From Dr John Dinnen
Sir, - I have proposed a private member's motion asking the
Church of England to support peace groups working for peace and
justice in Israel and Palestine. This motion is due to be discussed
in the York Synod on the 10 July. I have been dismayed by the
distorted reaction to my motion in The Jewish
Chronicle.
I grew up in Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, and am aware of
what life is like in a divided community, and also knew personally
eight people killed in terrorist incidents. The division in the
community in Northern Ireland had been ignored by Great Britain
for decades till it blew up in 1967.
As a member of General Synod for seven years, I was concerned
that there had been little discussion of the situation in Israel
and Palestine, an area that is the birthplace of all three
Abrahamic faiths.
The purpose of my resolution is to encourage the Church of
England to study the situation in Israel and Palestine; to listen
to Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim views; and
to pray for peace and justice for all in Israel and Palestine, and
to support those who work for peace and justice in Israel and
Palestine.
My resolution calls for support for the Ecumenical Accompaniment
Programme (EAPPI) in particular. This scheme sends human-rights
monitors to the West Bank to observe what goes on at checkpoints
and agricultural gates, and to accompany children going to school
in areas of conflict.
It is claimed by the Board of Deputies that EAPPI is one-sided
and ignores the plight of Israel. In fact, the monitors are
carefully selected and trained by the British Quakers. They visit
and speak to Jewish settlers and to Jewish people in Israel. They
also visit the Holocaust memorial in Yad Vashem.
It is vital that the Church of England shows its support for
those who work for peace and human rights for all in
Israel-Palestine. Many of my Jewish friends support the work of
EAPPI, and also Israeli organisations such as B'Tselem.
John Dinnen
Hereford General Synod member
The Hawthorns, Madley
Hereford HR2 9LU
From Sharen Green
Sir, - Some articles have appeared in The Jewish
Chronicle and on other websites saying that the motion asking
the Synod to endorse the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in
Palestine and Israel should be opposed, as it will whip up
anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli feeling. And a campaign has been
launched. Unfortunately, the criticism is based on
inaccuracies.
I have served twice as an EA, for whom a week hearing a variety
of Israeli perspectives was programmed. We spent a day at an
illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. We also visited a
kibbutz, and many of us travelled down to Sderot, a town where the
Qassam rockets rain down from Gaza.
We are encouraged to spend our 12 days' leave in Israel, where
many stay with Israeli friends and relatives. We stay in tourist
resorts, and have plenty of opportunity to absorb the Zionist
narrative.
It has been suggested that we receive only two hours' education
about Israel during our two weeks' training in London. In fact, we
have to read an enormous amount of historical material before we
begin training, and the first week is devoted to the conflict,
listening to speakers with a variety of perspectives.
As an EA, I am well used to the charge of being anti-Israel and
even at times anti-Jewish. This is not how EAs see themselves. We
aspire to practise principled impartiality. We are not neutral when
it comes to human-rights abuses, however, and all our work is
predicated on international (IL) and international humanitarian
law (IHL).
The selection procedure, training, and debriefing are all very
rigorous. Great care is taken to make sure that we do not give our
own views or step outside an EA's remit. Our presentations are
based on our own experiences, underpinned with IL and IHL. We quote
facts and figures overwhelmingly from either Israeli sources or
bodies such as the UN, Defence for Children International, and
Amnesty International.
It would be a pity if the Synod motion fell because people were
misinformed.
SHAREN GREEN
61 Gravel Hill
Wimborne BH21 3BJ
From Dr Elizabeth Stewart
Sir, - The Church's possible support for the EAPPI programme
is due to be debated at the General Synod. The EAPPI agenda is
vehemently anti-Israel, and gives participants a biased, one-sided,
and distorted attitude to the situation between Israel and the
Palestinians.
Everyone wants peace, including Israelis and Palestinians.
Everyone wants the stalled peace process to move forward again. But
indoctrinating well-meaning but ill-informed church members with a
blatantly anti-Israel agenda does nothing to advance the cause of
peace.
I hope and pray that the Synod will throw the issue out, and
that those concerned with Middle East peace instead adopt an
attitude of understanding and reconciliation towards both sides in
this situation.
ELIZABETH STEWART
1 St Mary's Close, Weston
Spalding, Lincolnshire PE12 6JL
From Mr Jeremy Moodey
Sir, - The revelation that the UN has cut funding to the
Anglican hospital in Gaza (News, 22
June) is very troubling.
The Ahli Hospital has been a beacon of Christian care and
compassion in the Gaza Strip since it was established by CMS in
1907. Over the past year, it has had to endure electricity cuts of
up to 20 hours a day because of the power crisis in Gaza.
BibleLands has just sent £15,000 to help with the enormous fuel
bills, as the hospital tries to run its own generators. The
cancellation of the UNRWA contract, and the potential staff cuts,
have hit the hospital very hard.
One aspect of the story which has been overlooked is the funding
crisis at UNRWA, the UN agency that provides humanitarian support
for Palestinian refugees. This crisis may well be linked to
attempts in the US Senate to reduce UNRWA's funding by redefining
Palestinian refugee status so that it is attached to the 30,000
Palestinians still living who were displaced in 1948, not the five
million descendants of those displaced, many of whom still languish
in refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Jordan, and
Lebanon.
Since the displacement of more than 750,000 of their number
after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, Palestinians
have been unable to return to their homes, because Israel will not
let them. This inability applies to Palestinians and their
descendants because the refugee problem remains unresolved.
Surely, all those five million Palestinians, descendants of the
original 750,000, who have not settled permanently elsewhere
deserve humanitarian support and ultimate justice. This is why
BibleLands works with the Middle East Council of Churches and the
Ahli Hospital to help such refugees, many of whom live in dire
conditions, as a recent independent report on Palestinian refugee
camps in Lebanon showed.
The Senate legislation, if confirmed, will make peace in the
Middle East harder to achieve, not easier. It will not just be the
patients at the Ahli Hospital who will suffer.
JEREMY MOODEY
Chief Executive
BibleLands
24 London Road West
Amersham
Bucks HP7 0EZ