Church leaders support Palestine

 

This month 15 prominent church leaders sent Members of Congress a letter in which they spoke of “widespread Israeli human rights violations committed against Palestinians.” They also wrote that “unconditional U.S. military assistance to Israel has contributed to this deterioration, sustaining the conflict and undermining the long-term security interests of both Israelis and Palestinians.”  The full text of the letter can be found at http://www.kairosusa.org/?q=node/55.

The signers of the letter include leaders of denominations including Presbyterians, Methodists, United Church of Christ, and the National Council of Churches (USA), among others.

This historic letter is not an isolated incident.  The support by church leaders of the just cause of the Palestinians has been a little advertised aspect of the conflict for decades.  Another example of such is the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, which includes Christian leaders from many different denominations from many different countries. http://eappi.org/en/home.html

The letter is featured as part of the Peace Not Walls campaign of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Justice/Peace-Not-Walls.aspx It is also supported by the Presbyterian Church on their website http://www.theipmn.org/

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has more details on their blog, http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2012/10/pro-israel-groups-react-to-church.html  The following link has been copied from an article on the subject http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=3295

Whether or not you identify with one of the denominations whose leaders signed the letter, please take a moment right now to thank the church leaders for their important letter to Congress.

 

Pope Benedict XVI, although not a signer of the letter, pledged his support for Palestinian statehood on a visit to Bethlehem in 2009, as documented in the following video.

Rachel Corrie – This is not over

Rachel Corrie, for those of you who are not familiar with her, was a young American college student who went to Gaza to help the people of Rafah whose homes were being demolished.  Sadly, she never came home.  Rachel became the first foreign national to be killed while protesting Israeli occupation—but she was not the last.  She was run over by a Caterpillar bulldozer when the driver continued on his course to demolish a family home despite the fact that Rachel, wearing a day-glo orange jacket, was standing in front of it.

After a cursory investigation, Israel closed the case.

The family filed a lawsuit on the advice of Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who, on behalf of the State Department, told the family in 2004 that the United States did not consider the investigation into Rachel’s death to be “thorough, credible and transparent.” http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/rachel-corrie-blaming-the-victim.premium-1.462179

After seven years, the verdict was that Rachel was responsible for her own death.  The driver and the Israeli army were exonerated.  Although this verdict was not unexpected, it still generated cries of outrage throughout the world. 

Former President Jimmy Carter said, “The killing of an American peace activist is unacceptable.  The court’s decision confirms a climate of impunity, which facilitates Israeli human rights violations against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territory.” http://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/rachel-corrie-verdict-082912.html

The Guardian said, “The case laid bare the state of the collective Israeli military mind, which cast the definition of enemies so widely that children walking down the street were legitimate targets if they crossed a red line that was invisible to everyone but the soldiers looking at it on their maps.  The military gave itself a blanket of protection by declaring southern Gaza a war zone, even though it was heavily populated by ordinary Palestinians, and set rules of engagement so broad that just about anyone was a target.

With that went virtual impunity for Israeli troops no matter who they killed or in what circumstances.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/28/rachel-corrie-verdict-exposes-israeli-military-mindset?newsfeed=true

Going even farther, the actual testimony included phrases like “there are no civilians in Gaza.”  How can a community of 1.7 million people, almost half of whom are under age 15, not have civilians?  Are newborn babies combatants? 

 

Rachel’s family founded the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice to carry on the work that meant so much to Rachel and for which she made the ultimate sacrifice.  You can learn more about their work at http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/

You can also read more about Rachel in my post earlier this year on the ninth anniversary of her death. http://www.dixianehallaj.blogspot.com/2012/03/rachel-corrie-we-will-always-remember.html

NOT A HAPPY 64th BIRTHDAY, ISRAEL*

Don't let Palestine waste away any more

Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
Stating point of view.
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, Wasting Away.

Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

Almost everyone is familiar with the lyrics of the song by Paul McCartney of the Beatles.  Did you know that it was first released in 1967?  That was the same year Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza.  Ever since, Israel has been trying to erase both Palestine and the Palestinians, trying to make them literally waste away.  But hope is on the horizon.

Yes, Israel, in a few more days you will be 64 years old, and I would like to send you a postcard, drop you a line, and state my point of view.  The injustice of what is being done to the Palestinian people is becoming evident to more and more people every day.  Military occupation is not a permanent option--and only you have the power to end it.

Unfortunately, the leaders of the most powerful countries in the world seem to think they do need you—and they continue to feed you, now that you’re sixty-four.

But there are signs that things are changing.

* I borrowed the title of this blog from an article in the Palestine Chronicle by Samah Sabwai.  See the article for a well-written update on the changing tide of public opinion. http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19259

The BDS movement is one example of a grassroots effort that is making slow but steady headway in bringing attention and understanding to the issue.  The initials stand for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. 

The masthead of the website http://www.bdsmovement.net/ features the iconic cartoon character Hanthala created by Naji al-Ali.  Hanthala has come to symbolize the Palestinian movement in many ways (see my blog of February 18, Better to Light a Candle...).

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a good source for more information on the Boycott and Divestment movements. http://endtheoccupation.org/section.php?id=203 They also have an interesting blog http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/


Yes, Israel, things are beginning to change.  The people of the world are beginning to wake up and demand justice.  The recent decision by the United Methodist Church to divest from companies “whose goods and services enable the occupation to continue” is just the beginning.  https://www.kairosresponse.org/UMKR_Home.html has detailed information about the decision of the Church. 

 The effort to have TIAA-CREF, the pension fund giant that serves as the retirement vehicle of many hospitals, universities, and other non-profit organizations, join the divestment movement has been ongoing for many months. The youtube video of a flash mob effort to call attention to the movement gives a humorous look at a very serious topic.

 It looks as though the efforts being made by a small army of ordinary people, each trying to add a voice to spread the word of the truth of what is happening in Palestine, is finally having a positive effect.

Sorry for the lapse in my weekly blog, but this blogger was on holiday and spent two weeks without internet access.  Yes, I was beginning to have withdrawal symptoms before I got home. :-)