehow lessen their cry for justice in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On the other hand, Israelis are often unwilling to recognize the suffering they have caused the Palestinian people, as they fear that this would lessen their claim to the land. When the other’s pain is presented before either of these parties, it is often met with denial, explanation, and justification; rarely do we see willingness to come to terms with the other’s pain.
Both sides suffer from a victim mentality that causes us to develop a fatalistic view about life. We often focus on remembering the dark moments of history rather than the positive moments. We actively recall moments of collective suffering more often than moments of collective success and joy. When we study remembering rightly we discuss the shortcomings of memory. We cannot remember everything, so what we remember is significant. We are not just shaped by memories; we ourselves shape the memories that shape us. And since we do so, the consequences are significant. Because we shape our memories, our identities cannot consist simply in what we remember. This is significant because what we or our society choose to remember of traumatic events in our past, influences how we think and what we do. Memory can be manipulated for political ends, and we can be drawn into blaming others for our suffering. Consequently, we can sometimes find ourselves legitimating others’ suffering due to our own suffering. We can lose our ability to look at our neighbor’s pain and recognize our complicity in causing them pain. Unfortunately, humans have a great capacity for justifying their actions against others. It is easier to justify our actions than to take responsibility for them.
To bring this back to where we are right now, as we approach the celebration of Passover and Pascha, we should reflect on how we are encouraged to remember these two salvific acts of history. Exodus tells us the story of the children of Israel suffering in slavery in Egypt. Interjected into the middle of that is an active God who hears the cry of his people and who intervenes on their behalf. He delivers them from Egypt and declares that he did so by his mighty hand and outstretched arm, and not due to their ability or righteousness. We see here a God who acts on behalf of the unworthy, who hears the cry of his people, and who seeks to deliver. At the last supper, Jesus sat surrounded by his closest friends, eating and drinking together. Breaking bread is one of the most holy acts one can partake in with another. Yet soon these very same friends would betray or abandon him. When Jesus was handed over to the authorities and crucified, he chose to remember the humanity of those who crucified him, the humanity of those he died for, entreating God to forgive them, for they did not understand the gravity of their actions. When resurrected, he sought the renewal and restoration of his friends, forgiving them for abandoning him, encouraging them to embrace their God-appointed path. Both of these events speak of God’s deliverance, but they also require a personal response from us. When the Exodus is recalled in the Bible it is often phrased “remember that you were strangers in Egypt” and many times, it is coupled with injunctions to be kind to the strangers in one’s own land. Likewise, God’s forgiveness toward us requires of us to forgive others. As we celebrate these two holidays, let us remember God’s deliverance of us both individually and communally, and reflect on God’s challenge to us as a result.
Wishing you all a blessed Passover and Pascha,
Salim J. Munayer
Musalaha Director
--
John & Sharon
Monday, April 2, 2012
The Buzz on James Wall's Latest Writing
Dear Friend,
A lot of buzz in re James Wall's weekly commentary; this week on how Bishop Schori addressed the Isr/Pal issue.
The Bishop urges all to eat together and share one another's stories: pretty tepid advice to those seeking systemic changes to entrenched discrimination against the native population.
Of all the comments, I pass this one on to you, faithful reader in FPI, from Steve Feldman, an American Jew. JRK
Steve Feldman commented on Church Leader Tells Palestinians and Israelis "eat together and listen to each other's stories".
in response to wallwritings:
One of my sources who follows this issue with diligence wrote to say
I agree, communicating is good. There isn't enough of it. But to be clear, as an American Jew who lost family in Europe at the hands of christians, I greatly appreciate how many Christians today feel they have to be careful in how they treat Jewish people and Israel.That said, a problem in the Holocaust was that American Christian people didn't speak out against strongly enough against discrimination and mistreatment in Europe. As an American Jew, I want Christians to speak out strongly against discrimination and mistreatment wherever it occurs, whether it is directed toward or committed by Jewish people.What we Jewish people have been doing to Christian and Muslim families in Palestine has been a terrible thing that violates our own principles. Many of us Jews see that we are only trying to achieve security, but while security is important for Jewish families, it is equally important for the Christians and Muslim families of Palestine to have security. Continuing to expel and kill as many Christians and Muslims as we have to in order to achieve security is neither a path toward justice nor a path toward peace. Security can and will come when we end the discrimination. I hope our Christian brothers and sisters will speak out strongly to their Jewish friends that it is long past time to treat non-Jewish Palestinian families as equals, to knock down the wall, and to begin “deeper engagement, people of different traditions eating together, listening to each other’s stories," and living together in peace. A two-state "separate but (un)equal" solution is NOT the way to achieve that goal.
A lot of buzz in re James Wall's weekly commentary; this week on how Bishop Schori addressed the Isr/Pal issue.
The Bishop urges all to eat together and share one another's stories: pretty tepid advice to those seeking systemic changes to entrenched discrimination against the native population.
Of all the comments, I pass this one on to you, faithful reader in FPI, from Steve Feldman, an American Jew. JRK
Steve Feldman commented on Church Leader Tells Palestinians and Israelis "eat together and listen to each other's stories".
in response to wallwritings:
One of my sources who follows this issue with diligence wrote to say
I agree, communicating is good. There isn't enough of it. But to be clear, as an American Jew who lost family in Europe at the hands of christians, I greatly appreciate how many Christians today feel they have to be careful in how they treat Jewish people and Israel.That said, a problem in the Holocaust was that American Christian people didn't speak out against strongly enough against discrimination and mistreatment in Europe. As an American Jew, I want Christians to speak out strongly against discrimination and mistreatment wherever it occurs, whether it is directed toward or committed by Jewish people.What we Jewish people have been doing to Christian and Muslim families in Palestine has been a terrible thing that violates our own principles. Many of us Jews see that we are only trying to achieve security, but while security is important for Jewish families, it is equally important for the Christians and Muslim families of Palestine to have security. Continuing to expel and kill as many Christians and Muslims as we have to in order to achieve security is neither a path toward justice nor a path toward peace. Security can and will come when we end the discrimination. I hope our Christian brothers and sisters will speak out strongly to their Jewish friends that it is long past time to treat non-Jewish Palestinian families as equals, to knock down the wall, and to begin “deeper engagement, people of different traditions eating together, listening to each other’s stories," and living together in peace. A two-state "separate but (un)equal" solution is NOT the way to achieve that goal.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
It's TIME for Palestine! (Kairos that is)
Dear Friend,
Friends Cindy Holder-Rich and Don Wagner have combined to send us a powerful document. (Don writes the article; Cindy provides the venue on www.ecclesio.com
I'm bringing you the last part of it for a careful read. For the complete document, click on the link for "ecclesio.com" on the bottom of this post. For access to the complete Kairos Palestine document (which I will be exploring with the class April 15, 22 and 29, 10:15 a.m in the Chapel at Christ Memorial Church), go to www.kairospalestine.ps
A Western Michigan Kairos USA chapter is envisioned with participants from Holland, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo for starters.
Thank you Don Wagner, Cindy Holder-Rich, Mark Braverman, the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the PCUSA and many, many others, for your efforts to bring about wrenching but needed change in Israel/Palestine. JRK
". . . Palestinian Christians have been appealing to the world for nearly five decades concerning the rapid decline of Christianity in the occupied Palestinian territories. Few have listened. It is no mere coincidence that when Israel’s military occupation began in June 1967, Palestinian Christians were 13% of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip population. Today they are a meager 1.1 to 1.2% and well below 1% if you factor in 500,000 Jewish settlers now living in illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories. Some church leaders fear that at this rate there will be no Christians left in these parts of the Holy Land within a generation, unless something dramatic causes Israel to change its intransigence.
Palestinian Christians have stepped up their appeals to the world in recent years, culminating in the December, 2009 Kairos-Palestine Document. The statement is modeled after the 1985 Kairos South Africa document that awakened the global church and peace movement concerning the evils of the white South African Apartheid system and declared Apartheid a “sin.” Kairos-Palestine pinpoints the Israeli military occupation in the same way, a “sin” that has in fact become a racist apartheid system, privileging Jewish settlers and exploiting Palestinians within their own territories.
Like Kairos-South Africa, Kairos-Palestine is a prophetic cry to the global church and civil society, calling for an immediate response and courageous, prophetic actions. The authors of Kairos-Palestine summarized the essence of their message in a postscript to the Declaration: “In this historic document, we Palestinian Christians declare that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity, and that any theology that legitimizes the occupation is far from Christian teachings because true Christian theology is a theology of love and solidarity with the oppressed, a call to justice and equality among peoples.”5 Echoes of Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” are unmistakable.
In one of its most controversial sections, the authors invoke non-violent strategies, like those conducted during the struggle for civil rights and opposition to Apartheid in South Africa. No one in the pro-Israel community complained when these methods were used in those cases, and Israel used the boycott strategy in a number of cases. But when Palestinians call for divestment or boycotts, and their friends follow their lead, everything is different.
Kairos-Palestine argues that endless peace conferences, dialogue, and diplomacy have only brought more suffering to the Palestinian people. Now it is time for other methods, and they choose to follow the ethics of Jesus: “Christ our Lord has left us an example we must imitate. We must resist evil, but he taught us that we cannot resist evil with evil. This is a difficult commandment, particularly when the enemy is determined to impose himself and deny our right to remain here in our land…(Therefore) Palestinian civil organizations, as well as international organizations, NGOs and certain religious institutions call on individuals, companies and states to engage in divestment and in an economic and commercial boycott of everything produced by the occupation. We understand this to integrate the logic of peaceful resistance. These advocacy campaigns must be carried out with courage, openly and sincerely proclaiming that their object is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the perpetrators and the victims of injustice.”6
Inspired by Kairos-Palestine, a group of U. S. clergy, theologians, and laity met recently to consider “a bold, prophetic stand for justice in the Holy Land.” They added: “In acknowledging this Kairos moment, we call on the U.S. churches to take up the challenge. There is an urgent need to support nonviolent resistance to oppression on the part of Palestinian and Israeli civil society and to continue to build the growing international grassroots movement that will break the current political log-jam.”7
“Kairos-Palestine: A US Response” plans to bridge the divide among U.S. Evangelicals, mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, and African-American denominations, as all were represented at the organizing meeting. Among the programmatic goals of this response are calls for pilgrimages to Israel/Palestine; dissemination of a “Call to Action” with accompanying study materials for churches, universities, and community organizations; convening a summit on the theology of the land, peoplehood, and prophetic justice; and connecting U.S. churches, synagogues, and mosques to civil society in Israel and Palestine, as well as to Kairos Palestine movements around the globe.
The timing of these efforts could not be more relevant as at least two major U.S. Protestant denominations will consider resolutions on morally responsible investment in the coming months. In late April 2012, the United Methodist Church will consider such a resolution at their international assembly in Tampa, Florida, followed by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in July 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA at its General Assembly. Both resolutions are responses to the call from their sister churches in Israel and the Occupied Territories. The churches are applying the same ethical principles for morally responsible investment as they have applied in previous cases such as Apartheid in South Africa, Sudan ethnic cleansing in Darfur, and divesting from corporations producing weapons or instruments that destroy lives or the livelihood of civilians.
Perhaps it is ironic that the global church, and particularly churches in the United States, are being challenged by a courageous, prophetic “call” from a small but courageous community, their sisters and brothers in the very lands where the Christian message was first heard. These sisters and brothers are hoping and praying that the global church will not let them down in their hour of need and will begin to embody prophetic consciousness.
1. Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, Augsburg Fortress Publications: (2012, Kindle Edition).
2. Luke 4: 24 (English Standard Version; read Luke 4:14-30 for the whole incident).
3. “Christian Palestinians: Israel ‘manipulating facts’ by claiming we are welcome,” Amira Hass. Ha’aretz (March 26, 2012) (www.haaretz.com. accessed March 26, 2012)
4. Ibid.
5. Kairos-Palestine, www.kairospalestine.ps
6. Ibid.
7. “Kairos-Palestine: A US Response” will provide theological analysis and resources starting with a “US Document”; please address requests to info@kairosusa.org
Rev. Dr. Don Wagner is the National Program Director of FOSNA, Friends of Sabeel–North America, working closely with faith based communities in the US and Canada to promote a just peace in Israel/Palestine. Previously he was a Professor of Middle East Studies and Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University in Chicago. He is an ordained PC(USA) clergyman.
http://www.ecclesio.com/2012/03/embodying-prophetic-consciousness-the-case-of-kairos-palestine-and-the-u-s-response-by-don-wagner/
Friends Cindy Holder-Rich and Don Wagner have combined to send us a powerful document. (Don writes the article; Cindy provides the venue on www.ecclesio.com
I'm bringing you the last part of it for a careful read. For the complete document, click on the link for "ecclesio.com" on the bottom of this post. For access to the complete Kairos Palestine document (which I will be exploring with the class April 15, 22 and 29, 10:15 a.m in the Chapel at Christ Memorial Church), go to www.kairospalestine.ps
A Western Michigan Kairos USA chapter is envisioned with participants from Holland, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo for starters.
Thank you Don Wagner, Cindy Holder-Rich, Mark Braverman, the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the PCUSA and many, many others, for your efforts to bring about wrenching but needed change in Israel/Palestine. JRK
". . . Palestinian Christians have been appealing to the world for nearly five decades concerning the rapid decline of Christianity in the occupied Palestinian territories. Few have listened. It is no mere coincidence that when Israel’s military occupation began in June 1967, Palestinian Christians were 13% of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip population. Today they are a meager 1.1 to 1.2% and well below 1% if you factor in 500,000 Jewish settlers now living in illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories. Some church leaders fear that at this rate there will be no Christians left in these parts of the Holy Land within a generation, unless something dramatic causes Israel to change its intransigence.
Palestinian Christians have stepped up their appeals to the world in recent years, culminating in the December, 2009 Kairos-Palestine Document. The statement is modeled after the 1985 Kairos South Africa document that awakened the global church and peace movement concerning the evils of the white South African Apartheid system and declared Apartheid a “sin.” Kairos-Palestine pinpoints the Israeli military occupation in the same way, a “sin” that has in fact become a racist apartheid system, privileging Jewish settlers and exploiting Palestinians within their own territories.
Like Kairos-South Africa, Kairos-Palestine is a prophetic cry to the global church and civil society, calling for an immediate response and courageous, prophetic actions. The authors of Kairos-Palestine summarized the essence of their message in a postscript to the Declaration: “In this historic document, we Palestinian Christians declare that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity, and that any theology that legitimizes the occupation is far from Christian teachings because true Christian theology is a theology of love and solidarity with the oppressed, a call to justice and equality among peoples.”5 Echoes of Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” are unmistakable.
In one of its most controversial sections, the authors invoke non-violent strategies, like those conducted during the struggle for civil rights and opposition to Apartheid in South Africa. No one in the pro-Israel community complained when these methods were used in those cases, and Israel used the boycott strategy in a number of cases. But when Palestinians call for divestment or boycotts, and their friends follow their lead, everything is different.
Kairos-Palestine argues that endless peace conferences, dialogue, and diplomacy have only brought more suffering to the Palestinian people. Now it is time for other methods, and they choose to follow the ethics of Jesus: “Christ our Lord has left us an example we must imitate. We must resist evil, but he taught us that we cannot resist evil with evil. This is a difficult commandment, particularly when the enemy is determined to impose himself and deny our right to remain here in our land…(Therefore) Palestinian civil organizations, as well as international organizations, NGOs and certain religious institutions call on individuals, companies and states to engage in divestment and in an economic and commercial boycott of everything produced by the occupation. We understand this to integrate the logic of peaceful resistance. These advocacy campaigns must be carried out with courage, openly and sincerely proclaiming that their object is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the perpetrators and the victims of injustice.”6
Inspired by Kairos-Palestine, a group of U. S. clergy, theologians, and laity met recently to consider “a bold, prophetic stand for justice in the Holy Land.” They added: “In acknowledging this Kairos moment, we call on the U.S. churches to take up the challenge. There is an urgent need to support nonviolent resistance to oppression on the part of Palestinian and Israeli civil society and to continue to build the growing international grassroots movement that will break the current political log-jam.”7
“Kairos-Palestine: A US Response” plans to bridge the divide among U.S. Evangelicals, mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, and African-American denominations, as all were represented at the organizing meeting. Among the programmatic goals of this response are calls for pilgrimages to Israel/Palestine; dissemination of a “Call to Action” with accompanying study materials for churches, universities, and community organizations; convening a summit on the theology of the land, peoplehood, and prophetic justice; and connecting U.S. churches, synagogues, and mosques to civil society in Israel and Palestine, as well as to Kairos Palestine movements around the globe.
The timing of these efforts could not be more relevant as at least two major U.S. Protestant denominations will consider resolutions on morally responsible investment in the coming months. In late April 2012, the United Methodist Church will consider such a resolution at their international assembly in Tampa, Florida, followed by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in July 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA at its General Assembly. Both resolutions are responses to the call from their sister churches in Israel and the Occupied Territories. The churches are applying the same ethical principles for morally responsible investment as they have applied in previous cases such as Apartheid in South Africa, Sudan ethnic cleansing in Darfur, and divesting from corporations producing weapons or instruments that destroy lives or the livelihood of civilians.
Perhaps it is ironic that the global church, and particularly churches in the United States, are being challenged by a courageous, prophetic “call” from a small but courageous community, their sisters and brothers in the very lands where the Christian message was first heard. These sisters and brothers are hoping and praying that the global church will not let them down in their hour of need and will begin to embody prophetic consciousness.
1. Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, Augsburg Fortress Publications: (2012, Kindle Edition).
2. Luke 4: 24 (English Standard Version; read Luke 4:14-30 for the whole incident).
3. “Christian Palestinians: Israel ‘manipulating facts’ by claiming we are welcome,” Amira Hass. Ha’aretz (March 26, 2012) (www.haaretz.com. accessed March 26, 2012)
4. Ibid.
5. Kairos-Palestine, www.kairospalestine.ps
6. Ibid.
7. “Kairos-Palestine: A US Response” will provide theological analysis and resources starting with a “US Document”; please address requests to info@kairosusa.org
Rev. Dr. Don Wagner is the National Program Director of FOSNA, Friends of Sabeel–North America, working closely with faith based communities in the US and Canada to promote a just peace in Israel/Palestine. Previously he was a Professor of Middle East Studies and Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University in Chicago. He is an ordained PC(USA) clergyman.
http://www.ecclesio.com/2012/03/embodying-prophetic-consciousness-the-case-of-kairos-palestine-and-the-u-s-response-by-don-wagner/
Monday, March 12, 2012
"Evangelical" Christians Support Palestinian Rights!
Dear Friend of Palestinians and Israelis,
As you know, millions of American "evangelicals" and "Christian Zionists" give unqualified support to Israelis in their quest to occupy and colonize ALL of the land of Isr/Pal. There is now a group of "evangelical Christians" who beg to differ with that assumption.
A group of American and Palestinian Evangelicals held a conference in Bethlehem, earlier this month called CHRIST AT THE CROSSROADS. Below is a report from the organizers about what happened.
Many formerly critical Messianic Jews from America were in attendance (i.e., Jews who are now Jesus followers). They met with evangelical Christians in Palestine. They were introduced to the realities on the ground there. (Among those speaking was Bill Hybels' wife Lynne, who has caught the message of justice for Palestinians).
It is becoming clearer that John Hagee and his followers (CUI - Christians United for Israel) can no longer speak for all American Evangelical Christians. The truth about the Occupation is getting out. The Occupation of historic Palestinian land and the trampling on their human rights must end. It will end. JRK
March 9, 2012
Christ at the Checkpoint: Hope in the Midst of Conflict: 2012
A major breakthrough in the evangelical world took place in Bethlehem through a gathering of over 600 international and local Christians, including renowned evangelical leaders. Organized by Bethlehem Bible College, the conference, under the banner “Christ at the Checkpoint,” addressed the issue of how to find hope in the midst of conflict. The conference exceeded all expectations.
For the first time, a broad spectrum of evangelical believers met literally at the “checkpoint,” and engaged biblically on issues that have historically divided them. Subjects included, Christian Zionism, Islamism, justice, nonviolence, and reconciliation. These themes were intended to create an ongoing forum for Christian peacemaking within the context of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. These issues were discussed in the form of inspirational messages, Bible study, interactive workshops, panels and site visits.
Defying the temptation to despair, Palestinian Christians demonstrated renewed hope to continue to stand against the injustice of occupation nonviolently and forms of Christian Zionism that marginalize them. They also acknowledged the right of the State of Israel to exist within secure borders.
Speakers included John Ortberg, Bishara Awad, Chris Wright, Doug Birdsall, David Kim, Tony Campolo, Lynne Hybels, Munther Isaac, Shane Claiborne, Joel Hunter, Ron Sider, Salim Munayer and Colin Chapman. Participants from 20 nations and a sizeable delegation of university students including Wheaton College and Eastern University, were moved by the testimony of Palestinian men and women who shared the pain and suffering they experience on a daily basis caused primarily by the continuing occupation.
A unique aspect of the conference was the presence and presentations by members of the Messianic community including Richard Harvey, Evan Thomas and Wayne Hilsden, who provided an integral contribution to the dialogue.
Conference organizers challenged the evangelical community to cease looking at the Middle East through the lens of “end times” prophecy and instead rallied them to join in following Jesus in the prophetic pursuance of justice, peace and reconciliation.
The Christ at the Checkpoint Manifesto
1. The Kingdom of God has come. Evangelicals must reclaim the prophetic role in bringing peace, justice and reconciliation in Palestine and Israel.
2. Reconciliation recognizes God’s image in one another.
3. Racial ethnicity alone does not guarantee the benefits of the Abrahamic Covenant.
4. The Church in the land of the Holy One, has born witness to Christ since the days of Pentecost. It must be empowered to continue to be light and salt in the region, if there is to be hope in the midst of conflict.
5. Any exclusive claim to land of the Bible in the name of God is not in line with the teaching of Scripture.
6. All forms of violence must be refuted unequivocally.
7. Palestinian Christians must not lose the capacity to self-criticism if they wish to remain prophetic.
8. There are real injustices taking place in the Palestinian territories and the suffering of the Palestinian people can no longer be ignored.
9. Any solution must respect the equity and rights of Israel and Palestinian communities.
10. For Palestinian Christians, the occupation is the core issue of the conflict.
11. Any challenge of the injustices taking place in the Holy Land must be done in Christian love. Criticism of Israel and the occupation cannot be confused with anti-Semitism and the de-legitimization of the State of Israel.
12. Respectful dialogue between Palestinian and Messianic believers must continue. Though we may disagree on secondary matters of theology, the Gospel of Jesus and his ethical teaching take precedence.
13. Christians must understand the global context for the rise of extremist Islam. We challenge stereotyping of all faith forms that betray God’s commandment to love our neighbors and enemies.
The Statement and Manifesto were presented to the conference participants on the last day but were only agreed on and endorsed by the Conference Organizers.
Conference Organizers: John Angle, Alex Awad, Bishara Awad, Sami Awad, Steve Haas, Munther Isaac, Yohanna Katanacho, Manfred Kohl, Salim Munayer, Jack Sara, Stephen Sizer
http://www.christatthecheckpoint.com/index.php/about-us/2012-press-release
As you know, millions of American "evangelicals" and "Christian Zionists" give unqualified support to Israelis in their quest to occupy and colonize ALL of the land of Isr/Pal. There is now a group of "evangelical Christians" who beg to differ with that assumption.
A group of American and Palestinian Evangelicals held a conference in Bethlehem, earlier this month called CHRIST AT THE CROSSROADS. Below is a report from the organizers about what happened.
Many formerly critical Messianic Jews from America were in attendance (i.e., Jews who are now Jesus followers). They met with evangelical Christians in Palestine. They were introduced to the realities on the ground there. (Among those speaking was Bill Hybels' wife Lynne, who has caught the message of justice for Palestinians).
It is becoming clearer that John Hagee and his followers (CUI - Christians United for Israel) can no longer speak for all American Evangelical Christians. The truth about the Occupation is getting out. The Occupation of historic Palestinian land and the trampling on their human rights must end. It will end. JRK
March 9, 2012
Christ at the Checkpoint: Hope in the Midst of Conflict: 2012
A major breakthrough in the evangelical world took place in Bethlehem through a gathering of over 600 international and local Christians, including renowned evangelical leaders. Organized by Bethlehem Bible College, the conference, under the banner “Christ at the Checkpoint,” addressed the issue of how to find hope in the midst of conflict. The conference exceeded all expectations.
For the first time, a broad spectrum of evangelical believers met literally at the “checkpoint,” and engaged biblically on issues that have historically divided them. Subjects included, Christian Zionism, Islamism, justice, nonviolence, and reconciliation. These themes were intended to create an ongoing forum for Christian peacemaking within the context of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. These issues were discussed in the form of inspirational messages, Bible study, interactive workshops, panels and site visits.
Defying the temptation to despair, Palestinian Christians demonstrated renewed hope to continue to stand against the injustice of occupation nonviolently and forms of Christian Zionism that marginalize them. They also acknowledged the right of the State of Israel to exist within secure borders.
Speakers included John Ortberg, Bishara Awad, Chris Wright, Doug Birdsall, David Kim, Tony Campolo, Lynne Hybels, Munther Isaac, Shane Claiborne, Joel Hunter, Ron Sider, Salim Munayer and Colin Chapman. Participants from 20 nations and a sizeable delegation of university students including Wheaton College and Eastern University, were moved by the testimony of Palestinian men and women who shared the pain and suffering they experience on a daily basis caused primarily by the continuing occupation.
A unique aspect of the conference was the presence and presentations by members of the Messianic community including Richard Harvey, Evan Thomas and Wayne Hilsden, who provided an integral contribution to the dialogue.
Conference organizers challenged the evangelical community to cease looking at the Middle East through the lens of “end times” prophecy and instead rallied them to join in following Jesus in the prophetic pursuance of justice, peace and reconciliation.
The Christ at the Checkpoint Manifesto
1. The Kingdom of God has come. Evangelicals must reclaim the prophetic role in bringing peace, justice and reconciliation in Palestine and Israel.
2. Reconciliation recognizes God’s image in one another.
3. Racial ethnicity alone does not guarantee the benefits of the Abrahamic Covenant.
4. The Church in the land of the Holy One, has born witness to Christ since the days of Pentecost. It must be empowered to continue to be light and salt in the region, if there is to be hope in the midst of conflict.
5. Any exclusive claim to land of the Bible in the name of God is not in line with the teaching of Scripture.
6. All forms of violence must be refuted unequivocally.
7. Palestinian Christians must not lose the capacity to self-criticism if they wish to remain prophetic.
8. There are real injustices taking place in the Palestinian territories and the suffering of the Palestinian people can no longer be ignored.
9. Any solution must respect the equity and rights of Israel and Palestinian communities.
10. For Palestinian Christians, the occupation is the core issue of the conflict.
11. Any challenge of the injustices taking place in the Holy Land must be done in Christian love. Criticism of Israel and the occupation cannot be confused with anti-Semitism and the de-legitimization of the State of Israel.
12. Respectful dialogue between Palestinian and Messianic believers must continue. Though we may disagree on secondary matters of theology, the Gospel of Jesus and his ethical teaching take precedence.
13. Christians must understand the global context for the rise of extremist Islam. We challenge stereotyping of all faith forms that betray God’s commandment to love our neighbors and enemies.
The Statement and Manifesto were presented to the conference participants on the last day but were only agreed on and endorsed by the Conference Organizers.
Conference Organizers: John Angle, Alex Awad, Bishara Awad, Sami Awad, Steve Haas, Munther Isaac, Yohanna Katanacho, Manfred Kohl, Salim Munayer, Jack Sara, Stephen Sizer
http://www.christatthecheckpoint.com/index.php/about-us/2012-press-release
Friday, March 9, 2012
Palestinians Experience MORE TERRIFYING than Apartheid
Dear Friend,
I first met (Rev) Allan Boesak when Western Theol. Seminary in Holland, MI, brought him to town to discuss the Belhar Confession in the mid-1980s. He was one of the writers of the Belhar and was asking for US help in the struggle against the South African (Dutch) apartheid administration of de Clerk and company.
There was a willingness to engage him in conversation. Some Reformed (Dutch) Christians in Western Michigan even were willing to talk with our Dutch cousins about dismantling the apartheid system, even advocating boycotts, divestments and sanctions against the existing government there. (Not everyone was on board with it in Western Michigan, I'm sure you understand!)
The Middle East Monitor (below) asked Rev. Boesak to compare South African apartheid with what is happening to Palestinians in the state of Israel (including the West Band and Gaza). Here is his response: The Palestinian version is "MORE TERRIFYING".
Kairos Palestine is an effort by Palestinian Christians to learn from the anti-apartheid Kairos South Africa experience. Many of our friends have been (or are now) in South Africa, learning how the native Africans peacefully (without a lot of violence) were able to end the apartheid state in South Africa and bring equality to all the inhabitants of that beautiful land.
Those of us in FPI (Friends of Palestinians and Israelis) are now investigating what an alliance with Kairos Palestine would mean here in the US. Stay tuned.
The Palestinians Experience "MORE TERRIFYING" than South African Apartheid
Dr Hanan Chehata interviews Revd Allan Boesak
MEMO – Middle East Monitor
17 November 2011
The Reverend Allan Aubrey Boesak is a veteran of the South African
anti-apartheid struggle. He is the former president of the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches, and is a signatory of the South African Christian
response to the Kairos Palestine Document. This year he gave expert
testimony at the Russell Tribunal on Palestine session in Cape Town, at
which he spoke to MEMO’s Hanan Chahata.
Hanan Chahata: You were one of the signatories of the South African
Christian response to the Kairos Palestine Document. In this you said that
the Palestinian experience of apartheid is “in its practical manifestation
even worse than South African apartheid”. Can you explain what you meant by
this?
Allan Boesak: It is worse, not in the sense that apartheid was not an
absolutely terrifying system in South Africa, but in the ways in which the
Israelis have taken the apartheid system and perfected it, so to speak;
sharpened it. For instance, we had the Bantustans and we had the Group Areas
Act and we had the separate schools and all of that but I don’t think it
ever even entered the mind of any apartheid planner to design a town in such
a way that there is a physical wall that separates people and that that wall
denotes your freedom of movement, your freedom of economic gain, of
employment, and at the same time is a tool of intimidation and
dehumanisation. We carried passes as the Palestinians have their ID
documents but that did not mean that we could not go from one place in the
city to another place in the city. The judicial system was absolutely skewed
of course, all the judges in their judgements sought to protect white
privilege and power and so forth, and we had a series of what they called
“hanging judges” in those days, but they did not go far as to openly,
blatantly have two separate justice systems as they do for Palestinians [who
are tried in Israeli military courts] and Israelis [who are tried in civil,
not military courts]. So in many ways the Israeli system is worse.
Another thing that makes it even worse is that when we fought our battles,
even if it took us a long time, we could in the end muster and mobilise
international solidarity on a scale that enabled us to be more successful in
our struggle. The Palestinians cannot do that. The whole international
community almost conspires against them. The UN, which played a fairly
positive role in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, takes the
disastrous position of not wanting to offend its strong members like the
United States who protect Israel. So even in the UN, where international law
ought to be the framework wherein all these things are judged, where
international solidarity is not an assumption but is supposed to be the very
foundation upon which the UN builds its views on things and its judgements
as to which way it goes, the Palestinians don’t even have that.
Palestinians are mocked in a way that South Africans were not. In a sense,
the UN tried in our case to follow up on its resolutions to isolate the
apartheid regime. Here, now, they make resolutions against Israel one after
the other and I don’t detect even a sense of shame that they know there is
not going to be any follow up. Under Reagan the United States was pretty
blatant in its so called constructive engagement programme and in its
support for the white regime in South Africa, but what the United States is
doing now in the week that UNESCO took the decision to support the
Palestinian bid for a seat in the United Nations, to withdraw all US
financial support; to resort immediately to economic blackmail, that is so
scandalous. So in all those ways I think we are trying to say that what is
happening in Israel today is a system of apartheid that in its perfection of
that system is more terrifying in many ways than apartheid in South Africa
ever was.
HC: During an event celebrating black history month earlier this year you
likened the US Civil Rights Movement to the South African struggle against
apartheid. Would you liken both of those struggles to the Palestinian
struggle today?
AB:I have just finished a chapter for a book that I hope will be out next
year in which I speak of the similarities between the civil rights struggle,
the anti-apartheid struggle, and the Arab Spring and the lessons we can draw
from them.
I think it is fascinating in so many different ways. It’s almost as if I
personally lived through the difficult choices that people have to make in
North Africa and in the Middle East every day. As every day goes by my
admiration for them grows. I see what is happening in Syria and in Yemen and
that there is still relatively little violence on the part of the
protesters. You can still see that their basic fundamental goal is to get
rid of the tyranny through non-violent protest and it is amazing to watch. I
do believe that there is such a thing as historic moments that never
disappear from which people learn. South Africa learned so much from Ghandi
in India; Martin Luther King learned from Ghandi; we learned from Martin
Luther King and we had our own traditions and I’m sure the young Arab people
who saw some of these things happening are drawing on that. 1994 (when the
first democratic government of South Africa was formed) and the 1980s are
not that far behind us. Many of those people who are participating today
were sat in front of their televisions watching when we were in the streets
day after day after day braving the dogs and the guns and the tear gas,
burying our people, funeral after funeral. When I see the funerals taking
place in the Arab world I think of the time Archbishop Tutu and I buried 27
people (actually 42 were killed but the police would not release the other
bodies); I think of that when I see bodies being carried out to be buried
Friday after Friday in the Arab world.
Our struggle had all sorts of political ideologies but it was never
completely secularised. The faith, as Archbishop Tutu said this morning,
that there is a God of justice who will help us sustain the struggle is an
amazing thing. When I see all those thousands of Muslims go down and bow
down before Allah I must say, when I saw it for the first time I looked at
my wife and I said, I tell you now, if people sustain that, all those
tyrants will be quaking in their boots and they know that they will not be
able to hold out against that power.
I believe that, just as a few years ago the civil rights struggle in the
United States, and then more especially the anti-apartheid struggle, became
the moral standard by which the world was judged in terms of its taking
sides in terms of right or wrong and getting on the right side of the human
revolution for humanity and for justice and for the restoration of dignity
and for the future for children; that particular moment in history where the
world is invited to participate in this revolution for the sake of the good
and for the sake of the future and for the sake of justice; and where that
decision hinges upon evil and wrong on the one side and justice and right on
the other side and will mark the world in a way that says this is a litmus
test for international solidarity and for international law and justice,
that test today comes from the Arab Spring.
HC: The Arab Spring or Palestine?
AB: You have the Arab Spring taking place but at the hub of it all is
Palestine. I believe that what is happening now would not have happened if
it had not been for the perennial struggle of the Palestinian people. They
may not be mentioned every time but I can tell you now that if it was not
for them, nothing like the Arab Spring would ever have happened in the
Middle East.
Just as we thought, when we watched Martin Luther King or when we went
through our own struggle, that the face and direction of history and the
world, whether they like it in the West or not and whether or not they come
to it with hidden agendas for the sake of greed or whatever, it does not
really matter; what is happening in the end is that something fundamental is
changing in the Middle East and thereby something fundamental is changing in
the history of the world. Those people, I believe, who are going through
that revolution now will, for instance, never make the same mistakes that
their parents and grandparents made, thinking that the West is always good
and that the deals we make with the West are always for the good of our
people. There is a new critical element that has come in. Never again will
people think the same; what I am hoping is that the Arab revolutions will be
so sustainable and so successful and morally so strong that they will force
the West to think differently about themselves in terms of the viewpoints
and stands they take on events.
HC: Christianity is under threat in the Holy Land. People tend to forget
that this is not an issue between Jews and Muslims; there are Christian
Palestinians too. There has been a disturbing trend over the years, which
has seen Christian Palestinians leaving the Holy Land because of the
extraordinary difficulties that Israel has placed on their lives. In what
ways has the occupation affected Christians?
AB: The Christian community in Palestine has been decimated in many ways. By
doing this the Israelis are doing two things: they are simplifying the
presentation of the struggle as if it is only between Jews and Arabs, with
the result that Christians outside think that there is nothing and nobody
for us to be in solidarity with. Hence, the Christian Zionists, those ultra
conservative fundamentalists in the United States who have for so long
helped to dictate foreign policy under the Bush and Reagan administrations,
they can say “it’s not about us; it’s not about Christians and Christian
witness, it’s about those Muslims”; that, I think, is the intention. I’m
hoping that those of us who are Christians outside the Middle East will keep
that fact alive and will find ways and means to inject that argument into
every single political situation so that the discourse that goes forward and
gives rise to action does not push aside the reality of Christians in the
Middle East, especially in the Holy Land.
The second thing they are doing is that they are dislodging, not just
denying, but dislodging the roots of the Christian faith in the Middle East;
that’s where it all started. If you dislodge that it’s like cutting off
your nose to spite your face - you are cutting yourself off from the most
ancient roots of Christianity and that will set the Christian church adrift,
and in the end that will not be good for Israel. So I’m glad to see that the
World Council of Churches is rising up again. It is not nearly as radical as
it should be, it’s not nearly as clear as it should be nor as hard-nosed as
it should be on this issue, but at least it is taking up the Palestinian
issue and responding to the situation in Egypt, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere
where Christians are under pressure. In doing so they must remember that
this is not just a Christian cause; it’s not important just because of the
Christians involved, but also because the future of humanity is at stake.
HC: There are an estimated 50 million Christian Zionists worldwide. How
would you council them with regards to their support for the state of Israel
which is based, they would say, on Biblical reasoning?
AB: It’s like with so many things, it’s the way that people read and
interpret the Bible and so we must just make sure that we are as clear and
as enthusiastic and as open about our understanding of the Bible and as
willing to engage our understanding of the Bible as they seem to be. There
must be ways; we have just not been imaginative enough. I think one reason
is because we have not, until very recently, realised the very dangerous
nature of the views that those people hold, not just for Palestinians and
for Muslims in general but also for the Christian Church itself. Now that we
begin to see how deadly that kind of logic is, how absolutely anti-Christian
and anti-human that logic is, we have no excuses left.
HC: Israel is demanding that Palestinians recognise it as an exclusively
“Jewish state”. How would you respond to this demand?
AB: They can’t. There is no such thing as a specifically Jewish state. You
can’t proclaim a Jewish state over the heads and the bodies and the memories
of the people who are the ancient people who live there. That is Palestinian
land we are talking about. Most of the Jews who are there come from Europe
and elsewhere and have no claim on that land and we mustn’t allow it to
happen to the Palestinians what happened to my ancestors who were the
original people in this land (South Africa) but now there are hardly enough
of them to be counted in the census. That is Palestinian land and that
should be the point of departure in every political discussion.
HC: In the past you urged Western countries to impose economic sanctions on
the South African apartheid regime. Would you support a similar call for
sanctions against the state of Israel?
AB: Absolutely! Pressure, pressure, pressure from every side and in as many
ways as possible: trade sanctions, economic sanctions, financial sanctions,
banking sanctions, sports sanctions, cultural sanctions; I’m talking from
our own experience. In the beginning we had very broad sanctions and only
late in the 1980s did we learn to have targeted sanctions. So you must look
to see where the Israelis are most vulnerable; where is the strongest link
to the outside community? And you must have strong international solidarity;
that’s the only way it will work. You have to remember that for years and
years and years when we built up the sanctions campaign it was not with
governments in the West. They came on board very, very late.
It was the Indian government and in Europe just Sweden and Denmark to begin
with and that was it. Later on, by 1985-86, we could get American support.
We never could get Margaret Thatcher on board, never Britain, never Germany,
but in Germany the people who made a difference were the women who started
boycotting South African goods in their supermarkets. That’s how we built it
up. Never despise the day of small beginnings. It was down to civil society.
But civil society in the international community could only build up because
there was such a strong voice from within and that is now the responsibility
of the Palestinians, to keep up that voice and to be as strong and as clear
as they possibly can. Think up the arguments, think through the logic of it
all but don’t forget the passion because this is for your country.
Click here
to read the full South African Response to the Kairos Palestine document.
I first met (Rev) Allan Boesak when Western Theol. Seminary in Holland, MI, brought him to town to discuss the Belhar Confession in the mid-1980s. He was one of the writers of the Belhar and was asking for US help in the struggle against the South African (Dutch) apartheid administration of de Clerk and company.
There was a willingness to engage him in conversation. Some Reformed (Dutch) Christians in Western Michigan even were willing to talk with our Dutch cousins about dismantling the apartheid system, even advocating boycotts, divestments and sanctions against the existing government there. (Not everyone was on board with it in Western Michigan, I'm sure you understand!)
The Middle East Monitor (below) asked Rev. Boesak to compare South African apartheid with what is happening to Palestinians in the state of Israel (including the West Band and Gaza). Here is his response: The Palestinian version is "MORE TERRIFYING".
Kairos Palestine is an effort by Palestinian Christians to learn from the anti-apartheid Kairos South Africa experience. Many of our friends have been (or are now) in South Africa, learning how the native Africans peacefully (without a lot of violence) were able to end the apartheid state in South Africa and bring equality to all the inhabitants of that beautiful land.
Those of us in FPI (Friends of Palestinians and Israelis) are now investigating what an alliance with Kairos Palestine would mean here in the US. Stay tuned.
The Palestinians Experience "MORE TERRIFYING" than South African Apartheid
Dr Hanan Chehata interviews Revd Allan Boesak
MEMO – Middle East Monitor
17 November 2011
The Reverend Allan Aubrey Boesak is a veteran of the South African
anti-apartheid struggle. He is the former president of the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches, and is a signatory of the South African Christian
response to the Kairos Palestine Document. This year he gave expert
testimony at the Russell Tribunal on Palestine session in Cape Town, at
which he spoke to MEMO’s Hanan Chahata.
Hanan Chahata: You were one of the signatories of the South African
Christian response to the Kairos Palestine Document. In this you said that
the Palestinian experience of apartheid is “in its practical manifestation
even worse than South African apartheid”. Can you explain what you meant by
this?
Allan Boesak: It is worse, not in the sense that apartheid was not an
absolutely terrifying system in South Africa, but in the ways in which the
Israelis have taken the apartheid system and perfected it, so to speak;
sharpened it. For instance, we had the Bantustans and we had the Group Areas
Act and we had the separate schools and all of that but I don’t think it
ever even entered the mind of any apartheid planner to design a town in such
a way that there is a physical wall that separates people and that that wall
denotes your freedom of movement, your freedom of economic gain, of
employment, and at the same time is a tool of intimidation and
dehumanisation. We carried passes as the Palestinians have their ID
documents but that did not mean that we could not go from one place in the
city to another place in the city. The judicial system was absolutely skewed
of course, all the judges in their judgements sought to protect white
privilege and power and so forth, and we had a series of what they called
“hanging judges” in those days, but they did not go far as to openly,
blatantly have two separate justice systems as they do for Palestinians [who
are tried in Israeli military courts] and Israelis [who are tried in civil,
not military courts]. So in many ways the Israeli system is worse.
Another thing that makes it even worse is that when we fought our battles,
even if it took us a long time, we could in the end muster and mobilise
international solidarity on a scale that enabled us to be more successful in
our struggle. The Palestinians cannot do that. The whole international
community almost conspires against them. The UN, which played a fairly
positive role in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, takes the
disastrous position of not wanting to offend its strong members like the
United States who protect Israel. So even in the UN, where international law
ought to be the framework wherein all these things are judged, where
international solidarity is not an assumption but is supposed to be the very
foundation upon which the UN builds its views on things and its judgements
as to which way it goes, the Palestinians don’t even have that.
Palestinians are mocked in a way that South Africans were not. In a sense,
the UN tried in our case to follow up on its resolutions to isolate the
apartheid regime. Here, now, they make resolutions against Israel one after
the other and I don’t detect even a sense of shame that they know there is
not going to be any follow up. Under Reagan the United States was pretty
blatant in its so called constructive engagement programme and in its
support for the white regime in South Africa, but what the United States is
doing now in the week that UNESCO took the decision to support the
Palestinian bid for a seat in the United Nations, to withdraw all US
financial support; to resort immediately to economic blackmail, that is so
scandalous. So in all those ways I think we are trying to say that what is
happening in Israel today is a system of apartheid that in its perfection of
that system is more terrifying in many ways than apartheid in South Africa
ever was.
HC: During an event celebrating black history month earlier this year you
likened the US Civil Rights Movement to the South African struggle against
apartheid. Would you liken both of those struggles to the Palestinian
struggle today?
AB:I have just finished a chapter for a book that I hope will be out next
year in which I speak of the similarities between the civil rights struggle,
the anti-apartheid struggle, and the Arab Spring and the lessons we can draw
from them.
I think it is fascinating in so many different ways. It’s almost as if I
personally lived through the difficult choices that people have to make in
North Africa and in the Middle East every day. As every day goes by my
admiration for them grows. I see what is happening in Syria and in Yemen and
that there is still relatively little violence on the part of the
protesters. You can still see that their basic fundamental goal is to get
rid of the tyranny through non-violent protest and it is amazing to watch. I
do believe that there is such a thing as historic moments that never
disappear from which people learn. South Africa learned so much from Ghandi
in India; Martin Luther King learned from Ghandi; we learned from Martin
Luther King and we had our own traditions and I’m sure the young Arab people
who saw some of these things happening are drawing on that. 1994 (when the
first democratic government of South Africa was formed) and the 1980s are
not that far behind us. Many of those people who are participating today
were sat in front of their televisions watching when we were in the streets
day after day after day braving the dogs and the guns and the tear gas,
burying our people, funeral after funeral. When I see the funerals taking
place in the Arab world I think of the time Archbishop Tutu and I buried 27
people (actually 42 were killed but the police would not release the other
bodies); I think of that when I see bodies being carried out to be buried
Friday after Friday in the Arab world.
Our struggle had all sorts of political ideologies but it was never
completely secularised. The faith, as Archbishop Tutu said this morning,
that there is a God of justice who will help us sustain the struggle is an
amazing thing. When I see all those thousands of Muslims go down and bow
down before Allah I must say, when I saw it for the first time I looked at
my wife and I said, I tell you now, if people sustain that, all those
tyrants will be quaking in their boots and they know that they will not be
able to hold out against that power.
I believe that, just as a few years ago the civil rights struggle in the
United States, and then more especially the anti-apartheid struggle, became
the moral standard by which the world was judged in terms of its taking
sides in terms of right or wrong and getting on the right side of the human
revolution for humanity and for justice and for the restoration of dignity
and for the future for children; that particular moment in history where the
world is invited to participate in this revolution for the sake of the good
and for the sake of the future and for the sake of justice; and where that
decision hinges upon evil and wrong on the one side and justice and right on
the other side and will mark the world in a way that says this is a litmus
test for international solidarity and for international law and justice,
that test today comes from the Arab Spring.
HC: The Arab Spring or Palestine?
AB: You have the Arab Spring taking place but at the hub of it all is
Palestine. I believe that what is happening now would not have happened if
it had not been for the perennial struggle of the Palestinian people. They
may not be mentioned every time but I can tell you now that if it was not
for them, nothing like the Arab Spring would ever have happened in the
Middle East.
Just as we thought, when we watched Martin Luther King or when we went
through our own struggle, that the face and direction of history and the
world, whether they like it in the West or not and whether or not they come
to it with hidden agendas for the sake of greed or whatever, it does not
really matter; what is happening in the end is that something fundamental is
changing in the Middle East and thereby something fundamental is changing in
the history of the world. Those people, I believe, who are going through
that revolution now will, for instance, never make the same mistakes that
their parents and grandparents made, thinking that the West is always good
and that the deals we make with the West are always for the good of our
people. There is a new critical element that has come in. Never again will
people think the same; what I am hoping is that the Arab revolutions will be
so sustainable and so successful and morally so strong that they will force
the West to think differently about themselves in terms of the viewpoints
and stands they take on events.
HC: Christianity is under threat in the Holy Land. People tend to forget
that this is not an issue between Jews and Muslims; there are Christian
Palestinians too. There has been a disturbing trend over the years, which
has seen Christian Palestinians leaving the Holy Land because of the
extraordinary difficulties that Israel has placed on their lives. In what
ways has the occupation affected Christians?
AB: The Christian community in Palestine has been decimated in many ways. By
doing this the Israelis are doing two things: they are simplifying the
presentation of the struggle as if it is only between Jews and Arabs, with
the result that Christians outside think that there is nothing and nobody
for us to be in solidarity with. Hence, the Christian Zionists, those ultra
conservative fundamentalists in the United States who have for so long
helped to dictate foreign policy under the Bush and Reagan administrations,
they can say “it’s not about us; it’s not about Christians and Christian
witness, it’s about those Muslims”; that, I think, is the intention. I’m
hoping that those of us who are Christians outside the Middle East will keep
that fact alive and will find ways and means to inject that argument into
every single political situation so that the discourse that goes forward and
gives rise to action does not push aside the reality of Christians in the
Middle East, especially in the Holy Land.
The second thing they are doing is that they are dislodging, not just
denying, but dislodging the roots of the Christian faith in the Middle East;
that’s where it all started. If you dislodge that it’s like cutting off
your nose to spite your face - you are cutting yourself off from the most
ancient roots of Christianity and that will set the Christian church adrift,
and in the end that will not be good for Israel. So I’m glad to see that the
World Council of Churches is rising up again. It is not nearly as radical as
it should be, it’s not nearly as clear as it should be nor as hard-nosed as
it should be on this issue, but at least it is taking up the Palestinian
issue and responding to the situation in Egypt, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere
where Christians are under pressure. In doing so they must remember that
this is not just a Christian cause; it’s not important just because of the
Christians involved, but also because the future of humanity is at stake.
HC: There are an estimated 50 million Christian Zionists worldwide. How
would you council them with regards to their support for the state of Israel
which is based, they would say, on Biblical reasoning?
AB: It’s like with so many things, it’s the way that people read and
interpret the Bible and so we must just make sure that we are as clear and
as enthusiastic and as open about our understanding of the Bible and as
willing to engage our understanding of the Bible as they seem to be. There
must be ways; we have just not been imaginative enough. I think one reason
is because we have not, until very recently, realised the very dangerous
nature of the views that those people hold, not just for Palestinians and
for Muslims in general but also for the Christian Church itself. Now that we
begin to see how deadly that kind of logic is, how absolutely anti-Christian
and anti-human that logic is, we have no excuses left.
HC: Israel is demanding that Palestinians recognise it as an exclusively
“Jewish state”. How would you respond to this demand?
AB: They can’t. There is no such thing as a specifically Jewish state. You
can’t proclaim a Jewish state over the heads and the bodies and the memories
of the people who are the ancient people who live there. That is Palestinian
land we are talking about. Most of the Jews who are there come from Europe
and elsewhere and have no claim on that land and we mustn’t allow it to
happen to the Palestinians what happened to my ancestors who were the
original people in this land (South Africa) but now there are hardly enough
of them to be counted in the census. That is Palestinian land and that
should be the point of departure in every political discussion.
HC: In the past you urged Western countries to impose economic sanctions on
the South African apartheid regime. Would you support a similar call for
sanctions against the state of Israel?
AB: Absolutely! Pressure, pressure, pressure from every side and in as many
ways as possible: trade sanctions, economic sanctions, financial sanctions,
banking sanctions, sports sanctions, cultural sanctions; I’m talking from
our own experience. In the beginning we had very broad sanctions and only
late in the 1980s did we learn to have targeted sanctions. So you must look
to see where the Israelis are most vulnerable; where is the strongest link
to the outside community? And you must have strong international solidarity;
that’s the only way it will work. You have to remember that for years and
years and years when we built up the sanctions campaign it was not with
governments in the West. They came on board very, very late.
It was the Indian government and in Europe just Sweden and Denmark to begin
with and that was it. Later on, by 1985-86, we could get American support.
We never could get Margaret Thatcher on board, never Britain, never Germany,
but in Germany the people who made a difference were the women who started
boycotting South African goods in their supermarkets. That’s how we built it
up. Never despise the day of small beginnings. It was down to civil society.
But civil society in the international community could only build up because
there was such a strong voice from within and that is now the responsibility
of the Palestinians, to keep up that voice and to be as strong and as clear
as they possibly can. Think up the arguments, think through the logic of it
all but don’t forget the passion because this is for your country.
Click here
to read the full South African Response to the Kairos Palestine document.
Friday, March 2, 2012
A Candle in the Darkness
Our businessman "friend"(FPI)in Ramallah sends us a report on a J Street sponsored junket to Isr/Pal by some US House of Representatives.
Many issues come to light in this article. Read it completely for insight into present day realities. The narratives are still at war and neither side shows any sign of wavering or compromise. The Occupation continues full steam ahead.
Right now, the US Congress is fully in the thrall of AIPAC. This visit by mostly AFrican-American Congresswomen might portend a hopeful shift from the AIPAC-dominated viewpoint being foisted on the US with endless repetition. Thank you Sam Bahour, JRK
Source:http://bit.ly/yb95mJ
JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People
U.S. congresswomen see Israel, Palestinians in the eyes of J Street
By Linda Gradstein · February 27, 2012
KALANDIYA, West Bank (JTA) -- The U.S. congresswomen get off the bus and stand in the chilly shadows of the Kalandiya crossing point between the West Bank and Jerusalem.
It’s late morning, well past the rush hour when thousands of Palestinians congregate here, and only a few dozen Palestinians stand in line. To cross, the Palestinians go through aseries of metal turnstiles and wait with their documents until they are called, one by one, toapproach the Israeli soldiers sitting behind bullet-proof barriers.
One Palestinian man strikes up a conversation.
“I have American citizenship but I am not allowed to travel through Ben Gurion Airport because I have a Palestinian ID card,” Hamad Hindi of Louisiana tells the congresswomen. “We are seen as guilty of something because we are Palestinian.”
After crossing to the Palestinian side, the congresswomen -- part of a trip to Israel and the West Bank organized by the J Street Education Fund -- head to Ramallah.
“This is a ticking bomb waiting to go off,” says Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.) “There must be some other way to do this. After so many years there should be some resolution for this issue.”
The congresswomen clearly are moved by their experience at the checkpoint, and that’s the point.
J Street, the “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobbying group that heralds itself as a left-wing alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is trying to present an alternative to the usual pro-Israel fare on congressional missions to Israel. The trip last week included six U.S. congresswomen and a group of women from the Women Donors Network, a coalition of women involved in progressive and social causes.
A spokeswoman for J Street, Jessica Rosenblum, said the trip was part of the organization’s overall effort to promote a two-state solution.
"Our hope is that this and future delegations will help to open up and deepen the conversation in Congress about American policy in the Middle East,” Rosenblum told JTA. “Inparticular,” she said, the trips are meant to “encourage participating members to convey to their colleagues the urgency of the situation and the need for sustained and vigorous American engagement to reach a two-state solution.”
Over six days, the delegation met Israelis and Palestinians, both leaders and “ordinary women.”
Among the Palestinian business leaders the group met in Ramallah was Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American entrepreneur who says he has had difficulty acquiring an Israeli residency permit.
“I really appreciate what J Street is doing -- it’s a breath of fresh air that there is not one line of thought in the American Jewish community,” he told the delegation. “We are at a fork in the road. Either there will be a two-state solution or it will be too late.”
On the way to the Kalandiya checkpoint, two women from Machsom Watch, an Israeli organization that monitors Israeli soldiers at checkpoints, spoke to the group.
“We believe occupation is ruining our society and threatening our democracy and future existence,” said Neta Efrony, director of a 2008 documentary about the Kalandiya checkpoint. “We need your help and to hear your voice. Israelis don’t want to hear and don’t want to know what is happening.”
If the delegation members’ reactions were any gauge, J Street’s strategy shows promise.
“There’s no awareness of this in the U.S.,” Donna Hall, the president and CEO of the Women Donors Network, said in reference to difficulties faced by Palestinians. “The congresswomen are so brave to be here, especially in an election year.”
The congresswomen also heard from Palestinian businesswomen and female hedge fund managers who described ways to empower Palestinian women in business.
“To see people who are building and hopeful and looking forward to the future is so important,” said Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) “We are already figuring out how to change the dynamics of U.S. policy in the region.”
A single mother living on welfare, Moore began her public career as a community organizer and today is also the Democratic chairwoman of the Congressional Women’s Caucus.
The J Street trip also included visits with Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
From Ramallah, the group drove to Shiloh, a Jewish town in the heart of the West Bank halfway between Ramallah and Nablus that because of its location likely would not be incorporated into Israel in any two-state settlement.
A group of Jewish women from several area settlements met with the congresswomen and told them they have no intention of leaving their homes.
“I’m holding the Bible; Shiloh was our first capital before Jerusalem and it has layers and layers of history,” Tzofiah Dorot, the director of Ancient Shiloh, told the women. “This is the heart of Israel and I don’t see a future for the state if you take the heart out.”
All of the women said they were sure that their settlements would remain part of Israel.
“This is our homeland, the homeland of the Jewish nation -- period,” Tamar Aslaf told the delegation. “A Palestinian who lives here is welcome to stay. It’s his home but it’s our homeland.”
Several of the settlers described a scenario in which Palestinians could stay in their homes but not receive national or voting rights. That drew a sharp reply from the congresswomen,five of whom are African Americans.
“Some people would call that apartheid,” said Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), the only white congresswomen on the trip.
“It’s easy to sit in your comfortable house and decide what is good for the Jews,” Dorot responded. “I’m begging you to see that we’re not pieces of Lego you can move around. Thisis life and death. We all need to think out of the box. I’m asking you to forget about the two-state solution.”
Several members of the delegation said the trip gave them a more sophisticated understanding of the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“In Jerusalem and Tel Aviv it’s so easy not to see much of what we saw,” said Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.). “But what does it mean for democracy when you are willing to sacrifice somuch in the name of security?”
Many issues come to light in this article. Read it completely for insight into present day realities. The narratives are still at war and neither side shows any sign of wavering or compromise. The Occupation continues full steam ahead.
Right now, the US Congress is fully in the thrall of AIPAC. This visit by mostly AFrican-American Congresswomen might portend a hopeful shift from the AIPAC-dominated viewpoint being foisted on the US with endless repetition. Thank you Sam Bahour, JRK
Source:http://bit.ly/yb95mJ
JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People
U.S. congresswomen see Israel, Palestinians in the eyes of J Street
By Linda Gradstein · February 27, 2012
KALANDIYA, West Bank (JTA) -- The U.S. congresswomen get off the bus and stand in the chilly shadows of the Kalandiya crossing point between the West Bank and Jerusalem.
It’s late morning, well past the rush hour when thousands of Palestinians congregate here, and only a few dozen Palestinians stand in line. To cross, the Palestinians go through aseries of metal turnstiles and wait with their documents until they are called, one by one, toapproach the Israeli soldiers sitting behind bullet-proof barriers.
One Palestinian man strikes up a conversation.
“I have American citizenship but I am not allowed to travel through Ben Gurion Airport because I have a Palestinian ID card,” Hamad Hindi of Louisiana tells the congresswomen. “We are seen as guilty of something because we are Palestinian.”
After crossing to the Palestinian side, the congresswomen -- part of a trip to Israel and the West Bank organized by the J Street Education Fund -- head to Ramallah.
“This is a ticking bomb waiting to go off,” says Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.) “There must be some other way to do this. After so many years there should be some resolution for this issue.”
The congresswomen clearly are moved by their experience at the checkpoint, and that’s the point.
J Street, the “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobbying group that heralds itself as a left-wing alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is trying to present an alternative to the usual pro-Israel fare on congressional missions to Israel. The trip last week included six U.S. congresswomen and a group of women from the Women Donors Network, a coalition of women involved in progressive and social causes.
A spokeswoman for J Street, Jessica Rosenblum, said the trip was part of the organization’s overall effort to promote a two-state solution.
"Our hope is that this and future delegations will help to open up and deepen the conversation in Congress about American policy in the Middle East,” Rosenblum told JTA. “Inparticular,” she said, the trips are meant to “encourage participating members to convey to their colleagues the urgency of the situation and the need for sustained and vigorous American engagement to reach a two-state solution.”
Over six days, the delegation met Israelis and Palestinians, both leaders and “ordinary women.”
Among the Palestinian business leaders the group met in Ramallah was Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American entrepreneur who says he has had difficulty acquiring an Israeli residency permit.
“I really appreciate what J Street is doing -- it’s a breath of fresh air that there is not one line of thought in the American Jewish community,” he told the delegation. “We are at a fork in the road. Either there will be a two-state solution or it will be too late.”
On the way to the Kalandiya checkpoint, two women from Machsom Watch, an Israeli organization that monitors Israeli soldiers at checkpoints, spoke to the group.
“We believe occupation is ruining our society and threatening our democracy and future existence,” said Neta Efrony, director of a 2008 documentary about the Kalandiya checkpoint. “We need your help and to hear your voice. Israelis don’t want to hear and don’t want to know what is happening.”
If the delegation members’ reactions were any gauge, J Street’s strategy shows promise.
“There’s no awareness of this in the U.S.,” Donna Hall, the president and CEO of the Women Donors Network, said in reference to difficulties faced by Palestinians. “The congresswomen are so brave to be here, especially in an election year.”
The congresswomen also heard from Palestinian businesswomen and female hedge fund managers who described ways to empower Palestinian women in business.
“To see people who are building and hopeful and looking forward to the future is so important,” said Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) “We are already figuring out how to change the dynamics of U.S. policy in the region.”
A single mother living on welfare, Moore began her public career as a community organizer and today is also the Democratic chairwoman of the Congressional Women’s Caucus.
The J Street trip also included visits with Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
From Ramallah, the group drove to Shiloh, a Jewish town in the heart of the West Bank halfway between Ramallah and Nablus that because of its location likely would not be incorporated into Israel in any two-state settlement.
A group of Jewish women from several area settlements met with the congresswomen and told them they have no intention of leaving their homes.
“I’m holding the Bible; Shiloh was our first capital before Jerusalem and it has layers and layers of history,” Tzofiah Dorot, the director of Ancient Shiloh, told the women. “This is the heart of Israel and I don’t see a future for the state if you take the heart out.”
All of the women said they were sure that their settlements would remain part of Israel.
“This is our homeland, the homeland of the Jewish nation -- period,” Tamar Aslaf told the delegation. “A Palestinian who lives here is welcome to stay. It’s his home but it’s our homeland.”
Several of the settlers described a scenario in which Palestinians could stay in their homes but not receive national or voting rights. That drew a sharp reply from the congresswomen,five of whom are African Americans.
“Some people would call that apartheid,” said Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), the only white congresswomen on the trip.
“It’s easy to sit in your comfortable house and decide what is good for the Jews,” Dorot responded. “I’m begging you to see that we’re not pieces of Lego you can move around. Thisis life and death. We all need to think out of the box. I’m asking you to forget about the two-state solution.”
Several members of the delegation said the trip gave them a more sophisticated understanding of the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“In Jerusalem and Tel Aviv it’s so easy not to see much of what we saw,” said Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.). “But what does it mean for democracy when you are willing to sacrifice somuch in the name of security?”
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