September 22, 2009

Middle East Study Team Summary of trip to the Middle East

August 17 – September 1, 2009

The Middle East Study Team of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) completed its five-country, 15-day trip to the region on September 1, 2009. Reflecting its mandate from the 218th General Assembly (2008) to "prepare a comprehensive study, with recommendations, that is focused on Israel/Palestine within the complex context of the Middle East," the team spent two days each in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, before going to Israel/Palestine, where it stayed for a week in both West and East Jerusalem, and then concluded its trip in the Galilee and Jericho. The team met with key persons in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities, and with Christians from Iraq and Iran.

In each country visited, the team combined meetings with leaders of partner communions and analysts of religious, cultural, and political trends, explorations of areas of social conflict, and visits to associated religious and historical sites.

Lebanon

In Lebanon, the team stayed near the American University in Beirut and met with a regional Christian–Muslim dialogue organization as well as with the Greek Orthodox, Maronite Catholic, and Syrian Orthodox bishops. The team met with representatives of the Middle East Council of Churches and leaders of the National Evangelical (Presbyterian) Synod of Syria and Lebanon, our earliest church partners in the region, including school principals and other laypersons and pastors involved in longstanding ministries related to the church. The group was hosted by Dr. Mary Mikhail, president of the Near Eastern School of Theology. They also heard from the presidents of Haigazian University and Lebanese American University. Without attempting a summary of the political dynamics of Lebanon, which have been heavily influenced by outside interests, the study team saw evidence of the Civil War of 1975-1990. The team began an ongoing discussion of the place and rights of long-term refugees from Palestine and more recent refugees from Iraq, visiting a Christian relief site and meeting some of the Iraqi families being helped. (Refugee rights issues and Christian responses in the area go back to the time of the Armenian genocide.) Toward the end of its visit, the team was grateful to meet with brave representatives of the Iraqi Presbyterian churches, discussing the devastating impact of that war on the ground as well as the prospects for reconstruction and reconciliation among communities.

Syria

In Syria, the team met with heads of several communions and leaders within the Evangelical Synod. A wide-ranging discussion was hosted by Madame Colette Khoury, noted author, cultural advisor to President Bashar Al-Assad, and granddaughter of the first Lebanese Prime Minister — a Presbyterian familiar with the place of the church as well. The team also talked with informed persons about the situation of the churches in Iran. The Reverend Nuhad Tomeh, PC(USA) regional liaison, assisted the team in its visits to these first two countries. The team stayed just outside Damascus and, after several conversations with church leaders (including Patriarchs of the Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic communions), wrote a letter in support of the World Council of Churches holding its 2013 assembly in that city, assured of both full ecumenical and governmental support and ability to illuminate the challenging place of Christians overall in the Middle East.

Jordan

In Jordan, through the auspices of the Middle East Council of Churches’ Amman Office, the team was able to meet with Senator Akel Biltaji, a former advisor to King Abdullah II. The team gained a perspective from the government perhaps most affected historically by the Palestinian refugee problem, as well as issues of co-existence with Israel and cooperation with the United States. The group’s meetings with church leaders included time with Father Nabil Haddad, a Greek Catholic pioneer in interfaith relations, who helped the team explore the issues of Christian minority status and its impact on the mission and witness of the church. The team also met with Lutheran and Episcopal pastors and worshiped in a congregation developed by 1948 Christian refugees from Palestine.

Jerusalem

In Jerusalem, the team met with top-level analysts of both Palestinian and Israeli politics, as well as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem (His Beatitude Fouad Twal) and other church members and leaders. Dr. Mahdi Abdel Hadi, director of the Passia Institute, and Mr. Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Knesset and well-known author, generously shared their time and wisdom. Daniel Rossig, a former official in the religious affairs office of Israel and now director of the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations, added his critical analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian situation. The team met with a representative of the American Jewish Committee and other rabbis — affiliates of the Inter-Religious Coordinating Council in Israel (headed by Rabbi Ron Kronish) — with a range of perspectives on prospects for peace and interfaith understanding.

The team experienced a sample of life on either side of the "Separation Barrier" between Israeli and Palestinian areas, receiving an in-depth tour of settlements and separate road systems and checkpoints led by a representative of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions. The group received a detailed briefing on the provision of health services throughout East Jerusalem and the West Bank and Gaza from Dr. Tawfik Nasser, director of the Augusta Victoria Hospital, a key institution in the civil society of Palestine. They also met with the Reverend Mark Brown of the Lutheran World Federation that administers the hospital and has been seeking a permit to build affordable on-site housing to help allow Christian families to live in Jerusalem. On the human rights front, the team met with representatives of B’Tselem, which monitors incidents of violence, and with a representative of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Bethlehem

Beyond Jerusalem, the team visited Bethlehem, where members participated in a theological conference organized by the International Center of Bethlehem and its director, the Reverend Dr. Mitri Raheb of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church. The conference concluded with a performance by a Palestinian young people’s dance group. There and in Hebron, the team itself went through checkpoints and the Separation Barrier (also known as the "Wall") and discussed on an individual level with Muslims, Christians, and Jews the impact of the settlement infrastructure (including bypass roads and checkpoints) that largely separates all Israelis and Palestinian Christian and Muslims. A relatively brief trip to a school for Bedouin children built of recycled tires was included in the trip, partly to meet with this Bedouin tribe still clinging to bits of open land, and partly because this school is threatened by demolition by the Israeli army for the widening of a bypass road.

Hebron

In Hebron, the team met with a spokesperson for the religious settlers who occupy several settlements in the now partly vacated center of that overwhelmingly Palestinian city. The group also met with representatives of the Christian Peacemaker Teams who, along with TIPH (the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, which is funded by the European Union), try to provide international eyes and accompaniment amid the tense and sometimes violent relations of the settlers and the Palestinians under heavy Israeli military control.

Galilee

In Galilee, the team focused on putting its reflections and observations in order, benefitting from the locations where Jesus taught and ministered. The team concluded its trip in Jericho.

Scheduling and other considerations regrettably prevented the team from visiting Gaza. The team was also unable to meet with Palestinian and Israeli government officials, but is working to do so upon their return to the States. Team members contributed to the trip from their own resources to stretch the General Assembly budget, and they are grateful to others in the church who made additional contributions for this purpose.

Final comments

The study team plans to meet at least once more for direct discussion of its report and further consultations as its recommendations take shape. It has reviewed recent statements by church groups and others with the pressure on Christian communities and with the viability of any potential "two-state" solution, even if an effective "freeze" on settlement and settlement infrastructure construction were to occur.

The Reverend Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, joined the group as an observer for part of its trip. The team was guided throughout by the Reverend Victor Makari, area coordinator for the Middle East, General Assembly Mission Council. It was also accompanied by the Reverend Christian Iosso, coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, the Reverend Kerry Clements, director of the Department of Communication, Development, and Technology for the Office of the General Assembly, and elder Douglas Dicks, PC(USA) regional liaison for Jordan, Israel and Palestine and a mission co-worker based in Amman, Jordan.

Appointed by the current and previous past two Moderators of the General Assembly, the Middle East Study Team members are the Reverends Susan R. Andrews (Hudson River Presbytery), John Huffman (Los Ranchos Presbytery), Rebecca Reyes (New Hope Presbytery), Marthame Sanders (Greater Atlanta Presbytery), Byron Shafer (New York City Presbytery), and Ron Shive (Salem Presbytery); and elders Frederic W. Bush (Los Ranchos Presbytery), Nahida H. Gordon (Muskingum Valley Presbytery), and Lucy Janjigian (Palisades Presbytery).

The team is scheduled to make its report to the 219th General Assembly (2010) next summer.