Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
I cannot remember when I first heard of the BDS call from Palestine. I am just aware that I have known about it for quite a long time as an Irish Methodist minister and committee member of Kairos Ireland.
The Irish Methodist Church has not made any response to the BDS call. However, together with a colleague I intend to raise this issue by questioning the ethical investments of our church at its 2020 annual conference. Kairos Ireland is a new organization. We are only beginning to make links with Irish church people in an effort to promote the calls for solidarity by Kairos Palestine. I have personally written to my political representatives and have supported the “Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill” in the Irish Parliament.
I suppose that there is widespread sympathy for Israel because of the well-known story of Nazi persecution. There is also an underlying guilt for past western Christian complicity in antisemitism.
The Palestinian narrative needs to be told and heard. Personal stories of Nakba, loss of land, and destruction of homes may be ways of making the Palestinian narrative real at a human level. Stories from Bethlehem where there is an immediate link for Western Christians might be a useful way of engaging people. Encouraging tourism in the West Bank would be useful. When people see the wall and hear Palestinian stories they will have their eyes opened. Initiatives like Christ at the Checkpoint may be ways of reaching conservative evangelicals.
People need to hear the message of theologians like Naim Ateek in reading the Old Testament through a Christo-centric lens. Literal interpretations of election, promise, and land need to be challenged. We need theological education.
Modern Israel’s PR machine has been very effective in promoting the “David vs. Goliath” narrative. People in the West need to hear the counter narrative—the mass deportations of the Nakba with the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian homes and the destruction of communities. Personal testimonies are an effective way of providing that counter narrative.
Modern Israel’s PR machine has been very effective in promoting the “David vs. Goliath” narrative. People in the West need to hear the counter narrative—the mass deportations of the Nakba with the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian homes and the destruction of communities. Personal testimonies are an effective way of providing that counter narrative.
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