Christian-Muslim Relations: Exploring the Middle East and the West

Let us pray for the success of this conference in Bethlehem.

International Religious Conference
Bethlehem University
The Holy Land
Christian-Muslim Relations: Exploring the Middle East and the West
September 5-7, 2007

For more information, please visit the web site at: www.religiousconference.bethlehem.edu

Siraj, Center for Holy Land Studies
Christians and Muslims live side by side in almost every country in the Middle East and in Europe. While these two Monotheistic religions have had a long experience of co-existence, during recent decades new challenges have emerged raising many questions about the nature of this co-existence, such as the immigration of Muslims to Europe and the decreasing numbers of Christians in the Middle East. It is important, not only to explore each other's religious traditions, but to share the living experience of Christians and Muslims in different contexts and countries, in the Middle East as well as in the West.

This conference was organized to address and analyze these new challenges as well as create and develop a model for future interaction. This conference brings together theologians, academics, religious leaders and other practitioners to not only explore the religious traditions concerning "The Other" but to also examine the concrete implications of these theological principals in the context of the Middle East as well as in the context of the West.

Among the topics of the conference are:
1. Christian Minorities in the Middle East
2. Muslim Minorities in the Western Context
3. The Experience of Co-Existence in parts of Europe, the Middle East and the United States
4. Looking Towards the Future: The role of personal experiences and education in promoting values of co-existence and cooperation

For more information, please visit our website at:www.religiousconference.bethlehem.edu
Siraj, Center for Holy Land Studies

news
New Films has been posted by the Palestinian Summer Celebration participants at:www.sirajcenter.org and http://www.sirajcenter.org/videos.htm or just simply go to:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JQ-PsklS04

New Blogs for the Palestinian Summer Celebration participants at: http://www.sirajcenter.org/s-blogs.htm

You are most welcome in Palestine,
George S. Rishmawi
Coordinator,
Siraj, Center For Holy Land Studies
Schools Street,
Beit Sahour
Palestine

Website: www.sirajcenter.org
Email: george@sirajcenter.org

Updated list of travel opportunities now at FOSNA web page

Alternative Travel Opportunities – updated on the Friends of Sabeel-North America web page August 23 - www.forsna.org

Alternative travel in the Holy Land provides an added benefit to pilgrimage by connecting participants with the Living Stones of Palestine who live under military occupation. Visit the holy Christian sites, worship in ancient Palestinian Christian churches, walk where Jesus walked and bear witness to the realities of occupation — military checkpoints, refugee camps, Israel’s Apartheid Wall, bypass roads, illegal settlements and more.

This alternative travel page is a service of Friends of Sabeel—North America. If you know of other trips coming up, please send details to: friends@fosna.org

Alternative Tourism Group in Beit Sahour, West Bank, has published Palestine & Palestinians: A Guidebook (ISBN No. 9950-319-011-3). It is a professionally produced and very attractive book of more than 400 pages that goes beyond the scope of other guides for travelers. Palestine & Palestinians: A Guidebook provides a very detailed history of the area, as well as information on the contemporary situation. The book is illustrated with color and black/white photos and, of course, maps of all sorts. In quality it equals any traditional guidebook. The book is $30 and may be ordered at Palestine Online Store - http://www.palestineonlinestore.com/books/palestineandpalestinians.htm

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Middle East Fellowship - Oct. 1-12, 2007 Join us on a journey to the Holy Land this fall as we discover the ancient (and still living!) church by taking an historical pilgrimage in the footsteps of Jesus, learning to build relationships of encouragement and responding as He would to the needs of the people. Meeting with Jewish and Palestinian organizations working for peace, we will consider the current situation and the role of the Church today as we seek ways of building bridges of peace through personal encounters. This will be a rich cultural experience as we meet local families, stay in their homes, taste fabulous Middle Eastern delicacies and receive their incredible hospitality. Vital service opportunities will be incorporated throughout the schedule. Delegations are limited to fifteen people. Contact information: travel@holylandtrust.org or christy@mef-sf.org Visit our website www.middleeastfellowship.org or http://travel.holyalndtrust.org

Sabeel International Witness Trip October 11-20, 2007 For detailed information go to www.fosna.org/conferences_and_trips/2007FallWitnessVisit.htm The year 2007 to 2008 provides a framework for highlighting the ongoing Palestinian catastrophe: 90 years since the Balfour Declaration, 60 years since the Nakba and the founding of the state of Israel, 40 years of Occupation, 25 years since Sabra/Shatila, 20 years since the First Intifada, 5 years of the Apartheid Wall. The Sabeel Fall Witness Visit offers a window into the daily lives of Palestinians living under the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza as well as into the experiences of second-class citizenship of Palestinians who are citizens of Israel. Meet with Palestinian Christian and Muslim leaders of civic and religious organizations as well as with Israeli Jewish advocates for justice. Learn the stories of Palestinian Christians, share the worship that sustains their faith, and engage with Sabeel in promoting justice via liberation theology.

Cost: $900 per person; $180 single supplement; included - all accommodations and meals for 10 nights plus all ground transportation and honoraria/fees for sites and groups visited; not included - airfare, transfers to/from the airport, and additional nights in hotels. Travel arrangements: Contact Johnny Khano, GUIDING STAR, e-mail Johnny@guidingstar2.com or phone 972-2-627-3150.

For a list featuring many more trips go to www.fosna.org

The Lemon Tree - a true story of two people drawn into the politics of their homeland(s)

Amber Leberman of The Lutheran staff in Chicago posted a review of The Lemon Tree on the magazine's blog page - www.thelutheran.org/blog/index.cfm?page_id=33

8/12/2007
"The Lemon Tree"

In 2003, I had the opportunity to visit Israel and the West Bank with a delegation of fellow ELCA communicators. Our group was led by Eric Shafer, who was then-director of ELCA Communication and Mary Jensen, who was, at the time, an associate with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land - www.elcjhl.org/

We visited Dalia Landau, an Israeli woman, at her home in West Jerusalem.

Over tea and biscuits, Dalia told us her story — how her family narrowly escaped being sent to a Nazi concentration camp and later fled Bulgaria to Israel, where they moved into a beautiful stone home with a lemon tree in the back yard. They were told the home had been abandoned by its Arab occupants.

She also told that one day while home alone from college, the doorbell rang. On the other side of the door stood Bashir Khairi, a young Arab man who had taken the bus from Ramallah to visit the home where he had been born.

She told us about the joys and challenges of her friendship with Bashir. She told us how their friendship was strained when Bashir was jailed for participating in a supermarket bombing in a Jewish neighborhood.

She told us how she (with Bashir's blessing) turned the home into a preschool for the Arab children of the neighborhood and a place where Israelis and Arabs could meet for dialogue.

And what struck me most about Dalia was her assertion that Israelis and Palestinians were the "significant others" of each other — that their futures were inextricably woven together.

Meeting Dalia left me wanting to know more about the story. I had no idea that Sandy Tolan of Homelands Productions had produced a radio story about it. It was by chance that I heard it one afternoon on Chicago Public Radio. (You can hear it too, at the Third Coast Audio Festival archive - www.thirdcoastfestival.org/audio_library_2001.asp)

Now "The Lemon Tree" is a book, also by Tolan.

Tolan tells the story as compellingly as if it were a novel. It's not. It's the true stories of two people drawn into the politics of their homeland(s). Tolan provides chapter-by-chapter notes about his sources and a thorough bibliography.

If you want to know more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book is a great place to start. It weaves history and politics into a narrative that makes the reader care about the people involved.

If you read only one non-fiction book this year, make it "The Lemon Tree."

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To find out more about the Open House, the preschool and community center in Ramle, visit www.friendsofopenhouse.org/

To read blog postings on The Lutheran's web page, got to www.thelutheran.org/blog/index.cfm?page_id=33

ELCA Assembly Hears from Bishop Younan

I wasn't able at first to find the ELCA's news release on Bishop Younan's speech. Here is the news report - http://www.elca.org/news/Releases.asp?a=3717 - and the speech on video is at http://www.elca.org/assembly/video/070809.html

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
August 15, 2007
ELCA Assembly Hears From Lutheran Bishop of the Holy Land
07-CWA-053-MRC

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- According to the Rev. Munib A. Younan, the road to peace in the Middle East is not through Baghdad but through Jerusalem. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, spoke Aug. 9 to the 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, met here Aug. 6-11 at Navy Pier's Festival Hall. About 2,000 people participated, including 1,069 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly was "Living in God's Amazing Grace: Thanks be to God!"

In his message to the assembly, Younan said it "is time that the U.S. government recognized that it would be in its best interest to become an honest broker" in the Middle East conflict.

Some people say that the church "shouldn't meddle in politics" when it works for justice and peace "in our land," said Younan. But, "it is the Lord and Savior himself who taught us to speak out on behalf of the oppressed and marginalized, to care for humanity and speak for justice."

Working for justice is an integral part of the church's spiritual struggle to liberate humanity from any evil that violates human rights, said Younan. "Working for justice is not political to me, it is biblical and spiritual."

Younan thanked members of the ELCA who have traveled to the Middle East, their zeal for justice and support for educational and ecclesiastical work, support for the Lutheran World Federation's (LWF) work on behalf of Palestinians, and leadership in the Mount of Olives Housing Project -- a project to build 84 housing units for Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem on land LWF has owned since 1950. The homes will be located adjacent to Augusta Victoria Hospital, which the LWF administers. The LWF is a global communion of 140 Lutheran churches representing 66.7 million Christians.

"I call on all religious leaders -- Christians, Muslims and Jews -- to become our allies for justice and humanity," said Younan. "No religion has a monopoly on hate or extremism. It is time that religion become part of the solution rather than part of the problem."

Younan told the assembly that the separation wall, located in the West Bank, is "not a sign of justice and peace." The wall "does not provide security, it breeds despair and a culture of separation." Younan said he has "no doubt that the separation wall in the Holy Land will one day fall."

Many people have asked what they can do to help, said Younan. People can help through education, prophetic interfaith dialogue and continuity of Christianity in the Holy Land. "Christians are leaving because of the unstable political situation, the harsh restrictions of the occupation and the loss of hope in a just peace. We are now less than 2 percent of the population."

Younan said 2007 marks 40 years of occupation. "Forty years of wilderness is enough for both Palestinians and Israelis, indeed for the whole world." The Lutheran church "calls (for) the Palestinian state (to) be a modern, democratic, secular, civil society and live in peace with justice alongside Israel, so that both nations will become a light to the world."

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Information about the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly is at http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/ on the Web

News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog

Archbishop Tutu will address October Sabeel Conference in Boston

The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel: Highlighting Issues of Justice and Equality

A Sabeel Conference October 26 and 27, 2007, at Boston's Old South Church

Keynote Address: Archbishop Desmond Tutu

For registration information go to www.fosna.org/BostonConferenceOct2007.htm

Panelists:
Naim Ateek, Anat Biletzki, Diana Buttu, Naom Chomsky, John Dugard, Farid Esack, Noura Erekat, Jeff Halper, Donald Wagner, David Wildman,
Additional participants:
Phyllis Bennis, Bishop Steven Charleston, Joan M. Martin, Nancy Murray, Archbishop Michael Peers, Bishop Thomas Shaw, Chuck Turner

PROGRAM SCHEDULE
Day 1: Friday, October 26
2:30 REGISTRATION, screening documentary films, teach-in on Christian zionism.
6:00 OPENING AND WELCOME Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chuck Turner,* Bishop Steven Charleston,* Naim Ateek
7:30 THE APARTHEID PARADIGM: HOW DOES IT APPLY TO PALESTINE/ISRAEL? Panel will address the applicability of using the apartheid model of ethnic/racial segregation in South Africa to the situation in Israel and Palestine.

Day 2: Saturday, October 27
8:00 Registration, Exhibits/book sale, interfaith worship
9:15 THE APARTHEID PARADIGM: A CHALLENGE TO PROMOTING JUSTICE Panel will examine the moral issues of confronting and dismantling apartheid-like policies in Israel and Palestine.
11:00 THE APARTHEID PARADIGM: RESPONDING FROM THE U.S. This panel will address the emerging role of social movements and the government in the US to apartheid-like policies in Israel and Palestine.
1:30 KEYNOTE ADDRESS by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
3:00 Copley Square Peace Rally: Tearing Down Walls, Building Bridges, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace and other local peace groups in solidarity with the Sabeel conference.

* Invited

Friends of Sabeel North America - www.fosna.org

Churches for Middle East Peace - Will a Reinvigorated Peace Process Emerge this Fall?

Churches for Middle East Peace - www.cmep.org

August Info Update
Will a Reinvigorated Peace Process Emerge this Fall?

August 8, 2007
Julie Schumacher Cohen, Legislative Coordinator

The August issue of CMEP's Info Update focuses on recent regional developments and prospects for the fall peace summit to create a reinvigorated Israeli-Arab peace process. The topic areas include background on the summit, an update on Israeli-Palestinian bi-lateral talks, the status of the Arab League peace plan, new plans for US Middle East funding, the new Evangelical initiative on Israeli-Palestinian peace and Jerusalem news.

The Jerusalem news section is of special note as it includes excerpts from and links to the August 13th issue of America magazine (a national Catholic Jesuit weekly) which is entirely focused on Jerusalem. Contributors to the magazine issue include Fr. Drew Christiansen, S.J. (editor of America and member of CMEP's Leadership Council), Claudette Habesch from Caritas Jerusalem, former Israeli and Palestinian Geneva Accord negotiators Daniel Levy and Ghaith Al-Omari, and Rabbi Dr. Gerald M. Meister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel. The magazine issue can be viewed online on America's website (requires free registration) or in PDF format on CMEP's website.

Below is an excerpt from the update. It can be viewed in full on CMEP's website at: www.cmep.org/Updates/2007August7.htm.

Topics:
Fall Peace Summit: Background, Interpretations and Reactions
Israeli-Palestinian Talks: Principles, Fundamentals or Final Status Issues?
Arab League Peace Plan Resurges: Arab Visits to Israel, US Support
Loans, Arms and Aid: New Plans for U.S.-Middle East Funding
Christian Peacemaking: Evangelical Leaders Write Pres. Bush Supporting Two-State Solution
Jerusalem News: Catholic Magazine Highlights City; Israeli & Palestinian Negotiators on Shared Sovereignty

Special Note: For weekly updates on Middle East developments, CMEP recommends the Middle East Bulletin, a publication of Middle East Progress (go to: http://www.middleeastprogress.org/).

This summer has so far seen a flurry of discussion and dialogue about Middle East peace, including high-level US-Israeli-Arab meetings— a welcome change from last year this time when the region was aflame with the Hezbollah-Israel war. President Bush’s July 16th speech pledged anew U.S. support for a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel and plans are afoot for a fall peace summit. The visit to Israel of Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers on behalf of the Arab League is notable and Secretary Rice’s trip, together with Secretary Gates, shows high-level U.S. commitment to U.S. goals in the region, at the same time as the Mideast Quartet’s envoy Tony Blair begins his new job. Indication that Saudi Arabia may attend the fall peace summit brings added significance to the initiative.

These are welcome developments coming at a complex time with efforts to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace facing the challenges of a weak Israeli government and fractured Palestinian polity. The region overall is in as perilous a state as it has ever been. With chaos and violence continuing in Iraq, an increasingly emboldened Iran, weakened popular support for Arab regimes, and extremist elements ascendant, the announcement of a new U.S. Middle East arms/military aid package is evidence of continued over-reliance by the United States on military approaches to achieving security and stability. The Iraq Study Group’s recommendations— that the United States constructively engage with Iran and Syria together with moderate Arab allies, to induce cooperation on Iraq, and take serious action on the Israeli-Arab peace process— remain the best way forward for positive American involvement in the region.

The scope and content for the fall peace summit has still yet to be clearly defined. For the conference to have a meaningful impact, it’s vital that the agenda include serious political discussions that could concretely lay the groundwork for comprehensive negotiations. Only real progress on a political track that reinvigorates the peace process and provides hope to Israelis and Arabs can provide the lasting security that the region so desperately needs.


“One Last Try?”, M.J. Rosenberg, IPF (Israel Policy Forum) Friday, August 3, 2007

“In today’s Middle East, saving the key issues for last makes no sense. Tackle the big ones first, see how much progress can be made, and proceed from there. The bottom line is that the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian situations are too volatile to spend time and effort on baby steps.”
http://www.ipforum.org/display.cfm?id=6&Sub=15


“Turning theory into reality”, Daoud Kuttab, A Palestinian View, Bitterlemons.org, July 23, 2007

“…What is needed is a reversal of the traditional peace process. If a new process is going to work, it must begin with the end game and then work its way toward implementation. After 40 years of occupation, the idea that progress can be achieved with goodwill gestures such as tiny prisoner releases and the removal of a few checkpoints is wildly misguided. The Arab peace initiative and a score of unofficial Israeli-Palestinian plans have focused on deciding first what the end game should be and then creating the process to suit the solution. The 1967 borders as the natural borders of the Palestinian state (with possible land swaps equal in size and quality) is a logical framework for the parties to accept. If the planned international conference does agree to such a clear-cut agreement, then the Bush administration may yet prove to have the potential to produce a lasting and comprehensive peace.
http://www.bitterlemons.org/previous/bl230707ed27.html#pal2

To read the update in its entirety, go to: www.cmep.org/Updates/2007August7.htm

Decisions of a Christian Assembly takes a look at ELCA decisions

I found some nice comments on a web page called That We May All Be One - reflections on unity - http://ecubishop.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/decisions-of-a-christian-assembly/

"Decisions of a Christian Assembly" provides a look at several major issues addressed by the ELCA Assembly. I've only excerpted the portions dealing with Palestine and Israel.

"The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America concluded their Churchwide Assembly on Saturday August 11 in Chicago...

"The final action of consequence was passage of a statement on the Middle East which calls for ongoing work for a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine. http://www.elca.org/news/Releases.asp?a=3718 - A late amendment was also adopted calling for investment in the Palestinian territories, consideration of refusing to buy goods or invest in activities taking place in Israeli settlements, and a review of other economic options. This last however specifically precludes the divestment option which had become so controversial in a number of other denominations. [...]

"The ELCA will inevitably be criticized by the Jewish community for even suggesting a `boycott' of goods produced in the Israeli settlements which most of the world acknowledges are illegal. While I believe blanket `divestment' from companies doing business in Israel is unwise, the Lutheran decision is compatible with their long-standing Middle East policy. And ours, frankly. It is the most gentle of economic sanctions to put teeth in opposition to `the Occupation' of Palestinian territory.

"All in all, I think our Lutheran sisters and brothers did rather well!"

Information about the ELCA Assembly is available at http://www.elca.org/