Editor’s Note: Fahed Abu-Akel, former GA moderator, Presbyterian minister, and executive director of the Atlanta Ministry with International Students, was speaking in the Richmond, Virginia area Jan. 6-8. He sat down with Martha Skelton, Outlook associate editor, to answer a few questions. This is part two of a two-part interview. Part 1 appeared in the Jan. 30 Outlook.
Q. If you are an Arab Christian in the Middle East what pressure do you feel from the Israeli/Jewish side, and from the Arab/Muslim side?
A. In the Israeli state, Palestinian Christians and Muslims have the right to vote, have the right for movement. The issue is you do not have the same opportunities. The situation in the West Bank is different. In Israel, Muslim or Christian, you are a citizen of the state of Israel. If you are a Palestinian in the West Bank, you are an occupied person. So if you are Christian or Muslim, you do not have the right of movement from your town.
As Presbyterians, historically we have always supported the state of Israel and people need to realize that. And after 1967, the GA always had actions that the Israeli occupation needed to end. At last year’s GA, the only three things we added were, 1) The wall that Israel is building in the West Bank is illegal under international law and must stop … because the wall is built to protect Israeli illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. If you want to build a wall, you build it on your border, you don’t build it in the land of other people … Nobody got angry at the Presbyterians. Second, we said that Christian Zionism is not biblical and not Reformed. Nobody got angry with the Presbyterian Church. A third thing we said: because we have been praying 38 years for the occupation to end, the overture that came from Florida concerning divestment and the divestment issue said we are not going to divest from Israel proper. We are going to divest from American companies that are doing harm in the West Bank. If you take the issue of divestment from occupation, it is meaningless. The Presbyterian Church is not anti-Israel, we are not anti-Semitic, and we are not anti-Jewish. We are anti-occupation. That overture brought our attention to the illegality of occupation . . . (The pastor of the Florida church that sent the overture told me) “Americans will wake up when you talk about the dollar.”
Q. Would not Arab Christians also have some struggles living in the predominately Muslim areas, under the Palestinian Authority?
A. I would say at this point of history, the only ones who can give us a glimpse of Muslims and the Arab world would be Palestinian Christians and Arab Christians. They have lived with Muslims all their lives and they understand how to talk to Muslims, they understand the theology, and they understand how to live as a minority of minorities. We as American Christians need to learn about the 15 million Arab Christians. The majority would be Coptic of Egypt, Orthodox Christians, Maronite Christians, and Catholic Christians. Among the Protestants, Presbyterians are the largest body because the Presbyterians went to mission in the Middle East in 1823. We have a half-million Arab Presbyterians that we know zero about.
When Presbyterians went on mission they focused on three areas: first, evangelism. As a result, we have a half million Presbyterians. We are the largest Protestant body in the Middle East. Second emphasis, medical missions. Third focus, education. Every American University in the Middle East (Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul,) was established by the Presbyterian Church.
As Presbyterians, we have 15 million Arab Christians to connect with; second, we have half a million Presbyterians to connect with, and as supporters of the state of Israel, we need to find a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Palestine-Israel conflict is the powder keg of the Middle East. My thesis goes like this: We are the friends of Israel who helped Israel to make peace with Egypt, helped Israel to make peace with Jordan; I hope we can help Israel make peace with Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc. My thesis says make peace with every Arab country you want. But unless you reconcile an Israeli Jew and Palestinian Arab, the deal is not going to work. Solving the Palestinian crisis, creating a Palestinian state and helping the reconciliation of Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs is crucial.
Q. During this time of insecurity, doesn’t it seem that people in America or the Middle East are reverting to their family, clan types of identities — ethnicities?
A. Unless you have a constitution, like the U.S. Constitution, that protects, you cannot play the game. Here the Constitution is calling every individual that you need to go by the Constitution, not your ethnicity, not your religion. There is not a decent constitution in the Middle East. Israel does not have a constitution. When you don’t have a constitution, you play any way you want. The U.S. Constitution has survived for 200 years. That was the genius of Martin Luther King Jr. He had three anchors: his faith in God, his teaching of non-violence, third, he called the American people to live up to what the Constitution said. A constitution is an excellent instrument to help us live and co-exist.
I believe that God wants people to co-exist. I believe God wants people to respect one another. And the danger all throughout history is that people use God to destroy one another. That’s where we need a new theology to deal with our context.
Q. What do you mean by our context?
A. American history to Middle Eastern history. People use God to oppress other people … to do acts of racism against one another. The New Testament says the opposite. The Word of God is revolutionary–to be liberated myself, to accept another human being and respect another human being. All through history, ancient history to present American history, people use God for their own agenda and that has nothing to do with it.
In the city of Jerusalem, Christianity, Judaism and Islam have a bloody history. No one can say, “I have a clean hand.” Learning from history, we need to say in the 21st century, can we be reconciled and live together without destroying each other? (Not say) “I will use God and destroy you.” In Europe, we did it, in America, we did it, and in the Middle East we did it. In the 21st century, can the Word of God liberate me to accept another person?
Q. As Presbyterians get together preparing for the General Assembly this year where they face the election of a new moderator, issues such as divestment and the Task Force report, what do you think they need to be doing to prepare?
A. I would like members, elders, and our congregations to be in a mood of prayer, fasting … I would like for the commissioners the moment they hear on what committees they are serving to immediately start studying the material that is coming for that committee. The moment we elect a moderator, we divide all the commissioners into 15 to 20 committees. And from my experience, the legwork, the discussions and decisions are made in committees. Ninety percent of the decisions that come from the committees are accepted in the plenary. For us to be spiritually tuned, we need to understand the pro and con of that committee, to do some research and really do your work for your committee. And don’t be overwhelmed by everything; be effective in a spiritual way in that committee. And as you vote, you are asking the Holy Spirit to lead you and you are voting about the life of the whole church together.
As moderator, I focused … on our unity in diversity, and that is what the Task Force is doing. Every voice of the church is present, and if the local sessions and presbyteries will struggle together in the name of Jesus Christ the way that Task Force struggled, God will heal us.
