wfn.org | Teleconference will feature video with voices from Middle East

[ENS@ecunet.org]

February 12, 2002

2002-038

Teleconference will feature video with voices from Middle East

by James Solheim

     (ENS) A videotape prepared for a February 19 teleconference 
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens/workshop/2002-012.html) on "Waging 
Reconciliation in the Holy Land: Salaam, Shalom, Peace" will feature a variety of 
voices of people caught in the turmoil of the region.

     The teleconference will be broadcast from All Saints Church in Pasadena, 
California, and St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City, and is designed to 
"explore the work of peacemaking and advocacy in the Israeli/Palestinian 
conflict, framed in the church's call 'to strive for justice among all people.'"

     "The conflict makes it very difficult for people to travel so we decided to 
take a film crew over there to interview those active in the search for peace," 
said the Rev. Brian Grieves, director of the Episcopal Church's Peace and Justice 
Ministries, who supervised the project.

     "We were stunned by the passion and pain of everyone we interviewed--
Israelis, Muslim and Christian women and youth, as well as church leaders--
especially in the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. They are stubbornly clinging to 
hope but also frightened that there seems to be no end to the violence, on either 
side," Grieves said.

Sense of gloom

     A sense of gloom has settled over Israel and the West Bank, due largely to 
the violence and the impasse in the peace process.

     "We are in a particularly dark period," said Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom, an 
Israeli peace activist who heads Rabbis for Human Rights. He said that "fear and 
anxieties and anger between the two communities have never been worse. Just the 
idea of thinking and reflecting on reconciliation is welcome to get us beyond 
this situation."

     His colleague Yehezkel Landau, director of the Open House Center for Jewish-
Arab Reconciliation, agrees. "The barriers of fear and anger are higher than they 
have ever been. So to talk about justice, peace and reconciliation in such a 
climate is all the more difficult--but all the more necessary to break through 
this conditioned inertia and a great deal of hopelessness on both sides," he 
said.

     "For some people the answer is we're going to separate," adds Milgrom. "We 
just won't see each other and we'll have high walls. We have many Jews thinking 
they are going to create a Jewish society in complete disregard for the native 
population." Landau said that finding a standard of justice that is crucial for 
any genuine peace or reconciliation means "we have to make space in our hearts, 
first of all, and in our theological conceptions for the other community and 
other religious tradition, as equal partners in the Holy Land. Otherwise we will 
continue to desecrate it by our partisan, self-serving agendas."

Occupation is a sin

     Bishop Riah Abu el-Assal of the diocese said that "reconciliation is an act 
that goes beyond even signing a peace agreement. It is not the task of the 
politicians but to those of us entrusted with the ministry or mission of 
reconciliation."

     Yet the bishop does see "a way out of this mess--provided the international 
community addresses the root cause of this hostility, this conflict. We all know 
that this conflict is over a piece of land that some call Israel and others call 
Palestine--and I wait for the day when both parties join hands together and 
reconcile. The root cause of this conflict is the occupation that is, in my 
opinion, a sin."

     Riah stressed the importance of addressing the issue of justice. 
"Reconciliation in no way sets aside the search for justice. And justice in our 
understanding as Palestinians, is the right to self-determination, the right to 
an independent state on Palestinian soil, side by side with Israel, in accordance 
with the United Nations resolutions." He called on international help in 
convincing the Israelis that "their security is found in reconciled neighbors. 
Then there is hope for peace and reconciliation."

     Riah's colleague in Jerusalem, Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church serving Jordan and Palestine, agreed that "occupation is a sin 
against God and humanity. It is destructive--first to the occupier and then to 
the occupied. We want security for the Israelis but we want also freedom for 
Palestinians. This symbiotic relationship is the only way for justice, peace and 
reconciliation."

     Both bishops condemned the violence. "We are afraid and scared to death that 
violence and terrorism will have the last word," said Munib. 

Looking ahead

     The Rev. Naim Ateek, director of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology 
Center in Jerusalem, said that the occupation must be lifted before 
reconciliation is possible, warning that the process will be a long one. "In 
spite of the pain of the past, reconciliation opens the door for us to accept the 
present and look for the future, as we relate to the other person, as we regain 
or bring back our lost humanity as a result of the oppression, as a result of the 
injustice," he said.

     Ateek welcomed the church's emphasis on waging reconciliation "because it's 
really a way of looking forward, rather than only looking at the gloomy, 
despairing present." Yet he is deeply concerned that the Israeli Army is 
tightening its grip and "its humiliation, its dehumanization of the people using 
the powers of the state."

     Claudette Habesch, who works with Palestinian refugees, stressed the 
importance of "seeing the human face in this conflict, the continued human 
suffering, not just the political issues. We need to see this ungodly suffering," 
she said, "and we need to appeal to the world to help us, to accompany us in 
order to reach peace."

     "We're not in a stage right now where reconciliation can take place," said 
Jeff Halper, coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. 
"We're still in the middle of a political struggle and I don't think the 
Palestinians can think about reconciliation until the occupation is finished."

     Before reconciliation will be possible, he added, "both sides have to 
understand the need for it, what it means. Even if there's a peace agreement, the 
Israeli society isn't there, doesn't really understand the reconciliation 
process."

Options for resistance

     Palestinians have a human right, based on international law, to resist the 
occupation, he argued, but what kind of resistance is appropriate? "Some would 
say it's not armed resistance but a non-violent campaign in the Gandhi sense. 
Others say no, you have the right to resist in an armed way but it shouldn't 
become attacks against civilians. Others would say the right to resist sometimes 
with terrorism can be a very effective weapon," Halper said, pointing out that 
Israelis used it very effectively in their struggle for freedom in 1948.

     Israel is not accused of terrorism because it is a state with an army. "It's 
simply defending itself, defending its citizens and the whole thing is somehow 
okay and legitimate." Yet he pointed out that "one side is the occupier, the 
other side is occupied. So just to talk about violence and to ignore all those 
power differentials is simply misleading. It's not helpful and it's distorting."

     He added that "the only force that's keeping the Palestinians from absolute 
defeat is the Palestinian street, the fact that people themselves are still 
resisting. How long they can continue is an open question because Israel is 
beating them economically, militarily, politically and I don't know how long they 
can hold one." Yet Halper said there is one other possible countervailing force, 
"the international civil and faith-based communities, the churches, the non-
governmental organizations. They are the only allies the Palestinians have today, 
as opposed to governments."

Defining violence

     Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian attorney in Jerusalem who has been involved 
in the peace negotiations, agrees that "the biggest problem has been the huge gap 
in power between the two parties." Yet he believes that "the situation is very 
ripe for reconciliation because there are a lot of good, decent people on both 
sides who have legitimate concerns and desire and goals and hopes that somehow 
need to be reconciled with one another.

     Violence is a deep threat but he quickly adds that "for us violence is not 
just the gun. The worst violence is the bulldozer that uproots our trees, 
destroys our homes, blocks our roads, and prevents us from living a normal life. 
Somehow people don't see the violence of the occupation, they see only the 
violence of those who resist. And our violence when it comes is always portrayed 
as terrorism, not resistance, as vengeance, while Israeli actions are portrayed 
as somehow self-defense or retaliation to something that Palestinians did. We 
feel that this portrayals itself is unfair. The truth is that we are refusing to 
be reconciled with oppression and with occupation."

     He hoped that the churches would play a role in attacking stereotypes. "We 
need to see Palestinians--Arabs and Muslims, as human beings, as children of God, 
as people for whom Jesus died and shed his blood, who are worthy of human dignity 
and who are not necessarily demons or terrorists," he said.

     Huwaida Arraf of the International Solidarity Movement said that the 
violence was "atrocious--and it breeds still more violence. It's a cycle that's 
becoming very hard to break because of the anger building up in people." She is 
especially worried on the effect of violence on children who see it on a daily 
basis. But when she argues for a non-violent approach, other Palestinians tell 
her that they have tried that way and it doesn't work. "It will take a long time 
to heal and build what is being destroyed," she said.

     Kuttab said that "ultimately the Israeli population needs to make a 
strategic decision in favor of peace. Just as it took the Palestinians quite some 
time to come to the realization that Israel is here to stay and we must recognize 
it and seek a two-state solution, which was a huge step for us. I think a similar 
step is required by the Israelis. They must come to the realization that the 
Palestinians are here to stay, not as slaves, not as occupied people, not as a 
puppet regime that does what we want, not to tolerate our continued domination 
but really to be here as genuinely free people living side by side with us, 
rather than under their control."

     --For more information on the teleconference, call 800-334-7626, ext. 6050 
or go to the web site at www.episcopalchurch.org/peace-justice/. 

     Satellite coordinates for the teleconference:

     Telstar 6 (Ku-Band)/Transponder K16
     Orbital location: 93 degrees
     Downlink frequency: 11997.5 MHz
     Downlink polarity: Horizontal
     Audio channels: 6.2 and 6.8
     Among the locations that will view the teleconference are:
     Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter in Gadsden, Alabama (205-547-5361)
     Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California (415-749-6300)
     St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis, Minnesota (612-870-7800)
     St. George's Church in Clarksdale, Mississippi (601-627-7875)
     St. Thomas Church in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania (215-233-3970)
     St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, Washington (206-323-0300)

--Jim Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.