The Methodist Recorder, which is not available online, reported that Anti Israel activist the Reverend Doctor Naim Ateek begun a speech to the ministerial session of the British Conference last week with the astonishing claim that "Our Christian faith is rooted in the land" a theological position which in itself should raise eyebrows.
Warming to his theme the Rev Ateek claimed that "during the last 62 years, Zionism has been succesful in using two powerful and effective tools to win Western audiences to the Zionist cause.
"The first tool to be used was the Holocaust, which provided the strongest and most compelling reason for the establishment of the Zionist state", he said.
"Without the Holocaust, the state (sic) of Israel might not have been so easily created. For the Western powers which helped create the state (sic) of Israel, the rights of the Palestinian Arabs, the indigenous people of the land, seemed in the light of Holocaust to be insignificant.
"In the face of the annihilation of millions of Jews, very few people dared to stand up to the injustice done to Palestians who were ethnically cleansed....", he cynically added.
There is no mention of any members of the Ministerial session protesting or walking out during this near Holocaust denial.
Later in the session, having denounced "Christian Zionists", a species that I personally have yet to meet in British Methodism, he defended the terror group Hamas. Let the Recorder take up the story:
"Dr Ateek said that some things which Hamas does are appreciated by Christians. At the same time there are concerns. Not all people who support Hamas are religious and he would be concerned if Palestine became an Islamic state. 'In Gaza the Hamas regieme has been protecting the Christians there, because we have Muslim fanatics like we have Christian fanatics".
Ateek has form as a fanatical enemy of Israel, supporting the assimilation of Isreal into a single state saying in 2005 he continues to support the notion that IF Israel had a right to exist, it should have been created somewhere else, but not on the Holy Land.
Dr Ateek describes the creation of the State of Isreal in 1948 as a "catastrophe" and believes that that the military occupation of the land of Paletine is a sin. Nowhere does he spell out, certainly not to the gullible Methodist Conference, what he means by "military occupation" - post 1948 (the "catastophe") or post 1967?
These were both occasions when the Jewish people of Palestine, many of whom had lived in the country for as long as the Christian community that Dr Ateek seeks to represent, were told that they would be "swept into the sea" by the surrounding Arab countries. I have personally met Israeli Christians who fought in the 1967 war to defend their homeloand.
Sadly there appears - at least in the Recorder report of Dr Ateek's - speech any serious attempt to challenge the rhetoric of a man who seems hell bent on the destruction of the State of Israel. The great sounding phrases of the Sabeel movement and the promotion of its Karios document are empty words unless they define what is meant by "military occupation" and make an explicit condemnation of the suicide bombs and rocket attacks that have terrorised Isreali civilians for the last decade.
Nowhere does Dr Ateek, Sabeel or Karios make it clear they supported the progress made following the Oslo accords .
I visited both Isreal and Palestine in the aftermath of the Accord. I saw for myself the work of the Palestinian Authority in building and training its police force. I spoke to both Jewish and Arab members of the Knesset. I saw the plans for an economic reconstrustion that would have been the envy of the world. I was in Isreal the day Rabin was murdered. I saw the hope and I saw the despair. This issue is so much more complicated than the reported comments of Dr Ateek would want us to believe.
The Methodist Connexion has now voted to look at the Biblical narrative that many Isrealis use to claim the Holy Land as a home for Jews saying:
It is important for Methodists to refl ect more deeply on the meaning of covenant and differentiate the Israel they read about in their Bibles from the modern State of Israel they see in modern news footage. For some, modern Israelis are the Israelites of old and so the question of who has the right to live in the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean is redundant. The promises of land made to Abram in the book of Genesis are, for some at least, irrefutable and so no further thought is necessary.
Let us hope that those charged with this task look at some of the texts of the Hamas organsiation that Dr Ateek so "appreciates". For example
Article Eleven: The Strategy of Hamas: Palestine is an Islamic Waqf The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it. No Arab country nor the aggregate of all Arab countries, and no Arab King or President nor all of them in the aggregate, have that right, nor has that right any organization or the aggregate of all organizations, be they Palestinian or Arab, because Palestine is an Islamic Waqf throughout all generations and to the Day of Resurrection. Who can presume to speak for all Islamic Generations to the Day of Resurrection?
Had any Methodist Minister who sat in Dr Ateek's attack on Isreal and appluaded his "appreciation" of Isreal ever read the Hamas Charter? Why was there no reference to this charter in the report that went to conference at least as an equivalence to those who seek to justify the State of Isreal on Biblical grounds?
The Methodist Church has strayed into some very murky waters with a questionable character. We need to tread with extreme care.
Update: for those who have little contact with the Jewish community it may be helpful for them to understand the dismay the conference report has created. Read this, this and this.
