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Middle
East Network News
August 7, 2009
In This
Issue:
August Advocacy
Churchwide Assembly
Gaza
Update and Action
Two New Initiatives for
Youth to Visit Holy Land
The Elders to
Visit Israel, West Bank, Gaza
August Advocacy
Keep the momentum
going for Israeli/Palestinian peace during the August
congressional recess. Both the House and Senate will be on
recess through September 7. Use this time to let your members of
congress know that you support U.S. leadership to bring about an
end to the Israeli/Palestinian impasse. Many other important
issues are on the minds of Americans and our congressional
leaders at this time; it is critical to let elected officials
know that Middle East peace is a high priority for constituents.
Share with your elected officials the June 4 Christian
leaders’ (www.cmep.org)
ecumenical letter to President Obama - signed by the Rev. Mark
S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA - which shows broad
support for robust U.S. peacemaking efforts. Urge them to: 1.
Support bold U.S. leadership to achieve Israeli/Palestinian
peace and to hold both Israel and the Palestinians accountable
for honoring their obligations; 2. Support efforts to open the
Gaza borders to aid, trade, and transit in a manner that
respects Israel’s security concerns. Note that a way to
help close down the tunnels to illegal traffic is to open the
monitored borders for transit and goods; 3. Support the U.S.
administration’s efforts to halt all growth of Israeli
settlements; and 4. Recognize the Palestinian Christian
community and concerns for its dwindling presence in the Holy
Land. Ask your leaders to visit Palestinian Christian
institutions, in particular the programs of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Jordan and Holy Land (ELCJHL) and the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) on their next trip to the
region.
Schedule a visit with your member of congress
while he or she is home during the recess, or call or e-mail to
make your voice heard. For more, click
here. To find contact information for your member of
Congress, click
here.
Churchwide Assembly Memorials Committee
Report
The ELCA biennial Churchwide Assembly meets August
17-23, 2009 at the Minneapolis Convention Center under the
banner, “God’s work. Our hands.” 1045 voting
members from 65 synods and 10,448 congregations serving on
behalf of the 4,709,203 baptized members of the ELCA will gather
to consider reports and vote on resolutions that shape the
Church’s ministry and mission.
Seven synods sent
Memorials to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly concerning the
Churchwide Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine. The
Report of the Memorials Committee includes the
Committee’s response and proposed action on pages 18-24
(see item VI – a PDF file – on the linked page to
download the full Report). The Committee proposes a recommitment
of the ELCA to the strategy, highlighting seven aspects related
to awareness-building, accompaniment and advocacy.
Track
the Assembly through live webcasts, video, photos, and
audio, in addition to ELCA's blog, Twitter and Facebook portals.
All plenary sessions will be broadcast live on the web; video
and photo highlights will be posted daily.
Gaza Updates and
Action
”Gaza: 1.5 million people trapped in
despair” a June 2009 report by the International Committee
of the Red Cross
Six months after Israel launched
its three-week military operation in Gaza on 27 December 2008,
Gazans still cannot rebuild their lives. Most people struggle to
make ends meet. Seriously ill patients face difficulty obtaining
the treatment they need. Many children suffer from deep
psychological problems. Civilians whose homes and belongings
were destroyed during the conflict are unable to recover. For
more, click
here. The ICRC also has a new eight-minute video,
“Gaza: paying the price” with footage from Gaza and
first-hand accounts. The video
can be downloaded and ordered online.
Daily Life in
Gaza: Conditions on the Ground and Implications for the Peace
Process
Join Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) for
this conference call August 12, 2009 at 2 PM ET with Mitchell
Plitnick, Director of the US Office of B’Tselem: The
Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied
Territories. More information including call-in numbers can be
found at www.cmep.org.
Ta'anit Tzedek - Jewish Fast For Gaza
The Jewish Fast for Gaza
is an ad hoc group of rabbis, Jews, and people of conscience
who have committed to undertake a monthly daytime fast in
support of the following goals: 1. To call for a lifting of the
blockade that prevents the entry of civilian goods and services
into Gaza; 2. To provide humanitarian and developmental aid to
the people of Gaza; 3. To call upon Israel, the U.S., and the
international community to engage in negotiations without
pre-conditions with all relevant Palestinian parties - including
Hamas - in order to end the blockade; 4. To encourage the
American government to vigorously engage both Israelis and
Palestinians toward a just and peaceful settlement of the
conflict.
Out of a population of 1.5 million, 44.4% of
Gazans are age 14 or under, and the median age is 17. Two
inspiring programs brought joy into the lives of these young
people this summer:
Children of Gaza Break World
Record
Last week, thousands of children in Gaza attempted
to break the world record for the number of kites flying in the
same place at the same time. The record that once stood at
713 has been broken, as a result of the efforts of the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and more than 6,000
children. The event was part of the Summer Games program
run by UNRWA - an activities and curricular program set up for
students during their break from the academic school year. For
more on the Summer Games Program click here.
Gaza: Lifting children’s spirits with
music
Action by Churches Together (ACT) continues its
efforts to provide assistance to the people of Gaza. Read
accounts of the situation and their work including “Gaza: Lifting
children’s spirits with music” about a
project that teamed up the ACT Forum Palestine with the
Palestinian singer Rim Banna to bring music into
children’s lives.
For more information on the
welfare of Gaza’s children, see “The Gaza Blockade:
Children and Education Fact Sheet” from the Association of
International Development Agencies,
click here.
Two New Initiatives for ELCA and ELCIC
Youth and Young Adults to Visit the Holy Land
Based on
heightened interest in the region from our continued
accompaniment with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and
the Holy Land (ELCJHL), which included the Bishops' Academy trip
this past January, there are two new opportunities to broaden
our accompaniment and advocacy with youth and young adults in
the ELCA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC).
July 8-22, 2010: Holy Land Youth
Mission
APPLICATIONS ON LINE SOON at Peace
Not Walls Web site. A new initiative that grew out of
Southeast Michigan Synod’s tradition of taking youth to
the Holy Land is inviting other ELCA and ELCIC synods to send
youth (ages 15 through 22) to join in a leadership and
peace-building youth trip to the Holy Land July 8-22 of 2010.
Southeast Michigan Synod, a companion synod of the ELCJHL, is
taking the lead with the New England Synod, also an ELCJHL
companion synod, as well as other synods and congregations
interested in the Middle East. The first week will be spent in
peace-building and leadership camp with ELCJHL schools and
organizations, while the next week will be an immersion in the
sites, culture, peacemaking, politics and realities of
Christians, Muslims and Jews in the region. Cost is estimated at
$2000 with airfare extra. Please direct inquiries and
applications to peacenotwallsinfo@elca.org.
Dec 20-Jan 2: Walking Holy; ELCA's Region 9 Sponsored
Trip to the Holy Land for High School Youth
Led by Harvey
Huntley and Dr. Monte Luker, Professor of Hebrew Studies at the
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, this will be a study
tour of the sites, culture and faiths of the Holy Land. The trip
is open to ELCA and ELCIC high school age youth. Look for
brochure and more information available soon here.
The Elders, a group of eminent global
leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela, have announced plans
to visit Israel, the West Bank and Gaza at the end of
August
The Elders’ delegation will be led by former
Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and will also
include Ela Bhatt, Gro Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson
and Desmond Tutu. They will be joined by business leaders
Richard Branson and Jeff Skoll who, with others, have helped to
establish The Elders’ organisation and continue to support
their work.
The Elders are supportive of current peace
efforts but have no intention of intervening in that process.
Rather, the objective of their visit is to meet a wide
cross-section of Israeli and Palestinian society including
grassroots organizations, young people, members of civil
society, independent experts, business leaders and others. They
want to offer their support to those who are working hard for
peaceful coexistence while also listening to the concerns and
aspirations of a broad range of individuals on both sides.
Read
media release.
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