IPMN Community Blogger
Ok, so I know keeping score is crass and petty but who best to do that but me? So for those who are sympathetic to justice and peace not just for Israel but also for Palestine (or "PIPS": Progressives INCLUDING Palestine), here is my take on the results of the 219th General Assembly:
In the green column; Denouncement of Caterpillar, End US Military aid to Israel, Embrace Goldstone. In the red; No Divestment and No Apartheid. Somewhere in the yellow column but definitely shading to green is the Middle East Study Committee report. The embracing of the Faith, Hope and Love elements of Kairos as part of the MESC was important, but it fell short of employing BDS as non-violent methods of persuasion. But this isn’t over by any means.
Given the MRTI cop-out, divestment was going to be an uphill battle at this GA even though the mandate was clear from previous Assemblies. When the CEO of Caterpillar told us if we didn’t like their business practices then we should sell our shares, we should have gotten up, walked out and hit the dump button. Instead, we put our hope in a new CEO. Good luck. And while I am at it, how about that commissioner who argued on the floor during the divestment debate that punishing Caterpillar for selling equipment to Israel, who in turn uses them to destroy Palestinian homes, would be like punishing 3M if Al Qaeda used post-it notes. OMG. The analogy might work if 3M helped to design a weaponized post-it note, then used 3M employees in the field to repair the post-its when they broke down, and then the 3M CEO tells us to go jump in the lake.
As for Apartheid, it was a long shot but it is out there now, and I guarantee it will come back in two years unless something significant changes. If you haven’t read the overture it is a must read. Even if you disagree, and hate my posts (you know who you are), you should still take the time, then tell me the facts on the ground don’t fit the definition. You can find it here:
http://www.pc-biz.org/IOBView.aspx?m=ro&id=3067
In the end, this was an important week for pushing the “persuadable middle” of the PCUSA further down the road to stand for justice in Palestine. I score it a 7 out of 10. I have to say though that the AP headline coming out yesterday was the icing on the cake:
“U.S. Presbyterians urge government to end Israel aid over settlements”
Priceless.
The 219th General Assembly of the PCUSA has just passed two significant pieces of business that further moves the PCUSA towards true justice and peace in Palestine. The first is a denouncement of Caterpillar for their continued profiting from business with Israel that harms Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. While stopping short of divestment as directed by previous General Assemblies and an attempt on the floor to put a deadline to divest by June 2011, the CEO of the Board of Pensions spoke and said they have devised a workable system over the decades to make divestment possible, but the assembly weaseled out and made it open ended. It does however, further affirm that Caterpillar, of all the firms with whom MRTI has engaged, continues to disappoint in their corporate engagement with the PCUSA. The day of divestment reckoning is coming.
The second is the passing of the Middle East Study Report as amended by Committee 14. While the changes will seem heavy handed by some, it strikes a better balance while maintaining the spirit of our Denomination's desire to listen to the voices of Palestinian voices that are crying out for us to stand for justice and peace in the region. I urge you all to read the amended report, and the Kairos document as contained within approved 14-08. Kairos is a letter from Palestinian Christian leaders and their fellowships pleading for us to hear their cry.
We're listening!!
Originally this was going to be a typical greenmonkey irreverent piece about interfaith dialogue (or the almost exclusive “duality” of interfaith dialogue) as described by some 219th General Assembly commissioners this blogger heard, but I have changed my mind.
Over heard from Committee #8 (Ecumenical and Interfaith relations) was a dialogue that should give us hope. Committee #8 was tasked among other items with consideration on two important papers; the first was “Christian and Jews: People of God”, and the second was “Toward an Understanding of Christian-Muslim Relations”. Without getting into the incongruity of the titles, these were two very different works with different recommendations, and two different outcomes.
The first was presented as a finished study guide but was referred back for further work and reflection due in large part to the lack of a voice from Middle Eastern Christians, many of whom are Presbyterians. The second paper was presented as a beginning, a start on a work that would be completed over the course of 4 years. This paper was almost unanimously approved by the committee to be accepted by this GA, but the deliberations were the revelation.
When did we Presbyterians divorce our social witness policy from the people it affects? I ask because three different times today at the 219th General Assembly, I was struck by comments that are reminders that while we may deliberate on policies there are real people whose pain, suffering and hope are behind all of it.
First, Dr. Mitri Raheb, minister from the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem spoke about how it struck him, as he sat through Committee 14’s open microphone session on Middle East Peacemaking Issues, that he couldn’t stop thinking that behind all the rhetoric, emotion and visceral reactions to the Middle East Study Committee’s report, was real suffering. He reminded us that for millions of Palestinians (Muslims and Christian alike), it’s existential – they are suffering everyday from the injustice of the 43 year Occupation.
Next, the Reverend Jeff DeYoe from Ohio spoke to Committee 14 today on the Middle East Study Committee’s report and the other overtures in front of this committee. He spoke about his personal experiences about justice in this region and that behind all the debate were people and pain, and that we are reaching a tipping point in our Denomination’s positions on the Middle East.
"Ask me about 17" - (17 former GA Moderators have signed a letter supporting the Middle East Study Committee's report).
Hearing is believing too. Upon seeing an "Ask me about 17" button, Joe Small, Head of Theology and Worship for the PCUSA growled, "I'll bet you not one of those Moderators has read the whole report".
Really Joe?
Don't rock the boat? Is that really what I heard today at the Presbyterians for Middle East Peace hosted breakfast? In attack after attack on the Middle East Study Committee report which will be considered in Committee 14 this week , I kept hearing the same thing: "we need balance", "it's bad timing", "they didn't talk to all parties (the MESC's mandate was clear on this btw), etc etc etc . I heard "this is a step backwards, it's not the right time", and a variety of other protests that this would just rock the boat too much. And to top it off, we got a not so veiled threat from a J Street representative that they would stop working with the PCUSA if this Report was accepted.
There was so much fear, uncertainty and doubt thrown about the room that I almost missed the fact that the Reverend Byron Schafer, a member of the MESC and retired from Rutgers Presbyterian Church in NYC, turned redcoat and informer on this Independence Day, and revealed the inner deliberations of the group; cloaking himself in "I am allowed to speak of these things because Presbyterians pride themselves on transparency". Future committees take note: Byron will tell all.
No, Presbyterians pride themselves by taking the side of the oppressed and the voiceless even when it puts ourselves in tough situations both inside and outside the Church. One of my favorite movies is "Parenthood" with Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen. There is a scene when the Grandmother explains that when she was nineteen her boyfriend took her on a roller coaster. Up, down, up down, oh what a ride!! Some people liked the Merry-go-round, but that just went round and round. Nothing.
I'll give my first impressions of my first GA later, but today seems to be setting the table day. Setting the table for Commissioners, Committee chairs, Advocates, volunteers etc etc. But it is also the first salvos for various PCUSA organizations to lobby those who will determine so much here during this week.
Last night there was a vigorous talk about one of THE hot button issues, the report from the Middle East Study Committee. Today, Jeff Halper is speaking on "Is Israel an Apartheid State"? But he started with a message of his hope coming out of a large gathering of 13,000 US activists in Detroit; 80% of whom were younger people and where Palestine became of of the most important topics. Are we at a turning point in this intractable conflict? Jeff thinks so, let us all hope he is right!!