Abandoning Theology

"The working group's desire is that the United Church be able to contribute, even in a small way, to justice that leads to peace in Israel/Palestine", attests the report of the working group commissioned by the United Church to address the revolving issue of how the Church may effectively address what they feel to be an issue of right and wrong.  There are no shades or nuances in the view and conclusion reached by the working group.

The resolution they placed before the General Council of the United Church, Canada's largest Protestant denomination, is clear enough: the Church must mandate a boycott of products produced in Israeli settlements.  The proposal is a clarion call for the United Church of Canada to connect the end of the Israeli occupation as a pre-requisite for peace in the region.  Israel is called upon to dismantle the occupied territories' settlements.

Moreover, a further recommendation is that the Church lobby the Government of Canada to "provide leadership among nations advocating for the end of the occupation".  As though the 'occupation' would be a condition that arose out of nowhere.  The Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization (Fateh) before it had ample opportunities to seek a peace settlement with Israel, and rejected it every step of the way.

Instead, an ongoing and ferocious series of attacks on Israel, on its people, both within the Middle East and without, were conducted by Palestinian terrorists "resisting" the occupation of the State of Israel on land mandated by the United Nations as its own.  The Palestinians resisted the recommendation that they act to claim that portion of the geography that Partition handed over to them.  They preferred the option of standing by while a combined Arab army comprised of neighbouring states destroyed Israel.

In fact, that plan hasn't changed all that much over the years since 1948.  It has been couched in cleverly-disguised language of diplomacy, allowing the international community to hear what would please them; the willingness of the Palestinians to accept Partition, after all.  "Occupation" and "resistance" are the code words that Arabs have used successfully, with one meaning for themselves, another for foreign consumption.

And the United Church of Canada is complacent with that vocabulary and the fictions that accompany it.  They insist they are integrally involved in the search for a solution to the conflict in the Middle East.  What they mean is that Israeli intransigence is fully responsible for all the chaos, bloodshed and dysfunctional tyranny that takes place in the Middle East, by not 'settling' with the Palestinians.

Therefore it made sense for the United Church at this juncture to retract a previous resolution that had them counselling the Palestinians to accept the reality that Israel should be recognized as a Jewish state.  That all the surrounding states are Arab/Muslim states is a fact no one would wish to dispute because this is reality.  That Israel was founded as a Jewish state presents as a savage intrusion in an Arab geography.

"It singles out Israel in a way that is so fundamentally unhelpful that there is nothing redeeming in this set of resolutions that they've supported today.  In undertaking this action, the United Church has absolutely disqualified itself from playing a constructive role in advancing peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians", asserted the CEO of The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

A final vote on the resolution is scheduled for Friday.  The resolution has passed an initial test of acceptance from the General Council following debates and amendments.  "The mind of the council is pretty clear.  The main recommendations were approved by a fairly overwhelming vote", said Bruce Gregerson, senior program officer at the United Church, of the proposal from the Working Group on Israel-Palestine Policy.

"I don't know if church members truly understand how utterly offensive and imbalanced (sic) this proposal is, or whether a latent anti-Semitism within the church is slowly coming back to life", stated Avi Benlolo, president and CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.

It certainly seems to pass the walking, quacking test.