Palestinian group questioned
Friday, October 7, 2005
By: Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein

from the Chicago Sun-Times

A conference this weekend on the campus of the Lutheran School of Theology in Hyde Park will bring together an ecumenical collection of church groups -- Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Catholics and others -- to discuss ''the active pursuit of justice and peace for Israelis and Palestinians.''

As noble as it sounds, there is a problem. The conference is organized by Sabeel, a Palestinian Christian ''liberation theology'' group whose claims to be concerned about both sides in the Middle East conflict are belied by its stridently anti-Israel, anti-Jewish message.

In his Easter 2001 message posted on Sabeel's Web site, Naim Ateek, president of Sabeel and one of the speakers at the conference, states, ''The number of innocent Palestinians and Israelis that have fallen victim to Israeli state policy is increasing.'' In one broad stroke, he places the entire blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Israel's doorstep -- despite the fact that more than 1,000 Israeli men, women and children have been murdered in Palestinian terror attacks since the beginning of the second intifada.

Throughout Sabeel's literature we are told that ''the occupation'' is the source of all Palestinian ills. No responsibility is directed toward textbooks that teach Palestinian schoolchildren to revere suicide bombers as ''martyrs'' and claim all of Israel -- not just Gaza and the West Bank -- as ''occupied'' Palestinian land. Nor are the corrupt Palestinian leaders, unable or unwilling to control the terrorists, deserving of blame. Islamist fanatics get a pass too. Suicide bombing is a regrettable, though understandable, reaction to Israeli oppression.

Since its founding, the modern state of Israel has been striving for peace even as it has been under attack by Arab armies and adherents of terror organizations. It has been striving for justice in the court of public opinion, where the press and organizations such as the U.N. regularly assault it with criticism while ignoring gross human rights abuses in the Arab world. But all this, to Sabeel, is irrelevant. Its vision of peace and justice -- a vision eagerly bought by many in the mainline churches -- doesn't include peace and justice for Israel.

So, perhaps the best answer to the question posed by this conference -- Will justice and peace embrace? -- is: not if Sabeel and its ecumenical friends can help it.