Bulldozers uprooting olive trees on Palestinian land below a segregated Israeli-only bypass road.

bds stories from canada

story 1

I am part of the United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine/Israel (UNJPPI)—a cross-Canada group of people connected to the United Church of Canada. Our mandate is to speak to the church but not for the church. These are my personal observations and opinions.

We have a good working relationship with the staff at the General Council of the United Church and we are not under their direction. In 2012 the United Church passed a resolution regarding economic action. They were reluctant to move as far as BDS. A senior staff person spoke against the BDS movement. In my opinion he did not have a clear understanding about it and was afraid of what he understood the BDS movement to be.

In 2015 UNJPPI focused on BDS at its annual gathering. It was explained very clearly what it was about and we were urged to find some target and work on that—something that would be locally do-able and people could get behind.

UNJPPI did not embrace this BDS work wholeheartedly. We are spread across a big country and our emphasis was on trying to shift United Church policy. It was very difficult to get the national church to put into practice the motions that did get through General Council. So we worked more on education than investing ourselves in BDS action.

One of the concerns I heard at a recent gathering was from a person who is not totally onboard with supporting Palestinian human rights because her deep concern is that our actions might harm Israelis. Despite what she knows about what is happening to Palestinians, her fear is for Jewish Israelis. There is an abiding fear amongst United Church clergy that we must not be anti-Semitic, that we must not break our relationships with Jewish rabbis in Canada, and that we must protect Israel from any possibility of another holocaust situation. And there is a fear of violence from Palestinians.

It is beyond my comprehension how that can be broken through.

from story 1

It was very difficult to get the national church to put into practice the motions that did get through General Council. So we worked more on education than investing ourselves in BDS action.

story 2

We in the Anglican Church of Canada became aware of the 2005 BDS call through efforts made by Kairos Canada staff with responsibilities for solidarity and advocacy with Middle East regional partners including Palestinian church and civil society organizations. The ACC did not sufficiently understand the then current situation, issues, realities on the ground in Palestine or Israel, or in the field of economic advocacy measures including BDS. We were not prepared to respond to the 2005 BDS call.

Soon after the call, Kairos Canada hosted a process of conversation, study and discussion about economic advocacy measures including the BDS call. We represented a range of denominational histories regarding boycott, divestment and sanctions generally. Discussion was respectful, open, informative and hopeful. We wanted to respond to the 2005 call to the best of our abilities knowing it would be challenging work. We committed to bringing the call and what we understood about economic advocacy measures in this context back to the denomination for further discussion.

Subsequent meetings with national ACC program and policy volunteers and others revealed a strong caution, and in some cases, opposition to the BDS call which was believed to be anti-Semitic and deemed to impair or destroy relations with Canadian Jewish communities and individuals. The ACC did not at that time endorse support for boycotts or divestments against Israel.

Efforts in 2013 resulted in stronger, clearer language about economic advocacy measures, but again, toward a better understanding of such measures in this context. The reach and influence of the new anti-Semitism has been wide and successful in public and church media in Canada, in suppressing efforts to raise awareness, open church members’ eyes and ears to the occupation, the Wall and the right of return.

We have not tried since 2013 to revise our national church policy. We have put energy into the educational work of the 2013 policy and into opportunities for deeper relationships between church members and Palestinian Anglicans, seeking more direct ways to awareness and advocacy through pilgrimage and companionship.

from story 2

story 3

I visited Israel in 1992 with 12 other Indigenous Christian leaders from Canada, the United States, Panama, Guatemala and Peru. I then visited Palestine/Israel in October/November 2018 and realized that my 1992 visit was the Israeli propaganda tour as I heard nothing about the Palestinian people or their lands. My visit in 2018 was mostly in the West Bank of Palestine and I heard from our Palestinian tour guide the history and struggle of the Palestinian people and could relate to this story as an indigenous person from Canada. I saw that the colonization our people experienced in the Americas was very similar to that of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the theft of their lands. I was able to relate this familiarity to the other Canadians on the “Come and See” Tour.

I became aware of the United Church of Canada’s support of Palestinians and the peace process in Israel/Palestine in 2012. As far as I understand, the United Church has not moved forward with a church-wide BDS campaign. The place of my employment, Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, the national Indigenous ministry training centre of the United Church has not held any discussions about BDS.

We spent most of our time in Palestine/Israel in the West Bank listening to Palestinians tell their stories of history, culture and their encounters with Israeli settlers and the Israeli army. We visited an Israeli settler in one of the settlements near Hebron. We noted how green and built-up the settlement on the top of the hills was in comparison to the Palestinian villages in the valleys. We were invited into the settler’s home and he offered food and drink. He began his discussion with us by asking what we had heard about settlements and Palestinians. This began a lively debate. Whenever one of our group shared a story or Palestinian perspective, the settler countered it with a very opposite perspective.

Finally, after a period of wrangling back and forth, the settler asked, “What is your vision for peace?” There was a bit of a reply to him, but no one really answered his question. Then there was a light pause and I told him the story of the Two Row Wampum. I described the belt made to record the agreement between Haudenosaunee people and European nations focusing on the three rows separating the two peoples that represented, firstly, the desire for peace and friendship, and secondly, the respect that forms the basis for peace, and thirdly, that when you are in right relations with one another then you are strong. I said to him, “that is my vision of peace.” As we were leaving, the settler warmly grasped my hand in both of his and said, “I like listening to you.”

The story of Palestinian oppression needs to be told well. In my own study of the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr., I observed that he basically said about six or seven things. He said them often and in varying settings. He did this enough that I think he created a “vocabulary of consensus.”

I think stories need to be told and people asked the question, “What would be a good response to this injustice for our community?”

from story 3

...I heard from our Palestinian tour guide the history and struggle of the Palestinian people and could relate to this story as an indigenous person from Canada. I saw that the colonization our people experienced in the Americas was very similar to that of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the theft of their lands.

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