Episcopal Press and News
Presiding Bishop Finds Growing Pessimism Over Future of Mideast Peace Process
Episcopal News Service. April 3, 1997 [97-1728]
(ENS) Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning returned from a sobering mid-March trip through the Middle East with a message for American political leaders -- U.S. policies are now perceived as the obstacle in a rapidly deteriorating peace process.
In a statement released April 3, and in correspondence with President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Browning said that he was bombarded with "the perception that the United States is completely one-sided" in the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
"Time and time again," Browning said, "respected religious leaders -- Christian and Muslim -- in Israel, Cyprus, Lebanon and Syria spoke to me of the sole U.S. veto of (United Nations) Security Council resolutions condemning behavior that every other nation found abhorrent and provocative," the decision by the Israeli government to proceed with new housing settlements in traditionally Arab East Jerusalem. That decision was cited as the most serious threat to the peace process.
Browning warned that "this one-sided relationship... will continue to frustrate a durable and just settlement."
Browning was in the Middle East to attend a meeting of Anglican Communion primates at St. George's College in Jerusalem. Accompanied by his wife Patti, as well as Dr. Dale Bishop, a Middle East expert on the staff of the United Church of Christ, and the Rev. Patrick Mauney, the Episcopal Church's director for Anglican and Global Affairs, he spent 10 days meeting with political and religious leaders in the region.
In his last official visit to the region as presiding bishop, Browning told the Fourth Assembly of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches in Cyprus that he remembers especially "some churches in the region that suffer persecution and martyrdom, even as they continue their courageous witness to the One who by his death and resurrection has made all things new and reconciled the world to himself."
Browning had hoped to visit Iran and its Anglican bishop Iraj Mottahedeh. According to Mauney, the bishop's role there has been to "lead his church in difficult and dangerous times" yet he done so with "gentle tenacity and great personal courage and integrity," adding that "there is no cheap grace in Iran. Being a member of a minority religious community is costly and risky."
Greeting Browning as "a venerable brother," Imam Shamseddine, head of the Muslim Shi'ites Council in Lebanon, was quite open about his anxiety over the future of the peace process. He called the bias of the Clinton Administration "very disturbing" and contended that the Palestinians, Lebanon and Syria are "being totally ignored." As a result, "the Arab people have lost confidence in the U.S. government" and the only appeal is to the "moral strength of the American people and the churches."
In response, Browning floated the idea of a meeting of religious leaders from the area, both Muslim and Christian, to help educate the American public to the real issues and to add a more urgent tone to the peace process. The imam said it was "a very important idea" and he promised to "take counsel with other leaders" to see if they would support it. "The situation in Lebanon and the Middle East has become much too dangerous to leave to politicians and the military," he said.
"As the bulldozers begin the housing settlement in East Jerusalem, it is the peace process that is being bulldozed," he lamented.
He pointed out that the Lebanese conflict "was not a war of religions but a civil war, fueled by local and regional politics, complicated by the presence of Palestinian refugees. The relations between Christians and Muslims here is sound." Yet the Lebanese face a difficult attempt to rebuild their society, to reclaim national sovereignty while under occupation by both Syrians and Israelis.
Foreign Minister Fares Boueiz complained that those making decisions for small countries like Lebanon "don't understand our problems." He added, "There is no American policy in the Middle East -- other than support for Israel. Why aren't United Nations policies implemented in this part of the world? This is the real crisis between us and the U.S."
The foreign minister is convinced that "the U.S. wants Lebanon to sign a peace treaty with Israel, at all costs. And they are using the ban on visits and trade to pressure us to sign."
As a participant in the Madrid conference to help establish a peace process, the foreign minister said that the role of the U.S. as "the driving force and the honest power-broker" was crucial in convincing the Israelis to participate. "The election of Netanyahu effectively cancelled the policy of land for peace," he said. "There is no more peace process now. Netanyahu doesn't really want peace, he wants to solve a security problem.... It is not possible to restart the peace process unless Israeli politics changes or the role of the U.S. does."
With 40,000 Syrian soldiers and half a million Palestinian refugees inside of Lebanon "we can't say we are at peace," the Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon, Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, told his guests. "We have been waiting 20 years for implementation of the UN resolutions."
With 19 different cultural/religious communities in Lebanon, "each trying to maintain its identity," Lebanon faces a delicate balancing act in its efforts to reestablish some kind of national identity. "Equilibrium of these communities is the reason Lebanon exists," the patriarch observed. "The role of Christians is to witness to Christian values in a society that is not Christian. We are here, and have been here for 1300 years, and we will stay here, but we need moral help" since Syrians are in control and there is always the threat of annexation to Syria. "That would be the end of the Christian presence." Like other Christian leaders he is deeply worried about the emigration of Christians and fears the paradox that a day might come "when there are no Christians in the land of Christ."
"The Lebanese are good at both destruction and construction," said Catholicos Aram of the Armenian Orthodox Church. "We are in the midst of reconstruction, including spiritual... We are at a turning point."
While he described the situation in Lebanon as "unstable," full of "uncertainties and ambiguities," he warned that the process of reconciliation will be slow. He repeated the charge that "the United States has no policy towards Lebanon because it's not very important." When he met with President Clinton last summer he told him that "supporting Israel should not be at the expense of others."
Aram would like to see the issue of Jerusalem moved to the top of the peace agenda "because we would be dealing not with a city but with a holy place deeply rooted in the heart and culture of these people -- all people of the region." He said that he liked the idea of a conference of church leaders because he sensed that "churches around the world are becoming more interested in the Middle East, especially the future of Christian churches in the area."
"Deep down any Christian or Muslim loves Lebanon," Metropolitan Elias Audi of the Greek Orthodox Church told the group in trying to explain what holds the society together. "But Christians came out of the war as losers so they can't be strong collaborators in the decisions of the country. So many of them leave."
He is worried that Christians, who fear the Islamization of Lebanon and the weak economic climate, will conclude that they have no stake in the future. "Christians are asking, What is our future?" If left alone, the Lebanese might be able to work things out but that is no longer likely, given the politics of the region. "Both Christians and Muslims still want to live together in peace."
"God's plan for Lebanon is not clear," said Greek Orthodox Patriarch Hazim. "We don't have much of a voice as Christians. The simple fact is that Lebanon is 75 percent occupied.... And when you are inhabited you soon don't begin to recognize yourself, you lose your identity. Yet we hope for some unexpected light." In the meantime, the relationship among the churches "has never been better. We have created a spirit of fellowship and cooperation; we feel at home with each other."
Although clearly worried about the dwindling Christian presence, he added, "We shall continue to witness as much as we can. We shall not help those who want Christ to disappear from this area."
After a meeting with faculty and students at the Near East School of Theology, the party traveled south to Sidon to view projects of the Middle East Council of Churches and visit a Palestinian refugee camp of 70,000 people. Teachers at an elementary school said in their conversations that they and their families had never known another life and that, with a cut in funds from the United Nations, it was becoming more difficult to escape and build another life.
Christians in Syria said that they are enjoying a period of tolerance because "President Assad respects all the churches," according to Melkite Patriarch Hakim. He expressed deep concern over the future of Jerusalem, however. "As the pope has said, if we lose Jerusalem our holy places will become museums," he said, adding that one-third of his church members have left in the last 30 years and several of his churches are already museums. "If the churches cooperated to build housing I'm sure the people would remain."
"We are mirrors that reflect the spirit of Jesus Christ and Mohammed," said 85-year-old Sheikh Ahmed Kuftano, Grand Mufti of the Syrian Arab Republic, in welcoming the party. In a long and cordial conversation between friends who met on a previous trip, he added, "We consider Jesus Christ our uncle so that means you are our cousins."
While he was optimistic about relations between Christians and Muslims, his demeanor turned gloomy when he talked about the peace process, especially the future of Jerusalem. "The victim here is justice, as well as human rights," he said. "What Netanyahu is doing is not pleasing to any of our prophets -- and those who help are partners in that oppression. It is a great wrong to help any party which is unjust and God will have a punishment for those people."
"It is useful for us here to help convince people that the Christians in America do not always agree with their government," Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan Zakka said with a smile when told that Browning joined other church leaders in signing an ad in U.S. newspapers that called for a "shared" Jerusalem.
Edmond and Patti Browning, who first visited the Middle East in 1963, returned from the trip with "a renewed commitment to the people and the churches of the Middle East -- and a resolve to work for peace," according to the statement.
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