New Mid-East War

New Middle East Conflict

Faith-based responses to the new conflict in Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon

We offer here a few comments and analyses of the current crisis in the Middle East, reflecting a variety of viewpoints and faith traditions.

If you want to suggest other statements, or share you own views, we'll be happy to hear from you, and post them here.

Just send us a note!

War and Peace in Israel/Palestine

Former Israeli and Palestinian warriors find a new cause to fight for: peace [9-14-06]

The recent violence between Hezbollah and Israel seems like another mile marker on the path to hopelessness, but as Dragonfire’s Sara Toth reports, some have seized the debacle as a chance to stand up for peace. When former Israeli soldier Itamar Shapira was jailed in August for refusing to fight in Lebanon, a rally outside the prison revealed a subculture in support of his decision. Among the pacifist protesters were members of Combatants for Peace, a new anti-war group made up of former warriors. Shapira is a member of the 60-strong organization of peace converts from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Though they once fought in the frontlines of a decades-long conflict, each "combatant" has concluded that violence cannot resolve the Israeli-Palestinian clash over land and power. The group's mission statement reflects its transcendent attitude: "After brandishing weapons for so many years, and having seen one another only through weapons' sights, we have decided to put down our guns and to fight for peace." More >>

Praying for the Middle East? Here's a good ecumenical listing of prayers for peace.
[9-4-06]

God's grace in the midst of hostility

PC(USA) mission worker visits Lebanon's war zone [8-28-06]

The Rev. Nuhad Tomeh, PC(USA) regional liaison for Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the Gulf, reports on his recent visit to two of the Presbyterian congregations in south Lebanon, in Alma and Qana.

Of Alma he reports:

Alma is a town of 1,200 Lebanese Christians, among them some 60 Presbyterian families — men, women, and children. Alma is a very meek and peaceful little town with strong Presbyterian heritage and witness for more than 160 years.

Citizens of Alma clung fast to their homes and lands at the beginning of the hostilities. Then, when Israeli planes, artillery and tanks started targeting their homes, they ran to the three churches in town (Catholic, Maronite, Presbyterian), reckoning that churches are safe havens against the evil of humankind.

They are supposed to be.

But very soon the Catholic Church was targeted with a rocket from an Israeli plane. After that, 90 percent of Alma's population decided to leave in two convoys of about 100 cars each to … anywhere.

The full story >>

A Call for Theological Peace [8-23-06]

Amid the many concerns about the actions of the State of Israel in its attack son Lebanon and Palestine, Witherspooner Ann Lewis urges us not to lose sight of the need for a healthier, more positive understanding of Judaism.

Another perspective on the attack on Lebanon and on Bush’s "take your time" [8-23-06]

For very different view of the invasion of Lebanon, you might take a look at an open letter by Ralph Nader to George W. Bush on Lebanon, and on his telling the Israelis to "Take Your Time."

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship responds to the violence in the Middle East [7-29-06]

During the recent seminar at Ghost Ranch on "Economy, Ecology, and Empire," held from July 17 through 22, members of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship put into words their concerns and their sense of the best way to respond to the crisis at this time. We’re happy to share it here, with thanks to PPF for sharing it with us. The PPF statement >>

Also ...

The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship commends to our attention a statement from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, which is entitled "How Many More Innocents Shall We Sacrifice on the Altar of ‘Justified’ War?"

National Council of Churches calls for 'A Season of Prayer' for Middle East peace [7-27-06]

As rockets soar between Hezbollah and Israel, the National Council of Churches USA and Religions for Peace-USA are encouraging religious communities to engage in prayers for peace. "We are encouraging religious communities to pray for peace as they gather in their own communities. We are also encouraging religious communities to join with others in common events of witness for peace," said Rev. Bud Heckman, Executive Director of Religions for Peace USA. In order to provide religious communities resources to do this well, the Interfaith Relations ministry of the National Council of Churches USA today launched a new Web site –www.seasonofprayer.org. The website compiles prayers, litanies, scripture texts, hymns, poems and other prayer aids from many religious traditions, appropriate to the current crisis in the Middle East. More >>.

The body of Christ in Lebanon [7-27-06]

Jim Wallis of Sojourners provides an incisive look at the complexities of the conflict, pointing to the wrongs being done on all sides, and the need for sympathy and help, too, for the victims on all sides.

On the role of the United States he comments: "The U.S. has provided no real leadership thus far, being unwilling to embrace the international call for a ceasefire. It has rather been Israel's major supporter and has expedited the shipment of additional weapons. I also believe that the U.S. invasion of Iraq has, inadvertently, contributed to the ascendancy of Iran and radical Islam in the region."

He adds that "for Christians there are also deeper issues involved regarding faith and the body of Christ. It's time for American Christians to start listening to Christians and churches in the Middle East, and Lebanon would be a good place to start."

He concludes: "The people of Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine have suffered enough. It's time for immediate action by the U.S. and the world community to achieve a situation in which Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine are secure and viable states living side-by-side in peace." The whole article >>

Another point of view, from a Lebanese evangelical

One Lebanese voice offers a stinging rebuke to American evangelicals (as well as to Israel, Hezbollah, and the U.S.). This comes from Martin Accad, the academic dean of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon, who is himself a respected evangelical. His comments, in Christianity Today >>

10 WAYS TO SAVE THE LIVES OF ABRAHAM'S CHILDREN
[7-25-06]

Jews, Christians, & Muslims are all the children of Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine as well as Iraq. All of these peoples, according to our faith traditions, are descendants of Abraham. Now they are dying at each others' hands. These ten suggestions, on how to protect lives in the present Middle East explosion, offer ways to respond that can give life and healing and hope. These are offered to be used as you see fit, by individuals or congregations of any tradition.

Just beneath the list you will also find a Mourners’ Prayer -- Kaddish -- for Use in Time of War. It is rooted in a Jewish prayer, but the English interpretive version could be used by anyone.

Hymns for this time of war

The Rev. Carolyn Gillette has written some hymns that may be helpful for worship for those concerned about the war in the Middle East. [7-25-06]

Items posted below:

Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick urges Bush to press Middle East peace

'Spiral of violence' threatens all-out regional war, Kirkpatrick says

National Council of Churches says Mideast violence is futile, urges nonviolent solution, prayers and advocacy

Jewish Voice for Peace offers seven "talking points" on the Mid-East crisis

Rabbi Michael Lerner: "End the Suffering in the Middle East"

Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun Magazine and a long-time advocate for peace in the Middle East (including peaceful initiatives from Israel) has posted a lengthy and thoughtful analysis of the complexities of the current military struggles, along with suggestions for action on the part of all parties involved.

A comment on divestment: " Our policy in the Middle East is why we are in this war."

Stated clerk urges Bush to press Middle East peace

'Spiral of violence' threatens all-out regional war, Kirkpatrick says
[7-19-06]

by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service
Available also on the PC(USA) website

LOUISVILLE – July 17, 2006 -- General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick has urged

President Bush to work with the United Nations and the Israeli government to find a diplomatic solution to the "spiral of violence" that threatens to erupt into all-out war in the Middle East.

Such an expanded conflict is a direct threat to the security of the United States, Kirkpatrick wrote in his July 14 letter.

Kirkpatrick denounced the "provocative actions" of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia group the U.S. government has labeled a terrorist organization, which initiated the current exchange of missiles with Israelby kidnapping two Israeli soldiers last week.

Israel responded with massive missile and bomb barrages throughout Lebanon in a display of armed might that Kirkpatrick called "disproportionate force." Hezbollah has countered the Israeli attacks with missile attacks on the port city of Haifa and other targets in northern Israel.

According to a July 17 Associated Press report, more than 220 have died in the bombardments, most of them Lebanese civilians.

"We urge you to put pressure on all parties to find a diplomatic solution to this crisis," Kirkpatrick wrote.

A PC(USA) national staff member, Elias Sahiouny, is currently in Beirut, visiting family with his wife, Elian. Sahiouny, manager of financial services in Mission Support Services, has been in touch with colleagues at the Presbyterian Center here. Though sleepless, the Sahiounys are safe and waiting for the opportunity to get out of Lebanon and return to the United States, he said.

The full text of Kirkpatrick's letter to President Bush:

I write to you with deep concern about the growing crisis in the Middle East. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has long been committed to working for a just peace in the region. Over the last fifty-six years we have consistently expressed our concern for peace between Israel, the Palestinian people, and the Arab states. We have called for United States policies to encourage and to help achieve the negotiation of a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in the region.

The current situation demands leadership by your administration for the sake of Israel, the United States, and all the peoples of the region. If the spiral of violence between Israel and Lebanon is allowed to continue unchecked, the countries in the Middle East could be drawn into another regional war. An expanded conflict will threaten the security of our nation. I urge you, Mr. President, to work with the United Nations and the Israeli government to do everything possible to bring about a diplomatic solution to this crisis before the region is drawn into all-out war.

We denounce the provocative actions of Hezbollah, and we fully recognize and support Israel's right to self-defense. However, the disproportionate force being used by the Israeli military against Lebanon has caused the indiscriminate deaths of scores of Lebanese civilians, as well as major damage to Lebanon's infrastructure. It further escalates the violence, destabilizes an already weak Lebanese government, and, in turn, destabilizes the region.

We urge you to put pressure on all parties to find a diplomatic solution to this crisis. We urge you to work with the United Nations to put pressure on Hezbollah and its supporters to stop attacks on Israel and to return the kidnapped soldiers. And, we urge you to work in partnership with Israel to restrain the disproportionate use of military force.

As Presbyterians, we understand God's gift of peace to be most profoundly exemplified in the life and ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Christ calls all who profess faith in him to share the gospel message of peace in a broken and insecure world. We believe we are called to build a culture of peace for all of God's children. We must have the courage to believe that peace is possible and take the steps necessary to achieve this goal.

The people of the Middle East, the birthplace of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, are groaning under the burden of war and desperately desire peace. We implore you to not allow the extremists of the region to dictate the reality and final outcome of this situation. What is needed now is a sane and diplomatic voice, which the United States can provide.

Please use all diplomatic means available to you to restrain the violence and calm the situation – for the sake of Israel, the United States, and all the peoples of the Holy Land and the wider region.

Mideast violence is futile, say NCC and CWS; they urge nonviolent solution, prayers and advocacy
[7-19-06]

New York City, July 14, 2006 – "Is there ever to be an end to violence in the land we call holy?" asked the National Council of Churches USA and Church World Service, its humanitarian partner agency, in a statement issued today following days of unchecked death and destruction in the Middle East.

"What has violence solved these last 60 years? What has violence solved these past weeks?" the statement asked. The NCC and CWS called for an immediate cessation of attacks on all sides and urged the United States government and other nations, "recognizing the success of former peace initiatives," to seek nonviolent solutions with the assistance of the United Nations for all the parties in the region.

The NCC and CWS also urged their 35 member Christian churches to "pray for all those who have suffered and died as a result of this violence, and their families and communities, and to engage in humanitarian and advocacy actions for peace."

This is also posted on the NCC website >>

The complete statement follows:

A Statement of the National Council of Churches USA and Church World Service on the current violence in the Middle East

July 14, 2006

"As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!’" (Luke 19: 41-42a, NRSV)

Jesus’ lament echoes over the landscape of the Middle East, and in the hearts of men and women everywhere, as we witness the senseless violence engulfing the region. Is there ever to be an end to violence in the land we call holy?

What has violence solved these last 60 years? What has violence solved these past weeks?

Any hope for peace, itself a miracle in the midst of occupation, was stifled with Israel’s missile strike on Gaza and the death of innocent Palestinians. Any chance of reconciliation was hindered by the retributive attacks and kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas. Any call for restraint was ignored with disproportionate retaliations by Israel. Any plea for reason was cast aside with the capture of two more Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah. Any prayer for an end to this escalation of hostilities was silenced with the Israeli incursions into Lebanon, the subsequent shelling of Haifa and Beirut, and the death of more and more civilians.

We hear Jesus’ lament in the cries of the Israelis, Palestinians, and Lebanese, the Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others whose lives are threatened by this unending violence. Where can this cycle of vengeance, retribution and violence lead?

When will all Israeli leaders see that aggression only breeds more aggression, and that security cannot be achieved through the oppression and humiliation of others? When will all Palestinian leaders understand that calls for justice demand the doing of justice, and that suffering injustice does not confer moral license to respond with violence? When will the United States see that being an honest, effective broker for peace requires fairness in our dealings with both the Israelis and the Palestinians, and now the Lebanese, and that doing nothing to end the violence costs us dearly in spirit, blood, treasure, and moral integrity?

The National Council of Churches USA and Church World Service:

	Call upon our own government and all governments, recognizing the success of former peace initiatives, to encourage aggrieved parties to engage in earnest negotiation, and through the United Nations to work with all concerned parties to address immediate humanitarian needs and to resolve the long-term issues underlying the continued violence;
	Call upon all parties in the Middle East to end the current hostilities, to develop non-violent strategies for engagement, and to work toward a just and sustainable settlement of the issues that plague the region;
	Call upon the religious communities of the region to pray, teach and lead their people in the ways of peace, and upon religious communities throughout the world to walk with them in solidarity until peace is achieved; and,
	Call upon its member communions to pray for all those who have suffered and died as a result of this violence, and their families and communities, and to engage in humanitarian and advocacy actions for peace.

We issue this statement remembering the words of Jesus Christ: "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword" (Matthew 26:52, NRSV).

Other statements on the escalation of violence in the Middle East:

World Council of Churches
Middle East Council of Churches
Council on American-Islamic Relations

Jewish Voice for Peace offers seven "talking points" on the Mid-East crisis
[7-19-06]

Talking points from Jewish Voice for Peace

1. The Israeli attacks constitute collective punishment of the entire Gazan and Lebanese populations, and have created a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions in Gaza.

2. Israel’s own leadership has admitted that the operations in both Gaza and Lebanon have virtually no hope of freeing the Israeli soldiers or stopping rocket attacks.

3. Gaza must not be forgotten while attention is being diverted to Lebanon.

4. Hizbullah’s attack on the Israeli army and its subsequent missile attacks on Israeli cities are also violations of international law. These need to be condemned, but they do not justify Israel’s subsequent actions.

5. Israel's assault on Gaza does not constitute a re-occupation, because Israel's occupation of Gaza never ended.

6. The ongoing crisis reflects the failure of Israeli unilateralism, the failure of the "Roadmap," the failure of the U.S.-orchestrated exclusion of the UN, and failure of the international community and the UN to intervene.

7. The Gaza escalation demonstrates once again the need for an entirely new, international (not U.S.-sponsored) diplomatic process based on international law and human rights, aimed at ending the occupation and establishing equal rights for all, the only basis for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the region.

Israel in Gaza; Israel in Lebanon

July 17, 2006

An important message!
End the Suffering in the Middle East
By Rabbi Michael Lerner

This message is also posted on the Tikkun website >>

The people of the Middle East are suffering again as militarists on all sides, and cheerleading journalists, send forth missiles, bombs and endless words of self-justification for yet another pointless round of violence between Israel and her neighbors. For those of us who care deeply about human suffering, this most recent episode in irrationality evokes tears of sadness, incredulity at the lack of empathy on all sides, anger at how little anyone seems to have learned from the past, and moments of despair as we once again see the religious and democratic ideals subordinated to the cynical realism of militarism.

Meanwhile, the partisans on each side, content to ignore the humanity of "the Other," rush to assure their constituencies that the enemy is always to blame. Each such effort is pointless. We have a struggle that has been going on for over a hundred years. Who tosses the latest match into the tinder box matters little. What matters is how to repair the situation. The blame game only succeeds in diverting attention from that central issue.

Within the context of blame, there’s enough to go around. It all depends on where you start the story. Counting on lack of historical memory, the partisans on all sides choose the place that best fits them into a narrative in which they are the "righteous victims" and the others are the evil aggressors. Palestinians like to start the story in 1948 with the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes during the war on Israel proclaimed by neighboring Arab states, and the refusal of the Israeli government to allow these people to return to once the hostilities ceased. Israelis prefer to start the story when Jews were desperately seeking to escape from the genocide they faced in Europe, and a cynical Arab leadership convinced the British military to side with local Palestinians who sought to prevent those Jewish refugees from joining their fellow Jews living in Palestine at the time. I tell the story, and how to understand both sides, in my book Healing Israel/Palestine.

Or one can start more recently, with this summer’s escalation of violence. But where exactly did that start? Please go to the website of Israeli Human Rights Organization B’tselem to see that each side can point to outrageous acts on the part of the other.

Since the death of Yasir Arafat and the assumption of power by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Palestine’s major political factions – Fatah and Hamas – observed a hudna, or ceasefire. Yet Israel, pointing to the fact that Abbas’ police force (decimated by Israeli bombings during the 2nd Intifada of 2001-2003) was unable to fully restrain the violence of Hamas, the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade and Islamic Jihad—and used that weakness as its reason to claim that there was "nobody to talk to" when the peace forces in Israel pleaded with former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and later with current PM Ehud Olmert that the Palestinian request for negotiations should be accepted. Instead, Israel announced a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and the northern West Bank (implemented in 2005) and from forthcoming sections of the West Bank (to have begun with the removal of illegal outposts this summer) that would de facto create new borders which would incorporate into Israel large parts of the West Bank that Israel had agreed to leave during the 1990s. Tikkun magazine and Israeli peace forces warned that the unilateral withdrawal, opposed by the Palestinian Authority, would add credibility to Hamas’ claim that all the Palestinian Authority’s efforts at non-violence had produced nothing more than Israel refusing to talk, whereas acts of violence by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza had led to the IDF withdrawing to protect its soldiers.

It wouldn’t be hard to see why Sharon went ahead with the unilateral withdrawal. If his intention was, as stated, to hold on to as much of the West Bank as possible, it would be far easier to convince the world that "there is nobody to talk to" if Hamas would win the coming election, since Hamas was universally recognized to be a terrorist group. When the Palestinian people complied by falling for this trick and establishing a government run by people who refused to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist, it was easy for Olmert to affirm the Sharon unilateralism and announce plans to withdraw from the West Bank that would be the political cover for Israel annexing significant parts of the Occupied Territory. Hamas played its expected role by lobbing Qassam rockets at Israeli population centers, thereby "proving" for the Israeli right that any withdrawal would only intensify Israeli vulnerability and give Israeli hard-liners reason to oppose Olmert’s partial withdrawal as appeasement that had already failed to bring peace in Gaza.

Of course, from the standpoint of Hamas, this was only part of an ongoing struggle to free thousands of Palestinians who continue to be "arrested" (or, from the Palestinian perspective, "kidnapped") by the IDF, incarcerated without charges or trial for six months in huge prison camps, often subject to torture. Yet Hamas, faced with an economic boycott (including the withholding to Hamas of taxes Israel collected from Palestinians that Israel had previously promised it would give back to the Palestinian Authority) that was preventing it from being able to function as a government, made statements that indicated that it was exploring the idea of de facto recognition in response to the Prisoners document, which threatened to undercut everyone because it was signed by members of every major faction of Palestinians sitting in Israeli jails).

For Israeli militarists and the settlers, Hamas recognition of Israel, however partial, would have been a dramatic propaganda defeat. Within days Israelis began shelling inside Gaza (allegedly to stop Hamas’ firing of Qassam rockets against Israeli population centers). One such shell landed on a Gaza beach, killing a family of eight who were simply enjoying the sun and water. A few days later, a Hamas group captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and Israel used this as its excuse to implement a plan it had developed months before to re-enter Gaza and destroy the Hamas infrastructure.

At this point a huge escalation took place. Instead of narrowly focusing on Hamas’ capacity to make war, the Israelis chose the path of collective punishment, a frequently ineffective counterinsurgency policy used to eliminate public support for resistance movements. In the height of the oppressive summer heat, Israel bombed the electricity grid, effectively cutting off Gaza’s water and the electricity needed to keep refrigeration working, thereby guaranteeing a dramatic decrease in food for the area’s already destitute, million plus population. This act was yet another violation of international law that include the arrests of thousands by Israelis and the shooting of Qassams at population centers by Hamas.

In response, Hezbollah fighters who had occupied the land abandoned by Israel when Israel terminated its occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, launched an attack on Israeli troops inside Israel in clear violation of the understandings that peace would be maintained on that border—understandings that made it politically possible for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon without fear that its northern citizens would once again be subject to rocket fire that had put many Israelis into bomb shelters off-and-on for years since Israel had invaded Lebanon in 1982.

From the standpoint of some in the Arab world, the attack on Israeli troops in northern Israel was an act of Islamic solidarity in face of the huge escalation taken by Israel against the entire population of Gaza. They argue that what really needs to be explained is not why they acted, but why the rest of the world did not act to demand that Israel end its outrageous punishment of a million people for the acts of a few (when the U.N. tried to act, the right-wing government of the U.S. vetoed a resolution supported by the Security Council majority).

Yet from the standpoint of Israel, the attacks by Hezbollah were a blatant violation of the understanding that had kept Israel out of Lebanon for the past seven years. And in fact, it was also a violation of international law and human rights, subjecting a civilian population to random bombings aimed at terrorizing the population. Hezbollah had shown itself to be the vicious terrorist force that Israel always claimed it to be. People living in Haifa or Tsfat or dozens of other locations in Israel are at this very moment living in the same kind of fear that rekindles the fears of earlier experiences in their lives (some, remember, are Holocaust survivors, others the children of survivors, and many have lived through wars that were explicitly aimed at the annihilation of Israel). Those fears are unfortunately likely to be played on by right wing politicians in the coming years.

Nor should we underestimate the malevolence of Iran and Syria in attempting to stimulate unrest and destabilization. While there are some in both of these countries who genuinely feel outrage at Israeli behavior toward Muslim co-religionists, the record of indifference to the plight of the Palestinians in their own countries and failure to provide material support for Palestine to build up its own economic infrastructure when it was needed suggests that their assistance to Hezbollah comes more from seeking political advantage and domination in the Middle East than from genuine moral solidarity with the Palestinian people. And the fear of Iran, a country whose president out and out denies that there ever was a Holocaust and who explicitly affirms the goal of destroying the State of Israel gives Israelis real reason to worry when his proxies in Hezbollah or Hamas develop the capacity to shoot rockets into Israeli population centers.

What was Israel to do?

Well, had Ariel Sharon been in power, having learned his lesson in Lebanon, he likely would have done the exact same thing he did two years ago when an Israeli businessman was captured by "the enemy"—namely, a prisoner exchange in which hundreds of prisoners are released for a single Israeli. That exchange had been asked for by Hamas and pleaded for by the family of POW Gilad Shalit, but was been rejected by the Israeli government. Please read the analysis of this error, and other articles analyzing the current situation at the daily updates of "Current Thinking" at www.tikkun.org.

The consensus among Israeli peaceniks is that both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Labor Party Defense Minister Amir Peretz feel the political need to show that they are "strong" and hence the invasion and attack on Lebanon is their only politically possible strategy. For the sake of their egos and their future political viability, they "must" proceed with the wild escalation of the struggle against the Lebanese people, most of whom had exercised their democratic rights by rejecting Hezbollah’s electoral appeals, voting in a government that had only a small minority of Hezbollah within it.

What could Israel still do? It could redefine these issues as minor border irritants, exchange POWS, and unilaterally announce that it will no longer hold arrestees for more than 3 days without filing formal criminal charges against those who had acted with violence and releasing everyone else, giving speedy and public trials, and punishing any soldier or Shin Bet or Aman officer who engages in torture (or, as they call it, "moderate pressure") on detainees. It could then immediately announce its intentions to strengthen the position of Palestinian Authority President Abbas by giving to him the tax monies withheld from Hamas, and opening "final status" negotiations within two months. Meanwhile, Israel could begin dismantling the Separation Wall, and promise to rebuild it only on the lines of an international border agreed to by both sides. And Israel could unilaterally censor anti-Palestinian incitement within government-controlled media and instead begin to build a culture of non-violence and educate Israelis about the need for reparations to Palestinian refugees.

What could Palestinians do? President Abbas could announce that he is inviting Israel to form a joint Israeli/Palestinian border force to ensure that there are no more violent attacks on Israeli civilians, in exchange for the immediate opening of "final status" negotiations with Israel before any further West Bank withdrawals are created. There were joint patrols and security coordination until Sept. 2,000 and they contributed to the low level of violence on both sides until Ariel Sharon made his famous provocative trip to the Temple Mount. Abbas could further announce that the Palestinian people who elected him are committed to a non-violent (not passive) struggle for ending the Occupation, but that anyone engaged in violence against Israel or against fellow Palestinians would be tried and, if convicted, would lose their Palestinian citizenship. Abbas could tour the West Bank and Gaza preaching non-violence, implement an immediate end to anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric in the Palestinian press and in their schools, and could announce that he is determined to build a culture of non-violence inside Palestine.

What could the U.S. and other Western states do? They could immediately establish an international conference representing all the nations of the world who were willing to accept the right of Israel to exist within the 1967 boundaries and the right of Palestine to exist within Gaza and the West Bank, and let those countries impose on both sides a settlement that is fair to both sides and enforce such a settlement, guaranteeing peace and security to both sides. Each participant country in this international conference would be allowed in after it had given to a neutral international bank a deposit equal to .01% of its GDP for the purpose of creating the beginning of an international fund for reparations as described below.

As the Tikkun Community has outlined in the past, the terms of that settlement should include:

1. Permanent boundaries for both states that roughly resemble the pre-67 borders, with some border adjustments mutually agreed to along lines developed in the Geneva Accord (Israel incorporating some of the border settlements into Israel, in exchange for Israel giving equal amounts and quality of land to the Palestinian State).

2. Sharing of Jerusalem and its holy sites, with each side entitled to establish their national capital in Jerusalem, Israel to have control over the Jewish and Armenian quarters plus the Wall and adjacent territory, and Palestine to have control over the Temple Mount with its mosques.

3. All states participating in the International Conference would dedicate at least .1% of their GDP toward an international fund for reparations for Palestinians who lost property, employment or homes in the period 1947-1967, and to Jews who fled from Arab states in the same period (however, reparations will not be paid to any Arab or Jewish family with current gross assets of more than $5 million dollars).

4. A joint Israel/Palestine/International Community police force will be set up to enforce border security for both sides. The U.S. and NATO will enter into a mutual security pact for both parties guaranteeing that each side will be protected by the U.S. and NATO from any assault by the other or by any assault from any other country in the world.

5. Creation of an Atonement and Reconciliation Commission which will unveil all records of both sides, bring to light all violations of human rights on both sides, bring formal charges against those who do not confess their involvement in those violations and testify to the details, and supervise a newly created peace curriculum for all schools and universities aimed at teaching reconciliation and non-violence in action and communication. The explicit goal of this Commission will be to foster the conditions for a reconciliation of the heart and a new understanding on the part of both peoples that each side has been cruel and insensitive, and need to repent, and that both sides have a legitimate narrative that needs to be understood and accepted as a legitimate viewpoint by the other side.

Who are Israel’s friends and the friends of the Jewish people? Those who support this path toward peace and reconciliation. Who are its enemies? Those who encourage it to persist in the fantasy that it can "win" militarily or politically. Just as the objective enemies of America in the 1960s were those who egged it on to persist in the Vietnam war, and those who were its objective friends were those of its citizens who actively opposed that war, so similarly today the friends of the Jewish people are those who are doing everything possible to restrain it from cheerleading for Israel’s militarist adventures and refusal to treat the Palestinians as equally entitled to freedom and self-determination as the Jewish people.

Who are Palestine’s friends? Those who encourage a path of non-violence and abandoning the fantasy that armed struggle combined with political isolation of Israel will lead to a good outcome for Palestinians. Who are its enemies? Those who preach ideas like "one state solution" or global economic boycott without offering the Jewish people a secure state in Palestine--paths that will never produce anything positive but continued resistance by Israel and world Jewry.

As for us in the Tikkun Community who are friends of both sides, our orientation is clear. Our goal is to speak truth to both the powerful in Israel and the powerless in Palestine, to tell them that their goals cannot be achieved without a radical reversal in the strategic directions they have been following. This truth will eventually be heard—the only question is whether it will be heard without another generation of Arabs and Israelis losing their lives. Because we care very much about the human suffering on both sides, we pray that this truth will be heard, and our strategies for a solution will be implemented. And we will do more than pray—we will also demonstrate against the governments of the U.S., Israel and Palestine till they all change their directions in the ways suggested here, we will organize and educate, and will take other non-violent steps to get our message heard.

Rabbi Michael Lerner is author of Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation (Harper, 1995), Healing Israel/Palestine (North Atlantic Books, 2003), most recently The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006) and seven other books. He is the editor of Tikkun Magazine in Berkeley (510-644 1200) and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun synagogue which meets in both San Francisco and Berkeley.

web: http://www.tikkun.org

A comment on divestment:

" Our policy in the Middle East is why we are in this war." [7-19-06]

Commenting on our recent postings about the General Assembly’s action on divestment, Martha Schumacher of Austin, Texas, sent this short, clear note:

Why do you think that Presbyterians do not understand that the hatred the terrorists feel toward us is because of our blind policy with respect to Israel... Our policy in the Middle East is why we are in this war. So if our government does nothing, then the Church must.

She later added:

The only tool the Church has to send a message is by divestment and to me it is simple... I choose to invest in wind power, for example, instead of a gun manufacturer... I belong to Hope Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX. I have been a Presbyterian for a long time. I served as Volunteer in Mission at Sheldon Jackson College ( Alaska) in 1998.

What are your thoughts on this new level of conflict?
Please send a note, and we'll share it here.