Promised Land or Land of Promise

A Call to Action
By Mary Pneuman

As Christians, we are deeply committed to compassion and justice in the belief that all of God’s children have the right to live in safety and freedom from oppression and violence. Yet, we often underestimate the role we can play as peacemakers and reconcilers in the midst of conflict. Here are some steps we can take to help bring hope and peace to our brothers and sisters in Christ:

Read the Kairos Palestine and the Call to Action, a US Response to the Kairos Palestine Document (kairosusa.org). On December 11, 2009, the leaders of 12 Christian denominations sent a plea from Bethlehem to the churches of the world. The theological context of this document, Kairos Palestine—A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering, is God’s desire for life with love and dignity for all people. Kairos Palestine does not argue with Israel’s right to exist, but it calls for an end to Israeli occupation because it deprives Palestinians of dignity and basic human rights.

Become informed. Seek sources of information that reflect Palestinian concerns as well as those of Israelis. Favoring the Israeli narrative, the popular U.S. has often failed to connect the conflict with underlying root causes brought on by nearly 50 years of military occupation. 

Sign up for information or action alerts. Check out the following websites: Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (j-diocese.org); American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (afedj.org); Churches for Middle East Peace (cmep.org); Episcopal Peace Fellowship-Palestine Information Network (epfnational.org/palestine-israel-network); Friends of Sabeel - North America (fosna.org); Sabeel – Jerusalem (sabeel.org); Holy Land Trust (www.holylandtrust.org); Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding (emeu.net); Jewish Voice for Peace (jewishvoiceforpeace.org); Mondoweiss (mondoweiss.net); IFAMERICANSKNEW.org; Mideast Focus (saintmarks.org/justiceministries).

Participate in a parish study group using the Episcopal curricula Steadfast Hope, the Palestinian Quest for Just Peace or Zionism Unsettled, a Congregational Study Guide.

Develop a companion relationship with one of the parishes, educational or healthcare ministries of the Diocese of Jerusalem. Contact with churches and friends help reassure our Christian companions that they have not been forgotten. (St. Thomas’s companions are the Arab Episcopal School in Jordan and the Evangelical Home for Children in Ramallah.)

Speak up. Do not be afraid to talk about the issues. It is not “anti-Semitic” to take a stand against the actions of the Government of Israel when her policies and actions fly in the face of basic Judeo-Christian values. Engage in interfaith dialogue; seek common ground with Jewish people who desire a just peace.

Contact your representatives in Congress. Ask them to stop giving unconditional military and financial support to Israel and to address the underlying causes of the conflict. Let them know that you object to using your tax dollars to support military solutions that create more human despair and an endless spiral of violence. Ask them to attach conditions that will encourage Israel to end the occupation.

Visit the Diocese of Jerusalem. Be sure your pilgrimage is conducted by a Christian tour leader. Take a course St. George’s College in Jerusalem, located on the grounds of the Anglican Cathedral (sgcjerusalem.org). The college, only few minutes walking distance from the Old City, provides year round pilgrimages that combine site visits with lectures and spiritual reflection. Come and see.

Participate in the BDS movement (Boycott, Divest, Sanction). Mainstream Christian churches are beginning to view economic pressure as the most effective non-violent means to encourage serious peacemaking efforts on the part of the Government of Israel. In June, 2014, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA voted to divest pension funds from stock in Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola, three US companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. In May, 2014, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church called for boycott of all Israeli companies “operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.” To learn more about BDS, go to bdsmovement.org.

Pray unceasingly. "For his is our peace; the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man, out of two, thus making peace and to reconcile them both into one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed." (Ephesians 2:14-16, from Bishop Greg Rickel’s blog during his visit to the Holy Land in January, 2014 - bishoprickel.com). Our bishop plans to lead a group of seminarians and clergy to the Holy Land every two years.