PEACE MEALNewsletter of the Peacemaking Committee

Presbytery of PhiladelphiaFebruary 2010

Obama’s Warmer, Cleaner YearBy Burt Froom, Stewardship of Creation Enabler

The new administration of President Barack Obama has now had a year to establish the policies of his presidential campaign that made combating global warming a top priority. Much has happened in Washington this year. But before we look at President Obama’s accomplishments, let us review the gathering threat of global warming.

Global Warming Rescue

James Gustaf Speth, environmentalist, lawyer, and educator at Yale, says that “all we have to do to destroy the planet’s climate and biota and leave a ruined world to our children and grandchildren is to keep doing exactly what we are doing today.…Just continue to release greenhouse gases at current rates…and the world in the later part of this century will not be fit to live in.” What does this ruined world look like?

The human population explosion puts great pressure on Earth’s resources. Estimated world population now stands at nearly 6.8 billion of us human beings. (At the time of Christ, there were 200 million people. By 1804, there were one billion, and by 1927 there were two billion. England in 1500 had 2.6 million people. India had 125 million in 1750 but today has 1.19 billion. The U.S. population is 308 million, 4.5 percent of the world’s population. But we Americans consume more than 25 percent of Earth’s resources, all by ourselves. Around 27 percent of the world’s people are below age 15, and half of Earth’s people live in poverty.) It is projected that there will be 9 billion people on earth in 2040. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population)

The ever-growing world economy is undermining the planet’s ability to sustain life. Speth tells us that climate disruption is the most severe problem the world faces today. The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has increased by a third since the beginning of the Industrial

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PDA Responds to Haitian Quake;Prayers and Money Solicited Now

Louisville, January 13: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has already begun to respond to the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. Funds from the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering enable Presbyterians to respond on a moment's notice to disasters around the world. This allows our disaster response teams to swing into action at once following disasters such as the earthquake yesterday or the hurricane in 2008 that have struck this poor nation.

Ongoing recovery efforts - particularly the long term coordination of response for which PDA is particularly known - will require additional gifts from members and friends of the PC(USA). The best way to help the people of Haiti now is through our prayers to God on their behalf and our generous gifts to PDA (http://www.pcusa.org/give/online/projectSelectAction.do?numberString=DR000064).

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Steadfast Hope in Second PrintingSteadfast Hope: The Palestinian Quest for

Just Peace, a 50-page color illustrated booklet published by the Israel Palestine Mission Network of the PCUSA, has sold out of its first printing of 5,000 since its release in July. A second printing of another 5,000 copies is expected off the press in early February.

The highly acclaimed publication, which includes a free 80-minute DVD, has been purchased in bulk for educational programs throughout the country, by Presbyterians as well as other faith communities, including the World Council of Churches.

It sells for $10 ($5 in quantities of 20 or more) and may be purchased from the Presbyterian Marketplace (PDS). To order, call (800) 524-2612.

We Best RememberBy Thomas L. Are

I can’t believe in a God who kills innocent babies (Exodus 12:29) and who “hardens Pharaoh’s heart” so that he can send more plagues (Exodus 11:10). I don’t believe in a God who chooses one people to bless and others to curse (Genesis 12:3).

And having said just that much, there are those who will say, “But, Tom, those accounts are not meant to be taken literally.” I agree, but then why in heaven’s name do we allow our government to support Israel in bombing the hell out of the innocent people of Lebanon and Gaza? Why do we let Israel, with the support of the Christian Right, get away with brutal crimes against the Christians and Muslims of Palestine on the basis that “God gave all that land to the Jews?”

I can’t support a church that takes little snippets of the Bible from here and there to wave a theology that makes God discount the human rights of many of his people just so Jesus can come again to his throne in Jerusalem. I have no respect for preachers who “host” large groups on holy land tours and take great pride in showing where Jesus walked while ignoring what Jesus taught and its relevance to the painful situation imposed upon the people of Bethlehem, Hebron, Qalqilya, Ramallah, and Gaza City, all in the name of God.

I also admit that I am not as offended by sexist language which refers to God as “he” as I ought to be. Yet, I struggle with the Zionists’ language that makes no distinction between ancient Israel and the modern state. It is hard for me to pray to the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” or sing “O Come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.”

I ask myself, if the church will not speak out for justice, who will?

While I am spouting off, I am also disappointed in my political party. On January 9th, this year, the 14th day of the war on Gaza, Nancy Pelosi sponsored a bill “recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza.” This was just a few days after UNICEF estimated that 800,000 Gazans did not have running water and a million were living without electricity.i What about the Palestinians’ right to defend themselves against

_______________ Robert Bryce, “Gaza Invasion: Powered by the U.S., “ Salon, January 31, 2009.

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iattacks from Israel? Hillary Clinton falls all over herself praising Israel for “slowing” the construction of illegal settlements without one thought to what the confiscation of lands, destruction of homes, and uprooting of orchards are doing to the Palestinians whose country Israel illegally occupies. Even Barak Obama makes a speech to the AIPAC pledging undying support for Israel, without a word of concern for justice for the Palestinians.

Who Remembers?

Some world leader, I don’t remember who, said, “If I kill one or two, it’s called murder. If I kill thousands, it’s just a statistic.” Israel is counting on that. Who remembers statistics?

Who remembers that Israel broke the cease fire negotiated with Hamas by invading Gaza during the night of November 4th and killed six Palestinians? (The very night that most Americans and much of the world were watching the U.S. presidential election returns.) And who will remember that Israel started the war against the people of Gaza precisely at the time when children were getting out of school and its first bombs targeted a class of police trainees.

If the world will just keep looking the other way, Israel will, in the words of Benny Morris, finish the job of expulsion begun in 1948. In spite of the fact that Israel banned reporters from Gaza during its assault on 1.5 million defenseless human beings, the word got out.

Peace negotiations have been going on for more than forty years, and the unfailing constant has been increased settlements, assassinations of Palestinian leaders, and hunger caused by the blockade of food, medical supplies, cooking gas, repair parts for water and sanitation systems, and electricity. (In June 2006 Israel fired nine missiles into the transformers at the Gaza City Power Plant, the only electric power plant in the Occupied

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Peace Meal, the Newsletter of the Peacemaking Committee of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, is published for distribution at each stated meeting of the Presbytery and subsequently mailed free to subscribers and, as requested, in multiple copies to each church in the Presbytery. Peace Meal is circulated without charge and may be reprinted. Peace Meal is also on the Presbytery’s website: www.presbyphl.org. Contributions and letters are welcome. Address all correspondence to the editor, Don Maclay, 936 Church Road, Springfield, PA 19064-3935; e-mail donmaclay@comcast.net.Obama’s Warmer, Cleaner Year

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Revolution, mainly because of the use of carbon-rich fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) and large-scale deforestation.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns us that air and water temperatures are rising, causing widespread melting of mountain glaciers and polar ice. A three- foot rise in sea levels is predicted in this 21st century, threatening island nations and coastal populations. The Arctic ice cap may disappear in summer as early as 2020. Polar bears and indigenous arctic people are threatened. More intense droughts and stronger storms and hurricanes are expected. Forced migration of up to 850 million people is predicted later in this century.

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Water is lost: About half of the world’s wetlands have already disappeared. Plant and animal species are facing extinction. Mighty rivers dry up before reaching the ocean. One-fifth of the world lacks clean drinking water, and 1.6 million children die each year from diseases caused by unsafe drinking water. Public water is privatized for corporate profit.

Fisheries are lost: Today, 75 percent of ocean fish stocks are fished to capacity and beyond. Large predator fish like tuna are 90 percent gone. Pollution from sewage, agricultural wastes, and industrial discharges (like mercury from coal-fired power plants) are poisoning the seas. We are losing the biodiversity that took millions of years to evolve.

Implications: Human beings have now emerged as the new force of nature. Methodist layperson and environmentalist, Bill McKibben, in his 1989 book, The End of Nature, tells us that, with the extra CO2 we have stored in the atmosphere and oceans, we now shape and control Earth’s climate. We are now “stronger than we suspected.…We turn out to be God’s equal – or, at least, his rival – able to destroy creation.” Now we have to “figure out a way to survive on our hot new planet.”

What are we Presbyterian Christians to do with our American civilization that is destroying us and this Earth that God has given us as our home? In 1990, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) adopted the program Restoring Creation for Ecology and Justice to promote awareness and action within the denomination to rescue our endangered planet. Our task is to prize and preserve all life that God created on Earth and pronounced good.

And our job as stewards of creation includes using drastically less fossil fuel energy for all our activities. The British government’s Stern Review says that to cap greenhouse gas emissions and prevent certain ruin of the Earth, the U.S. would have to reduce fossil fuel emissions by 80 percent by 2050. In our churches, we need to foster a new culture that values less instead of more, service instead of wealth, and keeping instead of consuming Earth’s limited and precious resources.

But our individual efforts alone cannot be enough to slow down the accumulation of greenhouse gases in oceans and air. Our American society needs clear and immediate governmental action and intervention in the economic market place to lower the level of CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere before it is too late.

Turning Point for the Environment

During his eight years in office, President George W. Bush opened vast tracts of public lands and off-shore concessions to oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and timbering. His critics accused him of easing restrictions on old polluting coal-fired power plants, and mountaintop removal coal mining was greatly expanded. Bush bluntly rejected the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Bush sought unsuccessfully to replace the effective Clean Air Act with his Clear Skies Initiative, which did not address global warming. He weakened enforcement of the Clean Water Act protections of wetlands. The Endangered Species Act and the Clinton administration’s Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protected 58 million acres of national forest land from logging and mining were greatly weakened. And the Bush administration was hostile to scientific research findings.

During the campaign of Barack Obama for the presidency in 2008, his platform made protection of the environment and clean energy strong priorities. Obama supported a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions. He stressed federal investment in a clean energy economy that would create American jobs. He

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emphasized energy efficiency to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce energy consumption and save electricity. He stressed restoration of clean air and reinforced drinking water standards. He promised to regulate pollution from

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corporate meat production and slaughterhouse operations.

Now the United States has suddenly been plunged into a poorer and more perilous reality than any expected. The Great Recession has come upon us. Here in January of 2010, current figures tell us that 10 percent, about 15.3 million people of our 153.1 million person labor force, are unemployed and are looking for work. Another 9.2 million people who want to work full time are employed only part-time. And there are an estimated 2.5 million or more unemployed persons who have given up looking for work. These three categories total about 17.3 percent of the work force.

All told, some 27 million of our fellow American citizens need work. An estimated 7.2 million to 8 million jobs have been lost in the past two years. Overall unemployment for blacks is 24.3 percent, for Hispanics 25.1 percent, and for teenagers it is 27.1 percent. The economy needs an estimated 400,000 new jobs per month for more than five years to put every one back to work. (Source: The New York Times web site, January 8, 2010, Economy 101.)

There are political problems. Even though the Democratic Party has clear majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the solid opposition of the Republican Party in both houses means the White House must compromise constantly and make deals to advance its important legislation. The reform of health care insurance to bring medical treatment to the current 40 million Americans without insurance has consumed much presidential attention.

The president carefully weighed U.S. military options in Afghanistan and then committed 30,000 additional troops there, while our armed forces also are fighting to stabilize Iraq. And now the Haiti earthquake has called our people to support huge relief efforts.

This is not an easy time to reorient environmental policy, but President Obama is plunging ahead.

This, then, does not seem to be an easy time to reorient national environmental policy. But President Obama has set for himself the goal of national change early in his presidency, and his administration is plunging ahead on many environmental fronts.

The Obama Environmental Record

Let us turn to assess the actions of the Obama administration during its first year of 1999.

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New Leadership. The new president has outfitted his administration with new people from varied backgrounds Environmentalists say that Obama made excellent personnel appointments. The Administrator of the EPA is Lisa Jackson, who was raised in New Orleans, has 20 years experience as an environmental regulator, is a consensus-builder, and is an African American and a chemical engineer.

Other Obama cabinet members dealing with environmental issues include Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Steven Chu, head of the Energy Department; Transportation Secretary, former Republican congressman, Ray LaHood; former governor, Tom Vilsak, Secretary of Agriculture; and former senator, Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior. And the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is Dr. Jane Lubechenko. In the White House are (old hand from the Clinton era) Carol Browner as assistant to the President for Energy and Climate and scientist Dr. John Holdren as director of the White House office of Science and Technology Policy.

The New Clean Energy Economy

Stronger Fuel Efficiency Standards. President Obama announced national fuel and greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks in May. Based on California’s fuel economy standards, these rules will go into effect by 2012 and create a car fleet that will be almost 40 percent cleaner than today and will get an average of 35.5 mpg.

Federal Lighting Standards. President Obama in June announced new federal lighting standards to save energy and cut energy costs by $70 billion over 30 years: the use of tube-shaped fluorescent lights and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) that will take effect in 2012.

Carbon Cap. In his February State of the Union address, the president called for a carbon cap to move to a clean energy future. This proposal acknowledges that global warming carbon industrial

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emissions cost the planet and its people and must be paid for as a part of business costs. The cap restricts the amount of pollution allowed. Allowances to permit a business to pollute above its cap must be bought in a carbon tax market place. Each year the allowances decline to meet annual lower emissions targets.

High Speed Rail. The president has declared his intention to build a nation-wide system of high speed rail lines in some of the country’s most populous corridors.

Canadian Tar Sands Oil Stopped. The EPA in October blocked expansion of a British Petroleum (BP) refinery in Indiana that would have been the largest U.S. refinery of Alberta tar sands crude oil and would have increased numerous oil pollutants in air and water.

Environmental Protection

The EPA in the Obama administration has assertively emphasized the people’s health, at risk from pollution, and has subjected many Bush administration policies to new scientific review.

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Protecting Our Environment: Roadless Wilderness. The Department of Agriculture placed a one-year moratorium on road building and

development in about 50 million acres of remote national forests, including the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. This action reinstated most of the Clinton era ban on roads and logging.

Reduction of Power Plant Emissions. The EPA agreed in October to adopt rules to reduce toxic air pollution from new coal- and gas-burning power plants and oil refineries by November 2011 – in settlement of a lawsuit against the EPA by environmental organizations. Power plants are the largest unregulated industrial source of air toxins.

Utah Wilderness Protected. The Interior Secretary declared 100,000 acres of Utah wilderness protected from oil and gas drilling, and 77 leases were cancelled. Secretary Salazar announced that he would review all off shore oil and gas leases.

Ship Emissions. The EPA acted to reduce diesel ship pollution within 200 miles of U.S. shores. U.S. and foreign-flagged ships will be required to use much cleaner fuel and pollution controls.

Waste Water Infrastructure. The financial recovery act included $6 billion to improve water and waste water infrastructure to avoid polluting our waterways.

Chesapeake Bay. Two presidential executive orders direct federal agencies to work together to improve the Bay and its whole watershed.

EPA Finding on Greenhouse Gases. Responding to the 2007 Supreme Court decision that heat-trapping carbon dioxide is pollution, the EPA issued a finding in December that greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, perfluro-carbons, and sulfur hexafluoride) in the atmosphere threaten the health and welfare the American people. Therefore, greenhouse gases can now be regulated by the EPA under the Clean Air Act.

Saving Wildlife: Oceans Policies. President Obama announced the start of a process to create a national policy for our

oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes to ensure their protection, maintenance, and restoration.

Marine Mammal Defense. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is conducting a review of the U.S. Navy’s use of powerful sonar that causes deaths of numerous whale, dolphin, and porpoise species off our coasts.

Polar Bear Habitat. In October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed designating over 200,000 square miles of coastal lands and waters along the north coast of Alaska as “critical habitat” for the polar bear. At the same time, however, the U.S. Mineral Management Service approved oil company plans for exploratory oil drilling in the polar bears’ habitat in the Beaufort Sea, offshore from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – which is thus threatened again! And wolves and grizzly bears no longer have federal protection in the American West and are being exterminated wantonly by ranchers and hunters.

Mountaintop Removal. The Bush administration facilitated the demolition of mountain tops in Appalachia, especially in West Virginia, to mine coal, and the dumping of rock and chemicals into streams and rivers. The Obama administration has both approved and blocked 125 permits for new MTR mining. MTR has

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already destroyed 2000 miles of Appalachian waterways.(continued on page 6)

Obama’s Warmer, Cleaner Year(continued from page 6)

Congressional Action

Economic Recovery Package. This is the American Recovery and Re-investment Act, the $787 billion stimulus package that was passed by Congress in February. It contains $80 billion for environmental projects like clean water, energy efficiency research, weatherization, advanced batteries, high-speed rail, highways, and transit. The rationale is that if we must revive our economy and create jobs, our resources should go to the future clean energy economy that is being born now.

Public Lands. The landmark Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 was passed by Congress in March. This legislation grants wilderness status to some two million acres of high value scenic places mainly in the West. It is the largest expansion of protected national wild lands in 15 years, and these wilderness lands are now sheltered from development, vehicles, and commercial activities like logging and mining.

Federal Year 2010 Budget. The 2010 budget, passed by Congress in April, spends $3.55 trillion and it is projected to exceed revenues by $1.4 trillion. It is the greenest, most forward-looking budget Congress has passed in a decade, and includes a comprehensive clean energy and climate plan that will hold polluters accountable and end our dependence on dirty fuels.

Clean Energy Bill. In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy Jobs and American Power bill, a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill, by a close vote, 219-212. It includes a cap and trade global warming reduction plan designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and transition to a clean energy economy. The bill went to the U.S. Senate, and the Senate version was passed by the Environment and Public Works Committee in November. Its future is uncertain.

International Cooperation

The Obama administration has worked hard to develop coalitions abroad for his clean energy economy and many other issues. The results, so far:

Copenhagen Climate Summit. Capping the substantial progress his administration made during his first year in office, President Obama went to Copenhagen in December for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with an incomparable opportunity to reestablish international progress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Obama has set a goal of cutting U.S. carbon emissions by about 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. There were 193 countries represented in Copenhagen, and the leaders of 119 were present. An agreement appeared doubtful because of disagreement among the rich and developing countries over monitoring and reporting progress on carbon emissions.

President Obama’s hands-on engagement was critical to achieving the Copenhagen Accord. He negotiated with the leaders of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa to establish the central terms of the agreement that was

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adopted by the convention at the last minute by a margin of 188-5. Some attendees were disappointed that internationally enforceable greenhouse gas decreases were not set.

The Accord is to be put in place by 2015 and calls for countries to act to decrease carbon pollution to limit a global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius (or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). And it calls for a global fund, proposed by the U.S., which builds up to $100 billion each year by 2020 to protect vulnerable communities and forests worldwide. The next meeting of the parties will be in Mexico City in November 2010.

All of these steps reverse the pro-business stance of the previous administration and establish the foundations for a future U.S. clean energy economy that takes global warming seriously and can create new jobs as the U.S. becomes the world leader of new energy development._______________Sources: The Bridge at the Edge of the World, by James Gustave Speth. The End of Nature, by Bill McKibben. Restoring Creation For Ecology and Justice, Office of the General Assembly, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The New York Times. The Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org/news/). The Natural Resources Defense Council (www.nrdc.org/news/)._______________Burt Froom is a Parish Associate at the Summit Presbyterian Church. He can be reached at Froom1@verizon.net.

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The Peacemaking Committee extends its thanks to churches that received

the peacemaking offering in October.A Palestinian Christian Call To End the Israeli Occupation

A group of Palestinian Christians representing a variety of churches and church-related organizations gathered under the aegis of the World Council of Churches in December in Bethlehem and issued an animated and prayerful call for an end to occupation of Palestine by Israel.

The call, issued at a meeting December 11 in Bethlehem, comes at a time when many Palestinians believe they have reached a dead end. It raises questions to the international community, political leaders in the region, and the churches worldwide about their contribution to the Palestinian people's pursuit of freedom. Even in the midst of "our catastrophe" the call is described as a word of faith, hope, and love.

Echoes of South Africa

Referred to as “The Kairos Palestine Document” the call echoes a similar summons issued by South African churches in the mid-1980s at the height of repression under the apartheid regime. That call served to galvanize churches and the wider public in a concerted effort that eventually brought the end of apartheid.

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The authors of the Kairos Palestine Document, among them Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Lutheran Bishop of Jerusalem Munib Younan, and Archbishop Theodosios Atallah Hanna of Sebastia from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, have raised the challenge of the urgency for peace with justice to religious and political leaders in Palestinian and the Israeli society, the international community, and to “our Christian brothers and sisters in the churches” around the world. They believe that current efforts in the Middle East are confined to managing the crisis rather than finding pertinent and long term solutions to the crisis.

Decrying empty promises

Expressing their pain, the signatories of the call decry the emptiness of the promises and pronouncements about peace in the region. They remind the world about the separation wall erected on Palestinian territory, the blockade of Gaza, how Israeli settlements ravage their land, the humiliation at military checkpoints, the restrictions of religious

South Africa’s transition to a multi-racial democracy was unexpectedly peaceful due, in large part, to international economic, political, and diplomatic pressure. This process was aided by a call from South African Christian leaders who challenged the legitimacy of the official “state theology” called Apartheid.

Palestinians are also facing a de facto (official) state theology that delegitimizes their rights as children of God in the land of their ancestors. Christian leaders in Palestine and Israel are now calling for a similar international response of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions to help end the occupation and achieve a just peace in the Holy Land.

Their call, Kairos Palestine, is based on a serious theological commitment to the prophetic challenge belonging to all three monotheistic faiths: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It is also based on the conviction that without international Christian awareness and solidarity, the indigenous Christian Church in Palestine and Israel may cease to exist.

liberty and controlled access to holy places, the plight of refugees awaiting their right of return, prisoners languishing in Israeli prisons, and Israel’s blatant disregard of international law, as well as the paralysis of the international community in the face of this tragedy.

Rejecting Israeli justifications for their actions as being in self-defence, they unambiguously state that if there were no occupation, “there would be no resistance, no fear, and no insecurity.”

They argue: “God created us not to engage in strife and conflict but together build up the land in love and mutual respect. Our land has a universal mission, and the promise of the land has never been a political programme, but rather the prelude to complete universal salvation. Our connectedness to this land is a natural right. It is not an ideological or a theological question only.” They reject any use of the Bible to legitimize or support political options and positions that are based upon injustice.

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Declaring the occupation of Palestinian land as a sin against God and humanity, they steadfastly adhere to the signs of hope such as “local centres of

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Territories.)2

Every peace proposal leaves Israel in control of “the borders around them, movement between them, the air above them, and the water below them.”3

David Bromowich, professor at Yale, says, “You cannot bomb a people into partnership. You can’t obliterate a people into a just and lasting peace. You cannot drive deep into their consciousness the knowledge that they are a defeated people and, when you have finished your education through violence, come to them as moral and political equals with yourself.”4

But, who will remember that just two years ago Israel bombed large parts of Lebanon into rubble, leaving tens of thousands homeless?

Well, we best remember. If there is ever to be peace in the Middle East and security in America, we must remember. How long will it take us to connect the dots between our government’s unconditional support of Israel and the terrorist reaction of Islamic fundamentalists?_______________2 Robert Bryce, “Gaza, Powered by the U.S.,” Salon, January 31, 2009. 3 John J. Mearshiemer, Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago, “Another War, Another Defeat ,” World News Views, January 17, 2009. 4 David Bromwich, Professor of Literature at Yale, “Self-Deception and the Assault on Gaza,” The Huffington Post, January 18, 2009._______________Thomas L. Are is a retired minister who has preached in Presbyterian pulpits for 43 years. He writes a blog on the Israeli Palestinian crisis which may be accessed at www.thomas-l-are.blogspot.com. This article was posted on December 12. His email is tomare1@windstream.net.

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I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

-- Elie WieselA Palestinian Christian CallTo End the Israeli Occupation

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theology” and “numerous meetings for inter-religious dialogue,” recognizing that these signs provide hope to the resistance of the occupation. Through the logic of peaceful resistance, resistance is as much a right as it is a duty as it has the potential to hasten the time of reconciliation.

Asserting that this is a moment demanding repentance for past actions, either for using hatred as an instrument of resistance or the willingness to be indifferent and absorbed by faulty theological positions, the group calls on the international community and Palestinians for steadfastness in this time of trial. “Come and see [so we can make known to you] the truth of our reality,” they appeal.

Poignantly, they conclude, “in the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope. We believe in God, good and just. We believe that God’s goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land. We will see here ‘a new land’ and ‘a new human being,’ capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of his or her brothers and sisters.”

The authors are: Patriarch Michel Sabbah, Bishop Dr. Munib Younan, Archbishop Theodosios Atallah Hanna, Rev. Dr. Jamal Khader, Rev. Dr. Rafiq Khoury, Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, Rev. Dr. Yohana Katanacho, Rev. Fr. Fadi Diab, Dr. Jiries Khoury, Ms. Sider Daibes, Ms. Nora Kort, Ms. Lucy Thaljieh, Mr. Nidal Abu Zulof, Mr. Yusef Daher, and Mr. Rifat Kassis, coordinator of the initiative.

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Presbyterian Peacemaking Program Highlights Three Prayer ConcernsPray for the people of Israel and Palestine as they seek a just peace rooted in human dignity.

Pray for women around the world as they prepare to advocate for their human rightsat the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March in New York.

Pray for the people of the Philippines as they prepare for May’s presidential election.

2010 Presbyterian Peacemaking SeminarAugust 25-29 at Ghost Ranch, Abuquiu

“Re-membering Peace: Still the Believers’ Calling” is the theme of the 2010 Presbyterian Peacemaking Seminar August 25-29 at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. The event will mark the 30 th anniversary of the publication that launched the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.

Participants will retell and weave together Presbyterian stories of peacemaking, recognize current strands of peacemaking throughout the church, and renew their commitment to follow Jesus, living out the believers’ calling for this day and generations to come.

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The seminar will live out the practice of anamnesis: remember the places where the triune God has led us in the past, in light of our present realities, and look with hope toward the future of peacemaking.

Registration is limited. For more information write or call Dayna Oliver at dayna.oliver@pcusa.org or 888-728-7228, or visit www.pcusa.org/peacemaking/donferences/2010.htm.

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Other Peacemaking Events

Dessert Celebrationat the 219th General AssemblyJuly 6Minneapolis, Minnesota

Ghost Ranch Family WeekJuly 26 – August 1Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico

Songs of Justice and PeaceOctober 10-14Stony Point Center, Stony Point, New York

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When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependenton recognizing the humanity in others.

-- Bishop Desmond Tutufrom God Has a Dream, pp 43-44

Save the Date!Ecumenical Advocacy Days Set for March 19 - 22, 2010And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” -Luke 9:58

The annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days conference will be held March 19-22 at the Doubletree Hotel in Crystal City, Virginia. The 2010 theme is “A Place to Call Home: Immigrants, Refugees, and Displaced Peoples.”

Jesus had no place to lay his head. Neither do tens of millions of migrants, refugees, and displaced persons. Be a part of an action weekend addressing this global injustice. Join hundreds of faith-based advocates in taking

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action on legislation that will welcome immigrants, protect refugees, and prevent displacement for millions.  

Worship, study, and dialogue with hundreds of people of faith. Then join go to Capitol Hill to advocate for members of Congress to remedy this global injustice. Groups from churches, denominations, and regional councils of churches are encouraged to charter buses and bring large groups to this important faith-in-action event.

“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” -Hebrews 13:1-2.

For more information write to Ecumenical Advocacy Days, 100 Maryland Ave., NE Suite 330, Washington, DC 20002.

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Urge Your Senators To Work To RatifyThe Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

President Obama and other world leaders have recently shared visions of a world without nuclear weapons. The United States cannot bring that vision to reality alone, but it will not be made real without the United States. Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would be an important step toward that vision.

Ask your Senators to work to ratify the CTBT. Call Senator Casey at 202-224-6324 and Sen. Specter at 202-224-4254.

INSIDE

Obama’s Warmer, Cleaner Year 1

PDA Responds to Haitian Quake 1

Steadfast Hope in Second Printing 1

We Best Remember 2

A Palestinian Christian Call To Endthe Israeli Occupation 7

Presbyterian Peacemaking ProgramHighlights Three Prayer Concerns 8

2010 Presbyterian Peacemaking Seminar 9

Other Peacemaking Events 9

Ecumenical Advocacy Days 9

Urge Your Senators To Work To Ratifythe Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty 9

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The Kairos Palestinian DocumentA Moment of Truth: A word of faith, hope, and love from the heart

of Palestinian suffering

Read more starting on page 7

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