Thursday, August 4, 2011 | Last Updated Wednesday, August 10, 2011 12:11 Pacific/Honolulu
Advocacy for Israel and Palestine
Advocacy for Israel and Palestine by Christian Evangelista
"At a time when the people of the Middle East and North Africa are casting off the burdens of the past, the drive for a lasting peace that ends the conflict and resolved all claims is more urgent than ever."
President Obama spoke these words regarding the conflict between Israel and Palestine, during his May 19 speech on the Middle East. As Hawai'i is an island in the middle of the Pacific, there are not many direct ties to Israel or Palestine, or other parts of the Middle East. The Arab population in Hawai'i is less than 1%. As a result, some residents of Hawai'i, such as myself until recently, are unaware of the complexities of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
While I had followed the developments of the Arab Spring movement in which uprisings had started in many Middle Eastern countries, I had very little knowledge of the long standing conflict between Israel and Palestine. I knew that there was a conflict, a couple of the names of heads of state, but little beyond that. After my attendance at the Churches for Middle East Peace 2011 Advocacy Conference, through the Episcopal Leadership Institute for Young Adults, I am proud to say that I am much better informed on the conflict and motivated to work for a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine.
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) is a coalition of 24 different denominations, including the Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Episcopal churches. Their main goal is to advocate for a peaceful two-state solution to the conflict, in which both Israel and Palestine exist as separate countries, with clearly defined borders. CMEP holds an annual advocacy conference in which members of churches within CMEP travel to Washington, D.C., for workshops and meetings, as well as a time to lobby your Congressional delegates.
This year, for the first time, the Episcopal Church sent a delegation of young adults to attend the CMEP Advocacy Conference, through a new initiative, the Episcopal Leadership Institute for Young Adults (ELIYA). I was selected, along with nine other young adults from across the United States, to represent the Episcopal Church in the CMEP 2011 Advocacy Conference. Our ELIYA delegation was led by Mary Getz, from the church's Office of Government Relations, and Jason Sierra, Officer for Young Adult Leadership and Vocations. Our registration fees for the conference, as well as accommodations, were taken care of by the National Church, and my airfare to Washington, D.C. was generously covered by the Diocese of Hawai'i. In addition to the conference, we received extra training and information on the Episcopal Church's position on the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
We arrived a few days early for the supplementary training, and on our first day, had a group dinner at a Lebanese restaurant to get to know each other better. The other ELIYA delegates were from all over the country including Washington, Georgia, Tennessee and Iowa. We had varying levels of experience and knowledge of the Israel/Palestine conflict, with some who had visited the region, while others had a very basic knowledge of the conflict.
The next day, we received an overview on the polity of the Episcopal Church, including its makeup, basic history, what happens at General Convention, and how it advocates for issues through the Office of Government Relations. This was extremely helpful as some of us did not know the intricate details of our church's governing body. After this briefing, we attended service at the National Cathedral of the Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. This was my first visit to the National Cathedral, and I was amazed by the size and beauty of it. The sermon that day seemed tailor-made for our conference as it spoke of the ongoing uprisings in the Middle East, and even touched on Israel/Palestine, no doubt influenced by the President's speech on the subject, as well as the recent death of Osama bin Laden.
Following a tour of the National Cathedral and a quick lunch, we were given another briefing, this time on the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict, and the Episcopal Church's past stances on the conflict. As you may or may not know, the conflict dates back to the early 20th century, through World War II, and into the present day. It is a very complex and complicated history, and thus this briefing was of immense help for us. It was also extremely helpful to see what the Episcopal Church had done in the past to push for peace in the region.
The official CMEP conference began with an opening plenary from Father Elias Chacour, Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and All Galilee of the Greek Melkite Catholic Archeparchy in Israel. As a Palestinian living in Israel, Archbishop Chacour has a unique perspective on the Israel/Palestine conflict. He actively advocates for peace for Israel and Palestine. "It's good to raise hell sometimes. Not against one side, but for the benefit of both sides," he said during his speech. One of the big things I took away from Archbishop Chacour's talk was the existence of Palestinian Christians, 25% of whom live in Israel.
The second day of the conference started with a panel discussion with various experts on the Middle East, regarding the Arab Spring movement. They gave an overview of what has happened in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Syria, as well as their predictions on the futures of these countries. It was inspiring to hear how it was the younger generation that really pushed the Arab Spring movement forward, partially through social media and networking.
Following the panel, we attended various workshops about Israel and Palestine. For the first workshop session, I chose to attend one called "Raising Your Voice for Peace: Community Organizing for Change." This workshop showed how you could continue to spread the message of CMEP beyond the conference. One of the most helpful parts of the workshop was a detailed outline they gave of how you could form your own chapter of CMEP, from gathering your group, to meeting with Congressional delegates, to holding trips to Israel and Palestine.
During lunch, we had more guest speakers, Naomi Chazan, President of the New Israel Fund, and Khaled Elgindy, a Visiting Fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute. Their talks were from differing viewpoints, as their perspectives were from opposite sides of the conflict, but were not entirely dissimilar. They both advocated that peace could not happen at the expense of either side, but instead had to be a compromise for both. Dr. Chazan recognized that it would be difficult, given the long history of the conflict, but "fear and emotion are very bad guides to policy."
At the next workshop session, I attended "Swords into Ploughshares: The Palestinian Nonviolence Movement." The workshop, led by Noura Erakat, an adjunct professor of international human rights law in the Middle East at Georgetown, gave us a history of nonviolent means of resistance in Palestine and also what nonviolent movements are occurring in the present day. One of the most common, as well as one of the most divisive methods of nonviolent resistance today is, Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions (BDS). The way this works is that supporters boycott goods that profit from the occupation of Palestinian territories. They divest from firms that profit from the occupation and they encourage sanctions against Israel. Those who oppose the use of BDS believe that it will be detrimental to Israeli citizens and will not effectively influence the Israeli government to make changes.
Next during the conference, was preparation for our visit to Capitol Hill the following day, to advocate to our respective Congressional delegates. Everyone gathered with people from their same Congressional district to plan out how the meetings would go. There was only one other person from Hawai'i at the Advocacy Conference, a teacher from Chaminade University. Because Hawai'i has only two Congressional districts, I was able to arrange for meetings with the offices of all four of our Congressional delegates.
The second day of the conference closed with a screening of the film, Budrus. It told the tale of a Palestinian city on the edge of Israel, which had lands separated from them by the erecting of the Israeli West Bank barrier in 2004. The residents of Budrus used forms of nonviolent resistance to protest the building of the barrier and the taking away of their land. It is a truly inspiring film, and those who stayed had the treat of a Q&A session with a representative from the studio who produced the film.
The third and final day of the conference was our lobbying day on Capitol Hill. The morning started with a Congressional Prayer Breakfast at the Rayburn House Office Building. During the breakfast, we were treated to talks by Warren Clark, the Executive Director of CMEP, a homily from Rev. Grayde Parsons of the Presbyterian Church, and another talk by Archbishop Chacour.
Following breakfast, we went to our meetings with our respective Congressional delegates. To aid us in our meetings, CMEP provided us with three main points to present:
1) CMEP supports the President's vision of a two-state solution, based on the 1967 borders as a starting point for negotiation, with land and technology swaps.
2) CMEP advocates for a "wait-and-see" approach to the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, two opposing factions in the Palestinian government, instead of making a rash response by cutting off aid to Palestine.
3) Make the Congressman aware, if they are not already, of Palestinian Christians living in the region, who are not always represented in the mainstream, and of their issues.
Lobbying on the Hill was the highlight of the whole conference for me. The timing of our conference was most fortuitous, as not only did President Obama make a speech the Tuesday before our conference regarding Israel and Palestine, but on the very day we were doing Congressional visits, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, was giving a speech to a joint session of Congress. Granted, this made scheduling meetings with the Congressional delegates a little difficult, as most were attending Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech, but it was still amazing to see the synergy occurring. Additionally, at the same time that CMEP was lobbying, there were also lobbyists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Because of Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech, I was only able to meet with the staffers in charge of Middle East issues from the offices of Representative Mazie Hirono, Representative Colleen Hanabusa, and Senator Daniel Inouye. However, I did manage to meet with Senator Daniel Akaka briefly, and then continue my discussion with one of his staffers. The meetings were an interesting look at each politician's views on the issues, and the staffers were always polite, even if they took an opposing viewpoint.
After the Congressional visits, the ELIYA delegates gathered at the Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations for a debriefing. We discussed our meetings and the various reactions we had gotten from staffers and members of Congress. We also talked about how we could carry forth the message and mission from CMEP, back to our home dioceses.
Attending the CMEP 2011 Advocacy Conference through ELIYA was an amazing experience for me to learn more about the Israel/Palestine conflict, see how the Episcopal Church advocates for important issues, and get firsthand experience at lobbying on Capitol Hill. I am very grateful to the Episcopal Church for this opportunity as well as our Diocese for helping me with my expenses. I encourage you to support any young adults in your congregations who wish to become more involved with social issues, and to apply for future programs with the Episcopal Leadership Institute for Young Adults.
For more information on the Episcopal Leadership Institute for Young Adults, visit http://www.episcopalchurch.org/youngadults or contact Jason Sierra: jsierra@episcopalchurch.org, 646-316-0783.
Christian Evangelista can be reached at cmevange@umich.edu.