wfn.org | "Outrage" at Oppression of Palestinians Expressed

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

25-February-1998 
98073 
 
    "Outrage" at Oppression of Palestinians Expressed 
    at Theology Meeting in Bethlehem 
 
    by J. Martin Bailey 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
BETHLEHEM-A final statement from an international theological conference in 
Bethlehem has expressed horror at what it said was the oppression 
experienced by Palestinians because of the 
Israeli occupation. 
 
    The statement, issued  Feb. 14 by the  Sabeel Liberation Theology 
Conference, also expressed deep concern over tensions in the Gulf. 
 
    More than 900 people - mainly Christians, but also Jews and Muslims - 
from many parts of the world came to the Catholic-sponsored Bethlehem 
University to spend five days discussing their hopes that the biblical 
theme of jubilee might lead them to become "peacemakers promoting justice 
for all people." 
 
    Before the conference began, most participants had spent time traveling 
throughout the region.  In the Feb. 14  statement, they said they had met 
"local people in Galilee, Gaza, Hebron and Jerusalem" and had been 
"outraged and horrified at the level of oppression and brutality" they had 
observed as a result of the Israeli occupation. 
 
    The message pointed out that 1998 commemorated the 50th anniversary of 
the "dispossession of the Palestinian people" on the one hand and the 
establishment of the state of Israel on the other. 
 
    "While Israelis are planning festive celebrations to mark victories and 
accomplishments, Palestinians who continue to struggle for the cause of 
justice, peace and liberation find themselves in the midst of a profoundly 
stalemated `peace process' with a deeply frustrated hope of liberation," 
the message declared. 
 
    The participants pledged to accept "the challenge to practice perpetual 
jubilee" and to "articulate a new vision for peace, justice, security and 
coexistence" that they said would satisfy "the deepest needs of all God's 
people." 
 
    They spoke out against a "solution based on military might" or a 
"balance of power."  These, the participants said, "inevitably favor the 
strong, and allow for racism, oppression and discrimination against the 
weak." 
 
    They insisted that "the benefits of God's jubilee are for all the 
inhabitants of this land, Israelis and Palestinians, Muslims, Jews and 
Christians." 
 
    The conference message identified ten steps that the vision of jubilee 
required in the region.  These included an admission by the Israeli 
government that injustice had been inflicted on the Palestinian people. 
Participants also said the vision required the return of all Arab and 
Palestinian lands occupied after the war of 1967 and the right of return 
for the refugees who had been expelled. 
 
    In addition, the message called for a "guarantee of free access"  to 
Jerusalem, which is regarded as sacred by the members of all three 
monotheistic religions.  Most Muslim and Christian Palestinians are unable 
to visit the Dome of the Rock or the Church of the Holy Sepulcher because 
of closures imposed by Israel's military forces. 
 
    Participants in the conference concluded their message by calling for 
the "lifting of sanctions and the removal of the threat of military 
intervention against the suffering people of Iraq." 

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