wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Jewish-Christian group plans Israel-Palestine tour

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8913 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05496
Sept. 20, 2005

Jewish-Christian group 
plans Israel-Palestine tour

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - At a tense time in Jewish-Christian relations in the United
States, 17 Jewish and Christian leaders are traveling together in
Israel/Palestine and meeting with officials and civilians on both sides of
the conflict.

	"I have great hope for the trip," said the Rev. Canon Brian Grieves,
director of Peace and Justice Ministries of the Episcopal Church. "Being
together may generate some exchanges that lead us to a better position than
we've been in up until now. ... We have such different narratives on this
conflict, and have stark differences. We're trying here to make this dialogue
work, to find some common ground."

	The five-day trip includes meetings with a number of Israeli
officials, including a Supreme Court justice and a specialist with the
Ministry of Defense, the entity plotting the path of the so-called
"separation barrier." It also will feature a meal at a café struck by a
suicide bomber.

	It will also include a tour of the separation barrier to study its
impact on Bethlehem; a visit with a Palestinian family whose home has been
demolished repeatedly by Israeli soldiers; and a meeting with representatives
of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, a theological think-tank
that has been criticized by Jewish groups in the United States.
 
	The trip comes at a time when several Protestant churches are
weighing whether to use their status as stockholders to pressure U.S.
corporations to stop business practices that spark violence on either side.
Both the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Church of Christ have
voted to consider doing so; the Episcopal Church is studying the issue, and
will make its recommendations in October.

	The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted not to apply
financial pressure.

	Both the World Council of Churches and the Worldwide Anglican
Communion have urged member communions to consider the strategy.

	The Rev. Jay Rock, director of the Interfaith Relations for the
PC(USA), is the denomination's representative in the delegation. Eight
Christian denominations and six national Jewish groups and religious
movements are represented.

	"We are hoping that this trip will foster understanding and more
compassion for the views of the other," said Rabbi David Elcott, the U.S.
director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee. "We're
looking for the path to help us foster peace."

	Christian and Jewish groups shared in the planning of the visit. The
joint body has been gathering in New York City under the auspices of the
National Council of Churches (NCC).

	Other representatives include Rabbi Eugene Korn, director of Jewish
Affairs of the American Jewish Congress; Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, associate
general secretary for Interfaith Relations of the NCC; Mark Pelavin of the
Religious Action Center, Union of Reform Judaism; the Rev. John Roberts of
the Alliance of Baptists; and Mark Waldman, director of public policy, United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

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