After a three month hiatus from Speaking Truth to Pulpits, I begin my fulfillment of a New Years resolution to post at least once a month.  

I ask that you resolve to tell religious communities and leaders the Palestinian side of this tragic and dehumanizing conflict. Or arrange for informed activists/experts to speak to your audiences.

The primary purpose of this blog is to journalize your efforts to tell Ishmael's story.  In fact, perhaps we should call this project Please Let Ishmael Speak.

Read the below entries: 

The Nashville Peace Talks Commence--8-7-14

AND

Palestinian American Roger Harb Reaches out for Peace--8-24-14

The efforts of these two activist/bloggers are exactly what we need to spread across this fine land.  Submit your report as a comment to this blog's most recent entry (your piece does not have to relate to the entry other than in spirit).  I'll edit with a light touch, post, and then others can be inspired by your courage and gain ideas from your approach.

In 2015, let's religiously act locally and Let Ishmael Speak!  

True Israeli Courage

Here is a link to a short article on Israel intelligence officers speaking out against IDF tactics employed against the Palestinian people.  This comes from Speaking Truth to Pulpits contributor Robert Howell (see below for Robert's Aug. 7 20014 post).

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/israeli-officers-denounce-operations-against-palestinians-114091300308_1.html

Thank you for passing this article on, Robert.  It's significant, in part, because there have been great numbers of regular army Rufusniks, while  intelligence officers rarely criticize Jerusalem. Why we have to demonstrate over and over again that people can love Israel and loathe its policies is beyond me, but we must.

On three separate trips to Israel, I stayed in the home of a wonderful family with two sons who were Israeli intelligence officers.  I had and still have great affection for both of them while a hated what they did when they snuck around the West Bank.  Unfortunately, I've lost contact with my host family.  I pray that Gilad and Ofer have found that part of their soul they buried in the sand and are now speaking out against the very tactics they employed.      

Shalom/Salem,
AR

Palestinian-American Roger Harb Reaches out for Peace

                  I received an impromptu invitation from a friend to address his bible study group from a non-denominational protestant church. This is a group of professional men who are friends and who meet monthly for lunch, fellowship and bible study.   My friend invited me so his group could get a Palestinian perspective on the “Gaza crisis” at their July 31, 2014 gathering.  My friend reached out to me because I was the only person of Palestinian heritage whom he knew personally.  When I accepted his invitation, I made it clear that I was not any kind of authority or academic on the subject of Gaza or the greater Palestinian Israeli conflict.

         For the bible study group’s nine men, I attempted to present some historical background and explain some root causes that have led to and contributed to the current conditions.

         First, I explained that my family came from Ramallah, Palestine (historically a Palestinian Christian town founded in the 1500s and situated in the Occupied Territories, land occupied by the Israeli Army and Jewish settlers since 1967). I shared my grandmother’s narrative of the “everyday people.”  She would tell us that her experience was one of Jews, Christians and Muslims coexisting in peace, friendship, dignity, and commerce (“the good old days,” turn-of-the-twentieth-century through WWII). To her the common people were agrarian people who primarily lived off of the land and who played roles in an emerging tourism industry—come to see the Holy Land. Moreover, regardless of religion they respected, worked and lived in peace with each other. I explained that the brutal violence of today should not distort that former reality nor should it lead people to the false conclusion that Jews and Arabs have always been in conflict.  

I also gave a brief description of what I consider to be the “root cause”, the Palestinian Diaspora.  I expressed the view that the current conflict between Palestinians and Israelis stems from post WWII tensions in British controlled Palestine. The newly created United Nations approved Resolution 181 “The Partition Plan of Palestine” that passed in November of 1947. UN 181 was an ill-fated partition plan that divided the territory between Palestinian Arabs and Jewish immigrants. The Jewish public in Palestine (now mostly from Europe) and the UN approved Palestine Zionist Executive, now known as the Jewish Agency for Israel (responsible for bringing millions of Jews into Palestine/Israel, post WWII) were overwhelmingly in favor of the 181 plan.  The Palestinians and Arab nations were overwhelmingly not in favor of the 181 partition plan, because it violated the principles on national self-determination in accordance to the UN charter which granted people the right to decide their own destiny. Additionally, Palestinians rejected the plan because it gave the smaller Jewish population the larger territory and more importantly gave the prime Mediterranean-trading Sea ports in Jaffa and Hafia (the Partition Plan was never an equitable deal).  UN 181 was administered by the United Kingdom (as mandatory power for Palestine).  

The partition would eventually lead to war and the dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and it accelerated the dissolution of relations between the indigenous Jewish, Christian & Muslim populations.  The 1948 Arab – Israeli War led to what is known  in Arabic as the “Al-Nakba” (the catastrophe).  Extremist Zionist militants attacked, massacred, and dispossessed Palestinians.  Seven hundred thousand Palestinians were expelled from their homes creating an instant Palestinian refugee crisis.  

I also discussed how the 1967 Six-Day War contributed to displacing and creating another 300K Palestinians refugees (including my grandmother and other family members).

The 1948 and 1967 wars led to greater Israel land control through continuous military occupation that subsequently led to illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian owned lands. For 50 years, Israel has occupied Palestinian land, and has confiscated and colonized hundreds of choice sites. The occupation’s primary financial support comes from US citizen tax dollars (3B+ aid annually).  

Additionally, I explained that the Palestinian refugee problem has never been resolved even though the international community and the UN have repeatedly called for resolutions to address the problem (UN Resolution 194).  I also noted that Palestinian refugees in refugee camps in bordering Arab countries of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan have suffered under cruel restrictions and abuse by their host country.  They are unfortunately treated like second-class citizens and have lived in refugee camps for several generations.  Ironically, Arab countries in conflict with Israel will use the “Palestinian Cause” as a central rallying point against U.S. and Israeli issues or actions when in reality many Palestinians rights have been abused by these Arab countries. 

The primary obstacles to achieving peace and ending violence has been the failure to equitably resolve the Palestinian refugee crisis and Israel’s continued control and colonization of Palestinians.  If Israel’s apparatuses of colonialism, the occupation and separation wall, continue in what is an apartheid state, then Palestinians will never feel or be free and the popular two-state solution will be further eroded if not impossible.

I pointed out that Gaza is frequently referred to as: The World’s Largest Open-Air Prison.  Gaza is about the size of the District of Columbia with three times as many residents (1.8 million).  For years, the Israeli military has maintained a siege/blockade, restricted the passage of Palestinians in and out of Gaza, restricted Palestinians from fishing off of their own coast, restricted importation of adequate food, medicine, water, electricity, construction materials and other basics civilian needs.  These daily deprivations have taken a toll on the civilian population who are mostly made up of refugees.  Even without war, Gazans struggle to survive in horrid living conditions.

I ended with the only biblical reference that I made to the bible study group: I quoted Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

Q: Don’t we have to support Israel because they are the only ones in the Middle East who protect our “Western Values”. 

R: What exactly are Western values?  And if I’m right about what you mean, don’t these values come from the Middle East via the Torah, Bible and Koran.  

One guy was surprised that I am Palestinian Christian and asked when we converted from Islam.  I told him that I think that we were Jewish before we became Christians.  And that I think some Jewish dude named Jesus talked my ancestors into it. We all had a laugh with that one.

--Roger Harb, Knoxville, TN

I want to thank Roger Harb for going out and engaging a religious community, sharing his family’s story, and providing the Palestinian perspective. Roger’s cousin Robert went through a similar outreach experience and you can read his take six posts down. Thanks to both of you.  It’s not easy to do what you guys did but so important and more and more will get involved if we keep spreading the news and encouragement.

Roger, it would be interesting to know if your friend, who is part of the bible study and invited you to speak, has heard feedback from his fellow study members since your visit.  Please encourage him to e-mail me any thoughts he has.

Peace,

Andreas Rubinstein

Zionism is Not Evil--Fanatical Zionists are Evil

I often hear people deride Zionism, but I don’t know if they really understand what they are saying.  Here is my understanding and position.  Maybe this will help clarify some discussions.

One can be a Zionist zealot who has no concern for the suffering of the Palestinian people, and who wants every Palestinian cleared out so Israel can run from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan.  Some of these Zionists are religiously motivated—Orthodox Jews who believe the Torah guarantees us this portion of land.  Others are just harsh, calculating pragmatists who won’t feel safe, vindicated, or powerful until Israel has complete control of Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, with a clear Jewish majority.

Or one can be a liberal or progressive Zionist who believes in Israel’s right to exist but also believes as strongly in a Palestinian state, with human rights and economic justice for all.

Zionism is a Jewish Nationalist movement started in the late 1800s in Europe and, shortly after the Holocaust, culminated in the birth of Israel in Palestine in 1948.  After thousands of years of suffering severe persecution in Europe—inquisitions, pogroms, restrictive laws, and exiles—the Jewish need for an independent and armed Jewish state became paramount to the survival of this ancient people. Nazi-Germany made this clear and, by murdering approximately six million Jews, nearly succeeded in eliminating the Jewish people and erasing the need for a Jewish state.  

Again, to be a Zionist simply means to believe in the right of Israel—a Jewish state—to exist.  There are fanatical right wing Zionists, like Netanyahu, and there are progressive Zionists like Rabbi Lerner.

Like millions of Americans, I will forever be angry, disgusted and saddened by the means with which my native country was established and expanded. Armed with avarice, brutality, and racism, we simply murdered and displaced countless Native-Americans, shoving their survivors on to reservations (another name for refugee camps) relegating many of their descendants to lives of degradation and poverty, which continues through today’s generations.

Despite this horror story and the benefits I’ve reaped from the establishment of this country, thus my inherited culpability in the terror Native-Americans suffered, I will not denounce the U.S., it’s right to exist, nor our right to be safe.

I deplore our forefathers’ megalomaniacal lust for land, waterways, minerals, and power and their blatant disregard for the lands, lives, and suffering of indigenous people.  The U.S.A. could have been established without a near genocide.

Like wise, I deplore much of the history of modern Israel with regards to how we have treated the indigenous populations of Palestine—killing tens of thousands and displacing over a million Christian and Muslim Palestinians over the past 66 years.  The Palestinian Jews faired better than their centuries-old neighbors, but to this day Ashkenazi Jews (Jews whose most recent roots are in Europe) treat Sephardic Jews (Jews of Spanish, North African, or Arab origin) as essentially second-class citizens.

Just like our country could have had humane relations with the Indians, the establishment of a Jewish state in our ancestral homeland could have happened in cooperation with the indigenous people and with humanity and humility:

You may say I’m a dreamer, 

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you will join us

And the world will live as one—J. Lennon

If you are against Zionism—without qualification—you are in favor of the dismantling of Israel—the Jewish state.

If you are a proponent of progressive Zionism you are, at a minimum, against the Jewish settlement movement/expansion in the West Bank, the killing of Gazan civilians, and the Israeli siege of Gaza.  And you believe in the right of Israel to exist and to exist as a Jewish state.

I’m not going to denounce the Jewish dream; however, I am going to repent for the Palestinian nightmare that my people have largely created.

It’s a paradox—not a contradiction.  We can thrive within paradoxes—contradictions, on the other hand, are murder.

Shabbat shalom and have a relaxing weekend,

Andreas Rubinstein

Here is a Man Who Knows Apartheid and Who Knows Reconciliation

Please read former Anglican Church Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu's appeal to Israel.  It was published on 8-14-14 in Ha aretz--Israel's largest newspaper:

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.610687

This seems like something very important to share within your religious community.

A Heroic Bubbe Still Fighting the Power--Sublimely Amazing

Hedy Epstein--Holocaust Survivor and Palestinian and Civil Rights Activist Being Arrested in Ferguson

(Thank you, Ken)

Here's a project: raise money to have Hedy come speak at your house-of-worship or, even better, to an inter-faith or inter-denominational group.  She's available for speaking engagements:  http://www.hedyepstein.com

Ken, can you find out if we need to raise bail money for Hedy?

Andreas Rubinstein

Israel Kills a Two-year-old Gazan and Hamas Continues Suicide Path

Here We Go Again

For Your Friends Who Still Believe the BIG Lie that all Palestinians Hate Israel/Jews

Gazan Farmer

THE NASHVILLE PEACE TALKS COMMENCE

I was charged by my friend David Drews, in the interest of peace and justice, to reach out to my minister with my views about the Israeli Palestine crisis. To sum up my views:  equal rights for the local Arabs and an end to the apartheid regime currently in power in Israel. 

 On Monday of this week (8/4/14) I met with my preacher and found him to be very curious and open to my views. He is a man who is interested in peace in this world. Though his analysis of the situation does not line up perfectly with my own we did find common ground on many issues. And he expressed an interest in exploring ways to broaden dialogue within our church.

Without David's suggestion I would not have approached my minister in this regard. If you desire to contribute to a "DUAL" narrative, so that both sides of the issue are heard, I would encourage you to do so based on my experience with my minister.

The idea of reaching out to our clergy in this country is a good idea whose time has come. It might be one of the best ways to insure the possibility of the narrative's expansion to include both sides of this dynamic situation.

Robert F. Howell
Nashville, Tn.


PS Today at weekly Wednesday morning prayer group, the minister brought up the issue briefly and indicated this will be topic of discussion next week.

A Day of Fasting ends for Observant Jews.  

It was Tisha B'av. The day we weep over the Romans destroying our Temple in Jerusalem.  Proudly, observant peacenik Jews can rejoice that we didn't destroy anyone elses' home, place of worship, school, or hospital, today.  May the following days remain as wholly (holy) observed.
Below are some Israeli dissenters we never get to see. When you view the scope of our history who represents the Jewish spirit, these stalwarts or Bebe?  I was there in 2005 when the vote took place on whether or not to give Gaza back.  People had blue ribbons (give it back) or orange ribbons (keep it and the Gaza settlements).  I had a blue ribbon tied to my backpack and caught some heat, and this was a fifty--fifty race down to the line.  So, with 87% in favor of the IDF actions over the past month (Jerusalem Post) these folks are taking a risk for humanity.  Fourteen were arrested by Israeli police. Democracy   is a wonderful thing if fascists are not allowed to run it.

Click below for video:

Protest in Tel Aviv

MOVE THESE AROUND THE WORLD, PLEASE

The above photo was published on the BBC website on 3 August 2014.  The related report quoted and paraphrased a recent public statement by the Israeli prime minister:  "The Islamist group would pay an 'intolerable price' for attacks on Israel.

Hamas will barely pay.  The average Palestinian has and will pay dearly.  Show this photo to people of faith and ask them what are we going to do about this.