1 - 2003

The Church and Israel

Support for steps toward justice and peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Statement by the "Protestant Working Group on Church and Israel in Hesse and Nassau" and the "Working Group on Islam" of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau

This statement is based on the idea of solidarity with both Israel and Palestine, expressed through support for the peace groups of both peoples. It condemns anti-Semitism in Germany, and is founded on the peace-promoting elements common to the religions which honour Abraham.

We are observing developments in Israel/Palestine as outsiders. However, we are aware, through numerous contacts with individuals and groups in both societies, of the pain and suffering, the feelings of powerlessness and the hopes of the human beings in this region. Further, we would like to offer our experience that today, after devastating wars and long centuries of intense enmity in Central Europe, stable neighbourly relations are becoming possible among peoples. However, this would not have been possible without compromises, without each people giving up some of the things to which it felt entitled.

As Christians, we have faith that
- God cares for all persons, and that those who work for peace with justice are blessed;
- the commandment to live in peace is an element common to the religions which honour Abraham - it thus unites Jewish, Christian and Muslim women and men;
- there are people on each side of the conflict who know that violence and war cannot solve conflicts, and who are prepared to take courageous and persistent steps towards one another. Such persons have our respect and support.

1. We deplore the escalation of violence in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and the suffering it causes the people who live there. The successive Palestinian suicide attacks, as well as the Israeli military interventions, have turned the life of the people in the region into a nightmare. Feelings of powerlessness and fear, mistrust and hatred are hindering moves towards constructive solutions to the conflict in many ways.

Although we have no way of verifying much of the information received from Israel/Palestine, we can observe certain developments. Each side is losing the ability to recognise the other's suffering and hopes. Fear of one another is being turned into violence.

We are concerned about the hopelessness of thinking and actions which pursue only the interests of one's own side, and deny the other side's right to exist. Part of the Israeli population disagrees with the right of the Palestinians to a state of their own. The Israeli government promotes Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It justifies its military interventions as combatting terrorism, thereby destroying human lives and essential infrastructures in the Palestinian areas. The humiliation of persons and human rights violations are increasingly hindering chances for peaceful solutions.

2. We support the pursuit of a goal with two aspects: recognition and preservation of a democratic, viable and independent state of Israel; creation and preservation of a democratic, viable and independent state of Palestine.

The structural inequality between the state of Israel, which possesses political and military power, and the situation of the Palestinians, who still have no state and little military equipment, is hindering the search for a political solution in which two peoples can live in one country. At the same time, the superior strength of the neighbouring Arab countries is influencing the situation. Each society needs external security and internal strength in order to promote its political, economic and social development and to deal with internal conflicts and aggression within its own population.

We recall that both a state of Israel and a state of Palestine owe their legitimacy to the UN resolution of November 1947, which is binding under international law. International law, like human rights, is one of our greatest goods.

3. We too are often at a loss over the seeming hopelessness of the situation in Israel/Palestine. Nevertheless, we do not give up hope, and in this we are encouraged by groups on both sides which are formulating the necessary steps to a just peace, and are beginning to take them. What we need to do is to amplify their voices.

"Religious leaders of the Holy Land", in the Alexandria Declaration on reconciliation in Jerusalem and the Holy Land in early 2002, committed themselves - through the life and service of their various religious communities and in other ways - to seeking "to help create an atmosphere where present and future generations will co-exist with mutual respect and trust in  the other."

Members of the Israeli peace movements Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) and Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc) are calling for an "end to the Israeli occupation" of the Palestinian areas. Palestinian intellectuals are appealing for an "end to suicide bombings". These attacks, aimed at the murder of civilians, are immoral and abominable; they are illegitimate actions in the midst of a legitimate resistance.

Women in the Israeli peace movement Bat Shalom (Daughter of Peace) and women in the Palestinian peace movement of the Jerusalem Centre for Women are supporting the "call for more participation of Jewish and Palestinian women in starting up the peace process again." Members of Israeli and Palestinian peace groups are appealing to the responsible political and religious leaders "to do all they can, through negotiations, to overcome the situation of structural inequality between the two societies, and to make just solutions possible for the civilian life of the peoples of Israel and Palestine".

4. We are very concerned to realise that in Germany these days, but also in other European countries and around the world, Jews and Jewish institutions are subject to increasing attacks because of failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Anti-Semitism has continued to exist since 1945 and is now increasingly being expressed in public again. This cannot be tolerated and calls on us all to act.

- We condemn all attempts to misuse criticism of the policies of the present Israeli government as a way to legitimise anti-Semitic thinking and actions.
- We are dismayed that Jewish communities and institutions continue to need police protection. We want to have good relations with Jewish communities, and we reject every attempt to marginalise them.
- We call on all Christian communities to support emphatically, together with Jewish and Muslim communities, the efforts towards understanding among members of the three religions which honour Abraham, which have become so urgently necessary today.

5. As Christians committed to just and peaceful relations among people of different religious and cultural backgrounds in Germany through interreligious dialogue, we condemn the misuse of religion to legitimise injustice, hatred and violence. We would like to see more self-criticism among members of the religions which honour Abraham, so that religion cannot be used as a weapon. We commit ourselves to use the peace-promoting elements within the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths for efforts towards a just peace. We believe that peace is above all the gift of God. Prayer is therefore important to us - for the help of God, who can make possible new hope, new willingness and new steps towards peace.

Jews, Christians and Muslims, both women and men, trusting in God's promise to bless Abraham and his descendants, can and definitely must prepare the way together for justice and peace.

This statement was signed in October 2002 by the moderators of both working groups, and was widely distributed in the church press.