4th February 2014 |\u00a0The Electronic Intifada<\/a>, Joe Catron | Gaza City, Occupied Palestine<\/strong><\/p>\n In five months, the\u00a0Presbyterian Church (USA)<\/a>\u00a0will\u00a0consider divestment<\/a>\u00a0from three US companies with Israeli military contracts, at its\u00a0general assembly in Detroit<\/a>.<\/p>\n A new study guide published by the church and compiled by its Israel\/Palestine Mission Network has turned a critical eye on the Zionist ideology behind the Israeli policies the divestment measure aims to challenge.<\/p>\n Zionism Unsettled<\/a><\/em>, as the pamphlet is titled, offers much value to any Palestine activist who has not considered the ramifications ofZionism<\/a>\u00a0as an ideology.<\/p>\n Its 74 pages sketch both Zionism\u2019s historical outlines and its complex relationships with the Christian and Jewish faiths. A companion DVD offers further commentary.<\/p>\n \u201cWith\u00a0Zionism Unsettled<\/em>, we are hoping to shine a light on the effects of Zionism as a political ideology that is justified by appeal to selective biblical texts,\u201d Walt Davis, co-chairperson of the IPMN\u2019s education committee and\u00a0Zionism Unsettled<\/em>\u00a0project coordinator, told The Electronic Intifada.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a good deal of examination of various theologies in\u00a0Zionism Unsettled<\/em>, but through the lens of how they have been affected by a nationalist ideology,\u201d Davis added.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem now is that the issue is no longer just a secular political ideology; it has become an ideology infused with biblical and theological justifications. Therefore it now needs to be examined through a theological lens too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCloak of silence\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Davis added that because the US is a highly religious society, \u201cwe want to open a dialogue about this symbiotic relationship that has been shrouded in a cloak of silence. This is what the churches have done in the past when oppressive ideologies like\u00a0Jim Crow<\/a>\u00a0segregation in the US and\u00a0apartheid<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0South Africa<\/a>\u00a0had become theologies of self-identity for their supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n The publication of\u00a0Zionism Unsettled<\/em>\u00a0does not mark a theological breakthrough. The Presbyterian Church (USA)\u2019s liberal Reformed tradition has rarely offered fertile ground for the growth of\u00a0Christian Zionism<\/a>\u00a0as a religious tendency.<\/p>\n As\u00a0Zionism Unsettled<\/em>\u00a0says, \u201cFor decades the [Presbyterian Church (USA)] has opposed the evangelical blend of dispensationalism and Christian Zionism because it fuses religion with politics, distorts faith, and imperils peace in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n Rather, it indicates a political shift, a breach of what Jewish liberation theologian Marc Ellis calls \u201cthe interfaith ecumenical deal<\/a>,\u201d under which a significant number of Christians have supported Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cIn its liberal Christian manifestations, Zionism serves as a \u2018price-tag\u2019 theology providing Christians with a vehicle of repentance for the guilt accrued during centuries of European Christian\u00a0anti-Semitism<\/a>\u00a0culminating in the\u00a0Holocaust<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0Naim Ateek<\/a>, co-founder and director of the\u00a0Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center<\/a>, writes in\u00a0Zionism Unsettled<\/em>.<\/p>\n The study guide also analyzes the disparate threads of Jewish Zionism, first cultural and political, then political and religious, culminating in the fusion of the latter two after Israel\u2019s military occupation of the\u00a0Gaza Strip<\/a>,\u00a0West Bank<\/a>\u00a0and other territories in 1967 \u2014 and the subsequent launch of its\u00a0settlement project<\/a>.<\/p>\n It also suggests the United States\u2019 own history of settler colonialism as a crucial reason for its support, both political and religious, of the similar process of Zionism.<\/p>\n Myths of origin<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIsraeli and American myths of origin are similar and derived from the same biblical sources,\u201d\u00a0Zionism Unsettled<\/em>\u00a0says, noting that \u201cthe history and ideology of\u00a0settler colonialism<\/a>\u00a0have been so central to the political history of the United States that it is not surprising the political and religious leadership in the US has been predisposed to uncritical support for the Zionist movement.\u201d<\/p>\n Much church activism for Palestine, like past divestment efforts within the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the\u00a0United Methodist Church<\/a>, has remained within the parameters of theOslo accords<\/a>, focusing on the post-1967 occupation and aiming for a negotiated\u00a0two-state solution<\/a>.<\/p>\n Zionism Unsettled<\/em>\u00a0breaks this frame by also considering the\u00a0ethnic cleansing<\/a>\u00a0of 1948, the apartheid facing\u00a0Palestinian citizens of Israel<\/a>\u00a0and the one-state reality.<\/p>\n \u201cThe so-called peace process has devolved into a cover under which irreversible territorial and demographic facts on the ground are being implemented with impunity by Israel,\u201dZionism Unsettled<\/em>\u00a0begins. \u201cIsrael\u2019s expansion into territory classified under international law as occupied has brought about a\u00a0de facto<\/em>\u00a0one-state entity<\/a>\u00a0under Israeli jurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n Later it reports \u201ca growing consensus \u2014 except, notably, in the US and Israel \u2014 that the existing\u00a0de facto<\/em>\u00a0one-state situation\/solution is irreversible and that the Israeli form of apartheid (segregation and separate development) is becoming increasingly entrenched.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cColonizing minds\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n But\u00a0Zionism Unsettled\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0focus remains on ideology, not the policies it inspires. Its authors quote the Palestinian writer and academic\u00a0Nur Masalha<\/a>: \u201cZionism was (and remains) not just about the colonization of Palestinian land, but also about colonizing minds \u2014 Jewish, Arab, European, American.\u201d<\/p>\n Through their text, they attempt to decolonize one corner of America\u2019s mainstream Protestant mind.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat has been almost entirely absent from the mainstream conversation about Israel\/Palestine is open, frank discussion about the ways in which ideology \u2014 that is, political and religious doctrine \u2014 has been a driving force of the conflict,\u201d they write.<\/p>\n \u201cZionism is the problem,\u201d Ateek states in\u00a0Zionism Unsettled<\/em>. \u201cFor Palestinians and a growing number of internationals around the world it is clear that Zionism is a false theology.\u201d<\/p>\n Both a political ideology and a theology, Zionism has shaped and been shaped by the main religious traditions \u2014 Christianity and Judaism \u2014 it has engaged.<\/p>\n Zionism Unsettled<\/em>\u00a0is not an activist handbook. It is very much a work of theology, albeit political theology. Little of its content is prescriptive, rather than descriptive. Church members and others seeking practical steps to apply its knowledge will need to look elsewhere.<\/p>\n As the study guide\u00a0was released, a delegation of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship members traveled through present-day Israel and the occupied West Bank on an Interfaith Peace-Builders (IFPB) tour. Over 12 days, its two dozen participants met activists on both sides of the green line (the internationally-recognized armistice line between present-day Israel and the occupied West Bank), posted updates to the\u00a0delegation\u2019s blog<\/a>, and tweeted their experiences with the hashtag\u00a0#PPFinAction<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMoral obligation\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe goal was to prepare a cadre of articulate, better informed, creative, passionate spokespersons from within the Presbyterian Church,\u201d Mark C. Johnson, an IFPB board member who co-led the delegation, told The Electronic Intifada.<\/p>\n Delegates who have traveled to Palestine, spoken with residents and seen conditions firsthand can more convincingly say, \u201cI believe the Presbyterian Church is legitimate in its witness when it supports the\u00a0BDS<\/a>\u00a0[boycott, divestment and sanctions] call,\u2019\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n \u201cEnding one\u2019s complicity in crime is not heroic,\u201d\u00a0Omar Barghouti<\/a>, a co-founder of thePalestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel<\/a>\u00a0(PACBI) told the group.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the delegation\u2019s visit will help familiarize them, and many other Presbyterians through them, with the brutal reality of Israel\u2019s regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid against the Palestinian people,\u201d Barghouti later told The Electronic Intifada.<\/p>\n He added that he hopes their experiences \u201cwill convince a much wider segment of the Presbyterian Church (USA) that divesting their funds from companies that are complicit in Israel\u2019s decades-old occupation and denial of Palestinian rights is indeed a profound moral obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n Barghouti added, \u201cAll Palestinians were inspired and moved to tears when a decade ago the Presbyterian Church (USA) became the first mainstream institution in the US to support divestment \u2026 For ten years, however, the church\u2019s moves towards divestment have been held hostage to Zionist blackmail, including through so-called \u2018interfaith\u2019 groups and the unfounded, chilling and false accusations of anti-Semitism, preventing the Presbyterian Church (USA) from doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson also hopes the delegation\u2019s participation will affect the divestment debate. \u201cThere is a division within the body, but the majority already have given evidence of supporting BDS and positive investment,\u201d he said. \u201cAs long as the latter is not used to undermine the legitimacy of the former, this new wave of recruits can make a good deal of difference both prior to the GA [general assembly] and at the GA.\u201d<\/p>\n On 24 January, the delegates issued a unanimous statement supporting a recommendation by the Presbyterian Church (USA)\u2019s Mission Responsibility through Investment Committee (MRTI) for divestment.<\/p>\n It quotes Palestinian businessman Sam Bahour, who warned against efforts to substitute investment in Palestinian enterprises for divestment from the occupation. \u201cInvesting in our economy is an act of resistance that helps Palestinians not to give up,\u201d he told the group. \u201cBut don\u2019t be fooled into thinking that it will help us to end the occupation. BDS is an important tool for that\u201d (\u201cPresbyterian delegation unanimously supports MRTI call to divest from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett-Packard<\/a>,\u201d Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, 24 January 2014).<\/p>\n The Presbyterian Church (USA)\u2019s 2012 general assembly approved a church-wide boycott of Israeli settlement products by 71 percent. A motion to divest the church\u2019s own holdings inCaterpillar<\/a>,\u00a0Hewlett-Packard<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Motorola<\/a>, all of which have business connections with the Israeli occupation, was\u00a0replaced<\/a>\u00a0by a margin of two votes out of 666.<\/p>\n With divestment set to return to the Presbyterian Church (USA)\u2019s agenda in Detroit this summer, two years of dialogue, e\u00adducation, and organizing by activists within the church may be nearing fruition.<\/p>\n Joe Catron is a US activist in Gaza, Palestine. He co-edited\u00a0<\/em>The Prisoners\u2019 Diaries: Palestinian Voices from the Israeli Gulag<\/a>, an anthology of accounts by detainees freed in the 2011 prisoner exchange, and is a member of the\u00a0Palestine Israel Network<\/a>\u00a0in the Episcopal Church.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" in\u00a0In the Media\u00a0February 4, 2014 4th February 2014 |\u00a0The Electronic Intifada, Joe Catron | Gaza City, Occupied Palestine In five months, the\u00a0Presbyterian Church (USA)\u00a0will\u00a0consider divestment\u00a0from three US companies with Israeli military contracts, at its\u00a0general assembly in Detroit. A new study guide published by the church and compiled by its Israel\/Palestine Mission Network has turned a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":359,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions\/359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gphrc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Zionism](\"http:\/\/cdn.palsolidarity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/zionism_unsettled-309x400.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n