Moderator John Vissers, distinguished delegates of presbyteries and chapters in Canada, international guests, ladies and gentlemen:
It is indeed a great privilege to be among you today, especially after my failure to be at your 137th assembly because of technical difficulties at the Canadian embassy in Tel Aviv connected with delayed security clearance from Canada, which then granted me a visa two months after your assembly. Thank God that I am here now and I am grateful to all who made my presence here a reality, especially the Rev. Ron Wallace [associate secretary of International Ministries].
I am at almost at the end of a two-week speaking tour among churches and organizations that are genuinely interested and involved in the Holy Land; several of the events I participated in were arranged by the Presbyterian Church of Canada in Toronto and Ottawa. Your representatives were also present at Senator Anne Cools’ luncheon on Parliament Hill.
My mission is the witness of a Palestinian Christian woman whose life has been closely affected by the Palestine/Israel conflict for over 64 years. Is it a coincidence that I am addressing you today at the eve of exactly 45 years of continued military Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem?
I stand here as a human being, a Semite from the Holy Land, a refugee in her own city, Jerusalem, aptly stated by the Secretary of State of the Vatican, Archbishop Jean Louis Tauran : Jerusalem remains a treasure for the whole world. But in Jerusalem today, you can still hear Jesus Christ weeping over the city and its people who do not know the things that make for peace. The stones are shaking in anger because they want to cry out: This is not why the Incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ died on the cross to save you, o human being who has forgotten to do justice, to love your brother/sister and your enemy and to remember to walk humbly with your Lord, who alone is the greater. Allahu Akbar…
I can honestly testify that all the oppressive measures that you hear about and that many of you have experienced in their visits to the territories are not conducive to peace. The list is very long but allow me to mention only a few points for those who are unaware of the sad and scary fact: home demolitions (about 24,000), eviction from homes that are then occupied by settlers, settlements, revoking residency rights separation of families, confiscation of land, permit systems that prevent free access even for worship, administrative detentions without trials, expulsions, checkpoints, the wall destruction of wells and….
I urge you to listen with your ears, hearts, and minds to the voice of your Palestinian Christian family calling in faith, hope and love from the heart of the Palestinian suffering as expressed in the Kairos Palestine Document, A Moment of Truth launched in 2009 and the Bethlehem Call, a shorter affirmation of faith and commitment in 2011 in which we stated that: In love, we rage against injustice and yet refuse to be destroyed by our anger.
As a Palestinian Christian, an integral active member of the Palestinian people, I can assure you that the majority of my Muslim brothers and sisters are involved in the non-violent resistance movement and many Jews, locally and internationally yearn for a lasting peace. How can it not be so in the cradle of the three monotheistic religions? How can we forget that this geographic space, the arena of discord, dissent, violence and injustice has a universal mission? Is not this why the international community, including Canada, has clear policies against the continued occupation of the territories including East Jerusalem, which is against international law and the Geneva Conventions and that settlements are an obstruction to peace? How many international human rights organizations as well as local Israeli ones have condemned the violation of human rights by the only so-called democracy in the Middle East, Israel?
Before I go on, let me truly say that we steadfastly uphold the principle of compassion toward the oppressor. We acknowledge and understand their own experiences of oppression, fears and insecurities. Our demands are in the best interests of a better future for all involved.
We call upon you to hear the appeal of the suffering members in the body of Christ, the remaining less than two per cent faithful descendants of the community of believers established at Pentecost and uninterrupted resilient and firm witnesses for 2000 years. We have confidence in you because your church has been a pioneer in its justice. It stands with the oppressed and we consider the Presbyterian Church a peace-builder, true to the message of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
The theme of the 138th General Assembly is very significant for someone like me who comes from the land Holy in name only, where the sanctity of life is desecrated and defiled, the dignity of human beings trampled upon and where all the creation of God, land, water and vegetation are either destroyed or monopolized. We are on the edge of the waters, but our faith reasserts that God is at the crossing, guiding our hesitant steps to plunge in confidently in the work of justice, healing and reconciliation, together treading towards the earthly kingdom of God where justice with compassion will prevail.
As in all your assemblies, we urge you to remember that the decisions that will be adopted here will not only reflect your responsible stand as a committed and courageous church but will greatly affect the destiny of your brethren and the future of a just peace in our region, including Jerusalem. The whole Middle East may prosper in harmony or sink even deeper in a cycle of violence.
We in Palestine are not surprised by this firm stand for justice and peace you have taken with respect to the peoples of Palestine/Israel, as you have maintained such a stance for the past 40 years, repeatedly bringing it back before the assemblies despite the many attempts to intimidate you. Your courageous support for what is right gives us Palestinians the assurance that you are truly following in the footsteps of our Savior in living—not simply preaching—the daring message that love and justice are two sides of the same coin. In a world void of morality and ethics, and definite lack of spirituality, you have cared for both peoples but have not shied from taking a stand against the injustice that Israel is perpetrating. You have taken this costly discipleship serious knowing that is necessary to remind the secular state of Israel, out of love, of the morality of Judaism and the harm it is causing not only to the oppressed but themselves.
We, the Palestinian forgotten faithful, were extremely encouraged when the Presbyterian Church heralded the concept of honest stewardship and the moral responsible investment of the churches back in 2005. You took the lead in shouldering the responsibility of unmasking the hazards of investments in companies that prolonged the Israeli Occupation, in becoming complicit in the oppressive measures levied against Palestinians and the systematic violations of their rights.
We commend your genuine search for understanding Christian Zionism from your own faith perspective as discussed in the 134th General Assembly and the fruitful discussions that followed between the International Affairs Committee and the working group from the Church Doctrine committee. We are grateful that you have considered the Jerusalem declaration on Christian Zionism released and signed by church leaders on August 22, 2006. This is an extremely critical issue that not only destroys the image of true Christianity, but has serious implications on building and achieving peace with justice between Israel and Palestine. May the Spirit guide you in adopting a fair but firm resolution.
We appeal to you not only as a Church but also citizens of a strong world power, whose political stands and blind support for the Israeli structure of unjust domination has continuously contributed to chaos and violence in an area meant to be a haven of harmony and peace. Until political decision-makers see the light and use a just measure and not double standards, let us remember that Christianity is a responsible way of life. The church cannot remain lukewarm, neutral or balanced and lose its credibility. Working for reconciliation starts by highlighting causes of discord, removing hurdles to peace and building an environment in which moral values dictate the firm stand which will not break the spirits of human beings created in the image of God.
As expressed in the Kairos Document (2009), we call upon you to hear our cry, to come and see and more important to realize that BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) is a tool, an expression of democratic rights and responsibilities, a way to provide the very kind of non-violence and equality and the ending of an illegal occupation, the object of which is no way: “revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the perpetrators and the victims of injustice.” (A moment of Truth 4.2.6). We would like to reemphasize the urgency of your clear and concrete positions, and urge you not to cave in under threats or intimidation, for galloping facts on the ground that we witness daily in the Occupied Territories will only continue to accelerate.
BDS for honest stewards, is not only a direct illustration of solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians but a confirmation that we stand united in our Christian understanding of what is right. Half a century ago, a Baptist pastor with vision, Harry Emerson Fordisk, understood that: Christians are expected not merely to endure change, not even profit by it, but to cause it.
With gratitude and hope, then, we ask you to hear the call of your Palestinian brothers and sisters, to help remove the yoke of oppression from their shoulders. May you remain pioneers and faithful peace-makers and builders so that all peoples will live in dignity and we will preserve humanity in the restored promising land, the Holy Land.
This is your Kairos moment.
