GA Middle East study team concludes its first meeting

Gathering underscores complexity of team’s task

by Sharon Youngs
Office of the General Assembly communications coordinator

LOUISVILLE — The nine members of the General Assembly Middle East study team wasted no time delving into their assignment at their first meeting, April 1-3, 2009, at Western Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, and the Bolger Center in Potomac, Md.

The team reviewed the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s mission and social witness history on the region, listened to a range of religious perspectives, met with U.S. State Department officials, and began the theological and ethical analysis necessary for a report to the 219th General Assembly (2010).

The 218th General Assembly (2008) asked the study team, appointed by the current and previous past two Moderators of the General Assembly, to “prepare a comprehensive study, with recommendations, that is focused on Israel Palestine within the complex context of the Middle East.”

The group listened to persons from several religious traditions. They included the Rev. Vicken Aykazian, Archbishop of the Armenian Orthodox Church and president of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.; Stephen Colecchi, director of the Office of International Justice and Peace, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Mark J. Pelavin, associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reformed Judaism; the Rev. John Peterson, Canon of the Washington Episcopal Cathedral and liaison to the Episcopal Bishop of Jerusalem; and Noura Erakat, adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a consultant on human rights law.

Taking advantage of their location in Washington, the team met with officials at the State Department, who briefed them on the impacts of the Iraq and Afghan wars and developments in Israel and Palestine. They heard from Reuben Brigety, an elder at Western Presbyterian Church and a consultant on military strategic assessment, as well as Ambassador Thomas Goldberger, State Department Director of Israel and Palestine Affairs.

The team heard two contrasting approaches to human rights and other advocacy from Ambassador Warren Clark, Director of Churches for Middle East Peace, and Mark Braverman, who is affiliated with Jewish Voices for Peace.

The group identified a number of issues as they reflected on all they had heard — the humanitarian situation in Gaza and parts of the West Bank, continued security threats to Israelis and Palestinians, the continued pressure on the very small Christian population in the region, the current review of Middle East policy by the Obama Administration, the Presbyterian commitment and sensitivity to historic interfaith relationships, and the urgency of new directions to provide hope for a non-violent future.

The team members’ collective depth in understanding and experience in the Middle East was evident during their initial introductions to one other. Around the table were those who have engaged in mission service, academic study, and inter-religious dialogue in the region, as well as those who have family roots there.

The Rev. Ron Shive (Salem Presbytery), chairperson of the team, acknowledged that the group had heard “only a fraction of possible voices.”

He added, “Within the voices we heard the graphic and geographic urgency of a great moral challenge — imagining and achieving peace with justice after such a shared, painful history.”

The group plans to travel to the region in August. A third meeting is scheduled for November.

In addition to Shive, the team consists of the Revs. Susan R. Andrews (Hudson River Presbytery), John Huffman (Los Ranchos Presbytery), Rebecca Reyes (New Hope Presbytery), and Marthame Sanders (Greater Atlanta Presbytery); and elders Frederic W. Bush (Los Ranchos Presbytery), Nahida H. Gordon (Muskingum Valley Presbytery), and Lucy Janjigian (Palisades Presbytery).

Staffing the team are the Revs. Christian Iosso (coordinator, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy) and Victor Makari (coordinator, Middle East, Asia Minor, Jinishian Memorial Program), elder Doug Dicks (mission co-worker, Israel Palestine), and the Rev. Kerry Clements (director, Communication, Development, and Technology, Office of the General Assembly).

For a more detailed report of the meeting, click here.