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Check out this short video for a short summary of the conflict in Israel and Palestine.

Because of extreme cold and windy, snowy, icy road conditions, our effort to bring Jeff Halper to speak in Holland on January 29 was thwarted. Here is a 7-minute videos introducing his newest book, War Against the People: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S_UdmHA7E .

Also, with the help of many, we share with you below the basic presentation Jeff gave in Indiana and Chicago, which he would have shared with us also. It announces a very important initiative among Israelis and Palestinians for a way forward. Jeff is one of the more than 90 initial signatories, including Israelis and Palestinians.

THE ODSC PROGRAM FOR ONE DEMOCRATIC STATEBETWEEN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA AND THE JORDAN RIVER

PREAMBLE
In recent years, the idea of a one democratic state as the best political solution for Palestine has re-emerged and gained support in the public domain. It is not a new idea. The Palestinian liberation movement, before the Nakba of 1948 and after, had promoted this vision in the PLO’s National Charter, abandoning it for the two-state solution only in 1988. It was on this basis that, in September 1993, the Palestinians entered into the Oslo negotiations. The two-state solution was also endorsed by all the Palestinian parties represented in the Israeli Knesset. But on the ground Israel strengthened its colonial control, fragmenting the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza into tiny, isolated and impoverished cantons, separated from one another by settlements, massive Israeli highways, hundreds of checkpoints, the apartheid Wall, military bases and fences. After a half-century of relentless “judaization,” the two-state solution must be pronounced dead, buried under the colonial enterprise on the territory that would have become the Palestinian state. In its place Israel has imposed a single regime of repression from the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
The only way forward to a genuine and viable political settlement is to dismantle the colonial apartheid regime that has been imposed over historic Palestine, replacing it with a new political system based on full civil equality, implementation of the Palestinian refugees’ Right of Return and the building of a systems that address the historic wrongs committed on the Palestinian people by the Zionist movement.
We, Palestinians and Israeli Jews alike, have therefore revived the one-state idea. Although differing models of such a state range from bi-national to a liberal, secular democracy, we are united in our commitment to the establishment of a single democratic state in all of historic Palestine.
As formulated below by the One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC), the goal of this political program is to widen the support for such a state among the local populations, Palestinian and Israeli alike, as well as amongst the international public. We call on all of you to join our struggle against apartheid and for the establishment of a democratic state free of occupation and colonialism, based on justice and equality, which alone promises us a better future.
THE ODSC PROGRAM
1.    A Single Constitutional Democracy. One Democratic State shall be established between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River as one country belonging to all its citizens, including Palestinian refugees who will be able to return to their homeland. All citizens will enjoy equal rights, freedom and security. The State shall be a constitutional democracy, the authority to govern and make laws emanating from the consent of the governed. All its citizens shall enjoy equal rights to vote, stand for office and contribute to the country’s governance.
2.    Right of Return, of Restoration and of Reintegration into Society. The single democratic state will fully implement the Right of Return of all Palestinian refugees who were expelled in 1948 and thereafter, whether living in exile abroad or currently living in Israel or the Occupied Territory. The State will aid them in returning to their country and to the places from where they were expelled. It will help them rebuild their personal lives and to be fully reintegrated into the country’s society, economy and polity. The State will do everything in its power to restore to the refugees their private and communal property of the refugees and/or compensate them. Normal procedures of obtaining citizenship will be extended to those choosing to immigrate to the country.
3.    Individual Rights. No State law, institution or practices may discriminate among its citizens on the basis of national or social origin, color, gender, language, religion or political opinion, or sexual orientation. A single citizenship confers on all the State’s residents the right to freedom of movement, the right to reside anywhere in the country, and equal rights in every domain.
4.    Collective Rights. Within the framework of a single democratic state, the Constitution will also protect collective rights and the freedom of association, whether national, ethnic, religious, class or gender. Constitutional guarantees will ensure that all languages, arts and culture can flourish and develop freely. No group or collectivity will have any privileges, nor will any group, party or collectivity have the ability to leverage any control or domination over others. Parliament will not have the authority to enact any laws that discriminate against any community under the Constitution.
5.    Constructing a Shared Civil Society. The State shall nurture a vital civil society comprised of common civil institutions, in particular educational, cultural and economic. Alongside religious marriage the State will provide civil marriage.
6.    Moving from Decolonization to Postcolonialism. The genuine liberation of Palestinians and Israelis requires a process of thorough decolonization through which we may reach collective justice, peace security and reconciliation. A new national narrative must be constructed that “writes the native Palestinians back in.” Israeli Jews must acknowledge both the national rights of the Palestinian people andpast colonial crimes. In return, and based on an egalitarian democracy, Palestinians will accept them as legitimate citizens and neighbors, thereby ending Zionist settler colonialism and entering into a new postcolonial relationship of accommodation, normalization and reconciliation.
7.    Economy and Economic Justice. Our vision seeks to achieve justice, and this includes social and economic justice. Economic policy must address the decades of exploitation and discrimination which have sown deep socioeconomic gaps among the people living in the land. The income distribution in Israel/Palestine is more unequal than any country in the world. A State seeking justice must develop a creative and long-term redistributive economic policy to ensure that all citizens have equal opportunity to attain education, productive employment, economic security and a dignified standard of living.
8.    Commitment to Human Rights, Justice and Peace. The State shall uphold international law and seek the peaceful resolution of conflicts through negotiation and collective security in accordance with the United Nations Charter. The State will sign and ratify all international treaties on human rights and its people shall reject racism and promote social, cultural and political rights as set out in relevant United Nations covenants.
9.    Our Role in the Region. The ODS Campaign will join with all progressive forces in the Arab world struggling for democracy, social justice and egalitarian societies free from tyranny and foreign domination. The State shall seek democracy and freedom in a Middle East that respects its many communities, religions, traditions and ideologies, yet strives for equality, freedom of thought and innovation. Achieving a just political settlement in Palestine, followed by a thorough process of decolonization, will contribute measurably to these efforts.
10.   International responsibility. On a global level, the ODS Campaign views itself as part of the progressive forces striving for an alternative global order that is just, egalitarian and free of any oppression, racism, imperialism and colonialism.

I would say that about 50-60 folks came for the viewing of the 85-minute version of The Occupation of the American Mind at the Holland Public Library on Monday evening, January 21, 2019.

It was a very friendly, knowledgeable group I would say. There were two Jews, no Muslims and at least one Christian Zionist, who spoke up right near the end, quoting the Hebrew scriptures where God promised the “land” to Abraham and his descendants. It was right near the end of a respectful discussion of points made in the film. It appeared that he wanted to get the last word in. Hands went up wanting to protest his point of view, but time ran out.

I thought Esther Fifelski, the chair person of the city’s International Relations Commission, would do the 45 minute version. No mam, she gave us the whole thing, in unrelenting detail. There was much discussion and some questions by many. So the discussion was from 8:00 – 8:30. The meeting was billed as from 6:30 – 8:00, but with the 85-minute version, we didn’t begin the discussion until around 8:00 p.m. Some had to leave. There was an irenic (peace-loving) spirit throughout. And then the end there was the possibility of budding controversy. Yes, Kairos will address the Christian Zionist point of view. (The film had a clip from John Hagee, the Christian zealot). More on that later.

Dave Hoekstra, on the Holland City Council, was there. He is the Council liaison with the International Relations Commission. Esther Fifelski was commended for the Commission choosing this film (others on the way). It was a very congenial group.
Kairos has been at work over many years, breaking up the hard-pack soil to the new thing coming to life in Israel/Palestine. Thanks be to God!

I got in a push for Jeff Halper’s coming to Third Church Tuesday night, January 29, 2019.

Diverse crowd I would say. There were many Kairos community members, and about 1/3 were “new” to me. I knew Diane, a Jewish friend from Grand Rapids. I did not know “Luiz” with his scull cap on, sitting in the front row. So I gave him the floor, right at the beginning of the discussion, for his reaction. There was no hostility at all. He showed openness to receive what the film brought and appeared appreciative of the welcome he felt from the group. Diane said many US Jewish youths are turning away, not only from the Israeli State but from Judaism as well. Our friend Jake (from our Grand Rapids contingent) slipped me a crisp $100 on his way out. He’s 91, still fresh in his advocacy. He was a CPT’er in Hebron many years ago, and has been an advocate ever since.

In email exchanges with Sut Jhally, the film’s producer, I passed along his emphasis that we should not talk about the “Jewish” lobby but the “Israel” lobby, a helpful distinction I think. I affirmed Kairos’s love for Jews and Judaism; our opposition is to the policies of the Israeli State, urging those present to join our “Kairos community” (and attend the event on Tuesday, January 29, at Third Church in Holland, 111 W. 13th Street, 7:00 – 8:30).

These are my immediate reflections, friends. Faithfully yours, John Kleinheksel

This past November we hosted three people who are all advocating for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine. We encourage you to check out this video made by our friends at Western Theological Seminary.

Sami Awad and Jessica Montel on Peace in the Holy Land

Newsletter 2018 December

Pray with Israel/Palestine Sunday, December 9, 2018

Lectionary Selection:  Luke 3:7-18

Prayers for Israel/Palestine:  

God Who Hears the Cries of the Oppressed, bring relief to all in the world who suffer the political ruthlessness of a Tiberius, Pilate or Herod, to all who suffer the self-serving religious indifference of an Annas or Caiaphas.

Move the faithful in churches, synagogues and mosques, along with people of good will, to prepare your way, to fill every valley with justice, to level every mountain of greed, to make straight the crooked and to smooth the rough places in the world—and in us.

God, in those times when I’m left without words to pray, hear my sighs. But let neither my lack of words nor my sighs keep me from rising up to love and serve you by loving and serving others. In the name of the One who, for our sake, kept faith, hope and love under occupation. Amen.

Mission Stewardship Moment from Israel/Palestine:

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius… (Luke 3:1-2).” Luke isn’t locating the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus on the calendar.

Luke is mixing politics and religion. He is signaling, as he does in Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46ff), that the life and ministry of Jesus will challenge the politics and the religion of his day.

In 2009, Palestinian Christians across a wide theological continuum released the document, Kairos Palestine. Reminiscent of the 1980s call from South African Christian leaders who challenged the legitimacy of the official “state theology” called Apartheid, the document describes the reality on the ground in Palestine: the effects of a harsh occupation; the refusal of decision-makers to commit themselves to the serious task of finding a resolution; and the deepening economic, environmental and cultural crisis in Palestine. Our sisters and brothers in Palestine implore us to confront Christian Zionism, a heretical theology that denies the rights and harms the lives of our Palestinian Christian family and their Muslim neighbors (with thanks to the “Global Ministries” department of the United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ).