sign in sign up
<<
Home , Allon Plan, Kairos Palestine

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict A Lecture/Discussion Series Don Gall, Facilitator First Congregational Church, UCC, Eugene, Oregon Summer, 2021

Session VI The Long and Rocky Road to Peace

The Middle-East Peace Process has been “in process” since the first armistice agreement was signed in 1949 and to this day it continues to be more “process” than “product.” Beginning in the 1970s, there were parallel efforts to negotiate agreements between and individual Arab states as well as between Israel and the Palestinians. There was a peace accord between Israel and Egypt in 1979, a peace treaty (in name only with Lebanon) in 1983, and another agreement between Israel and in 1994. In 2002, Saudi Arabia agreed to live in peace with Israel if Israel would withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories and allow the refugees to return. Israel refused the terms, but in 2020, diplomatic relations were established between the two countries. No other agreements, accords or treaties have been signed by Israel with either or Iran, or concerning the and those living under Israeli occupation in the territories. In the meantime, Iran remains hostile and continues to support the Palestinian militant/terrorist groups, and Hezbollah, in their efforts to terrorize and ultimately destroy Israel. The Palestinians have said that they are willing to grant Israel’s right to exist in return for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the and the and for the right to bring their refugees home to a self-determining Palestinian state with established borders. They favor a two- state solution, but think Israel offers too little in negotiations and that its actions and motifs cannot always be trusted. Israel, on the other hand, has said it will return control of the occupied territories in exchange for an end to the violence and is open to discussing a two-state solution as long as the president of the Arab Authority is the negotiator and not Hamas. Zionist hardliners want to annex all of the Palestinian territory and are of the opinion that Palestinians are more eager to get than they are to give. The United States insists that Israel must give up some of the land it conquered in 1967 if peace is ever to be realized, and that Palestinians must renounce the use of terror and agree to Israel’s right to exist in exchange for their own right to self- determination. American Jews, as a whole, tend to be pro-Israel, but there is a sizeable number who have openly criticized Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and insist that a peaceful settlement must be found in place of continued hostilities. Since the 1947 armistice which ended the first Arab-Israeli war, there have been numerous plans, conferences, and proposals, all in the interests of achieving a lasting peace between the two parties. There has been an Allon Plan, a Rogers Plan, the Geneva Conference of 1973, the in 1978, the Madrid Conference in 1991, the in 1993, and the Camp David Summit of 2000. The most recent “peace overture” was a handshaking photo-op staged in a hotel room where representatives of both sides smiled at the camera. There have been peace initiatives offered by each recent U.S. president, including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack

1

Obama, and most recently Donald Trump, who assured the world that if anyone could bring peace to the Middle East, his son-in-law Jared Kushner could, but unfortunately, he also failed. Although Israel has been involved in a state of protracted conflict and in a cycle of wars since before its founding in 1948, a massive peace movement did not emerge within Israel until its war in Lebanon during 1982-1985. The loss of nearly 1,300 Israeli soldiers in the fighting set off a nation-wide protest within Israel, out of which a massive women’s peace movement emerged known as Mothers Against Silence. It was then that motherhood was politicized and turned into a legitimate resource to engage in issues of peace and security. While the men continued to pound their chests and tried to destroy one another, it was the women, particularly “the mothers,” who ultimately stepped across the line and embraced one another, offering common sense strategies and objectives for living together in peace. During the first Intifada in Gaza (1988) a small group of Israeli women in launched a protest movement known as Women in Black. The movement spread into the central and northern parts of Israel where Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian-Israeli women came together in common cause. The purpose of the movement was threefold: to protest the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the cycle of Israeli-Palestinian violence, to decry the oppression of the Palestinian people, and to warn against the concomitant moral corruption of Israeli society. It was also a direct challenge to the all-male monopoly over participation in the public realm. Their demand to voice their opinions on issues of peace and security as citizens of equal standing--not only as mothers or wives of soldiers--undermined both the male monopoly in this realm and the logic that governs gender relations in Israel. An emergent movement grew out of Women in Black in 1999 and was named New Profile--the Movement for the Civilization of Israeli Society. It declared as it’s aim the long-range goal “to change the profile of Israeli society from a militarized society of war and might to an actively peacemaking community in which the rights of all people are respected and promoted equally, and the military occupation of others’ land comes to an end.” After twenty years of activity, the women’s peace movement in Israel had expanded and become a major actor in the Israeli public sphere. Today, it remains among the innovative forces in Israeli society, constantly striving for new ways of imagining its collective identity and furthering the goal of peace. Whether or not its efforts for peace are paying off or not, only time will tell, but the recent Israeli election which has replaced the strict Zionist, Benjamin Netanyahu, with a new coalition government made up of an ultra-conservative Zionist, a moderate Israeli-Jew, and a middle-of- the-road Palestinian- Arab party leader has many people guardedly hopeful. While some fear that Monsour Abbas of the United Arab Point party may have “sold out” Palestinian’s interests by becoming part of the coalition, others see his presence as a political break-through and a sign of Palestinian participation in shaping the future. Where high-ranking political officials, treaties, accords and agreements have often come up short, it is often the words and witness of mothers and women-in-general who have opened doors to new understandings and possibilities for peace. For it is they who, perhaps better than anyone else, know the pain and suffering associated with the loss of a child or another loved one to the violence of war. It is often women who translate the prayers and supplications of people in churches and temples and mosques all over the world from mere words into concrete actions that help produce the desired results. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Peace is not just a distant goal, but the means by which we arrive at that goal.”

2

So let us also join with the women of Israel- and others who yearn for peace in the world, who know that war makes murderers out of decent people, and who therefore are working tirelessly toward the day envisioned by the prophet Micah, who spoke of a time when:

“Nations shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit everyone under their fig tree, and none shall make them afraid, for the Lord has spoken. Micah 4:3b-4

***

Actions of the General synod of the United Church of Christ 1965 to 2021

The United Church of Christ was formed in 1957 through a union of four predecessor denominations. The General Synod, which is its national governing body, and which is often attended by 2,000-plus members, gathers every biennium to celebrate the church’s faith and life, to conduct the business of the church, and to take action on the pressing issues of peace and justice in the world. As such, the Synod has met 32 times, and during that time has addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 20 times. No other single issue on the world’s stage has claimed as much of the UCCs time and prayerful deliberation during the 64 years of its existence as has this one. Below is a summary of some of the actions taken from 1965 through 2021.

• 1965 - Called upon the U.S. government to use its good offices to bring about peace in the Middle East and to assure just treatment for the Arab refugees and relief of their suffering. • 1969 - Authorized its own Council for Christian Social Action to prepare and disseminate a program of education and action among UCC congregations on the Middle East dispute. • 1971 - Approved continued support for programs of relief and rehabilitation for Arab refugees in cooperation with sister churches in the Middle East and to respond to the call of those churches. • 1973 - Declared that peace and security can be attained only through a just and stable political settlement which takes into account the right of the State of Israel to exist and also the rights of the Palestinian people. • 1979 - Approved a “letter of support” to Presidents Sadat, Begin and Carter, recognizing and thanking them for their steps toward peace, and called upon the President of the UCC and the Board for World Ministries to work through the World Council of Churches in an effort to involve Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders in examining the issues pertaining to the city of Jerusalem and to follow the path most conducive to peace. • 1987 - Called for an international conference for peace involving Israelis, Palestinians and Christians together with representatives from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. • 1991 - Urged U.S. government and all other parties concerned to negotiate a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict pursuant to U.N. Security Council’s resolutions numbers 242 and 338 which call upon Israel to withdraw from territories occupied in the 1967 war, and affirm the right of all states, including Israel, to live peacefully within the recognized boundaries, and calls upon all members of the United Church of Christ to support and encourage policies which reflect this solution. • 1993 - Affirms solidarity with the Middle East Council of Churches in declaring that the city of Jerusalem must be the Jerusalem for all peoples and furthermore joins with the Middle East Council of Churches in calling upon Israel to lift the ban and re-open to the Palestinian people. • 1997 - Supports in their insistence that Jerusalem remain free and open to all people, and that Palestinians be permitted to move freely between Gaza, Jerusalem, the West Bank for jobs, housing, and all services of community and religious life.

3

• 1999 - Called upon the U.S. Executive and Legislative branches of the U.S. Government to provide funds to rebuild infrastructure and homes for the Palestinian people that were destroyed in the course of the conflict and to monitor closely the type of aid to the State of Israel that it be used for non-violent purposes. • 2003 - Whereas influential members of the current U.S. government endorse Christian Zionist positions as a basis for U.S. foreign policy, the Synod called upon the UCC to develop a plan to communicate the theological and political ramifications of Christian Zionism and to share this information with current government officials and to post it on the UCC website for all other interested parties to read, and to cooperate with other denominations to promote alternatives to Christian Zionism in the mass media. • 2005 - Called upon all parts of the UCC and individual members to use economic leverage by challenging the practices of corporations that gain from the continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that refuse to change their practices of gain from perpetuation of violence, including the Israeli occupation. • 2007 - Called upon the Israel government to “tear down the wall” it had build as part of its de facto policy of settlement and colonization, effectively annexing roughly half of the West Bank, displacing and disconnecting Palestinians from their homes, families, neighbors, and fields • 2015 - Called on all UCC settings to “divest any direct or substantive holdings in companies profiting from complicity in human rights violations arising from occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel. • 2017 - Called on Israel to honor the UN Convention on Rights of the Child, referencing Israel’s military practice of detention of Palestinian children. • 2019 - Called on all UCC people and all church settings to continue advocacy for Palestinian refugees and for continued U.S. funding of the United Nation’s Relief and Work Agency. • 2021 - Adopted a “Declaration for a Just Peace between Palestine and Israel.” The following is a summary of the “Declaration”:

“The “Declaration” articulates the principles that must be in place and honored in any future just and peaceful relationship between Israel and Palestine. The “Declaration” affirms that justice, understood both as adherence to the message of the Hebrew prophets and the life and teachings of , as well as to applicable international laws, is the fundamental and requisite principle which must guide a peaceful future for Israel and Palestine. It rejects a future imposed by military power, illegal occupation and dispossession, or unilateral annexation of land and the use of imperialistic theology as justification. The “Declaration” pronounces Israel’s continued oppression of the Palestinians people a sin, incompatible with the Gospel. It further calls upon Local churches, Conferences, and Associations to adopt this “Declaration” as their plumbline to guide their support for the aspirations of our partners in the region and their advocacy with the United States; government for policies consistent with these principles.

The “Declaration” draws on over fifty years of General Synod actions, statements by UCC officers, and actions by Global Ministries and its historic component bodies. It is informed by the witness of ecumenical partners, including the National Council of Churches, USA, and the World Council of Churches, and it responds to the witness of our Palestinian Christian partners, and in particular “Kairos Palestine: A Word of Faith, Hope, and Love from the Heart of Palestinian suffering (2009) and “Kairos Palestine: A Cry for Hope, A Call for Decisive Action (2020).

The UCC is a “Just Peace Church” and our voice and witness will be heard.

***

4