Teleconference Will Feature Video with Voices from Middle East

Episcopal News Service. February 12, 2002 [2002-038]

(ENS) A videotape prepared for a February 19 teleconference on "Waging Reconciliation in the Holy Land: Salaam, Shalom, Peace" will feature a variety of voices of people caught in the turmoil of the region.

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

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

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

Sense of gloom

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

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

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

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

Occupation is a sin

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

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

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

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

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

Looking ahead

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

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

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

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

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

Options for resistance

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

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

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

Defining violence

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

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

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

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

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

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

Satellite coordinates for the teleconference:

Telstar 6 (Ku-Band)/Transponder K16

Orbital location: 93 degrees

Downlink frequency: 11997.5 MHz

Downlink polarity: Horizontal

Audio channels: 6.2 and 6.8

Among the locations that will view the teleconference are:

Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter in Gadsden, Alabama (205-547-5361)

Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California (415-749-6300)

St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis, Minnesota (612-870-7800)

St. George's Church in Clarksdale, Mississippi (601-627-7875)

St. Thomas Church in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania (215-233-3970)

St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, Washington (206-323-0300)