NCC delegation urged not to become 'propagandists' for Yasser Arafat
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A National Council of Churches 13-member delegation visiting the Middle East has been challenged to avoid becoming "mere propagandists" for the Palestinian side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Diane Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, also challenged the NCC delegation to avoid "a mindless moral equivalence" in assessing Israeli and Palestinian stances and actions.
The NCC delegation should be careful to make "crucial moral distinctions between the identities, goals and tactics of the parties in conflict," Knippers said in an IRD news release April 17.
The Institute on Religion and Democracy, based in Washington, was founded 20 years ago as "an ecumenical alliance of U.S. Christians working to reform their churches' social witness, in accord with biblical and historic Christian teachings, thereby contributing to the renewal of democratic society at home and abroad," according to the organization's mission statement.
The 13-member National Council of Churches delegation's April 16-27 visit to the Middle East had been planned for several months, according to an NCC news release, but had become "all the more urgent" with the heightened crisis, Bob Edgar, the NCC's general secretary, was quoted as saying. The NCC has 36 member denominations; the Southern Baptist Convention, however, has never been affiliated with the council, which was founded in 1950.
"We intend to meet with our Christian partners in both Israel and Palestine," Edgar said. "We go to offer pastoral support for Christians in the Holy Land; seek ways churches in the U.S. and Holy Land can promote a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians; encourage Christians, Jews and Muslims working for peace; and bring our ecumenical witness to U.S., Israeli and Palestinian political leaders."
Among those joining Edgar in the delegation are William Shaw of Philadelphia, president of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc.; James Edward Winkler of Washington, D.C., general secretary of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society; and James A. Forbes Jr., senior minister at New York City's Riverside Church.
The delegation was scheduled to be in Istanbul, Turkey, April 18 in meetings with three top leaders among the 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. It subsequent itinerary: Lebanon, April 19-20; Syria, April 21-22; Jordan, April 23; Israel/Palestine, April 24-27.
The NCC news release quoted Riad Jarjour, general secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches, as telling the NCC by telephone April 15 from Beirut, "We are expecting the delegation as scheduled. Now is really the time that you should come. Your visit is exactly what needs to be done, and will be meaningful and fruitful."
Knippers of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, however, said, "... our churches do not help the situation if they become mere propagandists for one party in the conflict. The NCC has shown a severe tilt toward the Palestinian Authority that distorts truth and undermines the church's witness."
Knippers said U.S. Christians "share a deep concern for all the people suffering in the Middle East," but: "At this point, when the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories verges on open warfare, church leaders need to draw on the wisdom of traditional Christian teaching about just and unjust wars."
An NCC spokeswoman, contacted by Baptist Press April 19 for NCC's reaction to Knipper's challenges, reiterated the purpose of the delegation's trip as recounted in the NCC news release.
Knipper's call for the NCC to make "crucial moral distinctions between the identities, goals and tactics of the parties in conflict," was followed by IRD news release commentary that, "Recent statements from the NCC and its leading member denominations have not made these moral distinctions. They have fixed blame almost exclusively upon Israel. NCC leaders have rarely mentioned the questionable goals and tactics of the Palestinian Authority. They make no significant demands upon that authority. Their solution to the region's problems is simplistic and unilateral: an immediate withdrawal by Israel to its pre-1967 borders."
The moral distinctions, according to the IRD news release, include:
-- a distinction in the legitimacy of the two political bodies at war. "Israel's government, albeit imperfect, is elected democratically. But the Palestinian Authority rules its people by force and intimidation. It has never faced a truly open election," Knippers said.
-- a distinction in strategic objectives. Knippers noted, "Israel is clear that its goal is to exist as a Jewish state within secure borders. That is fully legitimate. By contrast, the intentions of the Palestinian Authority are ambiguous. At times Yasir Arafat has rightly promised self-determination for Palestinians while respecting the self-determination of Israelis. But at other times, the Palestinian dictator's actions and words have demonstrated a continuing drive to destroy Israel. Our church leaders must be clear that this latter goal is morally intolerable."
-- a distinction in tactics. "Israeli military strikes aimed at terrorist groups are an exercise of that government's divinely-appointed duty to protect its citizens," Knippers said. "These are not on the same moral plane as terrorist bombings that target civilians. Israel may be criticized when its actions have undue impact upon Palestinian civilians; however, this criticism should have a different tone from the necessary denunciation of suicide bombings."
U.S. Christians "cannot ignore the ethical failures of the Palestinian Authority nor of the Arab nations that claim to support the Palestinian people," Knippers said. "Nor should Christian Zionists offer uncritical support for Israel. U.S. Christians need to show greater humility about our prescriptions for peace. We must pray for a new vision of how the very unequally situated governments throughout the region might find some new accord."
Noting that the NCC delegation had been invited by various churches in the Middle East, Knippers said, "Those churches stand in grave need of solidarity from Western Christians. I would hope that the NCC delegation could pay some attention to the threats that Middle Eastern Christians face which go far beyond the Arab-Israeli conflict."
The IRD is scheduled to post a document titled, "Statements on the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Groups Related to the U.S. National Council of Churches," on its www.ird-renew.org website April 19 or 22.
The document contains statements on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis by Edgar; the NCC; Churches for Middle East Peace; the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society; Frank T. Griswold, president bishop of the Episcopal Church U.S.A.; and Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), among others.
The IRD adds various brief commentaries about the statements by the mainline churches and their leaders.
In one rebuttal, for example, to a letter the Churches for Middle East Peace's executive committee sent to President Bush in January, the IRD states: "This letter did not condemn any specific acts of violence carried out by agents of the Palestinian Authority. It contained no request that Yasir Arafat should cease words and actions that enflame the Palestinian people."
The Churches for the Middle East, in its letter to Bush, stated: "We condemn, without conditions, all acts of violence committed by both sides of the conflict. We ask that you, in your upcoming meeting with Prime Minister Sharon, insist that all violence, including the violence of military occupation -- house demolitions, repressive closures, land confiscation, destruction of trees, torture of detainees, and settlement activity -- end immediately."
The group continued: "It is evident to our churches, as well as the international community, that the allowance granted Israel by the United States for the destruction of the infrastructure of Palestinian self-rule, through targeted assassinations, reoccupation of land and other measures, is a serious policy error. On behalf of the national churches and organizations that make up Churches for Middle East Peace, we appeal to you to convince Mr. Sharon to cease actions that enflame the Palestinian people and to encourage those Israeli leaders who seek to meet with Palestinian leaders."
