United Church reps visit Israel

JENNY HAZAN CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS

Senior leaders of the United Church of Canada (UCC) spent two weeks touring Israel and the Palestinian territories last month to reassess the church’s official stance on the region and update its policy positions.

The objective of the Feb. 17 to 28 mission, participant Rev. Bruce Gregersen said, was “to listen and try to understand the reality of the situation with a central concern about what we might offer as a Canadian church to contribute toward reconciliation.

“A key part of this exploration will include the effectiveness of our past policies and actions and exploration of future policies as a contribution toward ending the occupation of Palestinian territories begun in 1967,” explained Gregersen, lead staff of the church’s theology and inter-church interfaith committee and former interfaith officer specializing in Jewish and Muslim relations.

The church’s current policy on “Israel-Palestine,” instituted at the its 40th general council meeting in Kelowna, in August 2009, weighs heavily on the pro-Palestinian side. According to mission leader Rev. David Giuliano, the UCC’s alignment with the Palestinian cause is attributable, at least in part, to the fact that it’s natural for the church to partner with Christians abroad.

“Most of the people we’ve partnered with on projects have been Palestinian, by virtue of their Christianity,” said Giuliano, who is from Windsor, Ont. “A lot of people feel we’re critical of Israel, and sometimes we’re accused of not visiting the people we should.”

The mission’s aim was to bring balance to the church’s relations in the region, and Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) planned three days of the group’s 12-day itinerary. “Until now, [church members] have heard literally one story,” said Bernie Farber, CJC chief executive officer, who went on the mission. “Their trips were planned by Palestinian Christians. We wanted them to see Israel both through Israeli eyes and through Canadian Jewish eyes.”

CJC took the mission to the Supreme Court, Knesset, Yad Vashem, Old City and Ma’ale Adumim in the West Bank. It also arranged briefings with Israeli government officials and Likud MK Yudi Edelstein, Jerusalem Post journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, McGill University Prof. Gil Troy, David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee, Ha’aretz editor Aluf Benn and former senior Arab affairs adviser to the Jerusalem mayor Avi Melamed.

“We challenged their notions and gave them another way to look at the [Israeli-Palestinian] narrative,” Farber said, “and, in the end, I think we succeeded in getting them to understand that not one narrative necessarily rules. This is not a country of black and white. It’s full of grey, and I think they got that. We’re thankful to have had the opportunity to show them a side that I believe they would not have been able to see if we didn’t provide it.”

Farber said the church’s policies are reflective of the information its members have received. “I believe that these are honest folks who want to do the right thing, but really require information. This is exactly the kind of work we [at CJC] should be doing ... making a difference where it matters most.”

CJC’s efforts seemed to have had an impact. “The opportunity to hear more specifically from the Israeli perspective has been a good one,” Giuliano said. “The CJC has done a tremendous job getting us access to the [right] people and to the perspective that Israelis want us to hear. At times, I feel they think we didn’t get that, and so we are grateful to them for assisting with that.”

This new information stands to play a role in the adjustment of the church’s policies.

“We were asked to prepare a new policy paper on the [church’s] relationship with this area and how we might shift the direction of that,” Giuliano said, noting a few areas where the mission may recommend changes. The first is settlements: “We are quite concerned about issues related to the occupation and settlements, and what a barrier that is to peace in the region, but after visiting Ma’ale Adumim, we see what a challenge [the dismantling of settlements] would present for the return to pre-’67 borders.”

Seeing the Supreme Court brought another revision in their thinking, Farber said. “I think seeing how the Israeli justice system works is quite impressive to people. Any citizen of Israel can petition the Supreme Court, and I think that’s a real eye-opener.”

Established in 1925, the United Church is the largest Protestant congregation in Canada, claiming almost 600,000 official members among three million who identified themselves on the 2001 Canadian census as affiliated with the church. The church is involved in social justice projects throughout the world, and their support of the Palestinians is one such project.

“We have an interest in what little we can do to support the peace process and human rights issues that are arising in Israel and Palestine,” Giuliano explained. “We feel compelled to be a part of it. Our faith is lived in real time in the real world and this is a part of that.”

Farber said he admires the church’s global involvement. “They believe they have a responsibility to their fellow Christians to understand what’s going on here and help where they can. These are good things, as long as they approach with a sense of honesty, morality and justice,” he said. “I think they have done that. I believe they are trying to understand the issues from both sides and make an honest attempt to see what goes on here. They have a moral and ethical responsibility to report back to their church what they see, and they are going to be hard-pressed to just tell one story now.”

Farber added that CJC played an instrumental role in convincing the church to vote down the boycott, divestment and sanctions bill against Israel at the general council meeting in 2009. Giuliano noted, however, that the church’s decision on a boycott may not be final. “We have not arrived at any final conclusions about that. We need to give it some thought,” he said. “There are groups, both here and in Canada, that are pushing the United Church to support that work.”

The task force’s recommendation on this and other issues pertaining to Israel and the Palestinians will appear in a report to be released in September, ahead of the United Church’s 41st general council meeting in August 2012, in Ottawa. The report will be available on the church’s website. Until then, the church won’t draw any definite conclusions. “We have a number of [Palestinian] partners in this part of the world who we’ve been supporting and working with for a long time. It’s not like we will suddenly stop doing that,” Giuliano said. “At this point, we’re in the information-gathering stage, so I can’t say a lot about where this might lead us. In general, we’re hoping for the best for this region. We believe there can’t be peace for anyone until there’s peace for everyone.”

Farber would like more such trips in the future, perhaps with Canadian labor leaders, who he said have also demonstrated strongly biased pro-Palestinian beliefs. “This trip [with the United Church] may have opened up a whole new door for us,” he said.

For more Canadian Jewish news, visit cjnews.com.

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