Assembly calls for peacemaking in
Israel/Palestine
[6-30-08]
Presbyterian News Service has posted a report on the responses of
the Assembly to the work of Committee 11, on Peacemaking and
International Issues. We offer it here, with a couple notes added by
your WebWeaver.
Written by Shane Whisler, PNS
SAN JOSE — 28 June 2008 —
Commissioners to the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) “stayed the course” of being peacemakers around the world.
The Assembly called for
“responsibly” bringing the troops home from Iraq, continuing peacemaking in
Israel and Palestine and supporting human rights in Zimbabwe, the
Philippines, North Korea and Columbia.
Issues concerning peace, as
it relates to the Middle East and other crisis areas of the world, took the
majority of the committee’s time during deliberations earlier this week.
Their mindful discernment helped the full General Assembly to move business
quickly and collaboratively. As a result, the full assembly quickly passed
overtures June 27 that affirmed immediate food aid to North Korea, civil
rights accompaniment to citizens of Columbia, and a careful approach to
peacemaking in Israel and Palestine.
Moderator of the committee on
Peace and International Issues, the Rev. Nancy Kahaian repeatedly talked
about how the committee was mindful of listening to all sides, striving to
achieve balance.
“I think (the time spent)
reflects the deliberate care that this committee displayed when confronted
with the many issues related to human suffering,” Kahaian said in a press
conference following the Assembly actions. “(Our) committee considered what
it means for us to be Christian people who are instruments of God’s mercy
and grace in a broken and fractured world,” said Kahaian.
“I’m always struck by the
people who don’t realize that the largest Protestant church in the Middle
East is the Presbyterian or Reformed Church,” said Cliff Kirkpatrick, stated
clerk of the General Assembly. “So it is no accident that we care
passionately.”
“We all agree issues in the
Middle East are complex indeed,” said the Rev. James Patten, commissioner
from the Presbytery of Seattle and a member of the committee, “but we
believe that 11-01 gives us a biblically grounded way to say that we ‘dare
not be neutral.’”
Item 11-01 affirms the
prophetic role of the church in speaking truth to governments, creating
resources and supporting the Amman Call. The Amman Call affirms a
“two-state” solution, a shared Jerusalem, the human rights of refugees and
occupied peoples, a call to resist extremism and push for reconciliation and
a commitment to imperatives of ecumenical solidarity in action for Just
Peace….” The Amman Call was created at a World Council of Churches
conference in 2007.
The Assembly voted 504-171-7
to approve the 11-01 after voting down an amendment that would have removed
an endorsement of the Amman Call.
[From your WebWeaver:
Click here for the
full text of overture from the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, as amended and
finally adopted by a vote of 504 to 171. The amendment which would have
weakened the statement by deleting the
“Amman Call” for Israel/Palestine peace was first defeated by 413 to
257.]
The committee’s report to the
Assembly lasted longer than any other committee, and was accompanied by
several commissioners making persistent efforts to make sure all sides of
the issues were heard and discussed thoroughly.
At the press conference after
the report of the committee, Kirkpatrick summarized the range of concerns
commissioners expressed in taking the action on the Iraq-related items. He
said concern is for the withdrawal of troops, Iraqi women’s rights, human
rights in the region, religious liberty, reconstruction, and particularly
Iraqi refugees. There was broad agreement among commissioners on each of
these issues, except for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Kirkpatrick also expressed a
continued sense of sorrow that the U.S. government did not grant a visa to
the general secretary of the Presbyterian churches in Iraq to enter the U.S.
and attend the Assembly.
Kahaian said the committee’s
desire to consider all perspectives on the issue was shown by the inclusion
of two minority reports, demonstrating the depth of debate and consideration
of all perspectives in the committee.
[A further note from your
WebWeaver: The Rev. Nancy Kahaian, moderator of the committee,
repeatedly emphasized the committee’s commitment to seeing all sides and
achieving fairness in dealing with very difficult and complex issues. This
echoed the theme of item 11-26, “On Middle East Peacemaking,” which
originated as an overture from the Presbytery of Santa Barbara. Its opening
sentence stated its main point: “The Arab/Israeli conflict presents an
unprecedented level of complexity amid constantly changing political
conditions in the region. Thus, the best course of action for the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is to defer from positions or policy statements
that appear to favor either side in the conflict.”
In the debate Minister
Commissioner Jim Patten opposed the resolution saying that “to be neutral in
the face of injustice is to condone that injustice.” Another commissioner
later said that “this calls us to do nothing. Martin Luther King’s spirit
calls us not to do nothing.” It had been approved by the Peacemaking
and International Issues Committee, but was soundly rejected by the
Assembly, when presented as a substitute for the Baltimore overture, by a
vote of 400 to 255.
For the full text of the overture >>
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