Abba Eban, the late Israeli diplomat, once said of the
Palestinian Arabs, “They never miss an opportunity to miss an
opportunity.” And so it has been for decades. The Palestinian Arabs
turned down a two-state Palestine in 1948 and have rebuffed all
Israeli concessions since then. Hope springs eternal with some
folks, however, and in the summer last year the General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to disinvest church funds
from Israel, apparently in the belief that this would cause the
years of conflict to evaporate.
This unelected Presbyterian group performed a neat hat trick.
Its members were chosen by Presbytery (regional) leaders, not by
the members of the church. Yet, when the delegates voted, their
actions created an “official” church position. If the conscience of
an individual churchgoer leads him or her to favor or oppose a
particular group, that is his or her business. On the other hand, a
church as an institution has no business entangling itself in
political matters, but that is what the Presbyterians did without
consulting their membership.
One of the dangers of such actions is that ignorance may
prevail. Apparently, these folks labored under the belief that it
was the Israelis who wanted to drive the Palestinians into the sea
and the Israelis who had been sending suicide bombers into the West
Bank to kill innocents — and not the other way around. The actions
of this self-appointed Presbyterian group emboldened, in turn,
like-minded muddleheads in the Episcopal Church and United Church
of Christ to promote similar proposals.
One factor not well understood: The Israelis have been building
a separation barrier between themselves and the West Bank. While it
has involved controversy and hardship for some Palestinian
residents in particular places where it has been located, there is
no disputing that suicide bombings have been drastically reduced in
the areas where it is in place.
Muddled thinking seems to begin at the top of the Presbyterian
Church. After the disinvestment-in-Israel proposal passed last
year, the Reverend Clifton Kirkpatrick, the church’s top official,
was quoted by the New York Times: “It’s not a campaign to
divest from the state of Israel. We’re fully committed to the state
of Israel. But it is a campaign to divest from particular
activities that are doing damage and creating injustice and
violence, whether that’s the building of a separation barrier,
construction related to the occupation, or weapons and materials
that lead to suicide bombings. “
Ah, so it is Israeli “weapons and materials” that cause
Palestinian suicide bombings. That man is so deft at talking out of
both sides of his mouth that he should consider elective office as
his next career move.
In October, two officials of the church’s headquarters were on a
“fact-finding” trip in the Middle East and met with Hezbollah
leaders. This is the peace-loving group funded by Iran that is
listed by the United States government as a terrorist organization.
The two officials resigned after their return.
This week a delegation from eight Protestant denominations is in
Israel at the invitation of a group of American Jewish
organizations. David Elcott, director of interreligious affairs of
the American Jewish Committee’s, said, “Obviously, our hope is to
clarify why disinvestment is negative.” During the week, the
visiting Protestants will see the site of a Palestinian attack and
the separation wall. They’ll meet with Knesset members, a Camp
David Accords negotiator, journalists, members of an Arab-Jewish
soccer team, Palestinians whose homes were destroyed by Israel, and
Palestinian Authority leaders in Ramallah. The balanced itinerary
is intended to provide the visitors with a dose of reality.
Perhaps, after this experience, they will be more mindful of the
Biblical admonition “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God.”
