*Fair Witness Questions Church Leaders' Responses To Israel's Attack on
Hamas*
Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East ("Fair Witness") is
greatly disturbed by the escalating violence in Israel and Gaza and the
tragic loss of innocent Palestinian and Israeli lives. As many church
leaders in the U.S. demand an immediate cease fire however, we challenge
them to acknowledge not only the human suffering, but the political
realities in the region.
"In November 2001, Hamas, which openly declares its commitment to the
destruction of the State of Israel, began a terror campaign launching
rockets from Gaza into civilian targets within Israel," says Rev. Dr.
Bruce Chilton, the Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard
College in Annandale, New York. "It was Hamas that chose not to extend
the existing cease-fire on December 18, resuming hundreds of attacks on
the civilian population in Southern Israel. It is Hamas that chooses,
with the Israeli army sitting right outside Gaza, to continue to target
civilian areas in towns behind the army."
"Maybe people don't realize what has been going on in Israel for the
past seven years," says Rev. James Noland, Senior Pastor of Reveille
United Methodist Church in Richmond, Virginia. "I was in Sderot in
October 2007. Six Qassam rockets hit the town just before we arrived.
We saw three blimps in the air that circulate 24 hours a day seven days
a week to detect incoming rockets. When the sirens go off people have
twenty seconds to get into a bomb shelter. Kids couldn't sleep, everyone
was afraid to leave their homes, people died, people had their legs
blown off. It was especially disturbing to see these Qassams up close
-- they were built not to cause damage to
structures, but to kill and maim human beings. It was terrifying. How
many years are people supposed to live like that before putting a stop
to it?"
Rev. Dr. Scott Ickert, pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church in
Arlington, Virginia, says "I have to put myself in the shoes of the
people of Sderot and ask if some foreign country started throwing
rockets at the town where my family and I live what would I expect my
government to do to protect me?
I think only after we answer that question in an honest way can we
presume to judge what constitutes an appropriate and adequate response
to Hamas'
provocations."
Rev. Dr. Peter Pettit, Director of the Institute for Jewish Christian
Understanding at Muhlenberg College says "Hamas has claimed its place
as the liberators of Palestine and the implacable foes of the State of
Israel
-- not only of Israeli occupation, but of Israel's very existence. We do
not condone or encourage violent resolution of political conflicts, but
we question some church leaders who condemn only Israel's military
action while ignoring Hamas' courting and conduct of this war. We have
to question church leaders who condemn Israel for a disproportionate
response, while failing to set this action in the context of a long-term
course of violent struggle to which Hamas has committed itself in
defiance of Israel's legitimacy as a nation."
--
Sr. Ruth Lautt, OP, Esq.
National Director
Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East
475 Riverside Drive, Ste 1960
New York, NY 10115
(212) 870-2320
