Category: Blog

Churches for Middle East Peace: Tell Congress to Say No to Annexation

With the announcement of an emergency national unity government last month, Israel is likely to proceed with a vote to annex as much as sixty percent of the West Bank as early as July 1. Annexation would have a devastating impact on the ground for Palestinians. Their social, economic and cultural ties would be broken up, and movement between Palestinian areas would become even more difficult than today. Any realistic opportunity for a state and a just resolution to the conflict would be taken away.

While Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on April 22 that the decision to annex was Israel’s to make, the United States cannot be responsible for the continued disenfranchisement of Palestinian rights and for the continuation of the conflict. Instead of giving the greenlight to the confiscation of Palestinian land, the United States Government should help facilitate an end to the conflict that will result in full equality and human rights for Israelis and Palestinians.

At this link, urge Congress to act swiftly and take concrete legislative action to make clear the U.S. government will not fund or otherwise support annexation.

Note: This action alert was provided by our partners at Churches for Middle East Peace.

Please join us for a webinar on the Israeli treatment of Palestinian children during the Covid-19 pandemic. Join here:

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Below, please find a message from the Board of Kairos Palestine regarding annexation.

April 30th, 2020

Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (Amos 5:23-24).

The board of Kairos Palestine raises an alarm regarding the consequences of the third failed Israeli election in less than a year. The resulting coalition entered on April 20, 2020, combines two of the most right-wing parties—Bennie Gantz’s Blue and White and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud—in a deal that directly threatens Palestinians’ freedom, health and human rights.

Described as an “emergency government” to address the impacts of COVID-19, and under the cover of a so-called “coronavirus cabinet,” the State of Israel is empowered to continue its policies of home demolitions, closures, arrests, child detention and settler violence.
Furthermore:
• As a result of the political arrangement, Gantz gave up his campaign promise to amend Israel’s Nation-State Law which legalizes institutional discrimination in Israel, East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
• In the deal for a joint government, Gantz relinquished his commitment not to pursue annexation in the West Bank without international consensus, freeing Netanyahu to pursue his long-standing promise to annex substantial portions of the West Bank as early as July 1.
• While the “emergency government” may only take up legislation related to the corona virus, an exception was agreed upon to consider bills related to U.S. President Trump’s so-called Deal of the Century.
• According to international law, an occupier is mandated to see to the health and welfare of the occupied, but a lack of medical supplies, the complete blockade of Gaza, Israel’s control of the Palestinian economy, piracy and theft of Palestinian tax money and increased restrictions on movement put Palestinians at a greater risk of suffering from COVID-19.

For the past few years and especially during the administration of both Trump and Netanyahu the foundations of the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis have been sabotaged by the different policies and announcements that both administrations have unilaterally adopted. This annexation is only one of these moves.
While we see that the equation of land for peace have lost its credibility and now look impossible for a two states solution, we at KP are committed for our people and churches to continue to struggle for the values that make for peace. Equality and Justice are our beacon. Thus, we urge all churches to support these values in every means. We urge them to say no to injustice of any illegal political move and building for a future of equality on this land between all the peoples, no matter what the political framework it brings at the end. We struggle for democracy and the natural human rights in this land, that no people are under occupation or discrimination or siege. That people enjoy their self-determination without prejudice to their religious, national or ethnic origin. This land has been blessed by its multicultural, multi- faithful and multi- national identity. This is how it should look like in any solution.
In this struggle, Kairos Palestine calls on people of faith and all those of conscience around the world to:

• Plead with your elected representatives to hold the State of Israel accountable to international law and human rights;
• Demand that your governments do not recognize Israel’s annexations of East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan, that your governments express their disapproval of Israel’s further plans of annexation, and that your governments pressure Israel with concrete measures to comply with international law and UN resolutions. All know what is due to the Israelis, and what is due to the Palestinians. Clear decisions are already taken by the UN. So why further waiting to apply what is already decided? Just comply with what you have decided. Take concrete measures which compel Israel to comply with your own decisions.
• Protect Palestinians’—and all people’s—right to resist, including Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, until Israel complies with its obligations as an occupying power.

Our plea is rooted in what is described in the Kairos Palestine document as “the logic of love”—a concern for the life and future of both peoples with a firm hope for the day when both oppressor and oppressed create a new society for all the people of the land.

Kairos Palestine
Board of Directors

“Kairos Palestine, the most extensive Palestinian Christian ecumenical non-violent movement, is based on Kairos Palestine document: A Moment of Truth, launched in 2009, affirming that the Palestinian Christians are part and parcel of the Palestinian nation, calling for peace to end all suffering in the Holy Land by laboring for justice, hope and love, embraced by the Christian community, signed by all historically recognized Palestinian Christian organizations, and endorsed by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem”.

Generally speaking, Palestinians suffer economic poverty, but not necessarily poverty of
self, community, or Spirit. Every morning my friend Ameen sells breakfast bars, coffee and
tea, and cigarettes to Palestinians who possess those precious permits to work inside Israel.
Palestine had been on lockdown for two weeks when we video-chatted with him. Now, our
friend from the same ancient village as the prophet Amos (Tekoa), is out of work.
How ironic that now we in the U.S. are on lockdown just like the Palestinians. However, due
to the Israeli military occupation, Palestinians have considered themselves to be “on
lockdown” for decades now. “Call it a ‘quarantine’, a ‘shelter-in-place’, a ‘lockdown’ or a
‘curfew’, we Palestinians have experienced them all, though not at all voluntarily.” wrote
Ramzy Baroud, Palestinian journalist, in early April.
Here is what I’ve learned from Palestinians:

• Cherish family. Celebrate them and hold them close.
• Live purposefully whatever the circumstances.
• When you are suffering despair, talk to someone else in despair.
• When you are temporarily afraid, talk to someone who lives in constant fear.

I have often wondered how can they be so joyful—seemingly all of the time! And be so
welcoming, often of citizens of countries who are or support their oppressors?
This is what I have seen. Both Christian and Muslim Palestinians practice living in
recognition of the sovereignty and justice of God. That is good advice for us no matter what
the circumstances, but especially now. In that light, please hear what God has to say to us
today:
Scripture: Isaiah 40:21-31
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22  He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23  He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24  No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25  “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26  Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one

and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
27  Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28  Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29  He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30  Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31  but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

March 6-17, 2021

Participants will…

• experience life in Israel and Palestine “up close and personally” with both Israelis and Palestinians, including home stays with Palestinian Christians
• dialogue with more than a dozen groups and organizations advocating for lasting peace and justice for both Israelis and Palestinians
• consider the teachings of Jesus in light of their experiences in the Land, and experience relevant and significant biblical sites

Estimated Cost Per Person:

$3500 all-inclusive (except lunches)
Including airfare from O’Hare. Exact price, specific itinerary, and flight schedule will be available in late April when airfare is confirmed.

KWM I_P Flyer (2)

Sign Up:

Payment Schedule $150 / person deposit due July 1, 2020 (refundable until November 10)

50% of remaining balance due September 10, 2020

Complete balance due November 10, 2020 To Register Send $150 payable to “KWM” and clearly marked “Peace and Justice 2021” to Sharon Kleinheksel at 296 Timberlake Dr East, Holland, MI 49424

At 6:00 p.m. on June 30 at Calvary CRC, 400 Beeline Rd. Holland, MI, Kairos West Michigan encourages you to hear Jeff Pribble, Principal at Bethlehem Evangelical Academy in Bethlehem, Palestine, speak on the following:

1) the challenges of doing Christian ministry in a majority Muslim culture while under occupation by a hostile (to Palestinians), unsympathetic (to Christians) foreign power. 

2) A school that serves both Muslims and Christians under a regime of “freedom of religion” that prohibits making enrollment decisions based on the religion of the families it is serving. 

3) The challenge of operating an English-immersion, pro-actively Christian school when Israeli authorities often do not grant visas to ex-pat Christian volunteer teachers. 

4) The challenges of being a Christian leader caught between the “hammer” of Islam and the “rock” of Israeli occupation. 

5) AND….try to do all of this while not being offensive to anyone in the either the Israeli or Palestinian divide.

When Kairos West Michigan learned that Archbishop Chacour was coming to the US Midwest we jumped at the chance to bring him once again to W. MI.    While Archbishop Chacour was all booked up, a youthful, bright PhD candidate named Emil Halloun, who teaches English at the High School in Ibillin, was made available to report to us the current conditions “on the ground”. 

As an Arab, Christian, Palestinian Israeli, his situation is a lot different from a West Bank Palestinian. The Mar Elias Educational Institutions (MEEI) get their funding from the Israeli government, even though they are a “private” school.  The 3,500 students in K – 12 have a high reputation among Christian AND Muslims students in the Galilee (about 25 miles South of the Palestinian city of Nazareth).    Mr. Halloun made clear that 21% of the voting public in Israel are Arabs, that is, Arabs who chose NOT to flee in 1948, when Israel cracked down on Palestinian villages and olive orchards and people who were not Jewish.  They stayed, even though they are clearly “second class” citizens.    It was pointed out that the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, last year, voted to declare that the Israeli State was for “Jews only.”  This seems to codify the discrimination against Palestinians, preventing them from equality of rights as full citizens.    The full support of the One State being conducted by the Likud government by the present American administration is especially vexacious to the indigenous people.     And this is to say nothing about the even deepler alienation of the millions of Palestinians living in the “West Bank and Gaza” who are under military rule, subject to detention without charge, confiscation of their land (for State purposes); infringing on electricity and water rights, entrance and egress from their land and an economy being strangled by Israeli control.     

Mr. Hallous chose to stay in Holland from Wednesday evening until Saturday morning.  He was able to visit with officials from HOPE college and Western Seminary on possible collaboration down the road, between American universities and MEEI.  [reported by John Kleinheksel]

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.