Dear Friend,
Once in a while an essay captures historical perspective and prescribes a credible way forward. Avraham Burg gives it in this NY Times op-ed, August 5, 2012. Who will act on it? Will the US urge his democratic views to be honored? JRK
Israel’s Fading Democracy
By AVRAHAM BURG
Published: August 4, 2012
WHEN an American presidential candidate visits Israel and his key message is to encourage us to pursue a misguided war with Iran, declaring it “a solemn duty and a moral imperative” for America to stand with our warmongering prime minister, we know that something profound and basic has changed in the relationship between Israel and the United States.
My generation, born in the ’50s, grew up with the deep, almost religious belief that the two countries shared basic values and principles. Back then, Americans and Israelis talked about democracy, human rights, respect for other nations and human solidarity. It was an age of dreamers and builders who sought to create a new world, one without prejudice, racism or discrimination.
Listening to today’s political discourse, one can’t help but notice the radical change in tone. My children have watched their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, kowtow to a fundamentalist coalition in Israel. They are convinced that what ties Israel and America today is not a covenant of humanistic values but rather a new set of mutual interests: war, bombs, threats, fear and trauma. How did this happen? Where is that righteous America? Whatever happened to the good old Israel?
Mr. Netanyahu’s great political “achievement” has been to make Israel a partisan issue and push American Jews into a corner. He has forced them to make political decisions based on calculations that go against what they perceive to be American interests. The emotional extortion compels Jews to pressure the Obama administration, a government with which they actually share values and worldviews, when those who love Israel should be doing the opposite: helping the American government to intervene and save Israel from itself.
Israel arose as a secular, social democratic country inspired by Western European democracies. With time, however, its core values have become entirely different. Israel today is a religious, capitalist state. Its religiosity is defined by the most extreme Orthodox interpretations. Its capitalism has erased much of the social solidarity of the past, with the exception of a few remaining vestiges of a welfare state. Israel defines itself as a “Jewish and democratic state.” However, because Israel has never created a system of checks and balances between these two sources of authority, they are closer than ever to a terrible clash.
In the early years of statehood, the meaning of the term “Jewish” was national and secular. In the eyes of Israel’s founding fathers, to be a Jew was exactly like being an Italian, Frenchman or American. Over the years, this elusive concept has changed; today, the meaning of “Jewish” in Israel is mainly ethnic and religious. With the elevation of religious solidarity over and above democratic authority, Israel has become more fundamentalist and less modern, more separatist and less open to the outside world. I see the transformation in my own family. My father, one of the founders of the state of Israel and of the National Religious Party, was an enlightened rabbi and philosopher. Many of the younger generation are far less open, however; some are ultra-Orthodox or ultranationalist settlers.
This extremism was not the purpose of creating a Jewish state. Immigrants from all over the world dreamed of a government that would be humane and safe for Jews. The founders believed that democracy was the only way to regulate the interests of many contradictory voices. Jewish culture, consolidated through Halakha, the religious Jewish legal tradition, created a civilization that has devoted itself to an unending conversation among different viewpoints and the coexistence of contradictory attitudes toward the fulfillment of the good.
The modern combination between democracy and Judaism was supposed to give birth to a spectacular, pluralistic kaleidoscope. The state would be a great, robust democracy that would protect Jews against persecution and victimhood. Jewish culture, on the other hand, with its uncompromising moral standards, would guard against our becoming persecutors and victimizers of others.
BUT something went wrong in the operating system of Jewish democracy. We never gave much thought to the Palestinian Israeli citizens within the Jewish-democratic equation. We also never tried to separate the synagogue and the state. If anything, we did the opposite. Moreover, we never predicted the evil effects of brutally controlling another people against their will. Today, all the things that we neglected have returned and are chasing us like evil spirits.
The winds of isolation and narrowness are blowing through Israel. Rude and arrogant power brokers, some of whom hold senior positions in government, exclude non-Jews from Israeli public spaces. Graffiti in the streets demonstrates their hidden dreams: a pure Israel with “no Arabs” and “no gentiles.” They do not notice what their exclusionary ideas are doing to Israel, to Judaism and to Jews in the diaspora. In the absence of a binding constitution, Israel has no real protection for its minorities or for their freedom of worship and expression.
If this trend continues, all vestiges of democracy will one day disappear, and Israel will become just another Middle Eastern theocracy. It will not be possible to define Israel as a democracy when a Jewish minority rules over a Palestinian majority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea — controlling millions of people without political rights or basic legal standing.
This Israel would be much more Jewish in the narrowest sense of the word, but such a nondemocratic Israel, hostile to its neighbors and isolated from the free world, wouldn’t be able to survive for long.
But there is another option: an iconic conflict could also present an iconic solution. As in Northern Ireland or South Africa, where citizens no longer spill one another’s blood, it will eventually become clear that many Israelis are not willing to live in an ethnic democracy, not willing to give up on the chance to live in peace, not willing to be passive patriots of a country that expels or purifies itself of its minorities, who are the original inhabitants of the land.
Only on that day, after much anguish, boycotts and perhaps even bloodshed, will we understand that the only way for us to agree when we disagree is a true, vigorous democracy. A democracy based on a progressive, civil constitution; a democracy that enforces the distinction between ethnicity and citizenship, between synagogue and state; a democracy that upholds the values of freedom and equality, on the basis of which every single person living under Israel’s legitimate and internationally recognized sovereignty will receive the same rights and protections.
A long-overdue constitution could create a state that belongs to all her citizens and in which the government behaves with fairness and equality toward all persons without prejudice based on religion, race or gender. Those are the principles on which Israel was founded and the values that bound Israel and America together in the past. I believe that creating two neighboring states for two peoples that respect one another would be the best solution. However, if our shortsighted leaders miss this opportunity, the same fair and equal principles should be applied to one state for both peoples.
When a true Israeli democracy is established, our prime minister will go to Capitol Hill and win applause from both sides of the aisle. Every time the prime minister says “peace” the world will actually believe him, and when he talks about justice and equality people will feel that these are synonyms for Judaism and Israelis.
And for all the cynics who are smiling sarcastically as they read these lines, I can only say to Americans, “Yes, we still can,” and to Israelis, “If you will it, it is no dream.”
Avraham Burg, a former speaker of the Knesset, is the author of “The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise From Its Ashes” and the chairman of Molad, the Center for Renewal of Democracy.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Will the EU Listen to Hanan Ashrawi?
Dear Friend,
Let me tell you about Hanan Ashrawi:
Ashrawi was born to Palestinian Christian parents on October 8, 1946 in the city of Nablus, British Mandate for Palestine, now part of the West Bank.[4] Her father, Daoud Mikhail, was one of the founders of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Her family later moved to Ramallah, where she attended the Ramallah Friends Girls School. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in literature in the Department of English at the American University of Beirut. While a graduate student in literature at the American University in Beirut she dated Peter Jennings of ABC News who was then stationed there as ABC's Beirut bureau chief.[5]
When the Six-Day War broke out in 1967, Ashrawi as a 22 year-old student in Lebanon, was declared an absentee by Israel and denied re-entry to the West Bank. For the next six years, Ashrawi traveled and completed her education gaining a Ph.D. in Medieval and Comparative Literature from the University of Virginia. Ashrawi was finally allowed to re-join her family in 1973 under the family reunification plan.[6] [from Wikipedia]
On August 8, 1975 she married Emil Ashrawi (born 1951),[7] a Christian Jerusalemite who is now a photographer and a theater director.[8] Together they have two daughters, Amal (born 1977) and Zeina (born 1981).[9]
Ashrawi calls on EU to review economic relations with Israel
Ma'an News Agency
July 24, 2012 - 12:00am
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507069
Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi on Tuesday called on the European Union to review its relations with Israel in light of its persistent violations of international law.
The EU-Israeli Association's annual meeting, held in Brussels on Tuesday, is an opportunity for the EU to ensure any economic relations with Israel are contingent on its compliance with international obligations, Ashrawi said in a statement.
"Rather than rewarding Israel by giving it preferential treatment,the EU should use its economic influence to end Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine."
"As the market for 60 percent of Israel’s exports, the EU has the ability to prevent Israel from destroying the chances for peace. All it needs is the political will," Ashrawi said.
By expanding cooperation between government agencies and within business sectors, Ashrawi said the EU was separating issues of international law from issues of trade and economy, "allowing the EU to ignore Israel's ongoing violations" against Palestinians.
She urged the EU to revoke any preferential treatment Israel receives in view of its "willful and persistent violations of its agreements and obligations."
Article 2 of the Euro-Mediterranean agreement conditions Israel's membership on respect for human rights and democratic principles, she noted, while Article 83 precludes applicability to all the occupied territories and so excludes settlement produce.
The executive director of international aid agency Oxfam Jeremy Hobbs also called Tuesday on the EU "to step up and take a leadership role" and to match its condemnations of settlement expansion "with urgent and concrete measures."
"Europe's condemnation of Israel's settlement expansion is welcome but words alone mean nothing when people's lives keep worsening," Hobbs said in a statement.
At the 2011 EU-Israeli Association meeting, statements condemning Israeli settlement expansion were issued "yet we've seen a sharp rise in new settlement construction across the West Bank," he added.
"Meanwhile, Palestinian displacement and Israeli-led demolition of Palestinian homes and water cisterns, many of which were funded by EU taxpayers, has increased."
--
Let me tell you about Hanan Ashrawi:
Ashrawi was born to Palestinian Christian parents on October 8, 1946 in the city of Nablus, British Mandate for Palestine, now part of the West Bank.[4] Her father, Daoud Mikhail, was one of the founders of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Her family later moved to Ramallah, where she attended the Ramallah Friends Girls School. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in literature in the Department of English at the American University of Beirut. While a graduate student in literature at the American University in Beirut she dated Peter Jennings of ABC News who was then stationed there as ABC's Beirut bureau chief.[5]
When the Six-Day War broke out in 1967, Ashrawi as a 22 year-old student in Lebanon, was declared an absentee by Israel and denied re-entry to the West Bank. For the next six years, Ashrawi traveled and completed her education gaining a Ph.D. in Medieval and Comparative Literature from the University of Virginia. Ashrawi was finally allowed to re-join her family in 1973 under the family reunification plan.[6] [from Wikipedia]
On August 8, 1975 she married Emil Ashrawi (born 1951),[7] a Christian Jerusalemite who is now a photographer and a theater director.[8] Together they have two daughters, Amal (born 1977) and Zeina (born 1981).[9]
Ashrawi calls on EU to review economic relations with Israel
Ma'an News Agency
July 24, 2012 - 12:00am
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507069
Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi on Tuesday called on the European Union to review its relations with Israel in light of its persistent violations of international law.
The EU-Israeli Association's annual meeting, held in Brussels on Tuesday, is an opportunity for the EU to ensure any economic relations with Israel are contingent on its compliance with international obligations, Ashrawi said in a statement.
"Rather than rewarding Israel by giving it preferential treatment,the EU should use its economic influence to end Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine."
"As the market for 60 percent of Israel’s exports, the EU has the ability to prevent Israel from destroying the chances for peace. All it needs is the political will," Ashrawi said.
By expanding cooperation between government agencies and within business sectors, Ashrawi said the EU was separating issues of international law from issues of trade and economy, "allowing the EU to ignore Israel's ongoing violations" against Palestinians.
She urged the EU to revoke any preferential treatment Israel receives in view of its "willful and persistent violations of its agreements and obligations."
Article 2 of the Euro-Mediterranean agreement conditions Israel's membership on respect for human rights and democratic principles, she noted, while Article 83 precludes applicability to all the occupied territories and so excludes settlement produce.
The executive director of international aid agency Oxfam Jeremy Hobbs also called Tuesday on the EU "to step up and take a leadership role" and to match its condemnations of settlement expansion "with urgent and concrete measures."
"Europe's condemnation of Israel's settlement expansion is welcome but words alone mean nothing when people's lives keep worsening," Hobbs said in a statement.
At the 2011 EU-Israeli Association meeting, statements condemning Israeli settlement expansion were issued "yet we've seen a sharp rise in new settlement construction across the West Bank," he added.
"Meanwhile, Palestinian displacement and Israeli-led demolition of Palestinian homes and water cisterns, many of which were funded by EU taxpayers, has increased."
--
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Preamble to KUSA
Dear Friend,
As you now must know, FPI is joining KUSA in helping to move the "ecumenical" (and "evangelical"?) churches to support Kairos USA (KUSA).
So you may familiarize yourselves, please click on www.kairosusa.org to read (download) the whole document.
It gives an accurate portrayal of the realities on the ground. It hears the cry for help from our Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine and it lays out a plan for addressing systemic problems.
This is not a formulaic plan. It is a rough outline of how to proceed. It will need input from all of us, discernment, continued patience and touch choices to get the attention of the Israeli (and Palestinian) public that the time for change has come.
The status quo will not hold. JRK
PREAMBLE
“The crisis is not only in our society. The crisis is in our churches. ... For the churches, too, this is a kairos moment in which we are called to conversion, our structures, values, habits and assumptions in need of basic transformation.”
— “On the Way: From Kairos to Jubilee,” U.S. Kairos document, 1994
“The mission of the Church is prophetic, to speak the Word of God courageously, honestly and lovingly in the local context and in the midst of daily events.”
—“A Moment of Truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering,” Kairos Palestine document, 2009
In June 2011, a group of U.S. clergy, theologians and laypersons, cognizant of our responsibility as Americans in the tragedy unfolding in Israel and Palestine, and mindful of the urgency of the situation, met to inaugurate a new movement for American Christians. We have been inspired by the prophetic church movements of southern Africa, Central and South America, Asia and Europe that have responded to the call of their Christian sisters and brothers in occupied Palestine. This is our statement of witness and confession—and our response as U.S. Christians to the Palestinian call.
It was in ancient Israel that the prophets called states and peoples to the core principles of God’s rule: equal rights and justice for all, compassion for the most vulnerable and the unity of all humankind. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God as a present possibility and a demand to follow God’s commandments to do justice. The tragic realities of Israel and Palestine today would deeply trouble Jesus and the prophets. The land in which Jesus lived and was crucified by the Roman imperial rulers is again a place of violence, inequality and suffering. Palestinians and Israelis are trapped in a spiral of violence that is destroying their humanity, squandering their resources and killing their children. Palestinians are prisoners in their own land, powerless as Israel’s program of dispossession and annexation continues. Israeli citizens, having endured five wars and intermittent attacks of violence during their brief history as a nation, continue to live with a deep sense of insecurity and a lamentable ignorance of the people with whom they share a love of this land.
The mission of Kairos USA is to mobilize the churches in the United States to respond faithfully and boldly to the situation in Israel and Palestine. In so doing, we heed the call of our Palestinian sisters and brothers in Christ to bear witness to their nonviolent struggle for human rights. We also express our love for our brothers and sisters in Israel, who suffer from the social, psychological and spiritual costs of militarization and war. In this way, we stand with Kairos movements throughout the world, lifting up the ideal of nonviolent resistance to injustice in accordance with the teachings of our faith. We call upon our government to be faithful to the principles of universal human rights, equality and justice articulated in its foundational documents, enshrined in international law and expressed in the resolutions of the United Nations.
We acknowledge the tragic history of Christian persecution of Jews. We lament the centuries-long experience of marginalization, oppression and physical threat, culminating in the near total destruction of European Jewry in the last century. We recognize that it was this history of oppression that gave rise to the modern project of the Jewish people to establish a national homeland. We support the right of the Jewish people to live in security and to build a society free of the scourge of anti-Semitism. But the State of Israel’s present course will not bring it the security it seeks nor grant the Jewish people freedom from fear. The still vivid memories and long shadow of the Nazi Holocaust have fueled self-defeating strategies of self-protection among sectors of Israeli society and the Jewish community at large. Violence toward Israelis used by some Palestinians has contributed to the suffering of Israelis and evoked considerable fear and insecurity. But the cause of the current calamity is not the result of any historic or natural enmity between the two peoples, or the presence of deep-seated hatred directed against the Jewish people. Rather, it is the overwhelming imbalance of power, Israel’s practices of state violence, the ongoing abridgement of the human rights of the Palestinian people and the failure of the international community to hold Israel to principles of international law.
We recognize our responsibility as followers of Jesus to honor and protect the image of God in every person. We recall the central role of the church in the Civil Rights movement in our country, when the courage of African-American pastors and laypersons changed the political and social landscape of America. We lift up the example of the South African church when, declaring its Kairos moment in the 1985 Kairos document “Challenge to the Church,” it summoned the church to speak and act against the evil of Apartheid. This action of the South African churches signaled the beginning of the end of the system that had so poisoned their society. Two decades ago, the church in our country, recognizing its Kairos on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus, created “On the Way: From Kairos to Jubilee.” This groundbreaking statement called on the power of the Gospel to acknowledge historic and current injustices to our own indigenous and marginalized peoples as well as our responsibility for injustice and suffering on a global scale. Even as we respond to the invitation to Kairos from our Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers, we recognize the ways in which we have failed to respond faithfully to injustice in our own country, and we recommit ourselves to that work in our own context. In our own day, Kairos groups in Europe, Asia and South America have issued their own statements of faith and calls to action in response to the Palestinian document and in witness to the injustices in their own national contexts.
The focus of this Kairos initiative is on Israel and Palestine, reflecting the growing recognition of this longstanding and worsening human rights situation as an urgent challenge to our churches and our world today. At the same time, we are aware that this is only one of many issues facing us as we strive to follow the prophet Micah’s injunction to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.” It is our hope and prayer that the wisdom and courage we bring forth in answering the call for justice in Israel and Palestine will strengthen and deepen our awareness of other ways in which our nation’s political, economic and ethical actions must be brought into harmony with Jesus’ call for a world in which all share in God’s peace.
In the tradition of Kairos statements past and present, this document will focus on three topics, with an additional section on Interfaith Relationships:
Part One: The Signs of the Times
Part Two: Theological Reflections
Part Three: Interfaith Relationships
Part Four: Call to Action
--
John & Sharon
www.friendsofpalestiniansandisraelis.blogspot.com
As you now must know, FPI is joining KUSA in helping to move the "ecumenical" (and "evangelical"?) churches to support Kairos USA (KUSA).
So you may familiarize yourselves, please click on www.kairosusa.org to read (download) the whole document.
It gives an accurate portrayal of the realities on the ground. It hears the cry for help from our Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine and it lays out a plan for addressing systemic problems.
This is not a formulaic plan. It is a rough outline of how to proceed. It will need input from all of us, discernment, continued patience and touch choices to get the attention of the Israeli (and Palestinian) public that the time for change has come.
The status quo will not hold. JRK
PREAMBLE
“The crisis is not only in our society. The crisis is in our churches. ... For the churches, too, this is a kairos moment in which we are called to conversion, our structures, values, habits and assumptions in need of basic transformation.”
— “On the Way: From Kairos to Jubilee,” U.S. Kairos document, 1994
“The mission of the Church is prophetic, to speak the Word of God courageously, honestly and lovingly in the local context and in the midst of daily events.”
—“A Moment of Truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering,” Kairos Palestine document, 2009
In June 2011, a group of U.S. clergy, theologians and laypersons, cognizant of our responsibility as Americans in the tragedy unfolding in Israel and Palestine, and mindful of the urgency of the situation, met to inaugurate a new movement for American Christians. We have been inspired by the prophetic church movements of southern Africa, Central and South America, Asia and Europe that have responded to the call of their Christian sisters and brothers in occupied Palestine. This is our statement of witness and confession—and our response as U.S. Christians to the Palestinian call.
It was in ancient Israel that the prophets called states and peoples to the core principles of God’s rule: equal rights and justice for all, compassion for the most vulnerable and the unity of all humankind. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God as a present possibility and a demand to follow God’s commandments to do justice. The tragic realities of Israel and Palestine today would deeply trouble Jesus and the prophets. The land in which Jesus lived and was crucified by the Roman imperial rulers is again a place of violence, inequality and suffering. Palestinians and Israelis are trapped in a spiral of violence that is destroying their humanity, squandering their resources and killing their children. Palestinians are prisoners in their own land, powerless as Israel’s program of dispossession and annexation continues. Israeli citizens, having endured five wars and intermittent attacks of violence during their brief history as a nation, continue to live with a deep sense of insecurity and a lamentable ignorance of the people with whom they share a love of this land.
The mission of Kairos USA is to mobilize the churches in the United States to respond faithfully and boldly to the situation in Israel and Palestine. In so doing, we heed the call of our Palestinian sisters and brothers in Christ to bear witness to their nonviolent struggle for human rights. We also express our love for our brothers and sisters in Israel, who suffer from the social, psychological and spiritual costs of militarization and war. In this way, we stand with Kairos movements throughout the world, lifting up the ideal of nonviolent resistance to injustice in accordance with the teachings of our faith. We call upon our government to be faithful to the principles of universal human rights, equality and justice articulated in its foundational documents, enshrined in international law and expressed in the resolutions of the United Nations.
We acknowledge the tragic history of Christian persecution of Jews. We lament the centuries-long experience of marginalization, oppression and physical threat, culminating in the near total destruction of European Jewry in the last century. We recognize that it was this history of oppression that gave rise to the modern project of the Jewish people to establish a national homeland. We support the right of the Jewish people to live in security and to build a society free of the scourge of anti-Semitism. But the State of Israel’s present course will not bring it the security it seeks nor grant the Jewish people freedom from fear. The still vivid memories and long shadow of the Nazi Holocaust have fueled self-defeating strategies of self-protection among sectors of Israeli society and the Jewish community at large. Violence toward Israelis used by some Palestinians has contributed to the suffering of Israelis and evoked considerable fear and insecurity. But the cause of the current calamity is not the result of any historic or natural enmity between the two peoples, or the presence of deep-seated hatred directed against the Jewish people. Rather, it is the overwhelming imbalance of power, Israel’s practices of state violence, the ongoing abridgement of the human rights of the Palestinian people and the failure of the international community to hold Israel to principles of international law.
We recognize our responsibility as followers of Jesus to honor and protect the image of God in every person. We recall the central role of the church in the Civil Rights movement in our country, when the courage of African-American pastors and laypersons changed the political and social landscape of America. We lift up the example of the South African church when, declaring its Kairos moment in the 1985 Kairos document “Challenge to the Church,” it summoned the church to speak and act against the evil of Apartheid. This action of the South African churches signaled the beginning of the end of the system that had so poisoned their society. Two decades ago, the church in our country, recognizing its Kairos on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus, created “On the Way: From Kairos to Jubilee.” This groundbreaking statement called on the power of the Gospel to acknowledge historic and current injustices to our own indigenous and marginalized peoples as well as our responsibility for injustice and suffering on a global scale. Even as we respond to the invitation to Kairos from our Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers, we recognize the ways in which we have failed to respond faithfully to injustice in our own country, and we recommit ourselves to that work in our own context. In our own day, Kairos groups in Europe, Asia and South America have issued their own statements of faith and calls to action in response to the Palestinian document and in witness to the injustices in their own national contexts.
The focus of this Kairos initiative is on Israel and Palestine, reflecting the growing recognition of this longstanding and worsening human rights situation as an urgent challenge to our churches and our world today. At the same time, we are aware that this is only one of many issues facing us as we strive to follow the prophet Micah’s injunction to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.” It is our hope and prayer that the wisdom and courage we bring forth in answering the call for justice in Israel and Palestine will strengthen and deepen our awareness of other ways in which our nation’s political, economic and ethical actions must be brought into harmony with Jesus’ call for a world in which all share in God’s peace.
In the tradition of Kairos statements past and present, this document will focus on three topics, with an additional section on Interfaith Relationships:
Part One: The Signs of the Times
Part Two: Theological Reflections
Part Three: Interfaith Relationships
Part Four: Call to Action
--
John & Sharon
www.friendsofpalestiniansandisraelis.blogspot.com
Thursday, July 12, 2012
A New Era Begins
Dear Friend,
I did not attend Gen. Ass. in Pittsburg, but followed developments very closely.
Anna Baltzer, ond of our "friends" was there,. She is a beautiful Jewess, in every sense of the term. She heads up the US Campaign to END THE OCCUPATION. I forwarded her latest blog post to my FPI Listserve. (Google her blog to read all the developments. Below is my commentary leading into her exciting blog.
Some of us think the tipping point has been reached and and we are about to go into uncharted territory. Sympathizers with Israel as it has emerged (especially since the occupation of 1967) have reason to be alarmed. RCA and PCUSA conservative persons are fearful, wondering about BDS (see below). I will be prodding the RCA to get going on the the "Network" idea in each (regional) "Classis" to inform people about the realities on the ground and to get information out to our congregants. KUSA is emerging as an ally of those wanting to take active nonviolent action to oppose the Occupation of Palestinian land.
BTW, the so-called Levy report (from a commission appointed by PM Netanyahu) has concluded there is NO Occupation, because there was no "nation" that previously controlled the land. If Bibi's "Settlement" Chief adopts the report, watch for the settlements to explode even faster than before. I have not gotten excited about the Levy report. It is irrelevant to what is happening on the ground as I write this. The present Likud government has never sought justification for its settlement activity. It has always gone full speed ahead in the face of almost total internation condemnation. That the US government has sanctioned and supported the colonialization of all the land of Isr/Pal is to our lasting discredit (and must change. Read on).
I know some of you are "scared" where this is all leading. Friends, we are in new territory. It is, as Anne say, the beginning of a "New Era". Fasten your seat belts. And stay sane and sensitive to Israeli distrust and anxiety. The younger generations will be served. New leadership is emerging. The status quo will not hold. The concrete is breaking up by the force of growing roots from underneath. Faithfully yours, JRK
I did not attend Gen. Ass. in Pittsburg, but followed developments very closely.
Anna Baltzer, ond of our "friends" was there,. She is a beautiful Jewess, in every sense of the term. She heads up the US Campaign to END THE OCCUPATION. I forwarded her latest blog post to my FPI Listserve. (Google her blog to read all the developments. Below is my commentary leading into her exciting blog.
Some of us think the tipping point has been reached and and we are about to go into uncharted territory. Sympathizers with Israel as it has emerged (especially since the occupation of 1967) have reason to be alarmed. RCA and PCUSA conservative persons are fearful, wondering about BDS (see below). I will be prodding the RCA to get going on the the "Network" idea in each (regional) "Classis" to inform people about the realities on the ground and to get information out to our congregants. KUSA is emerging as an ally of those wanting to take active nonviolent action to oppose the Occupation of Palestinian land.
BTW, the so-called Levy report (from a commission appointed by PM Netanyahu) has concluded there is NO Occupation, because there was no "nation" that previously controlled the land. If Bibi's "Settlement" Chief adopts the report, watch for the settlements to explode even faster than before. I have not gotten excited about the Levy report. It is irrelevant to what is happening on the ground as I write this. The present Likud government has never sought justification for its settlement activity. It has always gone full speed ahead in the face of almost total internation condemnation. That the US government has sanctioned and supported the colonialization of all the land of Isr/Pal is to our lasting discredit (and must change. Read on).
I know some of you are "scared" where this is all leading. Friends, we are in new territory. It is, as Anne say, the beginning of a "New Era". Fasten your seat belts. And stay sane and sensitive to Israeli distrust and anxiety. The younger generations will be served. New leadership is emerging. The status quo will not hold. The concrete is breaking up by the force of growing roots from underneath. Faithfully yours, JRK
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
From General Assembly Forward
Dear Friend,
IPMN = the PCUSA Israel/Palestine Mission Network group, about 70 PCUSA folks really dedicated to security for Israel and justice for Palestinians.
Here is there concluding report from GA in Pittsburg ending last week (July 7, 2012) with a view to where we go from here. JRK
Final IPMN Report from the 220th General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Moving Forward with Boycott
of all Israeli Products from the Occupied Palestinian Territories
At the close of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the church’s Israel/Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) wishes to reflect on the results of the GA and to thank all of our friends, supporters, and the hundreds of church commissioners who took a stand for human rights and justice in the Holy Land last week by voting according to their consciences, and not according to their fears.
While the resolution calling for targeted divestment from three companies that profit from Israeli violations of international law and abuses of Palestinian human rights was not adopted by the plenary, it was approved overwhelmingly by the church’s Committee on Middle East Peacemaking Issues (Committee 15), and the minority report that replaced it won by a mere two out of 666 votes, with two commissioners abstaining. In truth, a full plenary discussion on divestment never took place, pre-empted by the minority report’s adoption.
On the other hand, the resolution calling for a boycott of just two products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories was expanded and strengthened by Committee 15 to cover all Israeli products made in the occupied territories, before being approved by an overwhelming majority (457-180, or 71%) of the plenary in what was a very divided Assembly. The boycott vote puts the Presbyterian Church (USA) squarely into the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement launched by Palestinian civil society in 2005 and officially endorsed by the Palestinian Christian community in 2009 with the Kairos Palestine document. "Presbyterians have heard the call for economic solidarity from Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians,” said Rev. Jeff DeYoe, IPMN Advocacy Chair. “The IPMN looks forward to assisting the church in determining which products will be included in the boycott.”
Despite the fact that they failed to pass divestment, afterwards 57% of church commissioners voted in favor of a resolution directing the church’s Board of Pensions "to create a program for relief of conscience for plan members who are troubled by the choice to continue holding Board of Pensions assets in Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and Hewlett-Packard.” Although this motion was later overturned on a procedural technicality by the GA’s Stated Clerk, it clearly reflected a desire on the part of a majority of commissioners to provide an option for individual Presbyterians who have moral qualms about profiting from these three companies, whose products are used to inflict so much hardship and suffering on Palestinians.
“A few short years ago, any one of these things would have been considered a significant victory for divestment and boycott supporters,” said Rev. Katherine Cunningham, IPMN Vice-Moderator. “At every General Assembly since these issues were first introduced in 2004, the church has moved slowly but steadily towards the positions advocated by the IPMN. In 2010, following our official endorsement of a boycott of Ahava Dead Sea beauty products and dates from the Hadiklaim Co-op, we were attacked by critics for being ‘ahead of the church.’ Last week, the rest of the church caught up with the IPMN on boycotting settlement products, and moved much further in the direction of divestment than anybody could have expected just a few years ago. We believe it’s only a matter of time before the church catches up on divestment too, and we look forward to the next GA in Detroit in 2014, and to the day when both Israelis and Palestinians are able to live in peace and freedom.”
Just as the RCA took the lead in BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) in re the S. African government, so the PCUSA is now taking the lead for "ecumenical" churches to bring pressure to bear on the Israelis to End the Occupation. O, have you noticed? A commission set up by PM Bibi Netanyahu has concluded there IS NO OCCUPATION. This confirms there are no Palestinians, and Isr has the freedom to continue the colonization of the land (if the commission report is adopted. Bibi has referred it to the Sec. for Interior Affairs. I wonder what he will do with it.).
It appears that the PCUSA is "divided" in whether to move ahead with BDS. The IPMN clearly thinks the PCUSA has joined the Boycott movement and is intending to pull the denomination in that direction in the coming years. The next GA will be in 2014, in Detroit, which has the largest ME population this side of the ME.
We may be at a tipping point. Isr fears "deligitimization", having delegitimized the Ps for decades. Many are running scared. On the other hand, many more especially youthful Israelis there and here in the US are risking the wrath of their parents in questioning Israeli policies, especially since the military "victory" and increased settlement activity since 1967.
Even though there are signs that the rank and file RCA members are vitally interested in justice for Palestinians, (e.g. large attendance at a Forum at Gen Synod in Palos Hts), RCA leaders are showing extreme caution in speaking of BDS in RCA circles. They judge the RCA “isn’t there yet”.
But we are looking for "Networks" in willing RCA Classes to form Middle East Peace and Justice committees/persons, to seek further insight and take appropriate actions, in league with groups like JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace), KUSA (Kairos USA), and the I/PMN (Isr/Palestine Mission Network of the PCUSA). Faithfully yours, JRK
IPMN = the PCUSA Israel/Palestine Mission Network group, about 70 PCUSA folks really dedicated to security for Israel and justice for Palestinians.
Here is there concluding report from GA in Pittsburg ending last week (July 7, 2012) with a view to where we go from here. JRK
Final IPMN Report from the 220th General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Moving Forward with Boycott
of all Israeli Products from the Occupied Palestinian Territories
At the close of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the church’s Israel/Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) wishes to reflect on the results of the GA and to thank all of our friends, supporters, and the hundreds of church commissioners who took a stand for human rights and justice in the Holy Land last week by voting according to their consciences, and not according to their fears.
While the resolution calling for targeted divestment from three companies that profit from Israeli violations of international law and abuses of Palestinian human rights was not adopted by the plenary, it was approved overwhelmingly by the church’s Committee on Middle East Peacemaking Issues (Committee 15), and the minority report that replaced it won by a mere two out of 666 votes, with two commissioners abstaining. In truth, a full plenary discussion on divestment never took place, pre-empted by the minority report’s adoption.
On the other hand, the resolution calling for a boycott of just two products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories was expanded and strengthened by Committee 15 to cover all Israeli products made in the occupied territories, before being approved by an overwhelming majority (457-180, or 71%) of the plenary in what was a very divided Assembly. The boycott vote puts the Presbyterian Church (USA) squarely into the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement launched by Palestinian civil society in 2005 and officially endorsed by the Palestinian Christian community in 2009 with the Kairos Palestine document. "Presbyterians have heard the call for economic solidarity from Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians,” said Rev. Jeff DeYoe, IPMN Advocacy Chair. “The IPMN looks forward to assisting the church in determining which products will be included in the boycott.”
Despite the fact that they failed to pass divestment, afterwards 57% of church commissioners voted in favor of a resolution directing the church’s Board of Pensions "to create a program for relief of conscience for plan members who are troubled by the choice to continue holding Board of Pensions assets in Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and Hewlett-Packard.” Although this motion was later overturned on a procedural technicality by the GA’s Stated Clerk, it clearly reflected a desire on the part of a majority of commissioners to provide an option for individual Presbyterians who have moral qualms about profiting from these three companies, whose products are used to inflict so much hardship and suffering on Palestinians.
“A few short years ago, any one of these things would have been considered a significant victory for divestment and boycott supporters,” said Rev. Katherine Cunningham, IPMN Vice-Moderator. “At every General Assembly since these issues were first introduced in 2004, the church has moved slowly but steadily towards the positions advocated by the IPMN. In 2010, following our official endorsement of a boycott of Ahava Dead Sea beauty products and dates from the Hadiklaim Co-op, we were attacked by critics for being ‘ahead of the church.’ Last week, the rest of the church caught up with the IPMN on boycotting settlement products, and moved much further in the direction of divestment than anybody could have expected just a few years ago. We believe it’s only a matter of time before the church catches up on divestment too, and we look forward to the next GA in Detroit in 2014, and to the day when both Israelis and Palestinians are able to live in peace and freedom.”
Just as the RCA took the lead in BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) in re the S. African government, so the PCUSA is now taking the lead for "ecumenical" churches to bring pressure to bear on the Israelis to End the Occupation. O, have you noticed? A commission set up by PM Bibi Netanyahu has concluded there IS NO OCCUPATION. This confirms there are no Palestinians, and Isr has the freedom to continue the colonization of the land (if the commission report is adopted. Bibi has referred it to the Sec. for Interior Affairs. I wonder what he will do with it.).
It appears that the PCUSA is "divided" in whether to move ahead with BDS. The IPMN clearly thinks the PCUSA has joined the Boycott movement and is intending to pull the denomination in that direction in the coming years. The next GA will be in 2014, in Detroit, which has the largest ME population this side of the ME.
We may be at a tipping point. Isr fears "deligitimization", having delegitimized the Ps for decades. Many are running scared. On the other hand, many more especially youthful Israelis there and here in the US are risking the wrath of their parents in questioning Israeli policies, especially since the military "victory" and increased settlement activity since 1967.
Even though there are signs that the rank and file RCA members are vitally interested in justice for Palestinians, (e.g. large attendance at a Forum at Gen Synod in Palos Hts), RCA leaders are showing extreme caution in speaking of BDS in RCA circles. They judge the RCA “isn’t there yet”.
But we are looking for "Networks" in willing RCA Classes to form Middle East Peace and Justice committees/persons, to seek further insight and take appropriate actions, in league with groups like JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace), KUSA (Kairos USA), and the I/PMN (Isr/Palestine Mission Network of the PCUSA). Faithfully yours, JRK
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Positive Investment and Boycotts Ahead
Dear Friend,
Full Speed Ahead on Boycotts and Positive Investments in Palestinian Economy
John Kleinheksel Sr (FPI)
Reflections on decisions made at the Presbyterian (PCUSA) General Assembly and the RCA General Synod are being clarified. Here is the latest in seeking a truer understanding of what really happened and where folks like us go from here.
Mainline media headlined the “defeat” at General Assembly of the motion to divest in companies profiting from the occupation of Israel of Palestinian land.
What the headlines failed to convey was the overriding approval by GA to boycott Israeli products coming from the settlements built on Palestinian land. Here is James Wall’s observation on what happened at G.A:
As one astute veteran of General Assembly politics observed, there really was no vote on the majority report [to approve positive investment and divest in companies profiting from the Occupation] that came before the General Assembly. The 333-331 vote was on the minority report [seeking to defeat the disinvestment part].
The leaders of the pro-investment forces at the GA succeeded in technically refusing to allow a debate on the majority report by substituting the minority motion for “positive investment”, a term favored by the anti-divestment forces.
As a result, the substitute motion was the only resolution voted on by the GA.
This was hardly the victory for Israel and its American backers which was claimed by main stream U.S and Israeli media. A more important defeat for Israel came when the GA voted 457 to 180 to call on Presbyterians to boycott Israeli businesses operating on occupied territory (James Wall, blog).
At the RCA’s General Synod, three recommendations that call the RCA to renewed work toward a just peace in Israel and Palestine passed by a sizeable margin. Delegates voted:
1) to affirm the statements of previous General Synods, (reaffirming Israelis' rights to live in a safe state and Palestinians' right to statehood),
2) to advocate for an end to violence that includes an end to the Israeli occupation and the removal of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, and,
3) to restart a volunteer network called Middle East Peacemakers, urging each Classis to identify someone to participate in the network.
John Paarlberg, who presented the report of the Working Group for Peace and Justice in Israel and the Occupied Territories to General Synod said:
Our hope is that this report might be another step in leading people in the Reformed Church in becoming more personally involved in justice and reconciliation for the people of Israel and Palestine.
Going forward then, efforts in the Reformed (RCA), Presbyterian, Lutheran (ELCA), United Methodist (UMC, United Church of Christ (UCC) will join the Quakers (and others) in concentrating on the following areas:
1) Identify products to be boycotted from illegal settlements and make them widely known.
2) Work on a Classis (RCA), Presbytery (PCUSA) and district (ELCA, UMC, UCC) level through Networks bringing greater visibility to this issue.
3) Work with Palestinians on ways that “positive investment” might help Palestinians gain more of a foothold in the face of Israeli occupation.
4) Work with KUSA (Kairos USA), End the Occupation, and others to bring about equal rights to Palestinians who have been downtrodden for decades and decades.
Full Speed Ahead on Boycotts and Positive Investments in Palestinian Economy
John Kleinheksel Sr (FPI)
Reflections on decisions made at the Presbyterian (PCUSA) General Assembly and the RCA General Synod are being clarified. Here is the latest in seeking a truer understanding of what really happened and where folks like us go from here.
Mainline media headlined the “defeat” at General Assembly of the motion to divest in companies profiting from the occupation of Israel of Palestinian land.
What the headlines failed to convey was the overriding approval by GA to boycott Israeli products coming from the settlements built on Palestinian land. Here is James Wall’s observation on what happened at G.A:
As one astute veteran of General Assembly politics observed, there really was no vote on the majority report [to approve positive investment and divest in companies profiting from the Occupation] that came before the General Assembly. The 333-331 vote was on the minority report [seeking to defeat the disinvestment part].
The leaders of the pro-investment forces at the GA succeeded in technically refusing to allow a debate on the majority report by substituting the minority motion for “positive investment”, a term favored by the anti-divestment forces.
As a result, the substitute motion was the only resolution voted on by the GA.
This was hardly the victory for Israel and its American backers which was claimed by main stream U.S and Israeli media. A more important defeat for Israel came when the GA voted 457 to 180 to call on Presbyterians to boycott Israeli businesses operating on occupied territory (James Wall, blog).
At the RCA’s General Synod, three recommendations that call the RCA to renewed work toward a just peace in Israel and Palestine passed by a sizeable margin. Delegates voted:
1) to affirm the statements of previous General Synods, (reaffirming Israelis' rights to live in a safe state and Palestinians' right to statehood),
2) to advocate for an end to violence that includes an end to the Israeli occupation and the removal of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, and,
3) to restart a volunteer network called Middle East Peacemakers, urging each Classis to identify someone to participate in the network.
John Paarlberg, who presented the report of the Working Group for Peace and Justice in Israel and the Occupied Territories to General Synod said:
Our hope is that this report might be another step in leading people in the Reformed Church in becoming more personally involved in justice and reconciliation for the people of Israel and Palestine.
Going forward then, efforts in the Reformed (RCA), Presbyterian, Lutheran (ELCA), United Methodist (UMC, United Church of Christ (UCC) will join the Quakers (and others) in concentrating on the following areas:
1) Identify products to be boycotted from illegal settlements and make them widely known.
2) Work on a Classis (RCA), Presbytery (PCUSA) and district (ELCA, UMC, UCC) level through Networks bringing greater visibility to this issue.
3) Work with Palestinians on ways that “positive investment” might help Palestinians gain more of a foothold in the face of Israeli occupation.
4) Work with KUSA (Kairos USA), End the Occupation, and others to bring about equal rights to Palestinians who have been downtrodden for decades and decades.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Presbyterians Support Boycotting Certain Products
Dear Friend,
You've no doubt heard of the close vote (333 - 331) against divesting in CAT, Motorola and H-P by the PCUSA General Assembly in Pittsburg on Thursday, July 5, 2012.
What is not so widely known is a vote in FAVOR of boycotting products produced on (confiscated) Palestinian land by Israelis.
Here is the press release by Jeff DeYoe of the Isr/Pal Mission Network:
Presbyterian General Assembly Passes Boycott Motion
July 6, 2012
Following last night’s vote by the plenary of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on a motion to divest from three companies whose products are used in non-peaceful pursuits in the occupied Palestinian territories, the plenary has voted in favor of a separate resolution to boycott products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, including Ahava Dead Sea beauty products and dates grown by Israeli cooperative Hadiklaim.
Although the plenary failed to pass the divestment motion, its approval of the boycott resolution sends a strong signal nonetheless that the Presbyterian Church (USA) supports those Palestinians who are using peaceful means to secure their freedom and human rights in the face of Israel’s 45-year-old military occupation and colonization of their lands. The Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA) believes this is a positive step and hopes the church will continue to support Palestinians who are struggling nonviolently to achieve freedom and self-determination.
The razor thin margin of last night's vote on divestment, which was defeated by just two votes, demonstrates that the General Assembly remains divided on both divestment and investment, and has failed to provide a clear mandate on these issues. Sadly, it is the millions of Palestinians living under occupation who will pay the price for this lack of a moral directive.
You've no doubt heard of the close vote (333 - 331) against divesting in CAT, Motorola and H-P by the PCUSA General Assembly in Pittsburg on Thursday, July 5, 2012.
What is not so widely known is a vote in FAVOR of boycotting products produced on (confiscated) Palestinian land by Israelis.
Here is the press release by Jeff DeYoe of the Isr/Pal Mission Network:
Presbyterian General Assembly Passes Boycott Motion
July 6, 2012
Following last night’s vote by the plenary of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on a motion to divest from three companies whose products are used in non-peaceful pursuits in the occupied Palestinian territories, the plenary has voted in favor of a separate resolution to boycott products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, including Ahava Dead Sea beauty products and dates grown by Israeli cooperative Hadiklaim.
Although the plenary failed to pass the divestment motion, its approval of the boycott resolution sends a strong signal nonetheless that the Presbyterian Church (USA) supports those Palestinians who are using peaceful means to secure their freedom and human rights in the face of Israel’s 45-year-old military occupation and colonization of their lands. The Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA) believes this is a positive step and hopes the church will continue to support Palestinians who are struggling nonviolently to achieve freedom and self-determination.
The razor thin margin of last night's vote on divestment, which was defeated by just two votes, demonstrates that the General Assembly remains divided on both divestment and investment, and has failed to provide a clear mandate on these issues. Sadly, it is the millions of Palestinians living under occupation who will pay the price for this lack of a moral directive.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)