The first section of the 150-page report, called “Breaking Down The Walls,” has now been posted — including an introduction and a series of eight introductory letters, each one to a specific audience, including Presbyterians, American Jews and Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis, and Christians in the Middle East.
Section 2, including a Biblical and theological analysis, will be available on March 8. The third section, with policy recommendations, will be publicly released on March 10.
The deadline for the entire report to be submitted is March 5, but some additional time is being taken for copy-editing and formatting before making the entire report public, according to a news release accompanying the report.
The introductory letters address a variety of concerns – ranging from the diminishing size of the Christian community in the Middle East, to Presbyterian support for the existence of Israel and continued distress over the occupied territories.
The General Assembly in 2008 created the study group and instructed its nine members to report back to the 219th General Assembly in 2010, telling it “to prepare a comprehensive study, with recommendations, that is focused on Israel/Palestine within the complex context of the Middle East.”
At its final meeting approved Jan. 29-30, the study group 30 recommendations, but still had work to do on the report before the March 5 deadline — including writing an additional historical section.
One study group member, Byron Shafer of New York City Presbytery, voted against the package of recommendations, saying, “I endorse most of the recommendations, but I have strong enough feelings about some that I cannot vote for the whole package.”
The issue of how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) views Israel is attracting some attention from Jewish groups – in part because of this report and also a recommendation from the denomination’s Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee that the General Assembly denounce Caterpillar Inc., for continuing to profit from “non-peaceful” use of its bulldozers and other equipment in the Middle East.
MRTI has said Caterpillar equipment is being used to demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied territories and to build the separation barrier between Jerusalem and the West Bank. The denomination’s General Assembly Mission Council in February approved the MRTI recommendation and sent it on for consideration by the assembly when it meets in Minneapolis July 3-10.
The assembly also will consider two theological papers with implications for Middle East relations – one being “Christians and Jews: People of God,” and the other “Toward an Understanding of Christian-Muslim Relations.”
Even before the study group’s final report was released, the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued an alert declaring that that “adoption of this poisonous document by the Presbyterian Church will be nothing short of a declaration of war on Israel and her supporters.”
