EPF PJN member Newland Smith reports on a 3-day conference at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary last month.

This two-day conference which was held on the campus of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston April 14-16 was attended by about a hundred people. The purpose of the conference was clearly stated in the flyer: “The conference will focus on racism in Israel/Palestine and the United States from political and theological perspectives with an emphasis on popular resistance.” From the opening address “Racialized States and the Quest for Justice” given by Stephen Ray, Professor of Systematic Theology, at Garrett, and President, Society for the Study of Black Religion, to the closing reflections and conversation led by Beth Corrie, Director, Youth Theological Initiative; Associate Professor in the Practice of Youth Education and Peacebuilding, Emory University, participants were challenged to wrestle with White privilege and what it means to be accountable to communities of color. Sandra Tamari who is an organizer with the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and Co-Chair of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation described how the Palestine Solidarity Committee in recent years had developed a relationship with Black organizations in St. Louis County so within hours after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, members of the Palestine Solidarity Committee began to show up at rallies in order to be in solidarity with members of these Black organizations. PSC never told the Black organizers what they should do. Given this established relationship, authentic intersectionality between Black and Palestinian liberation movements became a reality. In May 2014 a similar conference was held at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary but participants were there by invitation only. The required reading was the then new book by Keith Feldman, A Shadow over Palestine : the imperial life of race in America. But while this conference’s theme was the connection between organizations of the American civil rights movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization, race was not engaged in any depth.

Intersectionality is far more than making the connections between liberation movements. Racism must be acknowledged as a reality and confronted. Sandra Tamari led a break out group on White Privilege which attracted twenty participants. Several people strongly recommended anti-racism training. In the closing session Beth Corrie led participants in a series of meditations on racism and White Privilege interspersed by one on one conversation. She urged us to “sit in discomfort” with our White Privilege.
Presentations that especially resonated with me were given by Stephen Ray, Professor of Systematic Theology, Garrett-Evangelical, Rabbi Brant Rosen, Midwest Regional Director for the American Friends Service Committee and the rabbi of Tzedek Chicago, Hatem Abudayyeh, Executive Director of the Arab American Action Network, and Iva E. Carruthers, General Secretary, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference. Dr. Ray, an African American, talked about White Christians as members of the polis of the United States. These are the real citizens. The rest are simply members of society. So we talk of “real Americans” and “Israelis.” Israel is a recapitulation of the mythic past with its categories of race and ethnicity. Such identities are immutable and to critique them becomes an act of disloyalty. We must demythologize the polis and the idea that the United States was not built on slavery which in itself was the most important economic factor in the growth of the country. Ray called the conference participants to be “insurgents” who with members who are not of the polis will reshape the polis and to create alliances with non polis members and by doing so to create a space where people can flourish. Brant Rosen critiqued the myth that the modern state of Israel dates back to its founding three thousand years ago – a history that is unbroken to the present. Zionism is the negation of the Diaspora. Rosen said we need to face the Conquest Narratives of the Books of Joshua and Judges for in these narratives Yahweh the Deliverer became the Conqueror. We need to listen to the voices of the Canaanites of this world and to follow them. Hatem Abudayyeh who served on the panel discussion, “Racism Against Arabs and Muslims : Racism in the United States,” talked about oppression of Arabs and Muslims in Chicago and cited the case of Rasmea Odeh who is being prosecuted for unlawful procurement of naturalization. He also cited the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression’s call for all elected Civilian Police Accountability Councils. He stressed the need to establish authentic relationships with the Black liberation movement. One must be anti-racist and anti-Zionist for true liberation. Iva Carruthers who stepped in at the last minute for Jeremiah Wright who had come down with a bad case of the flu spoke for over an hour about the United States as a racialized empire. Dr. Carruthers drew upon the witness of Black Lives Matter and wove into what was a meditation the well known words of Assata Shaker, “We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
Throughout the conference participants were challenged to be in solidarity with communities of color, knowing that there was risk in so doing. One speaker urged participants to take seriously the 198 non-violent methods of non-violent action as set forth by Gene Sharp and to be willing not to turn away from those methods that carry considerable risk. Dr. Carruthers in reflecting on the connection between Ferguson and Jerusalem said we must address racialized empire at home before we can address it abroad. Sandra Tamari and Hatem Abuddayeh both said Palestinians cannot win liberation until Blacks win liberation. I think what they meant is that by realizing racial justice for Blacks in America, America will no longer be a racialized empire to the degree it is today which in turn will mean it will no longer support Israel as a racialized military state.
All of the plenary sessions were recorded and will be made available on You Tube on the home pages of the sponsoring organizations. The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference will archive the proceedings of this provocative and unsettling conference.

PJN affirms call to investigate extrajudicial killings by Israeli, Egyptian armed forces

April 9, 2016

The Episcopal Peace Fellowship’s Palestine Justice Network (PJN) commends the recent request by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy – as well as supporters in the House of Representatives – to Secretary of State John Kerry for an investigation into reports of extrajudicial killings by specific military personnel and units in both the Israeli and Egyptian armed forces. For nearly 20 years the Leahy Law has been applied uniformly around the world, in response to substantiated human rights abuses, to suspend U.S. military aid when recipient governments fail to punish those responsible.
The Palestine Justice Network bases our support for Senator Leahy’s request on long-standing Episcopal Church policy, most recently reaffirmed in the second and third resolves of Resolution A105 (2012):
Resolved, That the General Convention reaffirms Resolution 1991-A149, “Urge a Full Accounting of the Use of Foreign Aid in the Middle East,” adopted by the 70th General Convention, and calls on the President of the United States for a full accounting of how United States foreign aid, including military aid, is used in the Middle East and North Africa, in recognition that transparency is critical for requiring accountability from aid recipients; and be it further
Resolved, That the 77th General Convention calls upon the President of the United States to seek accountability for those policies and practices of recipients of United States aid that contradict and undermine core democratic principles, as well as those United States laws and statutes that define legal uses of United States funding.
The Palestine Justice Network calls on the Episcopal Church’s Office of Governmental Relations to articulate this Episcopal Church policy to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee and to all members of Congress. PJN also requests the OGR to support action by the State Department to investigate these incidents. In taking this action, EPF’s Palestine Justice Network joins our voices with 12 other national Christian groups who, on February 22, 2016, urged the Department of State to investigate Israeli human rights abuses.
Organized in 2010, the Palestine Justice Network advocates for a more robust Episcopal Church witness for an end to Occupation and a just peace in Palestine and Israel.

Bruce Shipman’s passion for the Mideast goes back to a childhood spent in Turkey and Egypt. Ordained priest in the Episcopal Church in 1968, he’s served as a parish priest in Connecticut since 1973.He’s led numerous parish pilgrimages to the Holy Land and is active in the Tree of Life Educational Fund’s activities and advocacy. He was Chaplain of the Episcopal Church at Yale University in 2013-14 when a letter to the NYTimes linking the upsurge in anti-Semitic violence to Israel’s war in Gaza caused
an intense backlash leading to resignation of the post.

SATURDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Bosque Retreat Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico
February 20, 2016

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”

• My thanks to Linda Gaither and the gang of four for inviting me to preach this morning.
• Linda reminded me that it’s an Ember Day and also a day to remember Frederick Douglass, who died on February 20 in 1895.
• I’m honestly not sure what an Ember Day is anymore – once upon a time when I was in seminary I used to write a carefully scripted letter to the Bishop from my room in – and I seem to recall something about planting and sowing that fits nicely with the themes that come to mind today, the impossible dreams that keep hope alive and promise a future: loving our enemies, praying for our persecutors and slanderers, refusing to return evil for evil, refusing to demonize “the Other”; being fit for ministry and the calling which we share as followers of Jesus.
• And this impossible dream was lived by Frederick Douglass, whose extraordinary life is documented in his books, the first being Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written in 1845 just seven years after he escaped from bondage in Maryland to start a new life in Massachusetts.
  From the degradation of slavery when against all odds he taught himself to read and write, to a position of influence among the abolitionists of New England, his remarkable story inspires and should be read by every student of American history.
• And not only was he a great model for black Americans, he was a great Christian leader who found in Jesus’ words the ground for hope and suffering for a purpose.
• His inner strength was theologically grounded and unshakeable.
• A thing that I find most moving is his reconciliation after the Civil War with his former slave master, Thomas Auld, in Maryland.
• Auld’s daughter Amanda had been moved by a speech made by Douglass, and asked him to meet her dying father and if possible to forgive him.
• That Douglass made the trip to Maryland to be reconciled to Auld makes me think of the survivors of the recent Charleston massacre in the beloved community of Mother Emmanuel Church whose example of Christian love – forgiving an unforgiveable crime – moves me to the core.
• Douglass derided much of American Christianity as nationalistic and hypocritical, which remains true to this day.
  But Charleston gave us a glimpse of glory, of Christ-like love that opens up a future of new possibilities.
  And it is so with righteous Jews who dare to speak the truth of the Israel/Palestine situation.
• Mark Braverman truly lives up to his name.
  Robert Cohen, one of the many people I was in touch with during my own time of troubles at Yale writes a blog full of grace and truth.
• Some of you may have seen his recent response titled: “My Facebook “Friends” and Foes.
• It is something I can relate to, having received a fair amount of angry mail, a fair amount of supportive and congratulatory mail, and a small amount of hate mail.
• What did people write Robert?
• You should be ashamed! You are a disgrace! You are a fool!
• You are part of an extremist self loathing fringe….
• His reply, “I dragged values, ethics, human rights and obligations…into a place where they have no right to be! I thought this was what Being Jewish looked like. Big mistake.
• Because other ways of Being Jewish are available.
• Robert Cohen you are a fool of the worst kind.
• Yes, it’s true. I should have known better. Other ways of Being Jewish are available. All equally valid. In fact, on the whole, based on the Comments and Likes the other ways of Being Jewish are more valid than mine.
• Such is the (un)civil Jewish War.
• Mate, you need to take your head out of your tuchas!
• I hear the IDF is harvesting brains….unfortunately they could not find one inside Robert Cohen.
• If you only knew me, you wouldn’t say that.
• Robert, we both want the same thing.
• We do?
• Peace.
• But is that peace and justice or merely peace and quiet for you?
• Do you seriously think your pals are going to give a flying “F” that you’re not like the other Jews?
• It’s true. Other ways of Being Jewish are available.
• I wrote a letter to Anne Frank…I wasn’t expecting a reply…to ask what she thought of it all.
• It seems he has been brainwashed by the culture of the sickest people…
• I did get a reply,
• This letter is shameful,
• But none from Anne.
• It must be true: I have read the wrong books, met the wrong people, the “people who kill their own children rather than part with their hatred of the Jews”, but this response was better than some.
• The Holocaust deniers, the diary deniers, the Anne Frank deniers, Robert Cohen you are a disgrace to the Jewish people.
• I clearly have a talent for bringing out the very best in people!
• Values, ethics, human rights and obligations..
• I can’t understand the mental disorder kapos like you suffer..
• If you only knew me you wouldn’t say such things, and now I’ve hit the big time…I’ve arrived on the scene, the first bona fide call for my death.
• I hope you die at the hand of your beloved Muslims!
• It’s the Jewish uncivil War.
  With my values, ethics, human rights and obligations I have brought incitement, hatred, terror.
• It’s true, other ways of Being Jewish are available, but if you only knew me you wouldn’t say these things.
• Actually, maybe you would.
• I know that we can all relate to that – we know only too well that there are other ways of being Christian – and in Robert Cohen we have a kindred spirit who is fighting the good fight.
• If Frederick Douglass shows us how to be truer Christians, so does Robert Cohen who knows the law and the prophets and is willing to suffer a little for righteousness’ sake.
• And Ayman Odeh, the Palestinian Israeli leader who is serving in the Knesset and preaching the co-existence of Arab and Jew in the land of their forebears.
• That’s what we’re about, and what little trouble I experienced at Yale is nothing – less than nothing – compared to the conditions that we know to obtain in Bethlehem and Jenin and Ramallah and east Jerusalem where collective punishment and daily humiliations and degradations are communicated by an army and an occupying power whose message is “we’re in charge now. You’re not wanted. You have no future here. Better leave now and spare yourself a lot of trouble.”
• Gaza as we know is in a category apart, a festering third generation refugee camp of just under two million people, a situation in some ways comparable to the Warsaw Ghetto, but who dares say it?
• We must.
• Tom Friedman in his recent column in the NYTimes is no longer the upbeat reporter, and at last he admits what we have known for years.
• “The two state solution is dead,” he reports, “and a low grade civil war will be Israel’s future.”
• He foresees increasing isolation for Israel in the years to come, and increasing criticism on college campuses in this country, although as I have learned the campus today is a minefield where there are great pressures to control the discussion and keep it within acceptable limits.
• The issue for us to address is this reality, and the future for which we advocate must be universal suffrage: one adult, one vote. All people living in the Holy Land shall participate in their government and be safe to grow their vines and tend their sheep, to use the image of the “good life” promoted by the prophets.
• Separation by law, apartheid, is not an acceptable option.
• The Arabs of Israel proper are the forerunners of what shall be for the Arabs of the Occupied Territories: citizenship in a pluralistic state.
• Like South Africa, there will be principalities and powers to shake, but we know that the arc of history is on our side and that as followers of Jesus we will speak the truth with love, tell the stories of people we know, give voice to the many who count on us to do so, that in the fullness of time there might be peace with justice in a Holy Land where Jew, Christian and Moslem live together as equals under the law.
• It is always the few who change the world.
• Jesus reminds us that peacemakers are the salt of the earth, the light of the world.
• It is important for me personally to seek out like-minded Jews and work alongside them: Mark Braverman, Anna Balzer, Philip Weiss, Adam Horowitz, Jewish Voice for Peace to name just a few that I am in touch with.
• We must not be intimidated by the fear of name calling and labeling, and we must repeat again and again that we are against anti-Semitism as we are against Islamophobia, and we grieve that Israel’s actions are abetting anti-Jewish violence in the world in a way analogous to ISIL’s violence abetting anti-Islamic hatred.
• We are doing what we know we must do and God is with us!
• I think of W. H. Auden’s words:

Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies,
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

THANKS BE TO GOD

Bruce M. Shipman+

2015 Action in Dioceses on Palestine Israel: Massachusetts

The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts gathered for its convention 13-14 November 2015. Two resolutions related to Palestine Israel passed:

Relief for Persecuted Christians and Others in the Middle East
Resolved, that this 230th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts acknowledge that our brother and sister Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East and elsewhere have been persecuted by forced conversions, expulsions from their homes and murder; and that the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts advocates the prayers of the faithful on their behalf and urges support for Episcopal Relief & Development so that it may provide relief and support to our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ and others.

Support of Pilgrimages and Closer Partnerships in the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem
Resolved, that this 230th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts supports the initiatives of the Diocesan Middle East Network Working Group Committee—a member of the Global Mission Network—which encourages members of this diocese to visit the West Bank of Palestine, to witness what life is like for those living under military occupation that has continued for 50 years, and to develop relationships with the churches and institutions of our partner in mission, the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, through such pilgrimages, and be it further

Resolved, that the Middle East Network Working Group Committee encourages congregations to apply for Mission Tithe Matching Grants to provide financial assistance for diocesan mission pilgrimages to the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
From the news article on the diocese’s website:

“The convention approved two resolutions focused on the Middle East, with the discussion in support of each highlighting concern about the diminishing Christian presence there.  No one spoke in opposition to either resolution.”

Bishop Gayle Harris made an important distinction between persecution of Christians in the wider Middle East and what the Palestinian Christian community faces: “  “I want you to please note that while we pray for Christians we also are asking your prayers for those in  other religious minorities that are also facing violence against them,” she said.  “Yes, Christians are suffering.  Particularly in Israel and Palestine, Christians are leaving because of governmental policies of the Israeli government, but elsewhere it is because of sectarian division.” (Again from the news article.)

Continue reading more on comments on the resolutions. Read more

2015 Action in Dioceses on Palestine Israel: Oregon

The Diocese has been working on socially responsible investing for several years. A temporary committee ended with Convention this year and has been re-constituted as a new committee to report to the Board of Trustees their plans for investment strategies. This action took place immediately prior to the two resolutions that were being presented about Israel/Palestine. The resolutions are set out at the end of this summary.

The first of those motions was our Task Force for Palestinian Human Rights. This was a clean resolution that was a follow up to last year’s BDS resolution, which passed. This resolution presented “Who Profits” as the appropriate source of information on how to implement the divestment.

The second motion came from a small group who has been meeting with a group of rabbis and the head of the Jewish Federation. Their motion was complicated, invoked General Convention including what had been reported to be the position of Archbishop Suheil Dawani. Among other things, this resolution sought to overturn divestment and to do positive investment instead, and for parishes to form sister relationships with other parishes, the Cathedral to form a sister relationship with St. George’s Cathedral, and for Oregon Episcopal schools to form a relationship with one of the Episcopal schools. While these were just suggestions, the implementation and responsibility for doing these actions was unstated.

We had prepared an amended resolution that would eliminate the problematic statements, change the sister parish relationships, cathedral, and school relationships with building relationships with the institutions of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. The amendment also reiterated last year’s BDS resolution.

Both of these resolutions were moved to be referred to the newly formed SRI committee. There was no discussion. The differences in perspective were illustrated by the support from Jewish Voice for Peace, the US Campaign to End the Occupation and Cindy and Craig Corrie for the resolution presented by the Task Force for Palestinian Human Rights, and the established Jewish community for the resolution seeking to overturn divestment and opt for positive investment and other relationships with institutions of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. We do have a strong feeling that this subject has been argued so many times that our amendment should have passed and that resolution would have had much support. Those on the side of the rabbis were pretty adamant that they were doing the right thing as there was so much support from the Jewish Community. All admitted that they really do not know much about Palestine, and all are reluctant to travel.

Our next step will be to try to establish at least a working relationship with this group, but mostly we will be moving forward with or without them. Several of our members have applied to be members of the new SRI Committee.

Resolution IV: Naming a Source for Identifying Companies for Divestment as a Guide to the Committee for Socially Responsible Investments
Resolved that the Committee for Socially Responsible Investments shall use the annual list of companies that profit from the Occupation from the group: WHO PROFITS FROM THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION INDUSTRY. This annual list can be found on the web-site http://www.whoprofits.org
The detail of this web-site and their research is attached to this resolution.
(Submitted by: The Task Force for Palestinian Human Rights)
Action of Convention: REFERRED TO THE SRI STAKEHOLDER ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Resolution V: Affirmative Support of the Palestinian Communities in Areas of, and Surrounding, the Holy Land
BE IT RESOLVED that the 127th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon directs that the governance bodies, committees, parishes and institutions, more particularly described below, take the actions set forth in this Resolution of Policy in order to help achieve a constructive conversation about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and be it further
Resolved that the 127th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon, while acknowledging the extraordinary complexity of the conflict, does hereby: express a strong affirmation for the search for a resolution of differences throughout the entire region, no matter how complex or seemingly intractable those differences may be; and pleads ultimately for both justice and peaceful reconciliation amongst all Palestinians and Israelis, and be it further
Resolved that the 127th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon recognizes that all of God’s people deserve to live in peace and harmony, and therefore prays for all people of the Middle East that the principles of justice, reconciliation and peace common to Christianity, Judaism and Islam may arise and flourish in the effort to bring about mutual understanding and dialogue, and be it further
Resolved that the 127th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon does associate itself with and expresses its support for the action taken in July, 2015, when the House of Bishops of the 2015 General Convention of the Episcopal Church sent a strong and clear message that divestment from companies and corporations engaged in certain businesses related to the State of Israel is not in the best interests of The Episcopal Church, its partners in the Holy Land, interreligious relations, and the lives of Palestinians on the ground, and be it further
Resolved that the 127th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon, does further associate itself with the position taken by of The Right Reverend Suheil Dawahi, Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, who has repeatedly argued strongly against divestment, but rather for investment, in the Palestinian Territories because, as he has stated, affirmative investing creates jobs for Palestinian Christians and Muslims and divestment takes those Palestinian jobs away, and be it further
Resolved that the 127th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon recognizes that efforts to improve peace in the region will be best served by a focus on affirmative and prudent investment in new or fledgling Christian/Muslim Palestinian or Jewish/Palestinian businesses and joint ventures, rather than potentially harmful practices such as divestment which can unwittingly contribute to anti-Semitism, to which we as Episcopalians, exercising our Anglican commitment to justice and reason, should be ever alert, and be it further
Resolved that the 127th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon, recognizing that Arab and other Anglicans within the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem constitute a part of the historic Christian presence in the region since AD 37, the time of the first Pentecost, take positive action by: encouraging Trinity Cathedral to explore the feasibility of establishing a sister Cathedral relationship with St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem, and we ask that the Cathedral report back to the 128th Diocesan Convention on any progress that it may have made on this matter; encouraging those of our parishes for whom it is feasible, to explore sister parish relationships with one of the twenty-seven (27) parishes of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem; and, encouraging Oregon Episcopal School to explore a sister school relationship, including the possibility of student exchange opportunities, between it and either, St. George’s Episcopal School in Jerusalem, the Arab
Episcopal School in Ramallah, Palestine, or St. John’s Episcopal School in Haifa, Israel, and that it report back to the 128th Diocesan Convention on its progress, and be it further
Resolved that the 127th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon, applauds the decision of the Episcopal Church USA’s Economic Justice Loan Committee (EJLC) to purchase a three-year certificate of deposit for $500,000.00 in the Bank of Palestine as part of its economic justice portfolio; and it directs the SSAC (the SRI Stakeholder Advisory Committee) which the Convention’s Socially Responsible Investing Committee (SRI Committee) proposes be created by simultaneous resolution of the 127th Convention (and which upon adoption shall be appointed by the Diocesan Board of Trustees) to explore the prudence and feasibility of: a) the purchase of a certificate of deposit, in an amount to be determined, so long as the use of such funds are limited to loans for infrastructure, the development of small business which may reasonably provide employment opportunities for Palestinian Arabs or Christians, or for other peaceful purposes; and/or b) an affirmative investment in an activity or enterprise that could foster coexistence and collaboration amongst Israeli Jews and Israeli and Palestinian Arabs and Christians; and, further, that the SSAC report its findings, analysis and recommendations to the Diocesan Board of Trustees in advance of the 128th Convention, which, in turn, shall take action as it deems appropriate and report on such action to the 128th Convention.
(Co-sponsored by the members and supporters of the Ad Hoc Committee for Positive and Compassionate Action for Peace in the Holy Land (CPCAP)
Action of Convention: REFERRED TO THE SRI STAKEHOLDER ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Next week: reports from more dioceses.

It makes an impression: a personal reflection
The occupation of the Palestinian  people in the West Bank, East Jerusalem,  and Gaza must come to an end and soon.  For the sake of  the State of Israel and the Palestinians.  I have been a part of watching developments in the region for over thirty years.  Since then 87% of Bethlehem has been confiscated for settlements, bypass roads, the wall and military checkpoints. Every major church in the USA including the Episcopal Church has had major resolutions over the past 48 years regarding the end of the military occupation – to no avail.   Why?  The major obstacle has been the United States in its veto of over forty resolutions, paralyzing the international community in its efforts to end the occupation. The occupation is against international law as are the 250 settlements in the the West bank that house 650,000 settlers on Palestinian land.

Following are my own recent experiences of being in Gaza with the Episcopal Peace Fellowship  in April and a Sabeel witness trip to the Occupied territories in November.   Enough is enough is enough.  The suffering caused by the occupation is beyond our imagination.  Delay for whatever reason is not the answer. Delay only adds to the burden of the Palestinian people and allows the State of Israel to make the occupation more permanent and oppressive.

I am still raw from a recent three day visit to Gaza in April and a recent two week visit to the occupied Territories in November observing and living with the military occupation.

When you meet with 25 women in Gaza who have lost their their husbands,children, and home it leaves an impression.

When you meet with 25 young people who have lost their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters and homes it leaves an impression.

When the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem cannot or will not use the word occupation because he fears his travel and permit to live in East Jerusalem will be revoked by the State of Israel it leaves an impression.

When 6,000 missiles are dropped on Gaza in 51 days – missiles provided and paid for by our tax dollars – and you see the result with 18,000 homes destroyed it leaves an impression.

When you hear the story of 10 year old children who have come home from school to find their homes confiscated and demolished it leaves an impression.

When Jeff Halper, Director of Israelis Against House Demolitions shows the map of the future of East Jerusalem with very few Palestinians it leaves an impression.

When you observe five settlers on the top of Temple Mount surrounded by six Israeli police officers protecting them with their assault rifles it leaves an impression.
When two 13 year old children are killed two blocks from your hotel and their bodies allegedly have knives on them it leaves an impression.

When you observe the confiscation of land in the Cremisan Valley, land belonging to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and individual Palestinian people…and all within a half a mile where you attend worship services at an Orthodox church on a Sunday morning…and go with a priest and members of their congregation after services to protest the wall that is being built to separate the people from their land…it leaves an impression.

When you see their olive trees being uprooted, people weeping and you offer prayers and sing “We Shall Overcome” …and all the time feeling helpless with the giant bulldozers crushing the trees and the land being torn up it leaves an impression.

When a Muslim women comes out of her home and thanks you for the prayer because her land is being confiscated it leave an impression.

To hear the prayers of the people of the region end their prayers with “how long oh Lord, how long” it leaves an impression.

The military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza. and East Jerusalem is affecting four million people including at least 70,000 Christians from all denominations including our own.
There is a prayer in the Book of Common Prayer that reminds us “to make no peace with oppression.”  The question each of us must ask and answer is who is the oppressor and who are the oppressed?

Jesus was clear as to his own audience and did not feel the need to give in to the intimidation and humiliation of the Roman Occupation of his day or the Temple collaborators in Jerusalem who went along with the occupation forces.

We as a community of faith must act and not only with our words and prayers.  The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement is nonviolent and is making an effort to bring the State of Israel to its senses in order to end the military occupation of the Palestinian people.

The Rev Canon Richard K. Toll
Member of the education work group, EPF Palestine Justice Network