Statement of Support for BDS Leader Omar Barghouti

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As the fiftieth anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem nears, the Israeli government has intensified its efforts to criminalize the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement – BDS – which seeks, through non-violent economic pressure, to bring about a peaceful end to the occupation. In recent weeks, for example, it has passed legislation denying entry into Israel/Palestine by foreign advocates of BDS, denied travel abroad by Israeli BDS activists, and threatened the latter with “civil targeted assassination.” This has included the arrest and extended interrogation of BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti on charges of tax evasion.
In conjunction with those charges against Barghouti and his wife Safa, the Israeli government has imposed a gag order on him preventing him from telling his side of the story. It has moreover revoked his permission to travel abroad to receive the Gandhi Peace Award (presented by Promoting Enduring Peace) on April 23, 2017, in New Haven, Connecticut.
The Palestine Justice Network of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship calls on the Israeli government to drop the gag order against Omar Barghouti, dismiss the charges against him, and restore his permission to travel abroad and to return to his home.
We also call on the Israeli government to cease its efforts to intimidate and harass domestic and foreign advocates of BDS and, in particular, to rescind orders that restrict free speech and entry into and/or exit from Israel/Palestine.
We would note, in this regard, the long and honorable history of BDS in achieving positive action through peaceful non-violent means. This history has included the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56; the nationwide grape boycott 1965-66 in support of farmworkers in California’s Central Valley; the South Africa boycott which the Episcopal Church supported in 1985; and, most recently, the boycott of North Carolina stemming from its anti-LGBTQ legislation.
We would also note the March 7 and March 9, 2017 statements by David Harris, the Chief Executive of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and Olaf Fykse, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), expressing their concerns regarding the just-enacted “Entry to Israel Act,” which would ban entry to foreigners who publicly advocate BDS.
Stating that he was “troubled” by the Act, Harris said that the AJC “as a long-time staunch friend of Israel and opponent of the BDS movement, fully sympathizes with the underlying desire to defend the legitimacy of the state of Israel….[but] as history has amply shown throughout the democratic world, barring entry to otherwise qualified visitors on the basis of their political views will not by itself help to defeat BDS, nor will it help Israel’s image as the beacon of democracy in the Middle East it is.”
Calling it a “shockingly regressive law,” Fykse said the Act “would be a clear violation of freedom of expression, that is critical for those who want to visit Israel, for those who have to live under the occupation, and for those who want access to the Palestinian territories. It is also a significant violation of freedom of religion.”

Voices for Justice: EPF PJN Member Kathy Christison on the Ground in Palestine

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I once listened to a priest preach on searching for God by likening this to the search for a restaurant in an unfamiliar city: when you’re looking for a restaurant, you tend to see restaurants everywhere; if you intentionally look for God, you will see God everywhere. On this my tenth trip to Palestine (from March 4 to 21) since 2003, I found—as I had expected—that the situation on the ground for Palestinians, the realities of oppression, have never been worse. But something else I saw this time, only because I was looking for it, was Palestinian resistance. It is everywhere, and never have I been as aware as I was this time of the truth of Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci’s much-quoted statement about the need to have optimism of the will even if one feels the pessimism of the intellect. Palestinians talk about this explicitly: they have no optimism about achieving freedom or receiving justice from Israel, certainly not for the near term, but they have hope, they live on hope, for the long term. One Palestinian told me that he had no optimism but he had hope, because without it he would not be able to get up every day. This hope is resistance.

RESISTANCE: BURNING TIRES, GRAFFITI, LIBERATION THEOLOGY

Resistance for the Palestinians fundamentally involves struggling against erasure, the denial of their very existence. On my trip, I saw this everywhere. For Palestinians, because Israel is bent on their removal, sumud, or steadfastness, is the governing philosophy. Sumud means remaining on the land, in Palestine, and not fleeing or surrendering to expulsion as occurred in 1948; rebuilding when homes are demolished; publicly honoring—with elaborate funeral processions, in graffiti painted on walls, in “martyr posters” plastered on the sides of buildings—any Palestinian, whether militant or activist or civilian, killed by Israel. A “martyr,” a shahid, is any Palestinian killed for Palestine.

Resistance takes many forms. There were terrorist attacks in the past, but today it comes in largely non-violent ways. In March, while I was in Palestine, the Israeli military assassinated a 33-year-old Palestinian activist, Basel al-Araj, whose story is a classic one of resistance by someone who was a Palestinian patriot, a resister, a nurturer and sustainer of community, and a visionary and intellectual whose optimism of the will overrode his pessimism of the intellect. He knew that the work he was doing would not bring liberation for his own generation but would lay the groundwork for the next generation’s successful resistance. He was described in various tributes as a lover of Palestine, of the “land, its details, every single stone,” and he had studied its history, particularly the history of past Palestinian revolutions. He knew the writings of other intellectuals and resisters such as Antonio Gramsci and Frantz Fanon. His own resistance was nurtured by his grandfather in the village outside Jerusalem where he grew up; his grandfather taught him that Palestinians needed to reclaim their history, and as he grew up and continued to study, he worked to make knowledge accessible to everyone, teaching people through stories of Palestinian revolutionaries and intellectuals. One friend, who regards Basel as a model of resistance, writes that Basel taught him that to be part of a genuine liberation movement, you must love and respect your people, treat them as equals, and think beyond your own individual salvation. In this way, al-Araj has been an inspiration to others. Graffiti portraits and printed posters of him dot many walls in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, and his funeral brought out a large protest demonstration in Ramallah—not only against Israel but against the Palestinian Authority, which had tortured and imprisoned him for months because of past protests. His friend, writing on ElectronicIntifada.net, pointedly noted that “[e]very Palestinian martyr leaves us with an added sense of responsibility.”

Perhaps the most obvious sign of resistance is in graffiti, some of it quite artistic. I visited the refugee camp Aida in Bethlehem on this trip and found graffiti and other symbols of Palestine everywhere. Entering the camp, you walk through an archway topped by a large facsimile of an old-fashioned key symbolizing the front-door keys that refugees took with them in 1948, expecting to be able to use them upon their return. This photo  shows a large piece of graffiti depicting the Separation Wall being broken down by an olive tree, a universal symbol of Palestine, growing through it. A hand from the tree grasps another hand meant to symbolize the Palestinian people, and together they hold a key. In the background are the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, as well as a church steeple topped by a cross and several tents, the first habitation of many refugees in 1948. 

 

Graffiti also appears, in several layers painted one over the other, everywhere on the Separation Wall built by Israel deep inside the West Bank—a 25-foot high concrete structure that tramples on Palestinian land, separates Palestinian villages from their agricultural lands, and cuts off Palestinian students from their schools, businesspeople from their businesses, and often one side of the street in a Palestinian neighborhood from the other. The graffiti symbolizes not only Palestinian resistance, but also the solidarity of some few Israeli sympathizers and of visiting international activists. The photos below demonstrate that graffiti and protests are not always, or even usually, violent. A picture from Aida camp is of a dove of peace chained to an olive tree but offering a symbol of love as a heart emerges from its scroll. Another shows a Palestinian girl preparing to join in the weekly protest against the Wall in the village of Bil’in, where a large section of village land has been lost to an Israeli settlement on the other side, carries a photo of Rachel Corrie, whom the village was commemorating on the fourteenth anniversary of her death. Another shows a Palestinian man who had unsuccessfully tried to throw a picture of Corrie over the wall toward Israeli soldiers tries here to throw a bouquet of wild poppies over.

The same man poses next to Corrie’s picture, behind which he has put more poppies, the first batch having failed to clear the Wall. The burning tires were intended to rouse the Israeli soldiers on the other side of the Wall. This protest in Bil’in has been going on every Friday since February 2005, and the Academy Award-nominated film 5 Broken Cameras was filmed here. Although in the early years the protest was usually joined by hundreds of international activists and sympathetic Israelis, in recent years the protest has been smaller and Israeli soldiers sometimes do not respond. They did not on this day, despite stones thrown over, loud banging on the gate, and the heavy plume of black smoke from the tires. The usual response now is teargas and occasional rubber bullets, and the Israelis are more frequently employing night raids on villagers’ homes. A few years ago, one Palestinian protester, a favorite in the village, was killed by a high-velocity teargas canister that hit him in the chest. A few months later, his sister died of teargas inhalation. Just recently, one son of a village leader was shot in the leg with a rubber bullet and is permanently injured. A second son was shot in the head a few weeks later but only lightly injured. During a subsequent night raid on the village, this 16-year-old boy was arrested and briefly detained by Israeli soldiers.

The persistence of the protest, despite and indeed probably in considerable measure because of the deaths and injuries, has been an inspiration and a spur to further resistance for the community in Bil’in and throughout Palestine. Other villages affected by the Wall also stage regular protests, which serve to nurture more resistance. As so often occurs, resistance spawns more resistance. And resistance has on rare occasions brought some results. Several years ago, the protests in Bil’in induced the Israeli Supreme Court to order the Wall moved back closer to Israel, restoring some, although by no means all, of Bil’in’s agricultural land to the village. Even small successes resonate loudly.

The kind of Palestinian resistance that most fascinates and inspires me is actually the least well known and probably the most limited. Palestinian Liberation Theology, formulated under the guidance of Palestinian Episcopal priest Rev. Naim Ateek, is a beautiful, fulfilling, reassuring theology that unites and inspires the small Christian community in Palestine. Christians once made up twenty percent or more—some say as much as 25 percent—of the Palestinian population, but the numbers have dwindled dramatically, to about two percent or less, in the decades since 1948 and 1967, when Israel captured the occupied territories, where large concentrations of Christians lived, particularly in East Jerusalem and West Bank cities such as Bethlehem.

For many Palestinian Christians, that inner peace and sense of divinely-inspired determination come precisely from remaining in the land that is the birthplace of their faith. The knowledge that they are descended from the Christians of Jesus’ time and that God is with them in their struggle for justice is of surpassing importance. One Palestinian woman told those at the Sabeel conference held in Bethlehem March 6-13 that she remains in Palestine because this is “where Jesus was and where Jesus wants me.” In a similar vein, the Christian mayor of Bethlehem, Vera Baboun, addressing the conference, spoke of the Christians’ link to Palestine in vivid personal terms, declaring that Jesus brought “us”—the Palestinians—“a legacy of justice.” Being in Bethlehem is liberating, she said, because Bethlehem “is all about liberation, the liberation of mind and heart.”

The Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem was founded in the early 1990s to study and preach a theology of liberation for Palestinians. The Arabic word sabeel means “the way” and was adopted because the very early Christians called themselves “people of the Way.” Sabeel co-founder Naim Ateek is the leading Palestinian liberation theologian, having authored or co-authored a number of books of biblical interpretation about justice and Christian liberation. He declares forthrightly that the Palestinians “are up against evil” in the Israeli occupation, and they must resist. Although Ateek’s writings are directed toward and primarily intended for Christians, he told me that he envisions and works for liberation for everyone in their own particular context. His own context is Christ-centered, but he says that Christ calls on him to work for liberation not only for his people, the Palestinians, but for everyone, even the Israelis. Describing the evolution of his own thinking and his faith, he says that he is first a Christian who recognizes that “in Christ I’ve been liberated from sin, from evil. Then when I look at the context, I recognize that I have a responsibility to others.” Although he doesn’t put it in these words, he essentially sees this responsibility as nurturing a community of resistance among Christians. His liberation theology is comforting and reassures Christians, through such promises as appear in Romans 10:13: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Ateek is leading a spiritual resistance. He is leading Christians to resist any biblical interpretation, by Israel and by Christian Zionists, that diminishes Christian equality by claiming Jewish supremacy, Jewish chosenness, Jewish exclusivity in the land.

Below: Graffiti in Aida camp. The Arabic label on the left says “There is still hope.”

Palestine, the oppression visited on the Palestinian people, is a haunting problem. Haunting because it is so morally reprehensible on its face; Palestinians are being squeezed and ethnically cleansed only because they are not of the “right” ethnicity and religion, not Jews, not of the Jewish faith. Haunting also because the perpetrators of this oppression are Jews who themselves suffered so horribly in pogroms through the centuries, culminating in the genocide of the Holocaust. Haunting because the oppression of Palestinians is paid for by our US government; the United States gives Israel, as grant aid, $3.8 billion a year in military equipment, a cynical process that not only enables Israel’s oppression but also directly benefits US arms manufacturers and the predatory military-industrial complex, since Israel is required by the aid agreement to spend all of the annual $3.8 billion to purchase US-manufactured military equipment. Haunting finally because Israel’s oppression and its exclusively Jewish motivation depict God as a God of injustice, an evil God who would murder and dispossess and steal from one segment of humanity solely for the benefit of another. In his first book on Liberation Theology almost thirty years ago, Naim Ateek wondered on behalf of Palestinian Christians what, in light of Israel’s creation and Palestine’s oppression, God is really like. Palestinian Christians, he wrote, are questioning the very nature and character of God. “Is God partial only to the Jews? Is this a God of justice and peace?….The focus of these questions is the very person of God. God’s character is at stake. God’s integrity has been questioned.”

This is serious, fundamental resistance—resistance that goes to the heart, the root, of the Palestinian-Israeli issue and that, for that reason, speaks to all Palestinians, Muslim as well as Christian. This is resistance to Zionist thought and founding principles, resistance to Protestant theological support for Jewish supremacy put forth in the aftermath of the Holocaust out of guilt over Christian complicity with centuries of anti-Semitism, resistance to the widespread Christian Zionism in the United States that preaches the Jewish right to supremacy from a distortion of biblical texts. Naim Ateek calls on us to see God not as the instrument of any government’s injustice but as a just God who loves humanity equally and gives no special rights to anyone.

Ateek’s is a prescription for building hope from resistance—telling the oppressed that they do not struggle alone. This is a huge assurance. The mere act of resistance, even in the absence of any reason for hope, nurtures and builds hope, for without resistance there is only surrender. My trip to Palestine shows this to be very true.

 

An Update from EPF in the Episcopal Diocese of Maine

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Editor’s Note: On 18 February Maurine and Bob Tobin were able to deliver funds that their last group, sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Maine and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship of Maine, designated for the Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Center in Ramallah.  Here’s their report:

Visiting with Giovanni Anbar, Director of the Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Center of Ramallah

We met with Giovanni Friday evening to present to him the remaining funds from the Diocese of Maine/EPF Pilgrimage, which the group had designated to buy desperately needed heating units for 2 classrooms. It has been unusually cold and wet here in the Holy Land and students are trying to work on computers and study in near freezing temperatures with only tiny space heaters for warmth. While the temperatures may not be cold by Maine standards just now, these old stone buildings without central heat are bone chilling. The heaters we’ve funded will be in place by early next week.

We heard not only the story of the development of this amazing school, but Giovanni’s own family story. Like almost everyone we know in Palestine, his family are refugees, forced from their home in Ramle (now in Israel) in 1948 by the Israeli paramilitary. His father, then 14, became the primary breadwinner for the family when Gio’s grandfather died shortly thereafter, leaving his wife with six children living in a church hall with hundreds of other refugees. Eventually, they were able to find a small apartment, and Gio’s father became an electrician, helping his siblings and then his children get educations. Gio reports that his grandmother once returned to Ramle, clutching the keys to the home from which they had been forced at gunpoint, only to be told by the Jewish family that had taken it over to leave and never come back under threat of arrest. He says he can’t remember ever seeing his grandmother smile.

The story of the school is the resurrection part of the story. Gio gained a university scholarship in Austria, then worked 5 years in a Swiss-sponsored vocational training and counseling program in Ramallah, but he was determined to stay in Palestine to share his knowledge. The Episcopal bishop offered him an abandoned building in Ramallah and a contact with a German group that offered expertise but only a little funding. Somehow over the years, through fund-raising, tenacity, and faith, he has gone from being the sole teacher/administrator of a one room computer lab to director of a program with 25 teachers, an extensive computer training program and a guesthouse/restaurant which acts as a lab for the students in the hotel and hospitality program. Graduates of both programs almost universally go directly into jobs, sustaining themselves and their families. The gift from Maine Episcopalians is the beginning of what we all hope will be an ongoing relationship with the school’s staff and students.

Despite the amazing success of the school and the new opportunities it has given countless students, Gio’s own eight year old daughter, who visited Germany with the family last year, has already announced her desire to move to Germany when she grows up. She and her sister witnessed the shooting of an unarmed Palestinian by an Israeli soldier as they were leaving school one day. She told Gio she wants to move to Germany because “it is green and clean and there are no soldiers with guns in the street.”

How Long Oh Lord? The Cry of the Psalmist

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How long oh Lord?  The cry of the psalmist.

A 2002 book edited by Maurine and Bob Tobin asked ‘How Long O Lord?’ A compilation of Christian, Jewish and Muslim voices from the ground, the voices cried out then in ways similar to Dick Toll’s cry in this reflection. The EPF PIN member and long a key leader with Friends of Sabeel North America, talks about the situation on the ground in Palestine/Israel as the 10th International Conference of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center ‘Jesus Christ Liberator – Then & Now – Facing the Legacy of Injustice’ ends.

For 34 years I have been coming to Palestine/Israel. Each time I come with hope. I leave with despair. 160 internationals from 15 countries gathered in Bethlehem and Nazareth at the tenth international conference of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. The conference addressed:
100 years of Great Britain’s Balfour Declaration in 1917 that opened the door for Zionists to begin taking land from the Palestinians to make a homeland for the Jewish people.
70 years ago that the United Nations partitioned  Palestine and gave 53 percent of Palestine to Jewish people and the remaining 47 percent to Palestinians.
And then 50 years ago the Zionists took the the remaining 22 percent of Palestine and occupied it with military force.  Since that occupation the state of Israel has transferred 600,000 settlers into the Palestinian Territories in opposition to international law.

Three million Palestinians are under military occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  Two million Palestinians are under siege and occupation in Gaza.

Two million Palestinians in the state of Israel are second class citizens since they are not Jewish. Many laws of discrimination have been passed in the Knesset against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Six million Palestinian refugees (and now their children) forced out of Palestine in 1948 and 1967. Over 500 villages and towns were destroyed by the Zionists in 1948 and the population of those towns and villages became refugees, now living throughout the world, some still in refugee camps in Bethlehem, Jerusalem , Jordan, Lebanon and Syria

The Psalmist asks, ‘How long oh Lord?’

There is an  unsustainability to the military occupation. It violates human rights through its use of military laws that exclude Palestinians from travel, visiting Jerusalem and their holy sites , from education opportunities and permits for building homes, as confiscation of land and house demolitions continue.

The State of Israel is losing its soul over what they have done and are doing to the Palestinians as they continue to claim land from the Palestinians and as settlers do so in the name of their God.

The State of Israel is a nation state that needs to be criticized as any nation state.  But the State of Israel refuses to abide by international law. They resent any criticism and call people antisemitic that dare to criticize them for an illegal military occupation. So the church remains silent as thousands upon thousands of human rights violations occur in the occupied territories.

And in Gaza thousands are killed, live under siege and occupation.  Medical supplies are not available. Water is not drinkable. Israel does not adhere to the Oslo accords on fishing rights.

Collective punishment (illegal under international law) of Palestinians has been a continuing policy of the military occupation.

How long oh Lord?

It depends on people of good will who will challenge a system of a nation state that does not adhere to international law and violates standards of human rights that is acknowledged by every religious group in the world including many Jewish people inside Israel and around the world.

How long oh Lord?

It seems that God is waiting for people like you and me to do something.

Voices for Justice: Kathy Evans fleshes out a grant working in youth ministry in Palestine Summer 2016

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A sense of urgency came over me when I learned that my husband Boyd and I (Boyd convenes the education work group of EPF’s Palestine Justice Network) were awarded a grant to work in youth ministry in Israel and the West Bank. My mission was to work in summer camps for children in the region, but I could not imagine how I could serve children who spoke a different language. I was worried about being accepted by the children and the other leaders. I was pleasantly surprised in both cases. We found that the language of hugs, smiles, and high fives is universal and that the children loved interacting with Boyd and me at the Arab Evangelical Episcopal School in Ramallah, as well as at the summer camps in Zababdeh and Nazareth. What amazed me most was that most of the youth spoke some English. Therefore, we were able to communicate and have fun at the same time.

The summer camps were also a lot of fun. Much like children in our own diocese, the children in Palestine loved crafts, music, singing, and dancing. However, the one thing they seemed to enjoy the most, especially at St. Matthew’s in Zababdeh, was games involving water balloons. Water balloons showed their happiness among their hardships of living in the occupied West Bank.

To my surprise, the Palestinians I encountered were very different than I expected, especially after listening to the news reports of violence in the area. The kindness and peace I felt as we traveled throughout the West Bank gave me a sense of security that I did not always find in Israel.

There was one particular woman, Sister Najah Rantisi, who took me under her wing and cared for me while Boyd traveled to Gaza with the Episcopal Peace Fellowship. Sister Najah cared for me as the Good Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke. After the death of her mother, when she was a young girl, her father left her at the home and school started by the Sisters Emmanuel in Ramallah. While she was growing up in the home, it was hit by a stray Israeli bomb, which killed two of her friends and wounded two teachers who were attempting to protect the girls. This would scar most people for life, yet Sister Najah looked at the experience and learned how to help others in their time of need. When she became a young woman, she heard the call to commit her life to Christ and become an Anglican sister, herself. She now lives out the Gospel as a member of the Anglican Order, the Sisters Emmanuel. Sister Najah is the person that families call during their time in need. While we were there, Sister Najah, Boyd, and I delivered extra eggs from the food pantry sponsored by the United Nations. Sister Najah is a saving grace for so many people; she is an example of the Palestinian heart and giving sprit we experienced during our visit.

Sister Najah and I became friends for life, and, through sharing her routine of having to navigate checkpoints, segregated roads, and applying for a visa as a Palestinian woman; I learned firsthand how tough it is to live in Palestine without freedom.

She took me on several adventures to Emmaus, Jericho, Taybeh, the only remaining fully Christian village in the region, and St. George’s Orthodox Church in Burqin, where Jesus healed the ten lepers.

During our first adventures, I could not understand some of Sr. Najah’s concerns, but after living in the region for a while, I grew to understand the inequalities faced by Palestinians on a daily basis. I was shocked to learn that Palestinians are not allowed to travel on all roads in Palestine, nor are many of them able to travel into Israel where many of their friends and family live. It is a system, which holds Palestinians captive in their own country.

What surprised me more than anything is that Palestinians are not entitled to due process under the same legal system as Israelis, and since Palestinians are subject to military law and do not have access to civilian courts, the Israeli military often intimidates and kills Palestinians without asking questions. I grew very concerned about the abuse of human rights that Boyd and I witnessed and personally experienced while living in the area. I became committed to share my experience and encourage people to look openly at our relationship with Israel and Palestine. I pray others will join me in supporting Palestinian human rights and educating people so that we do not continue to aid these abuses and contribute to the global conflicts we hear about every day on the news.

Boyd Evans & Palestinian colleagues at work

Bishop’s Committee for Israel/Palestine of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia

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Periodically we lift up work being done at the grassroots. This week, it’s the Bishop’s Committee for Israel/Palestine of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. Thanks to our friend and colleague Cabby Tennis for connecting us with this committee.

From their website: “The Bishop’s Committee for Israel/Palestine is a special committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. We are committed to a future in which everyone in Israel and Palestine enjoys security, justice, and equal rights. We work toward this future by raising awareness, advocating for change, and with prayer. We partner in this effort with people and groups of all faiths. This website is intended to be a platform for us to provide information and make announcements to our community. Over time we hope to create a library of background information on Israel and Palestine, a selection of current events, and links to other organizations working for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine.”

Rennie Colt, one of the organizers, says:
Over the past 6 months, we have been working two fronts… Firstly, we have written and published a number white papers on Israel/Palestine, collectively titled You Can’t Say We Didn’t Know.
Secondly, we have been establishing a social media presence using three overlapping channels: a website, a Facebook page, and a Twitter feed.
In addition to publishing our writings, we have used our website to announce an promote events — most importantly a conference on Islamophobia last fall, Islam in the Public Square — and to post articles of interest on Israel/Palestine, refugees, and religious intolerance.

Check out the series of white papers here.  Writers include Mary Segall, the Right Rev’d Gregory H. Rickel, Rennie Colt, Randolph Urmston, Claude Soudah, Tim Hill, the Rev’d John-Otto Liljenstolpe and Carolyn Sherrard. Brief biographies are on the website.

Voices for Justice: Sitting Sumud at Standing Rock

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Sitting sumud at Standing Rock: EPF PIN member Newland Smith reflects

That Monday morning, October 31 in response to the call issued by John Floberg, I joined five Lutheran School of Theology students and a New Testament professor at that seminary in the two-day drive to Cannon Ball ND in order to be present for the solidarity event that Thursday.

There were three reasons why I made this trip.
– First as Seabury-Western’s librarian I witnessed the agonizing and tragic experiences of many of the Native Americans who attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary between 1985 and 1991 where they were confronted with a Eurocentric curriculum and daily chapel services that failed to incorporate Native American spirituality.
– Second, as a member of the Task Force on the Doctrine of Discovery which came into being as a result of the adoption of the resolution, “Repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery,” at the 2009 General Convention, I worked with twelve members of our Church, half of whom were Native American, to prepare the curriculum, “Exposing the Doctrine of Discovery,” which I fear has yet to be used in many of our congregations.
– Third, as part of the three-hour long Service of Lament held one evening during the 2012 General Convention in Indianapolis, I spoke as the Connecticut Yankee.
– I also was deeply moved by Bishop Curry’s call to be in solidarity with the protectors of land and water – a call that connected the water of baptism with the living giving water of the Missouri River at Cannon Ball.

For me the most moving part of that Thursday morning gathering at the Oceti Sakowin Camp was the opening with short speeches by representatives of faith groups that have repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery and the decision by the Elders to place in the fire a copy of a fifteenth-century Papal Bull. As one speaker said the root cause of the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline goes back to the Doctrine of Discovery.

I was deeply moved by the peaceful, prayerful and non-violent witness being made by members of over 200 North American tribes. The word, “sumud”, used by Palestinians to describe their steadfastness in resistance to the Israeli occupation of their land can also be used to describe the steadfastness of the Native Americans at Cannon Ball. Solidarity with the Native Americans at Cannon Ball invites me to be steadfast in speaking out wherever I am about this injustice to an indigenous people.

Photo by EPF member Jessie Smith

Promote PJN: Join the Campaign – Support PJN’s Work for Peace with Justice in Palestine

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Greetings in the name of the Prince of Peace from EPF’s Palestine Justice Network. PJN has heard the challenge of our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry to stake our lives on the Jesus Movement. The Movement invites us to strive for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being. To meet the challenge, PJN is launching our Promote PJN Campaign to further enable our work for justice and human dignity.

Right now, at this moment, the situation on the ground for Palestinians is as bad as it has been in many years:

  •   More Palestinian homes demolished in the first months of 2016 than in all of 2015;
  •   Increased detentions and imprisonments and torture of children;
  •   Plans for hundreds of new settlement homes in continuing violation of international laws;
  •   More and more examples of collective punishment imposed on entire communities throughout the West Bank;
  •   And virtually no relief for the besieged people of Gaza.What does the Jesus Movement require of us in response? For EPF PJN, it is a question of living up to our stated mission, which is unchanged: through education and advocacy, to work within the Episcopal Church for a more robust and faithful response on behalf of peace with justice for Palestinians and Israelis. At the 2015 General Convention, PJN’s advocacy in committee hearings and our efforts to put our baptismal covenant into action did not open the way to meaningful discussion of the issues in the House of Bishops and House of Deputies.Now is the time to plan for General Convention 2018. Because the need for a just peace is so great, and with the promise of fresh opportunities for action within our Church, EPF PJN is launching our Promote PJN Campaign to raise the funds that will help us in our mission at this critical moment.Our members and supporters have told us what is needed:Education is key, and we especially want to reach underserved areas with regional conferences in 2017 in the midwest and southern United States

    PJN will develop an adaptable, multi-media curriculum for local use by individuals, parishes or dioceses in one-day events
    PJN will fund an intern to assist staff and volunteers in organizing at the grassroots level in dioceses and provinces, to build an

    effective caucus at General Convention 2018
    PJN will update our database and revise the website to enhance communication within our membership and with the wider Church

    Your financial support will make it all happen! The journey toward justice is long and hard, but we are steadfast in our work because we have faith that the Jesus Movement cannot be stopped. Will you join us?

    Consider a one-time designated gift or become a PJN Supporting Member by your automatic monthly gift. Give online (list your contribution amount in the box below PROMOTE PJN CAMPAIGN) or mail your contribution to EPF PJN, PO Box 15, Claysburg, PA 16625.
    Thank you,

    Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine Justice Network Leadership Team

An update from the Diocese of California on Palestine resolutions for 2016

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From the Diocese of California’s annual convention weekend before last, Vicki Gray reports that “With near unanimity, they passed four resolutions placing the diocese on those front lines with regard to the death penalty, gun violence, legal threats against BDS proponents, and support for Native Americans at Standing Rock.” We report here on the resolution concerning legal threats against BDS proponents.

This resolution “urged repeal of AB2844, a recently signed law that threatens to penalize individuals and institutions who support boycott and/or disinvestment in any way related to Israel.”

We reported on earlier work in the Diocese of California in a posting on our Community blog on 30 August 2016. Follow-ups on the Anti-BDS legislation AB2844 were posted on 13 September 2016 and 27 September 2016.

Thanks also to Randy and Doni Heyn-Lamb of the EPF PIN chapter in the Diocese of Los Angeles for their postings on AB2844 in the Community blog.

The text of the Diocese of California resolution follows:

RESOLUTION NO. 5
FREE SPEECH WITH REGARD TO
BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS

Resolved, That the 167th Convention of the Diocese of California reiterates the principles of Resolution 7, Promoting Justice and Peace in Israel/Palestine, adopted by the 165th Convention, that urged The Episcopal Church to divest from any investments it might have in certain companies whose products and/or actions support the infrastructure of the occupation and urged Episcopalians to boycott products that are manufactured in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem;

Resolved, That the Convention considers such peaceful activities to be clearly protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and equivalent provisions of the Constitution of California and other States;

Resolved, That this Convention condemns the legislative and/or executive actions proposed or adopted in many States that seek to prohibit public agencies and pensions from investing in or doing business with pro-boycott companies and institutions, or which may subject such companies and institutions to costly legal investigations; and

Resolved, That this Convention urges the repeal of recently enacted AB 2844, which is likely to spur costly and unnecessary civil and criminal investigations against companies and institutions that have adopted BDS policies, and it calls upon the courts to protect the free speech rights of all Californians by enjoining it from ever taking effect.

Explanation:

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement began in 2005, when representatives of Palestinian Civil Society called upon “international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against the government of Israel similar to those applied to apartheid South Africa until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law. And, in their 2009 Kairos Document, the leaders of the Palestinian Christian community urged the international community to “put pressure on Israel and take legal measures in order to oblige its government to end its oppression and disregard for international law.”

In 2014, the people of the Diocese of California responded to these calls by adopting the resolution that “encourage[d] the Church to divest from any investments it might have in Caterpillar, G4S, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions, whose products and/or actions support the infrastructure of the occupation” and “encourage[d] Episcopalians to boycott products, such as Soda Stream, that are manufactured in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.” (165th Convention, Resolution 7)

Thanks largely to the economic pressure generated by the BDS movement, G4S has ceased its operations in Israel related to running prisons and checkpoints and Soda Stream has pulled out of the West Bank.
As similar actions have been approved on the national level by the United Church of Christ, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Methodists, and others, opponents of BDS have sought state legislation that would label support for such measures anti-Semitic and would penalize supportive companies and organizations with the loss of state contracts and assistance. Several states have passed such legislation, or adopted it by executive order.

The focus of this resolution calls attention to the fact that the California Legislature has recently passed one such measure, AB 2844.

As far back as the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Supreme Court has consistently considered boycotts protected speech under the First Amendment.

Boycotts and disinvestment have a long and honorable history of achieving positive action through peaceful means. In addition to Montgomery, there have been the 1965-66 grape boycott in the Central Valley that birthed the UFW, the South Africa boycott which The Episcopal Church supported (Res. 1985-D073) in 1985, and, most recently, the boycott of North Carolina stemming from its anti-LGBT legislation.

The current anti-BDS legislation at the state level is opposed by, among others, the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. Addressing such legislation on June 28, 2016, the World Council of Churches not only expressed “its concern regarding efforts in legislative bodies throughout the world to silence and penalize calls for non-violent measures to resist illegal occupation, but rather reiterates its support for freedom of expression in all contexts and non-violent means for transforming conflicts.” This Diocese should do no less.

Submitted by: The Rev. Vicki Gray, Deacon, Christ the Lord, Pinole.

Endorsed by: The Rev. Susan Champion, Rector, Christ the Lord Pinole; Janet Chisholm, Delegate, All Souls, Berkeley; The Rev. David Ota, Rector, St. Ambrose, Foster City; The Rev. Katherine Salinaro, Deacon, School for Deacons, Berkeley; Elsa Stevens, Delegate, Christ the Lord Pinole, The Rev. Margaret Trezevant, Deacon, St. Luke’s, San Francisco; Mary-Jane Wood, St. Giles, Moraga.

Voices for Justice On the Ground in Palestine: Coexistence or Normalization?

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Editor’s Note: 
Fayrouz Sharqawi is the Local Mobilization Coordinator at Grassroots Jerusalem, a Palestinian organization amplifying Palestinian voices from Jerusalem in order to help create a Palestinian long-term strategy for the Palestinian capital.

Coexistence of Normalization?

Around ten years ago, when I was a student at the university, I needed to take part time jobs to pay my rent. One job I took was to help with the logistics of a trip by an American group to visit “Israel and Palestinian territory in order to learn about the political situation”. The program included a visit to the Lipski plastic factory in the settlement of Ariel in the north of the West Bank. Speaking to the guests, the manager of the company said they were “proud to prove industry can be a model to foster coexistence,” loudly emphasizing that the factory hires Palestinian workers.

The manager’s words infuriated me, and I thought to myself: how dare he speak of co-existence when his factory is built on lands seized by force from these very same people he is proud to say he hires? When the water his factory uses is at the expense of these people’s own thirst? When the settlements and their industrial zones are aggressively eating up more Palestinian lands, drying them of natural resources, severing the West Bank and suffocating the Palestinian economy?

Normalizing the occupation means engaging in any type of political, economic, cultural or educational relationship with Israel, in a way that suggests that the current reality of colonization is ‘normal’. From a Palestinian perspective, it simply means having such relations while disregarding the fact that this occupation State is continuously demolishing our homes, suffocating our economy and brutally controlling every single aspect of our lives.

Considering the case of the Lipski factory as an example of coexistence might, to some, seem ridiculous and rude. The Israeli industrial zones in the West Bank are the economic engine of the illegal settlement blocs, and one of the greatest obstacles to building a viable Palestinian economy. These settlement blocs strategically commandeer main transportation routes, appropriate water resources and agricultural lands, and destroy the flow of Palestinian goods. Accepting the description of the Lipski CEO would clearly be an act of normalizing this economic colonization.

Some not so clear cut cases are those of “peace-building” initiatives between Palestinians and Israelis. These initiatives, starting as early as the 1970s (between Israelis and 1948 Palestinians) and enhanced following the signing of the Oslo Agreement in 1993, bring together Palestinians and Israelis to foster “dialogue and build peace”. The rationale stated behind such initiatives is to develop mutual understanding and bring the participants closer together. According to Rabah Halabi, a Palestinian academic who developed and implemented such dialogue projects for over two decades, the ultimate objective being that the oppressed understand the fears of the oppressor. The goal, then, has been to normalize and preserve the existing situation, by attempting to make Palestinians empathise with their oppressors.

When I was a student, and not half as politically aware as I am today, I also took a job as an interpreter at “dialogue groups” between Palestinian and Israeli youth. During these “dialogue-meetings”, I always felt unease. Something in the dynamics of the group bothered me, but I never could explain what, not even to myself. The settings supposedly secured a “neutral atmosphere where both sides were equal”. Yet, as a Palestinian, I did not feel free or powerful. Even though participants enjoyed freedom of expression within the group, it did not feel the two sides were really equally powerful.

Moreover, after each meeting, I would head to my neighborhood and think how easily the officer asking for my ID on the way could be someone from the Israeli group; how someone’s mother could be the judge signing the demolition order of my uncle’s home tomorrow, or the arrest warrant of my friend the day after. I was expected to tolerate how the Israeli participants justify such actions (using the “magic word” – security) or, at best, alienate themselves as individuals from their Government’s policies. I was angry that  I eventually quit my job because I could not handle the dissonance.

Today, I can explain the negative political implications of such projects. First, while they have proven to fail in bringing about real change, they create a fake impression that there is a keen Israeli will to solve the so-called “conflict”. Second, as Halabi states, Israeli participants believe that in order to have peace, they must hold control, and any Palestinian speaking out with a firm tone is a threat to the convenient status-quo where they call the shots. As a result,

It is impossible to build peace between the oppressor and the oppressed. No true peace can be achieved while maintaining policies of Zionization, colonization and control. The military occupation, ethnic cleansing, land theft and killing must end before we can sit and talk as equals. Peace and normality cannot co-exist with oppression.

EPF PJN Mission Statement Coming Out of Our Leadership Retreat February 2016

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To establish a network dedicated to a more robust Episcopal Church witness for justice and peace for our Palestinian and Israeli brothers and sisters for the purposes of responding to
• The promise made in our baptismal covenant to “ … strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being”;
• The call of Palestinian Civil Society for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel until it complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights; and
• The prayerful call of Palestinian Christians expressed in the Kairos Palestine Document.

We believe the Episcopal Church can and should play a vital role in seeking justice and peace for Palestinians and Israelis.  We believe that without justice, there will be no lasting peace which both people deserve.

PJN invites all Episcopalians to commit to active engagement in the quest for just peace in Palestine and Israel through PRAYER, STUDY, and ACTION.

We encourage prayer undertaken individually, in community with parish and/or other local organizations and initiatives pursuing common goals, and in response to petitions or requests such as the Sabeel Wave of Prayer and Kairos USA.

We encourage study and education through
• witness trips to Israel/Palestine;
• study and familiarity with the Kairos Palestine Document; and study and familiarity with the publications Steadfast Hope and Zionism Unsettled.

We encourage action in
• supporting the Palestinian community, their congregations and institutions;
• supporting efforts to disengage and divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation;
• supporting efforts to introduce resolutions at diocesan and general conventions to pursue financial divestment;
• supporting the non-violent resistance of the Palestinian people to the occupation; and
• encouraging partnerships with other organizations, groups, and initiatives that seek just peace through non-violent means.

Nonviolence, BDS and the Children: EPF PJN member Dick Toll reflects

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Editor’s Note: EPF PIN member Dick Toll shared his sermon from 25 September at Spirit of Grace Lutheran/Catholic Community.

My name is Richard Toll, I am a retired Episcopal Priest having been ordained for 49 years. My first trip to the Holy Land was 33 years ago and I have taken over 30 trips to the region since then. I have studied at our college there, I have taken church groups, I have been to 8 Sabeel International Conferences and have visited Gaza 4 times, the last visit to Gaza was last spring a year ago.

My task for today it to speak to nonviolence and nonviolent actions and to do so in the context of Israel and Palestine. Not an easy task but an issue that I am more than willing to address.

First of all, to read from today’s Gospel Matthew 38 thru 44, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you. Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

These words come from the Sermon on the Mount one of the most important teachings offered by anyone, anywhere and have influenced humanity as ripples extending out over time into individual lives and cultures that can only be measured as we look at ourselves and our faith communities. Yes. These words alone have influenced humankind and still do.

It is out of the mouth of Jesus who as a Jewish person under Roman military occupation has every right to seek retribution and relate to the Old Testament teaching of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But no….this Jesus we listen to has lived for 33 years under Roman military occupation. He has especially seen what the military occupation has done to the Jewish people in the Galilee. He has watched friends and neighbors be arrested, tortured, crucified. Many of his followers have tried to convince him that there must be a violent revolution in order to rid themselves of the hated Roman dominance.

Jesus is the one we claim to be the reflection and image of the Living God. Living amongst us, flesh of our flesh, teaching, preaching, giving himself for us so that we might know life in all of its fullness. His way of doing that is to show us the path to nonviolence.

The Church over the centuries has had great difficulty in coming to terms with the nonviolence taught by Jesus. The human instinct is to move toward violence, punishment, control, dominance……as our answer to the need to be in charge.

In the early years of Christianity, one of the criteria of being a follower of Jesus was to NOT serve in the Roman army.

Church history shows us what happened as the Church became the official religion of the Roman empire in the 4th century AD. We see witnesses such as Francis of Assisi come to the forefront of nonviolent spirituality in the 12th century AD. But then we see Pope Julian in the 15th century AD leading Vatican armies into battle.

There is not a one of us who has not had to face into our own issues of violence and nonviolence in just about every aspect of our lives….whether it be in gun control, militarism, neighborhood watch programs, community policing, our families, our politics, our understanding of religion, our vision of God and our attempt to understand Jesus.

Violence is so much a part of our world. How about nonviolence and nonviolent actions? How about putting to work our faith with nonviolent actions. I remember the civil rights training I went through in the 1960’s. We were taught how to respond or how not to respond when we were shouted at or spit upon in demonstrations. Not to lash out when abused. It goes against our human nature but it works. When we know our cause to be just, we know that the forces of nonviolent resistance are able to be heard. We saw it in the civil rights movement in the 60s. We saw it in the struggles of apartheid South Africa. We see it in the Black Lives Matter movement unfolding before our eyes here in the United States. We see it in Charlotte, N.C. and other cities.

When we do or say nothing, we can be taken over by forces that are often revealed as “evil”. We know from lessons we have experienced or know from history.

You have in your bulletin today information regarding the call from Palestinian civil society to enter into nonviolent resistance to the Israeli military occupation….through BDS…boycott, divestment, sanctions regarding the military occupation of 4 million Palestinian people in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the siege of Gaza.

It is a huge issue. I want to address a portion of what military occupation means and what it is doing to the Palestinian people. I am not going to talk about illegal settlements and the confiscations of Palestine land for those settlements….I am not going to talk about the 45,000 homes of Palestinians that have been destroyed since 1967 to accomplish the building of settlements and bypass roads….I am not going to talk about the separation wall that takes land, water and olive trees from the Palestinians….I am not going to talk about the bypass roads in the West Bank that can only be used by Jewish settlers (400 miles of bypass roads in the West Bank paid for by US tax dollars 20 years ago)…..I am not going to talk about divesting from companies such as Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, G4S, and other companies that add to the burden of the military occupation and profit from it.

I am going to talk about the military occupation and what it is doing to children and families. Military occupation means that military law is in place in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. What that means is that military courts decide what to do regarding ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING relating to Palestinians.

Palestinian children have become a target for arrest because of their stone throwing that takes place when they demonstrate against their homes being demolished or their land being confiscated. Seven hundred children are imprisoned yearly…ages from 12 to 16. They are often arrested in the middle of the night, dragged from bed, blindfolded, placed in a jeep, taken to a prison without parents or access to a lawyer.

They are interrogated by the police without anyone present, often put into solitary confinement for days, weeks and even months. 99% of the children plead guilty to get out of prison. They sign documents in Hebrew that they do not understand, and then they go home frightened, wetting their bed at night, withdraw from their school and family and have prison records for the rest of their lives.

You can imagine what this does to the fabric of the family, village life and the threat to the future.

On the other hand, civil law from the state of Israel applies to the 500,000 illegal settlers on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. Civil courts seldom punish or hold settlers accountable for any harm done to Palestinians.

There are two systems of law….one used by the military occupation of Palestinians…and one for the illegal Jewish settlers….and the children of the occupation are very damaged by the system.

The Palestinian civil society call for BDS is to change what is taking place and to end these Israeli practices what are in violation of International Law.

You will hear the argument often…”why pick on Israel”…”look at the injustice of other countries”.

My answer to that is that we are complicit as a nation and as citizens when our US tax dollar is funding the military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the siege of Gaza.

If our 3.8 billion dollars a year to the state of Israel was withdrawn, Israel would probably come to terms with how to solve their own problems with the Palestinians and their neighbors rather than have us complicit with the occupation.

I have met with children that have been arrested and have been in prison. I have met with their parents. I have heard many stories. It is not a way to treat children. This is one of the many reasons to support BDS.

We are watching a crisis unfold on many of our streets and cities such as Charlotte, NC. Violence on the streets is not the answer. Nonviolent actions are attempting to overcome the violence. Right now we are in a crisis situation in our own country and in the world.

There is much power in nonviolent resistance that speaks loudly and clearly to human abuse. It is often very much feared because it speaks to injustice. Jesus is still speaking to us through His words and scripture. May we hear and respond in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen

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