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THE DAILY STAR

US Christian Groups Push for Mideast peace

Conference to lobby legislators on regional concerns

To prepare for upcoming event, a delegation from Churches for Middle East Peace recently toured Lebanon, Jordan, West Bank, Jerusalem


George S. Hishmeh
Special to The Daily Star, March 1, 2004 

WASHINGTON: The second annual ecumenical gathering of American Christians in Washington, co-sponsored by Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), will gather here next week "to prepare for advocacy on Israel and Palestine and the situation in Iraq."

The four-day conference, scheduled to begin March 5, will bring together participants from a broad range of churches and faith-based coalitions to lobby legislators on Capitol Hill on various international concerns in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Seven different workshops will be held on such issues as Middle East politics of neoconservatives and conservatives, settlements and the separation barrier, Christians in the Middle East, Christian Zionism and Middle East arms issues.

In preparation for the upcoming conference, Advocacy Days 2004: I Will Feed Them with Justice, a delegation from CMEP a Washington-based coalition of 19 Catholic and Protestant denominations and church agencies, visited Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank and Jerusalem.

A key member of CMEP's leadership council, former US Senator and presidential nominee George McGovern, did not pull any punches in a widely circulated recent letter urging support for the coalition. "Unfortunately," he wrote, "the US role in the (Middle East) has often been obstructive and, at times, destructive."

He added that the US "grossly overstepped its bounds in Iraq" and accused the US of significantly underplaying its influence in Israel and Palestine.

One of CMEP's first tasks this year, he continued, would be to build US pressure "to stop the construction of the separation wall" now being built mostly in the Palestinian areas. "This wall will not bring Israel the security it seeks. It reminds me somewhat of the US policy of reservations for Native Americans initiated in the 19th century."

Describing CMEP as a "significant player" in Washington, McGovern said it is now focusing on ensuring "every member of Congress and every leader in Washington understands the responsibility we have to foster peace in our world."

This task falls to Corinne Whitlatch, former staff director of the McGovern for President campaign in Iowa and the executive director of the public policy program of the coalition of mainstream Protestant churches and Catholic organizations.

Whitlatch, who led the CMEP delegation on the Mideast tour last month, said in an interview with The Daily Star: “We craft our message (in a way) so that it can be heard and we can be listened to.”

She emphasized that CMEP speaks for "a great many US church members and, officially, for these institutional churches," but she admitted that her work is sometimes limited because these churches do not engage in partisan politics. "But I do think it leaves an integrity to our voice that should not be underestimated," she said.

Her organization has recently undertaken some focus group research among some mainstream yet politically inactive US Christians. "What we found is that most of these people do not have an understanding of the historical development of …… the Middle East, nor of the (Israel-Palestine) conflict. Many of them do not understand what the word ‘occupation’ means, or have any concept about settlements."

Considering the apparent failure of the so-called "road map" peace plan to take root and the increasing influence of Christian fundamentalists in Washington who are very supportive of Israel, she confessed that the purpose of her delegation's trip was also "to show our face, to let people there know that there are American Christians who are committed to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Arab conflict, and who are working with Middle Eastern people to have a better life and a better future in the region.”

"We also wanted to hear what people are saying and see for ourselves the situation on the ground, so that we might take that into account as we analyze the issue here in the Washington perspective …… and how to do our education and advocacy (work)," she said.

A frequent visitor to the Middle East, Whitlatch said that on her last trip she was ""struck by how deep the chasm"" has become between Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs.

"It seems like the political situation is, maybe, the worst that I have ever seen it." The "pessimism and despair" is more than ever, she said. "We heard many people say that they do not think that peace is possible anymore, that a two-state solution is no longer possible."

Moreover, she found it "very interesting and insightful" to see how the US call for a "war on terror" is being played out in peoples' minds in the region. "We need to find some clear way to link prevention of terrorism with the need for Israeli-Arab peacemaking that is widely accepted as fair," she said.

She thought it "likely that some of that pessimism would result in continued efforts by some people to emigrate from the region and that may be especially true for the Arab Christians." But another aspect "is resulting in very strong anti-US sentiment, and among some people with militant tendencies, I think it is likely to result in continued recruitment of people who are willing to (resort) to terrorism."

Whitlatch added that her group will now "need to find a way to make this linkage clearer in the public mind and in the mind of policymakers," because "it does not seem very productive at this point to work with this (Bush) administration on carrying out the road map. It seems that the administration …… has given up on that."

On the other hand, she credited President George W. Bush for being "the first president who has actually talked seriously about a Palestinian state" although she added that Bush "seems unwilling to carry through with this politically."

Whitlatch underlined the "negative impact" on Arab Christians that the Bush administration had in "prominently pass(ing) itself as a Christian Bible-based leadership, and the very prominent role taken, especially by some of the Christian fundamentalist leaders such as Jerry Falwell, in insulting Islam."

She promised that "more attention" will be given in CMEP''s advocacy work on the separation barrier that Israel is building in the West Bank as well as the UN Relief and Works Agency, "and the need for maintaining and probably increasing US support" for this international organization that feeds Palestinian refugees in the countries surrounding Israel. She pointed out that US legislators have been very critical of the world agency, some accusing it of "breeding houses for terrorists."

In the months ahead, CMEP's executive director said her group will be working on "encouraging improved relations between the US and Syria, and the US and Iran."

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/01_03_04/art31.asp