Greetings from Boston, where World Series fever blends with a fervor for peace and an angry opposition to Sabeel's event. Here is a link to the Boston Globe article by Michael Paulson:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/27/palestinian_rights_meeting_is_protested/
The report that follows is my own, highlighting Naim Ateek's keynote address.
Oct. 27, 2007
OCCUPATION IS EVIL, NAIM ATEEK TELLS BOSTON CONFERENCE
Boston -- “In the past five years, in 21 conferences in American cities, we have condemned occupation. It is evil and it must end,” the Rev. Naim Ateek, director of the Sabeel Center, said last night. Ateek welcomed a record 750 participants to the Sabeel Conference in Boston. “We have condemned violence and terrorism, whether it is carried out by the Israeli government and army or by Palestinian extremist groups,” Ateek said.
“Peace is knocking at our door," Ateek said. “Israel and Palestine can life in peace side by side.” Sabeel is an ecumenical liberation theology center in Jerusalem.
Sabeel represents “voices of peace and justice for Israel and Palestine,” said Ateek, “We are Palestinians and Israelis, Jews Christians and Muslims.” Together all these are witnessing Israel's “blind obsession for Palestinian land, a desire to ethnically cleanse the land,” he said. “Is is no longer merely occupation but racism,” he said, “and even Jewish writers are using the work apartheid to describe it.”
Ateek said that South Africans who have visited the occupied West Bank say the situation surpasses apartheid, exceeds apartheid practices. There is not a Separation Wall in South Africa,” he said.
Dispossession of the Palestinian people is Israel's objective, according the Ateek. “It is a crime against God and against fellow human beings."he said, “As apartheid ended in South Africa, so the God of justice and peace, mercy and love, demands that we combine our efforts against occupation. It must end. Human dignity must be restored to the Palestinians. Justice must be done, based on pre-1967 borders, with the creation of a Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel.”
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu opened the Sabeel conference with a blessing, saying, “God believes in you, looking down on this assemblage, God smiles a little and says, `Thank you for wanting to help me make this a slightly better world.'” Tutu will present a keynote address Saturday afternoon,
Oct. 27.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Sabeel Conference: Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine and Israel
Readers, I'll be away from my desk for a few days attending the Boston Sabeel Conference. Here's information about the event. Ann
Boston Sabeel Conference to explore “The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel” with Desmond Tutu, Naim Ateek, John Dugard, and Noam Chomsky
Archbishop Desmond Tutu will address the theme “The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel: Highlighting Issues of Justice and Equality” at a Sabeel Conference in Boston Oct. 26-27. The event at Old South Church will feature lectures and panel discussions looking at ways the South African apartheid model of ethnic/racial segregation is applied in Palestine today.
Participants will discuss the moral issues of confronting and dismantling apartheid-like policies Israel administers in the occupied Palestinian lands and the emerging role of social movements and the U.S. government in addressing injustice. The conference will culminate in a peace rally in Copley Square organized by the Boston chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.
Sabeel is a Palestinian Christian international grassroots peace movement based in Jerusalem which promotes nonviolence, human rights, international law, democratic principles, and Gospel teachings on justice and peace-building <http://www.sabeel.org/>. Friends of Sabeel—North America <http://www.fosna.org/> works to engage American Christians through regional conferences like the one in Boston featuring Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers and experts on a variety of related topics.
Tutu, who is a Nobel Laureate, is the International Patron of Sabeel. Speaking at a New York synagogue in 1989, Tutu stated: “If you changed the names, the description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank would be a description of what is happening in South Africa.” Israel’s human rights group B’Tselem stated in 2002 that “Israel has created in the Occupied Territories a regime of separation based on discrimination, applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on their nationality. This regime is the only one of its kind in the world, as is reminiscent of distasteful regimes from the past, such as the apartheid regime in South Africa.”
According to The Rev. Richard Toll, Friends of Sabeel-North America chair, "A serious public discussion of the apartheid-like nature of policies imposed on Palestinians by Israel really got off the ground in the United States with the publication last year of Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Ironically it was a group of Israelis in Jerusalem and Haifa who first organized a campaign to oppose Israel’s apartheid policies in 2000, following the breakdown of the Oslo Accords and the eruption of the second Palestinian intifada. The campaign to end Israeli apartheid has since become an international grassroots effort."
Also scheduled to speak in Boston are:
- The Rev. Naim Ateek, Palestinian Anglican priest and founder of Sabeel;
- John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian occupied territories;
- Noam Chomsky, linguist, author and lecturer;
- Diana Buttu, litigator in the 2004 case at the Hague which indicted Israel’s separation wall;
- Anat Biletzki, human rights activist, former head of B'Tselem, Israeli Information Center for Human Rights;
- Farid Esack, South African Muslim theologian currently at Harvard University;
- Jeff Halper, coordinator of The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions in Jerusalem;
- The Rev. Donald Wagner, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Northpark University, Chicago;
- Noura Erekat, initiator of the first campaign promoting divestment from Israel, at UC Berkeley;
- Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies fellow;
- Nancy Murray of the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation;
- The Rt. Rev. Thomas Shaw, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts; and
- David Wildman, Executive Director for Human Rights & Racial Justice, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church.
The Sabeel conference seeks to educate American Christians and others committed to building awareness of Israel's apartheid policies and U.S. responsibility for its own direct economic support of those policies. The cost to American taxpayers in dollars provided to Israel over the years for mostly military purposes exceeds $100 billion. Organizers hope the result will be informed Americans taking action. Bishop Tutu commented in The Nation in July 2002, “The end of (South African) apartheid stands as one of the crowning accomplishments of the past century, but we would not have succeeded without the help of international pressure—in particular the divestment movement of the 1980s. Over the past six months a similar movement has taken shape, this time aiming at an end to the Israeli occupation.”
Background resources:
- Settler Colonialism in South Africa and the Middle East, George Jabbour, 1970;
- Israel and South Africa: The Progression of a Relationship, Richard Stevens and Abdelwahhab Elmessiri, 1976;
- Undercutting Sanctions: Israel, the U.S. and South Africa, Jane Hunter, 1986;
- Besieged Bedfellows: Israel and the Land of Apartheid, Benjamin Joseph, 1988
- My Israel: An Apartheid State, also by Benjamin Joseph, 1987/new edition 2001.
Friends of Sabeel--North America
PO Box 9186
Portland, Oregon 97207
Ph: (503) 653-6625
Web: http://www.fosna.org/
For more bulletins from Ann Hafften, see the blog: http://voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/
Boston Sabeel Conference to explore “The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel” with Desmond Tutu, Naim Ateek, John Dugard, and Noam Chomsky
Archbishop Desmond Tutu will address the theme “The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel: Highlighting Issues of Justice and Equality” at a Sabeel Conference in Boston Oct. 26-27. The event at Old South Church will feature lectures and panel discussions looking at ways the South African apartheid model of ethnic/racial segregation is applied in Palestine today.
Participants will discuss the moral issues of confronting and dismantling apartheid-like policies Israel administers in the occupied Palestinian lands and the emerging role of social movements and the U.S. government in addressing injustice. The conference will culminate in a peace rally in Copley Square organized by the Boston chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.
Sabeel is a Palestinian Christian international grassroots peace movement based in Jerusalem which promotes nonviolence, human rights, international law, democratic principles, and Gospel teachings on justice and peace-building <http://www.sabeel.org/>. Friends of Sabeel—North America <http://www.fosna.org/> works to engage American Christians through regional conferences like the one in Boston featuring Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers and experts on a variety of related topics.
Tutu, who is a Nobel Laureate, is the International Patron of Sabeel. Speaking at a New York synagogue in 1989, Tutu stated: “If you changed the names, the description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank would be a description of what is happening in South Africa.” Israel’s human rights group B’Tselem stated in 2002 that “Israel has created in the Occupied Territories a regime of separation based on discrimination, applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on their nationality. This regime is the only one of its kind in the world, as is reminiscent of distasteful regimes from the past, such as the apartheid regime in South Africa.”
According to The Rev. Richard Toll, Friends of Sabeel-North America chair, "A serious public discussion of the apartheid-like nature of policies imposed on Palestinians by Israel really got off the ground in the United States with the publication last year of Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Ironically it was a group of Israelis in Jerusalem and Haifa who first organized a campaign to oppose Israel’s apartheid policies in 2000, following the breakdown of the Oslo Accords and the eruption of the second Palestinian intifada. The campaign to end Israeli apartheid has since become an international grassroots effort."
Also scheduled to speak in Boston are:
- The Rev. Naim Ateek, Palestinian Anglican priest and founder of Sabeel;
- John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian occupied territories;
- Noam Chomsky, linguist, author and lecturer;
- Diana Buttu, litigator in the 2004 case at the Hague which indicted Israel’s separation wall;
- Anat Biletzki, human rights activist, former head of B'Tselem, Israeli Information Center for Human Rights;
- Farid Esack, South African Muslim theologian currently at Harvard University;
- Jeff Halper, coordinator of The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions in Jerusalem;
- The Rev. Donald Wagner, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Northpark University, Chicago;
- Noura Erekat, initiator of the first campaign promoting divestment from Israel, at UC Berkeley;
- Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies fellow;
- Nancy Murray of the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation;
- The Rt. Rev. Thomas Shaw, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts; and
- David Wildman, Executive Director for Human Rights & Racial Justice, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church.
The Sabeel conference seeks to educate American Christians and others committed to building awareness of Israel's apartheid policies and U.S. responsibility for its own direct economic support of those policies. The cost to American taxpayers in dollars provided to Israel over the years for mostly military purposes exceeds $100 billion. Organizers hope the result will be informed Americans taking action. Bishop Tutu commented in The Nation in July 2002, “The end of (South African) apartheid stands as one of the crowning accomplishments of the past century, but we would not have succeeded without the help of international pressure—in particular the divestment movement of the 1980s. Over the past six months a similar movement has taken shape, this time aiming at an end to the Israeli occupation.”
Background resources:
- Settler Colonialism in South Africa and the Middle East, George Jabbour, 1970;
- Israel and South Africa: The Progression of a Relationship, Richard Stevens and Abdelwahhab Elmessiri, 1976;
- Undercutting Sanctions: Israel, the U.S. and South Africa, Jane Hunter, 1986;
- Besieged Bedfellows: Israel and the Land of Apartheid, Benjamin Joseph, 1988
- My Israel: An Apartheid State, also by Benjamin Joseph, 1987/new edition 2001.
Friends of Sabeel--North America
PO Box 9186
Portland, Oregon 97207
Ph: (503) 653-6625
Web: http://www.fosna.org/
For more bulletins from Ann Hafften, see the blog: http://voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Ackerman/Boustany Letter to Rice Supports Fall Meeting, U.S. Efforts to Achieve Peace
Churches for Middle East Peace writes: Ackerman/Boustany letter to Rice supports fall meeting, U.S. efforts to achieve peace
Representatives Gary Ackerman (D-NY) and Charles Boustany (R-LA) are circulating a sign-on letter to Secretary Rice commending her efforts to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process by convening an international conference this fall and calling for additional steps to ensure its success.
This email is also available online at:
http://www.cmep.org/Alerts/2007Oct_22.htm
October 22, 2007
Julie Schumacher Cohen, Legislative Coordinator
The peace summit in Annapolis scheduled for later this fall presents a real opportunity for progress toward peace. This past Friday, October 19th, two important House members began circulating a letter - http://www.cmep.org/Legislative_Issues/Ackerman-Boustany_Letter_to_Rice.htm - to Secretary Rice in support of the international meeting and U.S. efforts to reinvigorate the peace process. The letter also suggests additional steps to ensure success, including financial assistance to the Palestinians.
The letter is a joint initiative by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and a longstanding Jewish-American leader in the House, and Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), one of four Arab-American House members. It sends a strong message of Congressional support for Israeli-Arab peacemaking. The "Dear Colleague" letter that Reps. Ackerman and Boustany are circulating to generate signers is titled, "Want to Support Israeli-Palestinian Peace? Worried About the Annapolis Meeting? Here's How to Help."
The letter to Sec. Rice points out the current "critical opportunity to stabilize the region by advancing a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians" and warns that a "still-born initiative could...exacerbate an already volatile situation in the Middle East." The letter supports "robust, hands-on U.S. leadership and diplomacy" before and after the meeting and also urges Sec. Rice to take "additional measures" to ensure success, particularly a reorientation and expansion of U.S. assistance.
The assistance would meet the needs of the Palestinian people, "for clean government, public order, economic opportunity, and salaried employment" and would include "long-term economic development and job creation programs." Reps. Ackerman and Boustany appeal to Sec. Rice to address "corruption and public safety in the P.A. while continuing to engage with Israel to coordinate a remittance schedule for Palestinian tax monies and to improve access and movement" to ensure that the aid will be effective. (Keep in mind that Congress holds American purse strings so this letter's recommendation on U.S. financial assistance is an important show of Congressional support for aid to the Palestinians.)
The letter concludes by emphasizing the importance of "resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, through the establishment of two states for two peoples" and pledging Congressional cooperation "to ensure that [the meeting in November] is a success". The full text of the letter can be viewed here - http://www.cmep.org/Legislative_Issues/Ackerman-Boustany_Letter_to_Rice.htm -
It is supported by collegial Jewish and Arab-American organizations, including Americans for Peace Now, the American Task Force on Palestine, the Arab American Institute, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, and the Israel Policy Forum.
Your Representative's signature on this letter to Sec. Rice will send a strong signal of Congressional support for efforts by the Administration to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Your Member of Congress needs to hear from you that you want them to do all that they can to ensure that the Annapolis meeting is a successful start of comprehensive peace negotiations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TAKE ACTION!
Call or Email your Representative: Capitol Switchboard is (202) 224-3121 or use House Members' Email Forms - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
(If you have a personal relationship with staff of your Representative, please send them an email directly). Let CMEP know of your efforts: please email julie@cmep.org
Phone: 202-543-1222
Web: http://www.cmep.org
Churches for Middle East Peace
110 Maryland Ave. NE
Suite 311
Washington DC 20002
Representatives Gary Ackerman (D-NY) and Charles Boustany (R-LA) are circulating a sign-on letter to Secretary Rice commending her efforts to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process by convening an international conference this fall and calling for additional steps to ensure its success.
This email is also available online at:
http://www.cmep.org/Alerts/2007Oct_22.htm
October 22, 2007
Julie Schumacher Cohen, Legislative Coordinator
The peace summit in Annapolis scheduled for later this fall presents a real opportunity for progress toward peace. This past Friday, October 19th, two important House members began circulating a letter - http://www.cmep.org/Legislative_Issues/Ackerman-Boustany_Letter_to_Rice.htm - to Secretary Rice in support of the international meeting and U.S. efforts to reinvigorate the peace process. The letter also suggests additional steps to ensure success, including financial assistance to the Palestinians.
The letter is a joint initiative by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and a longstanding Jewish-American leader in the House, and Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), one of four Arab-American House members. It sends a strong message of Congressional support for Israeli-Arab peacemaking. The "Dear Colleague" letter that Reps. Ackerman and Boustany are circulating to generate signers is titled, "Want to Support Israeli-Palestinian Peace? Worried About the Annapolis Meeting? Here's How to Help."
The letter to Sec. Rice points out the current "critical opportunity to stabilize the region by advancing a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians" and warns that a "still-born initiative could...exacerbate an already volatile situation in the Middle East." The letter supports "robust, hands-on U.S. leadership and diplomacy" before and after the meeting and also urges Sec. Rice to take "additional measures" to ensure success, particularly a reorientation and expansion of U.S. assistance.
The assistance would meet the needs of the Palestinian people, "for clean government, public order, economic opportunity, and salaried employment" and would include "long-term economic development and job creation programs." Reps. Ackerman and Boustany appeal to Sec. Rice to address "corruption and public safety in the P.A. while continuing to engage with Israel to coordinate a remittance schedule for Palestinian tax monies and to improve access and movement" to ensure that the aid will be effective. (Keep in mind that Congress holds American purse strings so this letter's recommendation on U.S. financial assistance is an important show of Congressional support for aid to the Palestinians.)
The letter concludes by emphasizing the importance of "resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, through the establishment of two states for two peoples" and pledging Congressional cooperation "to ensure that [the meeting in November] is a success". The full text of the letter can be viewed here - http://www.cmep.org/Legislative_Issues/Ackerman-Boustany_Letter_to_Rice.htm -
It is supported by collegial Jewish and Arab-American organizations, including Americans for Peace Now, the American Task Force on Palestine, the Arab American Institute, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, and the Israel Policy Forum.
Your Representative's signature on this letter to Sec. Rice will send a strong signal of Congressional support for efforts by the Administration to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Your Member of Congress needs to hear from you that you want them to do all that they can to ensure that the Annapolis meeting is a successful start of comprehensive peace negotiations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TAKE ACTION!
Call or Email your Representative: Capitol Switchboard is (202) 224-3121 or use House Members' Email Forms - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
(If you have a personal relationship with staff of your Representative, please send them an email directly). Let CMEP know of your efforts: please email julie@cmep.org
Phone: 202-543-1222
Web: http://www.cmep.org
Churches for Middle East Peace
110 Maryland Ave. NE
Suite 311
Washington DC 20002
Monday, October 22, 2007
`The Lutheran' looks at what Palestinian children learn
The Lutheran magazine looks at what children are learning in the schools of the Lutheran church in the Holy Land. See the whole article at: http://www.thelutheran.org/article/article.cfm?article_id=6725
Peace in Palestinian classrooms
In Lutheran schools, students learn respect and love for 'the other'
It should take Amal Abed Rabbo, 16, one hour to reach the Lutheran Dar al-Kalima School in Bethlehem from her Jericho home. With Israeli travel restrictions, it takes three hours each way. Instead, she stays with her uncle’s family in Bethlehem during the week.
But the Roman Catholic 11th-grader doesn’t harbor any hatred. “The situation is not good for us, but I don’t have hatred against Israel,” she said. “I have hope and faith that the situation will one day end and we will have peace.”
Students at the four schools run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land must strive daily to practice Jesus’ edict to “love thy neighbor.” Each day they face political hardships with the Israeli government and within their society. Charlie Haddad, educational director for the schools, sees helping students come to terms with their reality as a main task, in addition to striving for academic excellence.
“If they start hating, it will never end,” he said. “It is the biggest challenge to convince the young people not to feel [hate]. Of course they struggle with it. They see the news, hear their parents and feel the economic hardship. It is very difficult to convince them that it is a government doing that and not to stereotype a whole nation.”
But Haddad doesn’t necessarily want the children to get used to the situation either.
Learning about the other
Before the outbreak of the second intifada (uprising), Haddad encouraged the schools to meet with Israeli counterparts. The meetings fizzled once the violence began. “Both sides are afraid of the other,” he said. “They each know very little about the other.”
School administrators and teachers are hesitant to restart dialogue for fear of being seen as traitors because Christians and their institutions are associated with unpopular Western and American regional policies, Haddad said.
“A lot of fanaticism was created by the intifada,” he said. “Before the intifada there was no Hamas or Islamic jihad. ... Muslims look at us as foreigners now. ... It puts Christians in an awkward situation.”
Yet Haddad would like to see programs developed so Israeli and Palestinian students can communicate freely.
After the intifada, only the Arab Education Institute’s peace education program—aimed at exposing teachers, administrators and students to the religious traditions of the three monotheistic faiths—continued to function, he said. But the joint workshops with Jews, Christians and Muslims are intermittent, partly because of travel restrictions.
Talking openly
It’s vital not to sweep problems under the carpet, Haddad said. Many times the morning devotion at the Dar al-Kalima School is dedicated to discussing current events, allowing students to express their fears and concerns.
“If you ... suppress things, you allow anger to grow,” said Munib Younan, bishop of the Lutheran denomination.
“We need to teach toleration and love, [to] not to succumb to hatred but instead find a solution. Teaching violence is the tool of incompetence.”
Younan sees “toleration” as acceptance of diversity and living together in peace, whereas he said the word “tolerance,” which he dislikes, means something you must accept.
Abed Rabbo said students at her school can discuss problematic issues without letting it affect their relationships with each other. “We don’t take it personally,” she said. “The problems are outside, they are not between us.”
Last year when tempers flared in the Muslim world over Danish cartoons that lampooned the prophet Mohammed, Younan said all teachers at the Lutheran schools were asked to devote classroom time to the topic.
“It is allowed to be angry but as Jesus taught: Be angry but don’t sin,” he said. “You are allowed to be angry when someone is killed. I would be lying to you if I said I did not become angry then anybody—Christian, Jewish or Muslim—is killed. But this anger should not trespass a line and it should not only remain in anger but find ... solutions.”
At the Lutheran schools—as in all Palestinian schools—Christians and Muslims attend separate religion classes.
But in Dar al-Kalima the two classes also meet twice a month to learn about the other religion as well as about Judaism and the Old Testament.
Tony Nassar, Christianity teacher, said the schools can do more to create understanding between Christians and Muslims than with Jews because both are part of Palestinian society.
Nassar teaches the joint lesson with In’am Shaktour, the Islam teacher. “They see Tony and me working together, and they learn from us,” Shaktour said.
Both try to help students differentiate between Judaism as a religion and Israel as a political entity, she added.
Haddad said he’d like to see the school’s program become more structured. He submitted a proposal to the (Lutheran) Church of Norway for funding that would allow more frequent meetings and special trips to holy sites.
As inheritors of Martin Luther’s Reformation, the Palestinian Lutheran schools hope to be part of the reformation of Palestinian society through formal and informal educational programs. It’s something Haddad said he’d like to see.
[Story by Judith Sudilovsky]
And in an earlier issue, The Lutheran focused on the Peace Center for the Blind in Jerusalem:
http://www.thelutheran.org/article/issue.cfm?issue=142
New lives for the blind
One woman's dream brings hope to many in and around Jerusalem
Lydia Mansour’s hands don’t stop moving as she talks. Blinded at the age of 2 after a bout of measles, Mansour is the director and founder of the Peace Center for the Blind in Jerusalem. As she speaks about the center and its work, she prepares yarn tassels for shawls some of the students have crocheted. With surprising dexterity Mansour—who declined to reveal her age but admits to being 60 plus—quickly winds the burgundy yarn around a small board and then cuts through the accumulated bundle with a scissors.
A graduate and former directorof the Helen Keller School for the blind in Bethlehem, Mansour established the Peace Center in 1983 after the school’s adult rehabilitation facilities were closed. She began with a budget of $200 gleaned from door-to-door donations.
The budget has since grown to $110,000. Mansour said all U.S.-based donations come from Lutheran organizations, including the ELCA and the Lutheran-founded International Partners in Mission, an interfaith nonprofit organization. Other donors include Christoffel Blindenmission from Germany and the English-speaking ministry of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem.
“They have been so good to us,” said Mansour, whose petite frame, small hands and gentle voice belie her strength and determination. “So many friends from the ELCA have kept up with us since the beginning.”
Some 30 young women with varying degrees of blindness come to the center every day for vocational and living-skills training and for academic studies, including Braille in English, Arabic and Hebrew.
Without the center most of the women would be left to sit at home alone. Instead the young women are taught—mostly by blind teachers who serve as role models—handicraft skills in hand and machine knitting, sewing and weaving. Their sweaters, scarves, baby blankets, shawls and vests are sold at modest prices at the center and craft bazaars. The small amount of money they raise goes to the center, which provides center graduates with a small salary.
More dreams
For the past 10 years the center’s goal and Mansour’s main preoccupation has been the purchase of permanent space that would allow them to allocate a third of its annual income to operations rather than rent.
But the cost is high, funds are low and purchasing a building is still far from reach, Mansour said. To bring in some extra funds, she started a small beauty salon vocational training center on the grounds for girls from troubled families.
Most students are self-referred or their families come to Mansour asking for help, as did the parents of Mahmoud Hamed, a 14-year-old boy who lost his sight to a degenerative disease and was unable to cope at school. Although the center is for women, Mansour said she made an exception. Hamed is now doing his academic studies at the center and learning how to cope in his daily life.
Segments of Palestinian society still look upon blindness as a stigma. Many poor and uneducated parents view their children who are blind as a burden, keeping them at home and out of sight, sometimes to the point of neglect, Mansour said.
Karima Ahmed Reyan, 30, born with a congenital sight problem like three of her siblings, has been coming to the center since she was 12. At first she was very resentful that her mother was leaving her there, Mansour said.Now as Reyan deftly handles a knitting machine with a grid-board and levers that are complex enough a sighted person would find difficult to use, she smiles shyly, saying she is proud to have a trade where she can earn her own pocket money. “My family is happy I am independent and at least they don’t have to worry about me financially,” she said.
Reyan’s younger sister, Siham, is partially blind and has gone on from the center to study social work at Abu Dis University in East Jerusalem. “The center gave me a lot,” she said.Both women have learned to get around independently—which in this part of the world includes crossing checkpoints and roadblocks to get to the center. Mansour sometimes finds herself traveling to the checkpoint so she can negotiate with Israeli soldiers to let a student cross.
Mansour’s job is 24 hours a day—she often serves as a surrogate-mother and advocate for many of the women whose families don’t know what to do with a blind member. “I make sure they are taken for medical checkups if needed and that they get the proper education so they can become independent and contribute to their community,” she said.
[Story by Judith Sudilovsky]
For more bulletins from Ann Hafften, see my blog: http://voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/
Peace in Palestinian classrooms
In Lutheran schools, students learn respect and love for 'the other'
It should take Amal Abed Rabbo, 16, one hour to reach the Lutheran Dar al-Kalima School in Bethlehem from her Jericho home. With Israeli travel restrictions, it takes three hours each way. Instead, she stays with her uncle’s family in Bethlehem during the week.
But the Roman Catholic 11th-grader doesn’t harbor any hatred. “The situation is not good for us, but I don’t have hatred against Israel,” she said. “I have hope and faith that the situation will one day end and we will have peace.”
Students at the four schools run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land must strive daily to practice Jesus’ edict to “love thy neighbor.” Each day they face political hardships with the Israeli government and within their society. Charlie Haddad, educational director for the schools, sees helping students come to terms with their reality as a main task, in addition to striving for academic excellence.
“If they start hating, it will never end,” he said. “It is the biggest challenge to convince the young people not to feel [hate]. Of course they struggle with it. They see the news, hear their parents and feel the economic hardship. It is very difficult to convince them that it is a government doing that and not to stereotype a whole nation.”
But Haddad doesn’t necessarily want the children to get used to the situation either.
Learning about the other
Before the outbreak of the second intifada (uprising), Haddad encouraged the schools to meet with Israeli counterparts. The meetings fizzled once the violence began. “Both sides are afraid of the other,” he said. “They each know very little about the other.”
School administrators and teachers are hesitant to restart dialogue for fear of being seen as traitors because Christians and their institutions are associated with unpopular Western and American regional policies, Haddad said.
“A lot of fanaticism was created by the intifada,” he said. “Before the intifada there was no Hamas or Islamic jihad. ... Muslims look at us as foreigners now. ... It puts Christians in an awkward situation.”
Yet Haddad would like to see programs developed so Israeli and Palestinian students can communicate freely.
After the intifada, only the Arab Education Institute’s peace education program—aimed at exposing teachers, administrators and students to the religious traditions of the three monotheistic faiths—continued to function, he said. But the joint workshops with Jews, Christians and Muslims are intermittent, partly because of travel restrictions.
Talking openly
It’s vital not to sweep problems under the carpet, Haddad said. Many times the morning devotion at the Dar al-Kalima School is dedicated to discussing current events, allowing students to express their fears and concerns.
“If you ... suppress things, you allow anger to grow,” said Munib Younan, bishop of the Lutheran denomination.
“We need to teach toleration and love, [to] not to succumb to hatred but instead find a solution. Teaching violence is the tool of incompetence.”
Younan sees “toleration” as acceptance of diversity and living together in peace, whereas he said the word “tolerance,” which he dislikes, means something you must accept.
Abed Rabbo said students at her school can discuss problematic issues without letting it affect their relationships with each other. “We don’t take it personally,” she said. “The problems are outside, they are not between us.”
Last year when tempers flared in the Muslim world over Danish cartoons that lampooned the prophet Mohammed, Younan said all teachers at the Lutheran schools were asked to devote classroom time to the topic.
“It is allowed to be angry but as Jesus taught: Be angry but don’t sin,” he said. “You are allowed to be angry when someone is killed. I would be lying to you if I said I did not become angry then anybody—Christian, Jewish or Muslim—is killed. But this anger should not trespass a line and it should not only remain in anger but find ... solutions.”
At the Lutheran schools—as in all Palestinian schools—Christians and Muslims attend separate religion classes.
But in Dar al-Kalima the two classes also meet twice a month to learn about the other religion as well as about Judaism and the Old Testament.
Tony Nassar, Christianity teacher, said the schools can do more to create understanding between Christians and Muslims than with Jews because both are part of Palestinian society.
Nassar teaches the joint lesson with In’am Shaktour, the Islam teacher. “They see Tony and me working together, and they learn from us,” Shaktour said.
Both try to help students differentiate between Judaism as a religion and Israel as a political entity, she added.
Haddad said he’d like to see the school’s program become more structured. He submitted a proposal to the (Lutheran) Church of Norway for funding that would allow more frequent meetings and special trips to holy sites.
As inheritors of Martin Luther’s Reformation, the Palestinian Lutheran schools hope to be part of the reformation of Palestinian society through formal and informal educational programs. It’s something Haddad said he’d like to see.
[Story by Judith Sudilovsky]
And in an earlier issue, The Lutheran focused on the Peace Center for the Blind in Jerusalem:
http://www.thelutheran.org/article/issue.cfm?issue=142
New lives for the blind
One woman's dream brings hope to many in and around Jerusalem
Lydia Mansour’s hands don’t stop moving as she talks. Blinded at the age of 2 after a bout of measles, Mansour is the director and founder of the Peace Center for the Blind in Jerusalem. As she speaks about the center and its work, she prepares yarn tassels for shawls some of the students have crocheted. With surprising dexterity Mansour—who declined to reveal her age but admits to being 60 plus—quickly winds the burgundy yarn around a small board and then cuts through the accumulated bundle with a scissors.
A graduate and former directorof the Helen Keller School for the blind in Bethlehem, Mansour established the Peace Center in 1983 after the school’s adult rehabilitation facilities were closed. She began with a budget of $200 gleaned from door-to-door donations.
The budget has since grown to $110,000. Mansour said all U.S.-based donations come from Lutheran organizations, including the ELCA and the Lutheran-founded International Partners in Mission, an interfaith nonprofit organization. Other donors include Christoffel Blindenmission from Germany and the English-speaking ministry of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem.
“They have been so good to us,” said Mansour, whose petite frame, small hands and gentle voice belie her strength and determination. “So many friends from the ELCA have kept up with us since the beginning.”
Some 30 young women with varying degrees of blindness come to the center every day for vocational and living-skills training and for academic studies, including Braille in English, Arabic and Hebrew.
Without the center most of the women would be left to sit at home alone. Instead the young women are taught—mostly by blind teachers who serve as role models—handicraft skills in hand and machine knitting, sewing and weaving. Their sweaters, scarves, baby blankets, shawls and vests are sold at modest prices at the center and craft bazaars. The small amount of money they raise goes to the center, which provides center graduates with a small salary.
More dreams
For the past 10 years the center’s goal and Mansour’s main preoccupation has been the purchase of permanent space that would allow them to allocate a third of its annual income to operations rather than rent.
But the cost is high, funds are low and purchasing a building is still far from reach, Mansour said. To bring in some extra funds, she started a small beauty salon vocational training center on the grounds for girls from troubled families.
Most students are self-referred or their families come to Mansour asking for help, as did the parents of Mahmoud Hamed, a 14-year-old boy who lost his sight to a degenerative disease and was unable to cope at school. Although the center is for women, Mansour said she made an exception. Hamed is now doing his academic studies at the center and learning how to cope in his daily life.
Segments of Palestinian society still look upon blindness as a stigma. Many poor and uneducated parents view their children who are blind as a burden, keeping them at home and out of sight, sometimes to the point of neglect, Mansour said.
Karima Ahmed Reyan, 30, born with a congenital sight problem like three of her siblings, has been coming to the center since she was 12. At first she was very resentful that her mother was leaving her there, Mansour said.Now as Reyan deftly handles a knitting machine with a grid-board and levers that are complex enough a sighted person would find difficult to use, she smiles shyly, saying she is proud to have a trade where she can earn her own pocket money. “My family is happy I am independent and at least they don’t have to worry about me financially,” she said.
Reyan’s younger sister, Siham, is partially blind and has gone on from the center to study social work at Abu Dis University in East Jerusalem. “The center gave me a lot,” she said.Both women have learned to get around independently—which in this part of the world includes crossing checkpoints and roadblocks to get to the center. Mansour sometimes finds herself traveling to the checkpoint so she can negotiate with Israeli soldiers to let a student cross.
Mansour’s job is 24 hours a day—she often serves as a surrogate-mother and advocate for many of the women whose families don’t know what to do with a blind member. “I make sure they are taken for medical checkups if needed and that they get the proper education so they can become independent and contribute to their community,” she said.
[Story by Judith Sudilovsky]
For more bulletins from Ann Hafften, see my blog: http://voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/
Friday, October 19, 2007
News from the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI)
News from the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) - http://www.eappi.org/
The EAPPI is an initiative of the World Council of Churches under the Ecumenical Campaign to End the Illegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East - http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/palestine/campaign-home.html
Its mission is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their non-violent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the occupation. Participants of the programme are monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, supporting acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offering protection through non-violent presence, engaging in public policy advocacy and, in general, standing in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the occupation.
ELCA member Karin Brown is part of the current group of ecumenical accompaniers (EAs). Karin has been placed in Yanoun. She holds an undergraduate degree in International Politics and Anthropology from Juniata College in Pennsylvania. She has previously worked with various international development organizations in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
WCC/EAPPI
September 2007 Newsletter
Num. 21
Ramadan
Many families are struggling to celebrate Ramadan this year due to increased poverty. Particularly, the economic siege on Gaza has resulted in high prices and very low incomes. EAs (accompaniers) are experiencing more difficulties at checkpoints during Ramadan. When the Israeli authorities do not allow people topass, prayers are held at checkpoints. As one EA placed in Bethlehem commented: “On Friday it was sad to see so many elderly people with the simple desire to pray being denied this fundamental right. Many had traveled a long way and were extremely disappointed.”
Ramadan also enables EAs to participate in a unique experience, visiting families and sharing in the fast breaking iftaar meal.
September 21 Peace Day
An Ecumenical service by the Heads of Churches took place at the Syrian Catholic Church in Jerusalem on 20 September. Also, an ecumenical and Interrelations event was conducted by the National Christian Organizations at the YMCA in Beit Sahur. EAs from the Bethlehem team have been present and had the opportunity to express their gratitude to be able to share the life of the community members during the past 3 months.
Can non-violence succeed?
Despite their recent victory in the Israeli High Court, the villagers of Bil'in in the West Bank will continue their campaign against the Wall. The court's decision that the Wall should be moved 500 meters from its current route, when implemented, will restore 1,100 dunums to Bil’in’s villagers. Their campaign continues, with villagers wanting to resist the wall until it falls. The success of this campaign offers hope to othervillagers who are sustaining regular non-violent demonstrations against the wall. EAs attend such demonstrations every Friday in the Bethlehem area.
Al Walajeh update
The construction of the wall, plus subsequent land grabs by surrounding Jewish settlements, has decimated the Al Walajeh villagers’ land and livelihoods. Al Walajeh with 1,700 inhabitants now consists of just 4.5 km2 of land, or 22% of its original size. Land that was once fertile and green has disappeared beneath the concrete of three major Israeli settlements- Gilo, Har-Gilo and Giv’at Yael. The trees remaining are now under attack and a large area is already uprooted; a disaster for this peaceful place. Encircled by the wall, and controlled by an Israeli entry and exit terminal, the villagers of Al Walajeh will soon become virtual prisoners on their own land.
Placement updates
A new group of 25 new Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) arrived in late September and commences work in the placements after their orientation in early October.
Visiting Delegations
A United Church of Canada (UCC) film crew was in the area visiting and interviewing UCC partners in action. Accompanied by Canadian EA Michael Séguin and the JIC (Jerusalem Inter Church Center) they successfully accomplished their goals between 18-30 September.
EAPPI Publications
EAPPI has produced a newsletter in Arabic, which aims to inform and update our Palestinian partners of our advocacy efforts in Europe and the rest of the world.
*****************************
For more information, please contact: Roslyn Harper, Communication & Advocacy Officer (eappi-co@wcc-coe.org) or International Programme Coordinator (ial@wcc-coe.org)
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) supports Palestinians and Israelis working for peace by monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, offering protection by accompanying local communities in daily activities, and by advocating with churches for a peaceful end to the Occupation. The programme, which began in 2002, is coordinated by the World Council of
Churches (WCC). The WCC is a fellowship of 347 churches, in more than 100 countries in all continents fromvirtually all Christian traditions. Its office is in Geneva, Switzerland.
For more information on the WCC: www.wcc-coe.org
See also International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel - http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3627
For more bulletins from Ann Hafften, see my blog: http://voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/
The EAPPI is an initiative of the World Council of Churches under the Ecumenical Campaign to End the Illegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East - http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/palestine/campaign-home.html
Its mission is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their non-violent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the occupation. Participants of the programme are monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, supporting acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offering protection through non-violent presence, engaging in public policy advocacy and, in general, standing in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the occupation.
ELCA member Karin Brown is part of the current group of ecumenical accompaniers (EAs). Karin has been placed in Yanoun. She holds an undergraduate degree in International Politics and Anthropology from Juniata College in Pennsylvania. She has previously worked with various international development organizations in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
WCC/EAPPI
September 2007 Newsletter
Num. 21
Ramadan
Many families are struggling to celebrate Ramadan this year due to increased poverty. Particularly, the economic siege on Gaza has resulted in high prices and very low incomes. EAs (accompaniers) are experiencing more difficulties at checkpoints during Ramadan. When the Israeli authorities do not allow people topass, prayers are held at checkpoints. As one EA placed in Bethlehem commented: “On Friday it was sad to see so many elderly people with the simple desire to pray being denied this fundamental right. Many had traveled a long way and were extremely disappointed.”
Ramadan also enables EAs to participate in a unique experience, visiting families and sharing in the fast breaking iftaar meal.
September 21 Peace Day
An Ecumenical service by the Heads of Churches took place at the Syrian Catholic Church in Jerusalem on 20 September. Also, an ecumenical and Interrelations event was conducted by the National Christian Organizations at the YMCA in Beit Sahur. EAs from the Bethlehem team have been present and had the opportunity to express their gratitude to be able to share the life of the community members during the past 3 months.
Can non-violence succeed?
Despite their recent victory in the Israeli High Court, the villagers of Bil'in in the West Bank will continue their campaign against the Wall. The court's decision that the Wall should be moved 500 meters from its current route, when implemented, will restore 1,100 dunums to Bil’in’s villagers. Their campaign continues, with villagers wanting to resist the wall until it falls. The success of this campaign offers hope to othervillagers who are sustaining regular non-violent demonstrations against the wall. EAs attend such demonstrations every Friday in the Bethlehem area.
Al Walajeh update
The construction of the wall, plus subsequent land grabs by surrounding Jewish settlements, has decimated the Al Walajeh villagers’ land and livelihoods. Al Walajeh with 1,700 inhabitants now consists of just 4.5 km2 of land, or 22% of its original size. Land that was once fertile and green has disappeared beneath the concrete of three major Israeli settlements- Gilo, Har-Gilo and Giv’at Yael. The trees remaining are now under attack and a large area is already uprooted; a disaster for this peaceful place. Encircled by the wall, and controlled by an Israeli entry and exit terminal, the villagers of Al Walajeh will soon become virtual prisoners on their own land.
Placement updates
A new group of 25 new Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) arrived in late September and commences work in the placements after their orientation in early October.
Visiting Delegations
A United Church of Canada (UCC) film crew was in the area visiting and interviewing UCC partners in action. Accompanied by Canadian EA Michael Séguin and the JIC (Jerusalem Inter Church Center) they successfully accomplished their goals between 18-30 September.
EAPPI Publications
EAPPI has produced a newsletter in Arabic, which aims to inform and update our Palestinian partners of our advocacy efforts in Europe and the rest of the world.
*****************************
For more information, please contact: Roslyn Harper, Communication & Advocacy Officer (eappi-co@wcc-coe.org) or International Programme Coordinator (ial@wcc-coe.org)
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) supports Palestinians and Israelis working for peace by monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, offering protection by accompanying local communities in daily activities, and by advocating with churches for a peaceful end to the Occupation. The programme, which began in 2002, is coordinated by the World Council of
Churches (WCC). The WCC is a fellowship of 347 churches, in more than 100 countries in all continents fromvirtually all Christian traditions. Its office is in Geneva, Switzerland.
For more information on the WCC: www.wcc-coe.org
See also International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel - http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3627
For more bulletins from Ann Hafften, see my blog: http://voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/
Thursday, October 18, 2007
CMEP writes to Condaleeza Rice about Annapolis meeting
Churches for Middle East Peace writes Sec. Rice about Annapolis meeting
October 16, 2007
Churches for Middle East Peace - http://www.cmep.org/ - faxed a letter to Secretary of State Rice yesterday regarding the international meeting on Israeli-Palestinian conflict that will take place in Annapolis, probably in mid-November. The letter was also faxed to key contacts at State and the National Security Council and emailed to all Congressional offices. Signed by CMEP Board members, the letter makes several important points regarding the promise and potential of the Arab League Initiative, the need for a ceasefire and facilitation of movement of Palestinian goods and people, a reminder that Palestinians in Gaza must also find hope, an appeal to not allow violence to stop peacemaking, and a request for US action to show regard for East Jerusalem Palestinians.
CMEP tells Sec. Rice of CMEP’s efforts to build bipartisan support in Congress for the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel and that CMEP will generate support from clergy and church members. CMEP is now preparing a mailing to congregations with a suggested prayer for peace and sample letter of support for peacemaking that follows up on our previous advocacy guidance. (Please send us contact information at info@cmep.org for your congregation, if you would like to be sure they receive the materials).
As mentioned in the CMEP letter, many observers are making recommendations to President Bush and Secretary Rice. On September 28th, you received the policy recommendations of the National Interreligious Initiative for Peace in the Middle East (NILI) - http://www.cmep.org/Alerts/2007Sept28.htm
Recently, two groups of foreign policy luminaries have issued guidance documents. The Israel Policy Forum released on September 26 “A Guide to a Successful November International Conference” with six signers including Ambassadors Sam Lewis, Robert Pelletreau, Thomas Pickering and Edward Walker, Jr.- http://www.ipforum.org/public/pdfs/November%20Conference%20Policy%20Paper.pdf
A letter to President Bush and Sec. Rice, supported by the U.S./Middle East Project, Inc., the International Crisis Group, and the New America Foundation/American Strategy, was signed by eight, including Lee Hamilton, Zbigniew Brezinski and Theodore Sorenson among others -
http://www.prospectsforpeace.com/2007/10/bipartisan_foreign_policy_lead.html
CMEP Letter to Rice
http://www.cmep.org/letters/CMEP_to_Rice_on_Summit_101507.pdf
October 15, 2007
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
United States Department of State
Washington, DC
Dear Secretary Rice,
Thank you for organizing an international meeting dedicated to progress on a peace agreement that would end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Churches for Middle East Peace, a coalition of Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches and agencies, is urging members of Congress to promise bipartisan support for the President’s diplomatic initiative. Your bold leadership, with the strong backing of President Bush, can create momentum for continued progress and movement toward the creation of a viable democratic state of Palestine
alongside Israel, each sovereign and secure. Now is the time to build on the promise and potential of the Arab League Initiative and encourage the participation of its signers.
Clearly the situation on the ground discourages both leaders and ordinary people in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as well as international observers. We ask that you, in preparation for the conference, press hard for concrete steps by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to improve conditions, including securing a ceasefire and facilitating the movement of Palestinian goods and people. The generosity of international donors is necessary but insufficient. The Palestinian private sector needs to be able to function for real economic development and job creation to take place and generate hope. As we all know, a healthy Palestinian economy is
in the best interests of Israel as well.
The current division in Palestinian governance must not be allowed to thwart the success of the meeting in Annapolis and those that follow. We agree with you that there is one Palestinian people and there should be one Palestinian state and urge you to ensure that Palestinians in Gaza can also find hope in a political solution.
Many observers are making recommendations about a statement or declaration of principles that addresses the final status issues. Churches for Middle East Peace has a particular interest in a resolution of the status of Jerusalem that would allow both Israelis and Palestinians to claim the city as their capital, and for Jews, Christians and Muslims to fully enjoy the profound religious significance of the holy city and its holy sites.
While many of the fruits of peace will require considerable time to be evident, small changes in Jerusalem would provide hopeful evidence that the two-state vision will actually become reality. As an example, the United States could launch USAID projects to improve daily lives of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
It is a grim lesson from the past that violent acts by extremists can be allowed to undermine progress made by peacemakers and public support for peace. We appeal to you to lead all parties to declare that peacemaking is unstoppable, and that violent extremists will not be allowed to achieve their political objectives of disrupting the peace process.
For our part Churches for Middle East Peace will work to generate support among the clergy and members of our churches for your efforts and will encourage congregations across the country to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the compassionate wisdom and bold courage that all political leaders in this momentous initiative will need.
Sincerely,
Bishop Wayne Burkette
Moravian Church in America
Jim Fine
Legislative Secretary for Foreign Policy
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Dennis W. Frado
Director, Lutheran Office for World Community
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Sr. Donna Graham, OSF
President, English-speaking Conference JPIC Council
Franciscan Friars (OFM)
The Rev. Dr. Stan Hastey
Alliance of Baptists
Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory
Director, Washington Office
Presbyterian Church, USA
Rev. Phil Jones
Director, Washington Office
Church of the Brethren Witness
Rob Keithan
Director, Washington Office for Advocacy
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos
Associate General Secretary for International Affairs and Peace
National Council of Churches USA and
Representative, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Rev. Jim Kofski
Maryknoll Global Concerns
Peter E. Makari
Middle East and Europe Global Ministries
United Church of Christ and
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Rev. John L. McCullough
Executive Director and CEO
Church World Service
T. Michael McNulty, SJ
Justice and Peace Director
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
The Very Rev. George Rados
Representative, Antiochian Christian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America
Maureen Shea
Office of Government Relations
The Episcopal Church
Ann V. Staal
Social Witness/Mid-East
Reformed Church in America
James Winkler
General Board of Church & Society
United Methodist Church
--- --- ---
See my blog for more bulletins:
Ann Hafften
Weatherford, Texas
Blog: http://voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/
"Our times cry out for a new politics of justice." Bill Moyers
October 16, 2007
Churches for Middle East Peace - http://www.cmep.org/ - faxed a letter to Secretary of State Rice yesterday regarding the international meeting on Israeli-Palestinian conflict that will take place in Annapolis, probably in mid-November. The letter was also faxed to key contacts at State and the National Security Council and emailed to all Congressional offices. Signed by CMEP Board members, the letter makes several important points regarding the promise and potential of the Arab League Initiative, the need for a ceasefire and facilitation of movement of Palestinian goods and people, a reminder that Palestinians in Gaza must also find hope, an appeal to not allow violence to stop peacemaking, and a request for US action to show regard for East Jerusalem Palestinians.
CMEP tells Sec. Rice of CMEP’s efforts to build bipartisan support in Congress for the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel and that CMEP will generate support from clergy and church members. CMEP is now preparing a mailing to congregations with a suggested prayer for peace and sample letter of support for peacemaking that follows up on our previous advocacy guidance. (Please send us contact information at info@cmep.org for your congregation, if you would like to be sure they receive the materials).
As mentioned in the CMEP letter, many observers are making recommendations to President Bush and Secretary Rice. On September 28th, you received the policy recommendations of the National Interreligious Initiative for Peace in the Middle East (NILI) - http://www.cmep.org/Alerts/2007Sept28.htm
Recently, two groups of foreign policy luminaries have issued guidance documents. The Israel Policy Forum released on September 26 “A Guide to a Successful November International Conference” with six signers including Ambassadors Sam Lewis, Robert Pelletreau, Thomas Pickering and Edward Walker, Jr.- http://www.ipforum.org/public/pdfs/November%20Conference%20Policy%20Paper.pdf
A letter to President Bush and Sec. Rice, supported by the U.S./Middle East Project, Inc., the International Crisis Group, and the New America Foundation/American Strategy, was signed by eight, including Lee Hamilton, Zbigniew Brezinski and Theodore Sorenson among others -
http://www.prospectsforpeace.com/2007/10/bipartisan_foreign_policy_lead.html
CMEP Letter to Rice
http://www.cmep.org/letters/CMEP_to_Rice_on_Summit_101507.pdf
October 15, 2007
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
United States Department of State
Washington, DC
Dear Secretary Rice,
Thank you for organizing an international meeting dedicated to progress on a peace agreement that would end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Churches for Middle East Peace, a coalition of Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches and agencies, is urging members of Congress to promise bipartisan support for the President’s diplomatic initiative. Your bold leadership, with the strong backing of President Bush, can create momentum for continued progress and movement toward the creation of a viable democratic state of Palestine
alongside Israel, each sovereign and secure. Now is the time to build on the promise and potential of the Arab League Initiative and encourage the participation of its signers.
Clearly the situation on the ground discourages both leaders and ordinary people in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as well as international observers. We ask that you, in preparation for the conference, press hard for concrete steps by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to improve conditions, including securing a ceasefire and facilitating the movement of Palestinian goods and people. The generosity of international donors is necessary but insufficient. The Palestinian private sector needs to be able to function for real economic development and job creation to take place and generate hope. As we all know, a healthy Palestinian economy is
in the best interests of Israel as well.
The current division in Palestinian governance must not be allowed to thwart the success of the meeting in Annapolis and those that follow. We agree with you that there is one Palestinian people and there should be one Palestinian state and urge you to ensure that Palestinians in Gaza can also find hope in a political solution.
Many observers are making recommendations about a statement or declaration of principles that addresses the final status issues. Churches for Middle East Peace has a particular interest in a resolution of the status of Jerusalem that would allow both Israelis and Palestinians to claim the city as their capital, and for Jews, Christians and Muslims to fully enjoy the profound religious significance of the holy city and its holy sites.
While many of the fruits of peace will require considerable time to be evident, small changes in Jerusalem would provide hopeful evidence that the two-state vision will actually become reality. As an example, the United States could launch USAID projects to improve daily lives of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
It is a grim lesson from the past that violent acts by extremists can be allowed to undermine progress made by peacemakers and public support for peace. We appeal to you to lead all parties to declare that peacemaking is unstoppable, and that violent extremists will not be allowed to achieve their political objectives of disrupting the peace process.
For our part Churches for Middle East Peace will work to generate support among the clergy and members of our churches for your efforts and will encourage congregations across the country to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the compassionate wisdom and bold courage that all political leaders in this momentous initiative will need.
Sincerely,
Bishop Wayne Burkette
Moravian Church in America
Jim Fine
Legislative Secretary for Foreign Policy
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Dennis W. Frado
Director, Lutheran Office for World Community
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Sr. Donna Graham, OSF
President, English-speaking Conference JPIC Council
Franciscan Friars (OFM)
The Rev. Dr. Stan Hastey
Alliance of Baptists
Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory
Director, Washington Office
Presbyterian Church, USA
Rev. Phil Jones
Director, Washington Office
Church of the Brethren Witness
Rob Keithan
Director, Washington Office for Advocacy
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos
Associate General Secretary for International Affairs and Peace
National Council of Churches USA and
Representative, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Rev. Jim Kofski
Maryknoll Global Concerns
Peter E. Makari
Middle East and Europe Global Ministries
United Church of Christ and
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Rev. John L. McCullough
Executive Director and CEO
Church World Service
T. Michael McNulty, SJ
Justice and Peace Director
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
The Very Rev. George Rados
Representative, Antiochian Christian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America
Maureen Shea
Office of Government Relations
The Episcopal Church
Ann V. Staal
Social Witness/Mid-East
Reformed Church in America
James Winkler
General Board of Church & Society
United Methodist Church
--- --- ---
See my blog for more bulletins:
Ann Hafften
Weatherford, Texas
Blog: http://voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/
"Our times cry out for a new politics of justice." Bill Moyers
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Christian world responds to "A Common Word" from Muslim leaders
News has been circulating about an open letter from 138 of the world's top Muslim leaders, clerics and academics to Pope Benedict and other world Christian leaders. The letter, called A Common Word Between Us and You, advises us that world peace depends on better dialogue between the two groups and points to fundamental beliefs they have in common - http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en&page=option1
The home page for A Common Word provides a link to many Christian responses - http://www.acommonword.com/
There is also a fascinating FAQ page - http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en&page=faq
Here is news of one response from ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson:
http://www.elca.org/news/Releases.asp?a=3749
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
October 12, 2007
ELCA Presiding Bishop Responds to Letter from Muslim Leaders
07-166-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and president of the Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, responded today to an Oct. 11 letter sent to him and several global Christian leaders by 138 Muslim leaders from throughout the world.
The 29-page open letter, "A Common Word Between You and Us," calls for Muslims and Christians to work more closely together for peace.
"Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world's population," the Muslim leaders wrote.
"Without peace and justice between these two religious communities there can be no meaningful peace in the world. The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians. The basis for this peace and understanding already exists."
Information about the complete contents of the letter is available on the Web from several news organizations.
The text of the presiding bishop and LWF president's response reads:
"Greetings to you in the name of Almighty God, our Creator and Sustainer. On October 11, a copy of a letter was delivered to me from Muslim scholars and religious leaders addressed to Christian religious leaders around the world. As presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and president of the Lutheran World Federation, I receive this letter in the sincere expression of faithfulness intended by its drafters, and with the hopeful expectation for peace that calls to us from the origins of our sacred texts and professions of faith. I encourage prayer and planning for communities of justice, peace, and security where Muslims, Jews, and Christians draw from these origins as from essential wells of living water.
The letter attests to both the love of God and our shared heritage of true hospitality to one's neighbor. These commandments convey prophetic witness for mutual and vital co-existence that Christians and Muslims must embrace in one another. The letter further references how the commands to love God and neighbor are linked `between the Qur'an, the Torah and the New Testament.' I encourage everyone everywhere to read the beauty of these passages found in the sacred texts of the Abrahamic faiths, which signifyGod's vision for how and whom we love in a broken world. This common vision for Jews, Muslims, and Christians signifies fidelityand fellowship in a world where conflict offends our common heritage as children of God.
In 2005 I, along with an LWF delegation that included General Secretary Ishmael Noko, met with His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi, personal envoy and special advisor to King Abdullah II of Jordan.Our delegation was grateful for the sincere hospitality and friendship that were so freely displayed in our conversation. The delegation spoke at length with Prince Ghazi about the origins of the Abrahamic faiths in that region of the world. In another meeting, Akel Biltaji, advisor to His Majesty the King, stated, "We are honored to be servants and custodians of the Holy sites."
I acknowledge this letter in gratitude and recognition of the need for its further study and consideration. I likewise accept it in the belief that Jews, Muslims, and Christians are called to one another as to a holy site, where God's living revelation in the world is received in reverence among the faithful and not in fear of our neighbors. I pray for God's continued blessings among Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike, and thank God for such displays of wisdom and humility from their leaders."
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
President, The Lutheran World Federation
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See more of Ann Hafften's bulletins at http://voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/
The home page for A Common Word provides a link to many Christian responses - http://www.acommonword.com/
There is also a fascinating FAQ page - http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en&page=faq
Here is news of one response from ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson:
http://www.elca.org/news/Releases.asp?a=3749
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
October 12, 2007
ELCA Presiding Bishop Responds to Letter from Muslim Leaders
07-166-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and president of the Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, responded today to an Oct. 11 letter sent to him and several global Christian leaders by 138 Muslim leaders from throughout the world.
The 29-page open letter, "A Common Word Between You and Us," calls for Muslims and Christians to work more closely together for peace.
"Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world's population," the Muslim leaders wrote.
"Without peace and justice between these two religious communities there can be no meaningful peace in the world. The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians. The basis for this peace and understanding already exists."
Information about the complete contents of the letter is available on the Web from several news organizations.
The text of the presiding bishop and LWF president's response reads:
"Greetings to you in the name of Almighty God, our Creator and Sustainer. On October 11, a copy of a letter was delivered to me from Muslim scholars and religious leaders addressed to Christian religious leaders around the world. As presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and president of the Lutheran World Federation, I receive this letter in the sincere expression of faithfulness intended by its drafters, and with the hopeful expectation for peace that calls to us from the origins of our sacred texts and professions of faith. I encourage prayer and planning for communities of justice, peace, and security where Muslims, Jews, and Christians draw from these origins as from essential wells of living water.
The letter attests to both the love of God and our shared heritage of true hospitality to one's neighbor. These commandments convey prophetic witness for mutual and vital co-existence that Christians and Muslims must embrace in one another. The letter further references how the commands to love God and neighbor are linked `between the Qur'an, the Torah and the New Testament.' I encourage everyone everywhere to read the beauty of these passages found in the sacred texts of the Abrahamic faiths, which signifyGod's vision for how and whom we love in a broken world. This common vision for Jews, Muslims, and Christians signifies fidelityand fellowship in a world where conflict offends our common heritage as children of God.
In 2005 I, along with an LWF delegation that included General Secretary Ishmael Noko, met with His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi, personal envoy and special advisor to King Abdullah II of Jordan.Our delegation was grateful for the sincere hospitality and friendship that were so freely displayed in our conversation. The delegation spoke at length with Prince Ghazi about the origins of the Abrahamic faiths in that region of the world. In another meeting, Akel Biltaji, advisor to His Majesty the King, stated, "We are honored to be servants and custodians of the Holy sites."
I acknowledge this letter in gratitude and recognition of the need for its further study and consideration. I likewise accept it in the belief that Jews, Muslims, and Christians are called to one another as to a holy site, where God's living revelation in the world is received in reverence among the faithful and not in fear of our neighbors. I pray for God's continued blessings among Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike, and thank God for such displays of wisdom and humility from their leaders."
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
President, The Lutheran World Federation
--- --- --- ---
See more of Ann Hafften's bulletins at http://voicesforpeace.blogspot.com/
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