PCUSA's tack on Israel parallels liberation group's By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, December 22, 2004 One of the influences on Presbyterian policy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a liberation theology group that has extolled the late Yasser Arafat, terrorist leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and rationalized the deeds of suicide bombers who have murdered hundreds of Israelis. The organization is the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, which is based in Jerusalem. The Presbyterian Church (USA) lists Sabeel as one of its ecumenical partners and gives it a substantial voice on the PCUSA Web site. Among other things, it has made available a Sabeel-produced church bulletin insert and sent delegations, including young people, to Sabeel seminars. The material produced by Sabeel on its Web site includes many of the themes that have become woven into PCUSA policy statements that overwhelmingly favored the Palestinians over the Israelis in complicated political, theological and security issues. The Sabeel statements condemn the construction of the separation barrier, investment in Israel, the U.S. relationship with Israel, the occupation of Palestinian areas and Israel's military response to the suicide bombers. Consistent with liberation theology, Sabeel advocates for the Palestinians because they are the oppressed group and Israel holds the greater power. Justice, liberation theologians argue, requires the church to side with the "oppressed," regardless of what they believe or how they act. Sabeel calls Israel "the enemy." The organization lionizes the late Yasser Arafat. "For forty years Arafat struggled for the liberation of his beloved country, Palestine," Sabeel said in its eulogy of the Palestinian leader. "He was the father figure of the Palestinians. In his life, Arafat traveled the world tirelessly presenting the just case of his people. He met with kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers. He represented the Palestinians before many international forums, not least the United Nations. He was able to wrest international recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to a sovereign and independent state. For his faithful endeavors in seeking peace, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He came to embody and personify the struggle of his people. The Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular saw Arafat symbolizing and epitomizing the spirit of Palestine. Through his hard work and persistence, the Palestinian people regained their Palestinian identity." There was no mention in the eulogy of the way Arafat gained power and wielded it – raising billions of dollars and using much of it. That which he did not use for his own benefit, he used to pay militants, including suicide bombers, to attack Israel. According to the Bloomberg financial reporting service, Arafat did not use any of the money for improving the bleak economic condition of the Palestinians. In a media release called "A Word of Respect and Esteem for a Great Leader," Sabeel came close to declaring Arafat a messianic figure: "Mr. Arafat died lifting his voice for the liberation of Palestine. While awaiting his funeral, a little Palestinian boy was interviewed on TV. He was wearing the kufiah, the Palestinian head dress, as President Arafat always wore it. With great confidence and pride the boy said, 'we are all Yasser Arafat.' In essence this is the message of the Palestinians. They will continue the struggle and carry on the legacy of their late president until the illegal Israeli occupation ends and Palestine is free." Sabeel's take on suicide bombers is covered in a long essay by Naim Ateek, the organization's executive director. Ateek does condemn suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism, but he also tries to rationalize it and suggests that it's akin to the Biblical account of Samson's "terrorist" treatment of the Philistines, from whom Palestine got its name. "Read in the light of today's suicide bombers how do we evaluate the story of Samson?" Ateek wrote in the summer 2002 issue of Sabeel's journal, Cornerstone. "Was not Samson a suicide bomber? Was he acting on behalf of the God of justice who wills the liberation of the oppressed? Was God pleased with the death of thousands of men and women of the Philistines? Are we confronted with many similar stories today in the experience of suicide bombers?" Sabeel does not explain how Samson wound up in what's popularly called the faith hall of fame – Hebrews 11. Ateek blames the Israelis for the conditions that gave rise to the suicide bombings, which "came to be perceived as a more potent tool of resistance that can reciprocate the pain and hurt they were experiencing." Ateek calls the suicide bombers martyrs. "The dictionary's definition of martyr is 'one who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce a religious principle; one who makes great sacrifices for a cause or principle; one who endures great suffering.' From their political and religious perspective, the suicide bombers have made the supreme sacrifice, the offering of themselves for their faith (in the way they understand God) and for their homeland." He dismisses the idea that suicide bombers are murderers whose actions go beyond the moral restrictions on combat. "In this same vein, how does one view the US atomic bombing of two major cities in Japan during the 2WW and the killing of over 170,000, most of them civilians." "From the perspective of those who believe in and carry out these suicide operations, there is a simple and plain logic," Ateek says. "As Israeli soldiers shell and kill Palestinians indiscriminately, Palestinian suicide bombers strap themselves with explosives and kill Israelis indiscriminately." While he holds up the concept of martyrdom as a consequence of taking a principled stand, Ateek also invokes a precept that some – but not all – Muslims believe. Ateek recalled a sermon by Sheikh Isma'il al-Adwan that was broadcast on Palestinian TV. "[T]he Sheikh said, 'The shahid, if he meets Allah (Arabic for God), is forgiven his first drop of blood; he's saved from the grave's confines; he sees his seat in heaven; he's saved from judgment day; he's given seventy two dark-eyed women; he's an advocate for seventy members of his family.' Be that as it may, these martyrs believe they are fighting for the cause of God and their place in heaven is, therefore, guaranteed. An important quote from the Qur'an in this regard is, 'Count not those were slain in God's path as dead, but rather living with their Lord, by Him provided.'" Akeet argues that "many countries in the world are against suicide bombings" because "Israel was successful in its media campaign internationally." Sabeel has adamantly opposed the construction of a wall separating Palestinian and Israeli areas. In a Cornerstone article titled 'Hafrada' or a Genuine Peace, Ateek describes the separation wall (hafrada) as Israel's way of "building and maintain 'empire." "Theologically speaking the building of the wall of hafrada (Hebrew for separation) by Israel is inevitably its way of building and maintaining empire,'" Ateek says. "To build empire is to live in the worry of defenses and security. Empires are built and expanded through armies and wars. They can only be maintained by the power of a strong military. The choice for Christians and all people of faith is always between empire and New Jerusalem. The tragedy of Israel is that it has built its empire on the foundation of injustice and oppression; consequently it feels the need to build walls of hafrada." "Empire" is a popular word in the vocabulary of liberation theologians. During its meeting in October, a Presbyterian group assailed the United States "for pursuing global empire, backed by unprecedented military supremacy." In August, meeting in Accra, Ghana, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches elected PCUSA Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick as its president and declared that capitalism is an "immoral economic system defended by empire … In biblical terms such a system of wealth accumulation at the expense of the poor is seen as unfaithful to God and responsible for preventable human suffering." "What has been most worrying and frustrating for Israel, however, has been the suicide bombings," he added. "As Israel developed a more effective system of suppression, the Palestinian resistance evolved a more effective system of reprisal."

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