Leaders Representing Mainline U.S. Churches Address Israeli-Palestinian Human Rights Concerns

By Dr. Fred Strickert

In February, some individuals affiliated with the Christian Coalition grabbed headlines when they boycotted the appearance of Yasser Arafat at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC which also featured President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. At the very same time, newspaper editors tucked away on back pages coverage of three major statements from American religious leaders, all supporting a just and lasting peace settlement in Israel and Palestine.

The prominence given the statements representing the “anxious for Armageddon” fringe of evangelical Christians and the relative lack of attention paid to balanced statements by responsible representatives of mainline Christian and other groups is, unfortunately, typical of the media coverage of religious reaction to human rights issues in the Middle East. What the casual reader seldom realizes is that the signatories of such responsible but non-confrontational statements represent the leadership of the major denominations of Middle America.

A Letter to Congress

Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), speaking for Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, members of the Reformed Church and the United Church of Christ, Quakers, Mennonites, and Unitarians, sent a Feb. 11 letter to all members of the 106th Congress concerning upcoming legislation affecting the Middle East peace process. (The letter can be accessed on the Churches for Middle East Peace Web page <www.cmep.org>. There also is a similar letter from Corinne Whitlatch of Churches for Middle East Peace in “Other People’s Mail” on p. 90 of this issue.)

A major section of the letter to Congressmembers dealt with congressional fiscal decisions that affect the Middle East. Noting the disproportionate allotment of $5.4 million to the Middle East, out of a total foreign aid budget of $12.8, CMEP encouraged Congress to consider world-wide developmental needs and programs which truly promote peace.

The church leaders complimented Congress on its effort to begin restructuring foreign aid when it balanced an increase in aid to Jordan with decreases for both Israel and Egypt. They expressed disappointment, however, in alterations to the 1999 budget that redirected savings from developmental cuts into increased military assistance for Israel.

The church leaders also expressed concerns about the financial package established at the Wye Conference, calling attention to the disparity between the $1.2 billion figure for Israel while $400 million and $300 million were designated for Palestinians and Jordan respectively. Noting that the Israeli finance minister recently requested $1.2 billion for settlements and bypass roads, the letter reminded its readers that this purpose is clearly at odds with U.S. policy, which restricts U.S. foreign aid from being used in the occupied territories, and that availabillity of such funding leads to more land confiscation and displacement of more Palestinian people.

“We encourage Congress to seek answers as to how the $1.2 billion figure was set and to ask for verification of the need for this very large amount,” wrote the church leaders. “The additional aid to Israel should not be provided if Israel does not carry out the withdrawals from the West Bank land as promised.”

The letter encouraged continuing and additional aid to the Palestinian people for schools, water and sewer systems, and improvement of the legal system.

Finally, the church leaders reiterated their commitment to self-determination for the Palestinian people, including the probability of a Palestinian state, and to the principle of two peoples and three religions sharing the sacred city of Jerusalem.

Search Document

While the letter from Churches for Middle East Peace called for Congress to be prudent and fair in its appropriations, another statement by religious leaders raises the question of whether a complete freeze of funding is in order.

A human rights petition sponsored by SEARCH for Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel calls on the Clinton administration to press the Israeli government of Binyamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority, headed by Yasser Arafat, to cease violating the rights of Palestinians.

Taking note of the recent 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations, the SEARCH petition challenges the U.S. government to implement its policies in a consistent fashion. It calls on President Clinton to publicly urge Israel and the Palestinian Authority to abide by international law and human rights conventions and to link U.S. financial aid to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to their compliance with human rights covenants.

The petition—signed by over 1,000 Christian clergy including 147 Protestant and Catholic bishops, as well as a number of Jewish and Muslim leaders—was delivered to U.S., Israeli, and Palestinian officials in late January.

“This is the largest number of church leaders that have ever joined together to put their signatures on a document of this kind,” explains Ned Hanauer, director of the Search group.

Persistence has also paid off, according to Hanauer. Although originally overshadowed by the prayer breakfast flap, the Search petition has by now been picked up by five major wire services (including Associated Press and Reuters) and reported by 15 national newspapers and NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

“Some people think there is little that we as individuals can do to make a difference,” said Hanauer. “Here is a concrete example of how individual voices can merge and be heard.”

Bishops’ Letters Oppose ID Card Confiscation

Focusing on a single human rights issue, 26 church leaders on Feb. 8 protested the Israeli government policy of confiscating identification cards from East Jerusalem Palestinians, with the consequent loss of right of residency in Jerusalem.

One letter was delivered to the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Zalman Shoval, and a second letter was dispatched to church leaders in Jerusalem: Patriarch Diodoros I (Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem), Patriarch Michel Sabbah (Latin Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem), and Patriarch Torkom Manoogian (Armenian Apostolic Patriarch of Jerusalem).

Last October, these three Jerusalem church leaders had written to the Israeli minister of the interior expressing deep concern about the tremendous increase in the confiscations by Israeli authorities of identity cards of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. Israel began implementing this policy, which in effect withdraws permission to live in Jerusalem from the Palestinians affected in 1996. By May 1997, the Israeli Interior Ministry announced it already had confiscated 1,500 cards over the previous year.

The trend has continued, so that thousands of Palestinians are in the process of losing their legal status as residents of Jerusalem. “Hard-working and peace-seeking Christians are being forced out of the city,” wrote the Jerusalem leaders. “Many of these families or individuals face losing their access to the city of their birth through the revocation of their residency rights.”

The letter of American bishops was meant as an expression of ecumenical solidarity with the Jerusalem Church and as consciousness-raising for the American public.

“The impact this policy has on the Christian communities in Jerusalem is alarming,” said Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “The confiscation of ID cards from Palestinians, along with other difficulties relating to housing and residency, has prompted church leaders in Jerusalem to fear for the future survival of their communities.”

Bishop Anderson was joined by Archbishop Spyridon of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, president of the National Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops, and Archbishop Khajag, diocese of the Armenian Church in America, as well as 22 other church leaders.

On behalf of Christians throughout the United States, these leaders offered a word of encouragement for their Jerusalem counterparts: “The churches in the Holy City of Jerusalem are not composed only of stones, but more importantly are communities of faithful, worshipping believers. Any further diminution of their numbers or weakening of their vitality is a matter of great concern to churches everywhere.”

United Methodists: A Call for a Just Peace

In addition to these three statements circulated in the United States, the Feb. 18 Bethlehem 2000 conference in Rome elicited two important responses from Methodist and Catholic leaders. The conference was convened by the U.N. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and was designed to prepare for the millennium celebrations in Bethlehem surrounding the birth of Jesus.

Liberato Bautista, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, read a statement on behalf of the board’s top staff executive, the Rev. Thomas White Wolf Fassett.

“The United Methodist Church has long supported a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis,” the statement said. “To this end, we call for free and open movement for all peoples and of all religions in and around Bethlehem.”

The statement urged the U.S. and other governments “to honor their commitments to peace and justice in the Middle East by strengthening already available and enforceable peace agreements, particularly in providing significant economic assistance to the Palestinian people.”

It also noted that the 1996 General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative body, affirmed support for the Bethlehem 2000 Initiative and urged members to visit the Holy Land and meet with indigenous Christians in the area.

Vatican: Holy Land Pilgrims Should Benefit Economy of Both Israelis and Palestinians

The Vatican role in the Bethlehem 2000 conference was to encourage Catholics to participate in Holy Land Pilgrimage during the coming years.

At the conference, Yasser Arafat expressed concern that Israel was attempting to discourage pilgrims from staying overnight in Palestinian areas—depriving the Palestinians of hotel dollars. A Vatican statement offered a sympathetic reaction.

“The churches hope that commercial benefits will be evenly distributed among all sectors of the community, both in Israel and in the Palestinian Territories,” said Vatican envoy Monsignor Pietro Sambi, addressing a meeting of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel. “Such benefits should also reach the poor.’’

Dr. Fred Strickert is professor of religion at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.

SIDEBAR

SEARCH Petition (Abbreviated)

Last December marked the 50th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As religious leaders, we pray and hope for the implementation of the Declaration in Palestine/Israel. We:

— believe Palestinian-Israeli peace is only possible if based on justice, human rights, and self-determination for both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Christians and Muslims.

— oppose violence against civilians, whether by Palestinians, Jewish settlers, or the Israeli government.

— want our government to support the rights of Palestinians as well as of Israelis.

We condemn human rights violations by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, violations which preclude justice for Palestinians and security for Israelis.

We call on our government to:

1) Publicly urge Israel and the Palestinian Authority to abide by international law and human rights conventions.

2) Withhold financial aid to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, until they comply with human rights covenants. Pending compliance, aid should be given only to Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations working for peace based on human rights.

3) Publicly support full self-determination of Palestinians in a West Bank-Gaza state within the borders prior to the June 1967 war.

4) Support a peace which recognizes the unique religious significance of Jerusalem and gives equal national status to Israelis and Palestinians in a shared, undivided Jerusalem.

5) Urge Israel to cease demolition of Palestinian homes and the seizure of Palestinian lands and to return all land and water resources confiscated from Palestinians since 1967.

6) Urge Israel to dismantle all settlements except where settlers are willing to live as equal citizens within a Palestinian state.

7) Support the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland or receive compensation, as called for by U.N. resolutions.

8) Support the release of political prisoners held by Israel.

9) Urge Israel to ensure equal rights and opportunities for all Palestinians living in Israel.

SEARCH for Justice and Equality in Palestine/ Israel is a Boston based human rights group. Phone: (508) 877-2611.