Episcopal Press and News
Palestinian Christian Delegation Reminds Americans that Persecution Continues
Episcopal News Service. August 19, 1992 [92174]
A delegation of five Palestinian Christian leaders from Jerusalem spent an intensive two weeks criss-crossing America with a clear message that recent elections in Israel have not lightened their yoke.
"We are still suffering under occupation, oppression and discrimination," said Jonathan Kuttab, a human-rights lawyer who is a member of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East. Kuttab visited churches and civic groups in Minneapolis, Denver, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Tulsa, Birmingham and Washington, D.C., with the alarming message that "the church is hemorrhaging and there is a clear danger that in the near future there will be no more Christians in the Holy Land where Christ was born."
Although he found that Episcopalian audiences were better informed about the continuing crisis for Palestinians, Kuttab still noticed some reluctance to discuss the issue, based on what he called "a residual guilt over the Holocaust, a fear of being labeled as anti-Semitic." Kuttab said that many pro-Israelis have used this guilt to stifle debate on current policies, calling this "a kind of emotional blackmail."
Kuttab said that he was somewhat surprised by the friendly reception among many conservative churches that link developments in the Middle East with the Second Coming. "When confronted by the facts and a direct challenge to their shallow theology, their misreading of the Bible, I found them quite willing to listen," he said.
"Watch this new government closely," Kuttab warned when asked about recent elections where the Labor Party ended the long rule of the conservative Likud Party. "Prime Minister Rabin does not have a good relationship with Palestinians," Kuttab observed, "and may even have a worse human-rights reputation than Likud."
Kuttab pointed out that Rabin had been responsible for the policy of breaking the bones of young Palestinians who participated in the intifada uprising and also promoted deportations of Palestinian leaders and demolition of homes in retaliation. "They have only muddled the issue now, and we must watch and see what comes next," he said.
When asked what message he will take home to Jerusalem, Kuttab said that he was encouraged that the Palestinian cause "still has good friends in this country and there is no reason for us to feel isolated and abandoned." He was also heartened that "there is a clear change in attitudes in recent years -- more knowledge about the situation and Israeli policies."
That has not always translated into action, Kuttab added. "The loan guarantees came as a blow to us," he said, echoing recent statements by Hanan Ashrawi, spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation at the peace talks. "What's the use of having a peace process if the land itself, the territoriality issues, are predetermined?" Ashrawi said recently. Kuttab agreed with Ashrawi, also a member of the Episcopal Church, that the Palestinian position had been weakened by the perception that the United States was prepared to "look kindly" on the Rabin government "regardless of what they do."