Middle East Archive

The Israel/Palestine Conflict
Archive, Nov. 2000 through March 2002

Kirkpatrick sends letter of protest to Sharon

LOUISVILLE -- Presbyterian News Service - March 15, 2002

[posted here 3-16-02]

The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), has sent the following letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

March 11, 2002

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
3 Kaplan St., Qiryat Ben-Gurion
P.O. Box 187, 91919
West Jerusalem, Israel

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Once again I write to you on behalf of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to express grave concern regarding the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. We have previously sent you many strong appeals to exercise your responsibility and authority to take tangible, positive steps to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. We have appealed to you and to Mr. Yasser Arafat to renounce violence and to pursue the ways of peace.

While we do not condone the acts of violence by certain Palestinian extremists, we are appalled that Israel, in response, has continued to punish the entire Palestinian population and its leaders who have been your government's partners in the peace process. For the past year and a half, the Israeli army has continued to bombard Palestinian institutions and the civilian population, including those in refugee communities, with merciless attacks.

In the latest news, we have been informed by our Evangelical Lutheran partners of the repeated occupation of the premises of Dar al-Kalima Lutheran School and Wellness Center in Bethlehem. This pattern of military operations where schools, hospitals, ambulances and medical personnel have been attacked clearly breaches international law, and has become abhorrent even to many members of the Israeli military.

· We denounce in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation of Dar al-Kalima School.

· We protest the continuing degradation of the Palestinian people by Israel.

· We again appeal to you for the immediate withdrawal of the military from the Palestinian territories.

· We urge you to renounce and to stop this violent madness and seek the course of peaceful negotiations, for the sake of justice, on which Israel's own security depends.

Finally, we appeal to the God of justice to have mercy upon your people and their Palestinian neighbors and to bring about shalom to the land.

Cordially yours,
Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly

Churches for Middle East Peace issue "A Christian Call for Peace" in the form of a petition [12-17-01]

We reported a year ago on a prayer vigil campaign by the group, Churches for Middle East Peace, in which the PC(USA) is an active participant.

This year the group has issued a petition for peace, which you can sign on their web site. (Or print a copy to circulate it more widely, and mail it to the address provided.) They will send the signatures to our nation's leaders.

Chanukah greetings and a call for peace [12-10-01]

Rabbi and author Michael Lerner offers Chanukah greetings, and reflects on the Chanukah reading from Zechariah, "in which God reveals a central message of Judaism: Not by might, and not by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord who has ultimate power."

So he ponders the need for breaking the cycles of violence between Israel and the Palestinians. "So this year," he concludes, "we truly need a miracle" among all the peoples of the world.

Relentless violence hurts, haunts children on embattled West Bank [8-22-01]

Presbyterian journalist Alexa Smith gives a long look at what Palestinian Christians are experiencing in the not-so-little town of Bethlehem, on the West Bank of Israel/Palestine, primarily through the eyes of Viveca Hazboun, the only Christian psychiatrist and the only female psychiatrist on the West Bank.

Sandra Olewine, Methodist Liaison in Jerusalem, reflects on increased violence in that tormented city, and the need for a wider view [8-13-01]

She begins: On the morning after a horrific afternoon in Jerusalem, words seem a bit superfluous. Today many Israelis will say goodbye to family and friends, infants, children and parents, as the dead are buried. Prayers for comfort seem a small offering to such tragedy.

And later she comments: In such days, we must return to the root cause of the violence in order to break the cycle. Addressing only the symptoms ensures our continuing horror at senseless death in this region. The root cause of the violence of the last 11 months is the on-going Israeli occupation and control of the West Bank and Gaza. After 32 years, it most come to a stop.

WCC Consultation on Israeli-Palestinian conflict decides on coordinated ecumenical action [8-11-01]

50 participants gathered in Geneva to seek ways of moving toward action in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and identified 7 potential areas for coordinated action.

A Lutheran professor reports from on the spot in Jerusalem, where the violence is real and ugly.

Witherspooner Darrell Yeaney has forwarded a report from Dr. Fred Strickert, who teaches Religious Studies at Wartburg College in Waverley, Iowa. As Darrell's note concludes: Read and weep. But then, cry out for truth and justice. [8-3-01]

Ecumenical Christian group organizing prayer campaign for peace in the Middle East

PC(USA) is one of 15 denominations in coalition calling for prayers during Advent

by Alexa Smith, Presbyterian News Service

Click here for excellent resources on the PCUSA web site.

LOUISVILLE -- 27-November-2000 -- An ecumenical coalition is asking U.S. Christians to pray throughout Advent for peace in the Middle East.

Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), an advocacy network founded in 1984 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., proposes to start the vigil on Dec. 3, the first Sunday of Advent, and continue until the violence ends with a lasting negotiated resolution of the conflict.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) is one of CMEP's 15 member communions.

"People across the country are grieving about the violence and about the suspension of the peace process," said Corinne Whitlatch, CMEP's director, who added that advocacy with the U.S. government, CMEP's normal role, is not enough right now.

"Prayer itself is a form of advocacy," she said. "We're just trying to establish a structure so that it may be done ecumenically."

The Lutheran Office of Governmental Affairs (LOGA) has loaned a portion of its web site to CMEP and has organized prayer for the vigil state-by-state, beginning with Alabama and New York on Dec. 3, Alaska and North Carolina on Dec. 4, Arizona and North Dakota on Dec. 5, and so on throughout Advent.

To find the state-by-state listings, go to LOGA's web site.

"We offer this prayer vigil as an opportunity for congregations to incorporate the welfare of the people of the Middle East into the heart of their church life ù in their worship, in their learning, in their giving, and in their advocacy," the Rev. Mark B. Brown, the CMEP chair, told the Presbyterian News Service. "We urge people to see this prayer vigil ... as an outpouring of concern for Palestinians and Israelis -- Christians, Muslims and Jews."

Brown is LOGA's assistant director for international affairs and human rights.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has already posted some short sample prayers on the LOGA web site, Brown said. CMEP has also developed a resource packet called "A Shared Jerusalem." To order packets, go to CMEP's web page.

"Some people are surprised when we say that this prayer vigil will continue until the violence ends and we can celebrate a just and lasting negotiated resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," Brown said. "Perhaps ... it is difficult for many of us to pray with confidence for justice and an enduring solution, but by engaging in this vigil we are participating in a countdown, not to Armageddon, but to reconciliation.

"We are declaring that God's grace is the source of all peace, and through prayer we are humbling ourselves to God's will for all creation."

CMEP has advocated for Israel's right to exist at peace with its neighbors within internationally recognized boundaries and for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. It has called for negotiated, just and peaceful resolutions to conflicts in the region, as well as for equitable development and humanitarian assistance.

In addition to the ELCA and the PC(USA), among the members of the coalition are the American Friends Service Committee, the Mennonite Central Committee, the Episcopal Church, the Church of the Brethren, the Maryknoll Missioners, the United Church of Christ, the National Council of Churches in the USA and the United Methodist Church and the Roman Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutes.

An Israeli rabbi works for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine

Witherspooner Darrell Yeaney shares this report from a rabbi who sees non-violence as offering some hope in the continuing conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians. [5-28-01]