Thursday, October 15, 2009

Muslim-Christian Dialogue conference

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
October 9, 2009
ELCA and ELCJHL Bishops Deepen Conversations among Christians and Muslims 09-224-JD

WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, were among 1,000 people who attended the fourth major Muslim-Christian dialogue conference here Oct. 7-8.

"It has been both the challenge and the hope for this conference that common words would lead to common deeds," said Hanson. "We have heard stories of places where particular Muslims and Christians are deepening their understanding of one another in dialogue that leads to engagement in their communities." Read more....

Lutheran Bishops Urge Continued Commitment to Middle East Peace, Oct 14

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
October 14, 2009

Lutheran Bishops Urge for Continued Commitment to Middle East Peace 09-226-JD

WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- Lutherans are asking the Obama Administration to "remain firm" in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian impasse. In an Oct. 13 letter, 58 of 65 synod bishops and the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) expressed concern over the stalemate and the "fading hopes" for a two-state solution.

"We urge the U.S. to insist upon an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land as well as an end to Palestinian violence against Israelis," the letter said. The bishops stated their appreciation for the past leadership of the administration and asked the president to "remain firm in your commitment to achieving a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians." The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, said, "The call of ELCA bishops for an even stronger leadership role by President Obama recognizes both ...(more)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

"For Gaza and the Palestinian People"

Friends,

As I pack for Greece, Israel and Palestine this week, I’m thinking about the people we will meet—the people I’ve already met and the new ones we will meet on this trip. We will see the way the soldiers ignore the Palestinians waiting at the checkpoint, while they flash friendly smiles and say “welcome” to us in English when they see our blue American passports. We will see the teenagers in uniform, the girls checking their hair and makeup in the mirror, standing in groups in the plaza, flirting with one another, automatic weapons casually slung over their shoulders. We will see Palestinians bravely starting a new college in Bethlehem, ignoring the obstacles of building permits, and supplies held for weeks by the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint.

We won’t see the devastation of Gaza, however. The bombed-out buildings, the tunnels built to bring in much-needed food and building supplies, still under attack. The farmers still shot at while they try to harvest their crops. The fishermen still shot at by the Israeli soldiers when they put out to sea in their boats. We won’t see the children who get only one meal a day and the ones who join the military clubs because they don’t have anything else to do or to hope for. But I remember them as I visit one more elected official this week, to tell my story of what I have seen and heard.

Mairead Maguire writes about it in her poem, composed while she was in the Ramle prison in Israel in June, after she was arrested for trying to bring medical supplies to Gaza:

For Gaza and the Palestinian People*

As long as
The People of Palestine
Have no liberty, no freedom
Those of us with a voice to speak:
Must speak!

As long asThe Children of Gaza
Live in fear of Israeli
Bombs and occupation
Those of us with a voice to speak:
Must speak!

As long as
Six million Palestinian refugees
Are deportees around the world
Those of us with a voice to speak:
Must speak!

As long as
Millions of God's Children
Are hungry, imprisoned, and without hope
Those of us with a voice to speak:
Must speak!

Because it is in speaking
We find our liberty, our freedom
And no prison bars can take away
Our peace, our love
Which is the true Spirit of Humanity!*

Written by MAIREAD MAGUIRE, Nobel Peace Laureate, during her incarceration in Ramle prison, Israel 3lst June, 2009 http://www.propheticimagery.com/Spirit%20of%20Humanity.htm

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Avraham Burg: US Churches Must Stop Following Israel Down the Trauma Trail

Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli Knesset, has concluded that Israel and the West must change course, and challenges American Christians: “American churches are filled with “otherwise rational, compassionate people” who remain oblivious to the reality that they are sponsors of Israel’s Occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. They are a people who are living in the darkness of their ignorance.”

From Friends of Sabeel--North America, Voice of the Palestinian Christians

US Churches Must Stop Following Israel Down the Trauma Trail
by James M. Wall

Avraham Burg , former Israeli Chairman of the Jewish Agency and former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, has written a book with the provocative title, The Holocaust is Over; We must Rise from Its Ashes.

In a PBS interview with Charlie Rose, Burg told Rose why he wrote the book.

"I realized that we must deal with the psyche of the place. And the psyche of the place goes back to the trauma. We're a traumatized society. My suggestion in the book is a suggestion for a new strategy for the Jewish people, and maybe a new strategy for the West in general, and this is to move from trauma to trust."

Rose: Traumatized by?

Burg: By everything, but mainly the Holocaust. It goes like this. Whenever there is a victim in Israel, whenever somebody is killed in a terror activity or whatever it is, that's one victim on top of seven wars, on top of 6 million, on top of 2,000 years of problems. So it always the history, nothing is just contemporary state of affairs.

In his book and in his conversation with Rose, Burg, a well-known figure in Jewish political life, offers his explanation as to what leads otherwise rational, compassionate people to cling tightly to the certainty that the 1948 "invasion of Arab armies" grants permission to the state of Israel to use whatever methods are at hand to defend their "newborn Jewish state".

American churches are filled with "otherwise rational, compassionate people" who remain oblivious to the reality that they are sponsors of Israel's Occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. They are a people who are living in the darkness of their ignorance. (To continue reading, click here.)

Friends of Sabeel--North America
PO Box 9186, Portland, OR 97207
fosna.org; friends@fosna.org





Friends of Sabeel--North America PO Box 9186 Portland OR 97207