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- Title: www.MethodistPreacher.com
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Dave you say:
"Oh well everything is fine then. If non-Jews can vote then automatically there can be no injustice. (note sarcasm)."
I think this gets to the heart of the issue about the State of Israel and the understanding of many Methodists including you.
Israel has always been very jealous of its belief that all minorities should be full citizens. The Knesset is elected by an extreme form of proportional representation.
At each election representatives of Arab political parties are elected to the Knesset. In order to form a government the main parties normally have to come to an understanding with these Arab politicians.
I know you find it difficult to appreciate that I have some experience in this but for five years I was a member of a standing committee for relations with the Knesset.
I have actually sat, discussed and ate with Arab members of the Israeli Knesset. They are no different from the politicians in our our councils and parliaments. They ask questions, they speak, they vote. They have full citizenship.
Israel also has an active supreme court. There have been occasions when Arab citizens have taken the government or councils to that court and won. I am on the mailing lists of several Israeli civil rights organisations (and have been for years) so I am aware of the role of the rule of law across the territory of Israel.
In 1994/5 I played a role in securing the funding from the EU that would underpin the creation of a Palestinian Authority. At the same time, privately, I was sending part of my tithe to support the work of a friend who had set up a youth club in a West Bank town.
My belief then - and this was supported by the Israeli government - is that a stable Palestine was the surest guarantee of Israeli security. One of my little projects was to push for the training and funding of the Palestinian police force. I have seen this training at first hand.
This was at the time of the Oslo accord. The aims and ambitions of the Oslo accord were absolutely mind blowing. There would be joint industrial zones, the creation of a highway from Cairo to Jerusalem and then onto Amman, Damascus and Baghdad and a binding security agreement.
I had several discussions with Shimon Peres (it is really worth reading his autobiography "the Battle for Peace") and other politicians. It was clear that we were visiting a functioning democracy.
At the same time that I was working with the Knesset I was also on the joint parliamentary committee with Slovakia.
When I visited Bratislava we were followed by Korvac's thugs everywhere we went. My room was turned over by the secret service. Members of the opposition - many from the Hungarian speaking minority - feared for their safety. The President who had fallen out with Kovacs was isolated in a former monastery. His son had been kidnapped and beaten up. At that point it was obvious we were not visiting the institutions of a functioning democracy.
In this debate within Methodism a great many people - including you - have taken a knee jerk reaction to Israel that just isn't born out by the facts.
Now that doesn't mean there are not problems. You cannot sit down in meetings with Israeli and Palestinian politicians without being aware of the many issues.
But it does us no credit when someone in your position believes they can make sarcastic comments about the rights of all Israeli citizens to vote.
Picture for illustrative purposes only. Is was not taken in Israel.
Correction (05/11): I got my Slovakians mixed up. I should have referred to Mečiar