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~MY VOICE...
By Glenn Edward Witmer
Lies, Darned Lies, and History.

George Washington, as a boy, is reported as never having told a lie. Maybe the tale has something to do with cutting down that cherry tree! It probably doesn’t really matter anymore, except as an interesting anecdote of history. A biographer once even admitted to fictionalizing the account to demonstrate the moral standing of the lad who would become America’s first president.

Washington and other history creators don’t tell lies, but the historical record does create some interesting versions of the stories—many with strong moral implications. Repetition is also very important; what gets said often enough is more likely to acquire an aura of truthfulness. When enough people agree to the explanation of events, writing them down in columns or books, repeating them on the electronic media, these versions of the story become the ‘truth’ of history. So much of the reporting from this region illustrates the true problem.

When Napoleon said that “History is a set of agreed-upon lies,” he was more profound than he probably realized. “History is written by the victors,” is another maxim to be heeded by the readers of it. In other words, “My version of what happened, and why, is more important than the opposing sets of evidence that might be composed of the facts.”

The complications begin in earnest when these accounts contain some elements of truth, making the lie harder to detect. Speaking partial truth is often the most effective way to lie convincingly. “The Wall built by Israel is for security purposes.” True! The rest of the truth is that very little security actually results, but the land-grab of Palestinian territory is the real goal in the first place. Or, “The military incursions into Gaza are to rescue a kidnapped Israeli soldier.” True! But the wanton destruction of property, the collective punishments of tens of thousands of people who lose electricity, water, and basic rights send a more honest message about the military’s goals. The political pundits and spin doctors begin to create a story their way, hoping for broad repetition, to convince as many people as possible of their version.

Napoleon was right—agreed-upon lies continue to be recorded as history. Now I suppose all we really have to agree on is who gets to tell them.
—GEW

~OTHER VOICES . . .

By Rabbi Michael Lerner
“We will follow the teaching of the Torah that says
‘Love the stranger’
and of Jesus that says
‘Turn the other cheek'
and we will stop this madness forever.”
When Will They Ever Learn?

When will they ever learn…that violence is not the path to security? Today we write those words about Israel and Palestine, yesterday about the US in Iraq, tomorrow about China in Tibet, and it goes on and on. And the only solution is to break the chain of pain and say, “No more—we will not respond to violence with violence. We will follow the teaching of the Torah that says ‘Love the stranger’ and of Jesus that says ‘Turn the other cheek’ and we will stop this madness forever if we could really sustain the courage to do that.”

This is a tough moment to say this point—and yet it needs to be said to both sides. I start with Israel only because it is the greater military power, but I’ll get to a critique of the Palestinians too, so read this whole thing through. The progressive middle path for Middle East Peace rejects any attempt to say that one side is the pure bad and the other the pure good.

So, the details of the day: Israel is the military power occupying the West Bank and surrounding Gaza. By all international standards it has no right to do either, but if it does so it has an absolute obligation to treat the civilian population with certain respect and basic human rights. Israel continually fails to do this and has become one (not the worst, but one) of the world’s major human rights violators.

“Palestinians have no army, no aeroplanes, no tanks,
so they fight with their improvised weapons
as resistance forces have always done.”

No wonder that people are asking their Jewish neighbours, “Do you really think that is morally acceptable to cut off electricity and water for a million and a half Gazans as a retribution for the killing of two Israeli soldiers and the kidnapping of a third? Isn’t this the kind of ‘collective punishment’ that ruthless dictators have used against the civilian populations of countries that they controlled to the horror of the rest of the world?

Don’t you realize that when you face acts of terror against Israeli civilians that it is because the Palestinians have no army, no airplanes, no tanks, so they fight with their improvised weapons as resistance forces have always done, and it makes no sense to call that “terror,” particularly when the targets are members of the armed forces on active duty. And don’t you think that the US should be allowed to stand up for human rights there rather than be restrained by the fear that anyone criticizing Israel will be described as anti-Israel and their political futures put in danger by the AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee]-related crowds that have been so effective in shaping the media and the public discourse in the USA?

Those who care about the Jewish people, want to preserve it and protect it, want to see a safe and secure Israel and a safe and secure Jewish people all around the world, have to shout out now in very clear words: “Stop what you are doing, Israel—not just at the moment, but in the essence of your policies. Forget about taking over the part of the West Bank within the Wall built by the Israeli Right and their Labour party collaborators. Get out of the West Bank, and do it in a spirit of generosity, not of resentment and begrudging response to world pressure. Do it in a spirit that communicates that you recognize the humanity of the Palestinian people and recognize their suffering!”

Imagine, for example, how different the feelings would have been in the Arab world recently if, after killing a family on a Gaza beach through an IDF shelling, the President and Prime Minister of Israel had together gone to visit the family of the deceased to offer apologies and to share in the mourning of this loss, rather than trying to prove (unsuccessfully) that it wasn’t really Israel’s shell after all!

“Imagine how different things would be if Israel could say,
“We recognize that we have the greatest power in the area,
that we face no credible threats from our neighbors…”

Imagine how different things would be if today the Israeli government said, “We will find a way to create an international consortium to provide reparations for those Palestinians who have lost their homes in 1948-1967, and those whose homes were unfairly bulldozed to support the needs of the Israeli settlers on the West Bank!

Imagine how different things would be if Israel could say, “We recognize that we have the greatest power in the area, that we face no credible threats from our neighbours, that our actions since 1948 have been ungenerous and sometimes outright immoral in the way we’ve treated not only Palestinians outside our state but also Arabs who have lived and paid taxes inside our state, and we want to stop all that, stop the escalation of weaponry and the arrogance of power, so we will take the first steps to show how generous the Jewish people can be when it follows its Torah’s command to “love the stranger” and then announces concrete acts of love and generosity! Nothing less than this will work.

That is the way to break the chain of pain. The only way! And that’s why eventually the path that Tikkun put forward years ago in our Resolution for Middle East Peace, and then in our support for the Geneva Accord, will be recognized as necessary components of peace. But we are not believers in power politics—in the final analysis what counts is transformations in consciousness and in the heart, and that is why the world so badly needs the New Bottom Line with its call to privileging love over power. Unrealistic, you say? No! What is unrealistic—in fact, pure craziness—is for Israel to keep acting the way it has been acting for all these many years, imagining a different result from the same behaviour.

So, does that mean that there’s one side that is good and the other evil? No, the world rarely works that way.

“Don’t be surprised to find that war getting carried to your doors,
to your electricity, water supply, and to your children.”

So, we have a message for the Palestinian people also: Violence doesn’t work and it is not working for you. You have every democratic right to elect a government that declares it does not recognize the very existence of the State of Israel, and that sees the fundamental crime not in expanding into the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 but rather in its coming into existence in the first place in 1948. Sure, you can do that. But if your government that you elect says it is in a war, then don’t be surprised to find that war getting carried to your doors, to your electricity, water supply, and to your children. If it’s war that you want, you’ll get it.

But if it is peace, then there is only one way: totally, 100% renounce violence, renounce the articulators of that violence (whether they be in Hamas or in Fatah). If you want to win, you can’t do it by kidnapping, or sending missiles across the border, or throwing rocks. You must be disciplined soldiers of non-violence in your actions and words. You must not only unequivocally announce your support for the Right of Israel to exist, you must put forward your vision of a peace in which you live together with Israel in two sovereign states. And you must acknowledge that when it was Jews who were climbing out of the concentration camps and gas chambers and crematoria of Europe and desperately looking to return to their ancient homeland that it was your Palestinian leaders who, in alliance with British imperialism, tried to keep those refugees from settling in Palestine, thereby confirming to them the previous experiences they had in Arab countries where they were often treated as second class citizens.

“You must reject the anti-Israel lefties who give you the fantasy
that you can keep on talking about the destruction of Israel.”

Acknowledge that when offered a two-state solution in 1947 it was your own people who rejected it and denied that Jews could have any state of their own, while Muslims could have more than a dozen states in which their language, culture, and religion was the official position of the society. Speak about that, teach it to your children, and enunciate it in Arabic for everyone to hear, and you will have some credibility in talking about the only thing that will make it possible for you to win: a strategy of open-hearted reconciliation with Israel and the Jewish people. So you must reject the anti-Israel lefties who give you the fantasy that you can keep on talking about the destruction of Israel, or embracing fanatics like the president of Iran, and then hope that Israel will be gentle and generous. It’s a fantasy. Your only power is moral credibility, and you build that by giving yourself to that vision of peace and non-violence and love of the enemy.

Don’t listen to the people who tell you that you have a right to struggle—because of course you have the right. The question is not whether you have the right, but whether it s SMART to follow that path. Those who care about Palestinians will come to a different conclusion: that the smarter path, the path most likely to lead to an end of the Occupation and to peace and security for the Palestinian people, will come through developing the kind of compassion for the other, for the oppressor, combined with absolute commitment to non-violence that made Martin Luther King Jr. and Mandela so successful. Your misleaders have taken you on a self-destructive path, and a path that has led you to immoral actions against innocent civilians. Stop that path—it brings only more suffering and no liberation.

This is the message that our ancient prophets have been trying to communicate in various languages: that the only path that can work is the path of peace, social justice, love, compassion, kindness and generosity. And the path to peace is a path of peace.

—Rabbi Lerner is editor of Tikkun. His most recent book is The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right. He is also the author of Middle East is Healing Israel//Palestine.

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The following appeared last week as an ad in Ha’aretz, a major Israel newspaper.

Courage to Refuse

It is a soldier’s right and duty to refuse to shed innocent blood. We, combat soldiers and officers of the Israeli Defence Forces, have served long years on various fronts and lost comrades in the struggle to defend our homeland. The security of Israel and the values of the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] were and are our guiding principles. We call upon IDF regular and reserve troops—pilots, sailors, and artillerymen—to refuse to shoot on Gaza.

The IDF shooting on Gaza has already caused the death of dozens of innocent civilians, including little children. It has achieved nothing but intensification of the shooting of Qassam rockets on Sderot and stoking the fires of hatred against Israel. Shooting into the world’s most thickly populated area is a war crime which contravenes the spirit of the IDF and harms the security of the state.

We call upon the soldiers of the IDF to refuse to break the State of Israel’s moral spine. True security would never be achieved by the killing of children. It is the right and duty of every soldiers in the IDF to refuse to shed innocent blood.

—for information, Courage to Refuse: Refusing—for the Sake of Israel; www.seruv.org.il

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By Jonathan Lis, Ha’aretz
“More than 90 percent of the barrier is razor-tipped fence.”
Pink Floyd Urges: “Tear down the Wall.”

Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters, who inspired the rock band’s iconic album “The Wall,” scrawled “Tear down the wall” on the concrete panels of Israel’s West Bank barrier on his recent concert tour here. The barrier was the first stop on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories for Waters, who had been criticized by some fans for planning to play a concert in Israel.

“It’s a horrific edifice, this thing,” Waters said as he stood beside a section of the barrier in Bethlehem. “I’ve seen pictures of it, I’ve heard a lot about it, but without being here you can’t imagine how extraordinarily oppressive it is and how sad it is to see these people coming through these little holes. It’s craziness.” Waters added to graffiti with red spray paint and a marker pen. Waters was lyricist, songwriter, and singer for Pink Floyd, the former British rock group famous for “The Wall” and “The Dark Side of the Moon.”

Israel has built almost half the barrier, which has the stated aim of keeping suicide bombers out of its cities. Condemned by Palestinians as a land grab, the barrier has been branded illegal by the World Court because it cuts through occupied territory. Israel is rerouting some sections after a Supreme Court order to lessen Palestinian hardship.

Waters performed a concert at the Arab-Jewish coexistence village of Neve Shalom as part of his world tour. The concert was originally planned for a Tel Aviv sports stadium but, following criticism by fans in Britain, Waters changed the location to the peace village, where Israeli Jews and Arabs live in a joint community.

In 1990, Waters performed “The Wall” along the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Germany to celebrate reunification. He told reporters he hoped Israel’s barrier would also be brought down one day. More than 90 percent of the barrier is razor-tipped fence, but towering concrete walls are used in built-up areas.

“It may be a lot harder to get this one down, but eventually it must happen,” Waters said.

By Jack Khoury, Ha’aretz
Galilee Kibbutz Closes Pool to Arab Swimmers

Arab families who went to the Kibbutz Kabri Beach Club recently, hoping to swim in the community pool, were surprised when they learned they could not enter. Following the summer opening, the pool was turned into a private facility for ‘club members’ only. A young man from Kfar Yasif who asked to join was rejected on the grounds that only residents of a short list of communities were eligible to join the club.

The list did not include a single Arab community despite the fact that there are several in the area including a few that are closer than some of the Jewish communities on the list.

As expected, the decision provoked anger from Arab families, some of which had been going to swim at Kabri for years. “Maybe the kibbutz can declare the pool to be private property despite the fact that we are talking about state land, but to the best of my knowledge, a private pool is supposed to be only for the people who live on the kibbutz,” said a resident of one of the area villages. “What’s surprising is that they decided to open the gates to all the surrounding communities as long as they are Jewish. It’s obvious that there is discrimination
and racism here.”

Some of the families expressed fears the closure of the pool to Arabs will set a precedent for other communities in the region who maintain pools now open to the general public.

The Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has been asked to reverse the kibbutz decision on the grounds that it is motivated by racism.

“Since the year 2000, approximately 3,000 Christians have emigrated from Bethlehem.”
“Congress Grossly Misled
About Plight of Palestinian Christians.”

In a letter to the American Congress last month, Leila Sansour, a Christian from Bethlehem, expressed her community’s shock at the gross misrepresentation of the threat facing the Christians of the Holy Land. She urged Congress to pay heed to the plight of the oldest Christian community in the world.

“We are disappointed by the resolution drafted by Congressman McCaul and Congressman Crowley purporting to act on our behalf. The resolution seriously misrepresents the situation facing Christians in the Holy Land.”

The ill-conceived resolution accuses the Palestinians of discrimination towards their own Christian community—and does so without consulting any local churches or Christian organizations. The drafters of the resolution ignored the calls from churches in Jerusalem, as well as the overwhelming body of reports from international organizations warning of the devastating effect of the Israel’s system of closures, collective punishment, and the construction of the wall. In the Holy City of Bethlehem, the wall forcefully expropriates most of Bethlehem’s valuable land and historic landmarks, depriving many Christian families from their homes, links to their community in Jerusalem, and their income.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI received the first Open Bethlehem passport, lending his support to the campaign alongside international figures such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and President Jimmy Carter.

In a letter to the White House Hyde stated that the Wall and expanding settlements are “irreversibly damaging the dwindling Christian community.” The report says that “the Bethlehem area is home to over 20 Israeli settlements and there are plans to build more. The settlements and the barrier completely encircle the Christian triangle of Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Beit Sahour (Shepherd’s Field).” In addition to causing housing and land shortages, “this construction physically obstructs the Bethlehem community from its spiritual, cultural and economic lifeline in Jerusalem.”

Since the year 2000, approximately 3,000 Christians have emigrated from Bethlehem. The UN states that “This economic emigration will have a long-term impact on the multi-cultural character that has defined the city of Bethlehem for centuries.”

Leila Sansour says, “Palestinian Christians could very soon become unsustainable as a community. Their erosion will mean an end to sacred Christian traditions that go back to the time of Jesus and an end to the presence of Christianity in the Holy Land. At this critical time it is imperative that Christians around the world act and speak responsibly and it is equally imperative that those who want to see an open, democratic peaceful Middle East engage honestly with our plight.”

Church leaders across the Christian denominations have criticized the resolution.
—electronicintifada.net

By Irit Rosenblum
Pope’s 2007 Visit Certain to Boost Tourism
800,000 Christian tourists visited Israel in 2005
…a 100% increase over 2004.

Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog met late last week with the Vatican ambassador to Israel, Archbishop Antonio Franco, and proposed that the annual international gathering of Catholic bishops be hosted in Israel. The annual event normally takes place in Rome and involves more than 1,000 bishops from all parts of the world.

Herzog said that such a development would have historic significance and could result in a record increase in Christian tourism to Israel. “Undoubtedly this would have positive results for the relations between the State of Israel and the Christian communities here,” he added. Herzog asked the ambassador for his help in preventing the recurrence of incidents in which visiting heads of Christian tours criticized Israel, a phenomenon common during the intifada.

The ambassador pledged to make an effort to increase the number of Catholic tourists visiting Israel, and asked for Herzog's assistance in furthering a pending bilateral administrative-economic agreement.

In recent years, the number of Christian tourists visiting Israel has increased. According to Tourism Ministry data, in 2005 a total of 800,000 Christian tourists visited Israel and comprised 40 percent of all visitors during that year. This was a 100-percent increase over 2004. The 2007 papal visit is expected to bring a massive influx of Catholic tourists to Israel.

By John Ward Anderson
The River of Sewage—Roll, Jordan, Roll!
“…virtually every major spring and tributary that once flowed into the Jordan
has been dammed or diverted for drinking water and crop irrigation.”

The Dead Sea covers about 250 square miles in a deep valley bordered by Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank. But to understand why the sea is dying, you must begin about 60 miles/100 kms. north, just below the Sea of Galilee that today is the northernmost source of water for the lower Jordan River—an open drain that pumps out 720,000 gallons of raw sewage a day!

White foam flutters in small pools around rocks. Chunks of concrete, strips of plastic piping, bicycle tires, and other litter clutter the shore. The stench of human waste fills the air. If the scene is not cautionary enough, a sign warns: “Danger! Don’t enter or drink the water.”

“This is the end of the Jordan River as far as clean water is concerned,” Gidon Bromberg, head of the Tel Aviv office of Friends of the Earth Middle East, said as he walked around the site. “From here down to the Dead Sea, the Jordan River has been turned into a sewage canal, little more.”

The Jordan—best known as the river where Christians believe Jesus was baptized—used to be the main source of water for the Dead Sea, delivering about 1.3 billion cubic meters of water every year, or about three-quarters of all the water that flowed into the sea.

Today, virtually every major spring and tributary that once flowed into the Jordan has been dammed or diverted for drinking water and crop irrigation by Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The Jordan now delivers less than 100 million cubic metres of water a year to the Dead Sea, and as much as half of that is raw sewage, according to Bromberg and other environmentalists.

Months go by in the summer when parts of the river are dry. At Jesus’ baptismal site, five miles north of where the Jordan trickles into the Dead Sea, pilgrims fill souvenir bottles with greenish-brown water.

“The irony is that today the Jordan is being kept alive by sewage,” Bromberg said.
—Washington Post Foreign Service

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Inquire about the MennoJerusalem Holy Land Travel & Study Tour in May 2007
Exclusively for Pastors and Bible Teachers
—through Israel / Palestine / Jordan.

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