Our Palestinian partners are calling on The United Church of Canada and other ecumenical partners to be in solidarity with their suffering and to listen to their cries for a just peace by taking action on the requests from Kairos Palestine.
We believe that God is calling us to engage with the pleas of the direct descendants of the first followers of Jesus, the Palestinian Christian community, and to respond to their requests that our denomination through study, action and advocacy help shed light on the reality of the tragedy and ongoing and deepening oppression.
The United Church of Canada recognizes that, “we are not alone.” Inherent within our creed is our support for solidarity with partners in Canada and beyond. Unfortunately, as one of our Global Ecumenical partners pointedly reminded the Commissioners to GC 42 after it failed to address global partners concerns, the United Church needs the international ecumenical community. Further, the United Church has a responsibility to recognize its responsibility to stand in solidarity with global partners. (1)
We have also come to more fully understand the influence that those who hold power exercise in the media. We realize that often the cries of God’s people for justice who are marginalized are often overwhelmed by those who benefit from oppression. Jeremiah warned against those who say, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 6:14) We believe, as followers of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, that there cannot be lasting peace without justice. This is evidenced in our work for justice for the First Nations people of Canada and our anti-racism work. Further, as Rev. Dr. Munter Isaac has pointed out, our faith in North America is actually rooted in the first followers of Jesus who were Palestinian Christians. (2)
Many who have travelled to Palestine, including over 25 Ecumenical Observers, appointed by the denomination are gravely concerned that the plight of the Palestinian people is at a critical point. The State of Israel’s adoption of the Nation State Law in 2018 legalized institutional racial discrimination in Israel and the Palestinian territories that further deprive Palestinians of their rights to life, livelihood, and a future in their homeland.
Recent acts of the U.S. administration have supported Israel’s ongoing illegal seizures of land taking and attaining control over the entire territory of Palestine. These include the 2018 move of its embassy to Jerusalem, its announcement in 2019 that the U.S. government no longer deems West Bank settlements to be “inconsistent with international law,” and the 2020 “Peace to Prosperity” plan. Fueled by U.S. support and emboldened by the silence of the international community, the state of Israel has continued the expansion of illegal settlements. Daily, Israel continues to violate international law and the Geneva Conventions through its attacks on and control over the Palestinian people including children.
Since the 1967 illegal occupation, successive governments of Israel have made it clear through their actions that the state has no intention of honouring their obligations as an occupying power under the Geneva Conventions. Nor do they seek to protect the rights of the Palestinian people guaranteed under the UN Human Rights Charter to dignity, self-determination, and the fundamental human rights including the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
It is time for the United Church, in light of these events, to recognize what Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu stated in an open letter to the General Council 41, “I saw the marks of apartheid in the policies of the Israeli government continued to the present day. The Palestinians are forced to live in segregated areas, often relocated to less desirable land so Jewish settlers can live in fine red ceramic-roofed houses with paved roads while most Palestinians live in squalor in villages and refugee camps. Water is diverted to settlers so that they can have nice green lawns, irrigated fields and community swimming pools while Palestinians endure shortages and dusty roads. I have looked at this and seen the ugly face of apartheid and the racism within it.” (3) It must be noted that the situation of the Palestinians has deteriorated significantly since then.
United Church partner, Kairos Palestine, calls on churches and all followers of Jesus to take decisive action. “The very being of the church, the integrity of the Christian faith, and the credibility of the Gospel is at stake. We declare that support for the oppression of the Palestinian people, whether passive or active, through silence, word or deed, is a sin. We assert that Christian support for Zionism as a theology and an ideology that legitimize the right of one people to deny the human rights of another is incompatible with the Christian faith and a grave misuse of the Bible.”
They further call upon churches, “to engage in a process of study, reflection and confession concerning the historic and systemic deprivation of the rights of the Palestinian people, and the use of the Bible by many to justify and support this oppression. We call on churches to reflect on how their own traditions can express the sacred duty to uphold the integrity of the church and the Christian faith concerning this issue. We cannot serve God while remaining silent about the oppression of the Palestinians.”
Around the globe, many other churches and ecumenical organizations have recognized that this is a time of crisis for Palestinians and have taken strong stands in solidarity with their cry for hope. This includes the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) that in 2017 affirmed “that with respect to the situation of injustice and suffering that exists in Palestine, and the cry of the Palestinian Christian community, that the integrity of Christian faith and praxis is at stake.”
Kairos Palestine and Global Kairos for Justice, a worldwide coalition born in response to the Kairos Palestine “Moment of Truth: a word of faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering,” have asked the global churches to stand in solidarity with the proposals that are listed in the next section.
We request the 44th General Council to direct the General Secretary, General Council to respond affirmatively to the call to action by the Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, Kairos Palestine and the Global Kairos Network by implementing the call to action issued in July 2020:
Kairos Palestine/Global Kairos for Justice Cry for Hope – https://www.cryforhope.org