Alex Elmore
October 25, 2011
The liberal and historic Dumbarton United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. on October 22 hosted a film about Israeli-Palestinian relations and to “discuss what United Methodists are doing in pursuit of peace with justice for all the people of the Holy Land.”
Speakers included an official from the United Methodist lobby office on Capitol Hill, a “Reconciling” activist working against the church’s stance on marriage, and an activist from Churches for Middle East Peace. The speakers criticized Israeli policies and backed an anti-Israel divestment proposal that next year’s United Methodist General Conference will consider.
Located in the prestigious Georgetown neighborhood, Dumbarton Church features a pew where President Abraham Lincoln once sat. It is now a “Reconciling” congregation that rejects United Methodism’s traditional biblical teachings about marriage and sex.
The film was “Budrus”, an award-winning documentary “about a Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who united local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier.”[1] “Budrus” was produced by Just Vision, an organization founded “in response to the lack of media coverage of Palestinian and Israeli civilians working to end the occupation and the conflict.”[2]
Three people with various ties to the United Methodist Church and its ministries in the Middle East led the response and discussion time: Mark Harrison, the Director of the Peace with Justice Program of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society,[3] Rachel Birkhahn-Rommelfanger, Secretary of the pro-homosexuality Reconciling Ministries Network in the United Methodist Church and a delegate to the 2012 General Conference,[4] and Rev. Doris Warrell, a deacon at Dumbarton and a “field director” with Churches for Middle East Peace. Both Birkhahn-Rommelfanger and Warrell have spent time working with the United Methodist Church in the Middle East.
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The Film
The pews in the Dumbarton sanctuary circled a projector screen and two podiums, one draped with the flag of Israel, and the other with the flag of the Palestinian National Authority. The documentary Budrus played for 83 minutes as the sunlight was replaced with darkness in the sanctuary’s stained glass windows.
It began with the early stages of the West Bank barrier wall construction near Budrus. The city is located at the top of a hill and the surrounding valleys were filled with olive trees—the primary agricultural product of the area and the livelihood of some citizens of Budrus. For reasons and motivations unexplored in the documentary, the wall was supposed to be built through one of these valleys.
The protests began when demolition equipment arrived and began clearing the olive groves for construction:
“We don’t care if you build behind the green line[5] and claim it is for your security, but just don’t take our land. What do you think our reaction is going to be?”[6]
“For 50 years I’ve been watering these olive trees. They want to uproot them? Then they will have to uproot me too.”
“I really wanted to cry, but it wasn’t a suitable time for crying.”[7]
Initially, Ayed Morrar, a local community leader connected to the Fatah, organized the village’s peaceful protests. His history of resistance began with his arrest in the First Intifada. His daughter, Iltezam Morrar, encouraged the participation of the women of Budrus: “I’m from a family that I am proud of….When [I heard about the wall], I knew it was my turn.”
The demonstrations successfully interfered with construction and got attention from Israeli national news networks, but eventually the land was cleared and the first stage of construction began.
Soon thereafter, Ahmed Awwad, a local Hamas leader, joined Ayed in his organizational efforts. The two worked together to make the protests larger and more effective. About the same time, international and Israeli protestors (who were described by an Israeli Border Guard as “leftist”) joined the effort. Ahmed told the filmmakers, “I didn’t think that one day I would have Israeli friends….We were in complete harmony and we wanted to spread that all over Palestine.”
Ahmed noted that peaceful protests were strategic for Budrus because violence would immediately be labeled as terrorism, whereas peaceful demonstration was both slowing the work and garnering attention outside Budrus. The Border Guard began negotiating with the protestors and using non-violent means to keep the work area clear. Eventually they were instructed to use any necessary force to allow the work to continue.
After 10 months of continual protest, the Israeli government decided to move the barrier wall away from Budrus and closer to the green line. That section of the wall is now completed, but protests with international and Israeli participants are continuing in areas of active construction along the West Bank.
The Response
Despite the documentary’s attempt to portray the combined efforts of the Israeli and Palestinian protestors as a herald of future unity, United Methodist lobbyist Mark Harrison opened the discussion by expressing doubts about the relationships displayed in the film. He noted that when the Palestinians said in the film, “There are Jews here [in the demonstrations],” their attitude reflected both the potential for reconciliation and also that “this is privilege.” That Jews and Palestinians are treated differently from one another, even in the context of encounters with the Israeli Border Guard, “says something about privilege and something about the society they will become.” He briefly related the relationships in the West Bank to those that used to exist in the American South and South Africa. And he indicated that he is “sensitive to the term ‘terrorism’” because it only defines what Palestinians do, not what Israeli’s do.
Much of Harrison’s work related to Israeli-Palestinian relationships focuses on the sentiments of American Jews. He felt that some momentum was being built in this community through organizations like Americans for Peace Now, Jewish Peace, and J Street until President Obama stepped into the debate with his speech at the United Nations rejecting immediate Palestinian statehood: “All hell broke loose.” Now, he thinks the communities he was working with are experiencing a temporary loss of vision and demoralization.
Harrison concluded his reflections with ways the United Methodist Church could contribute to peace and justice in the Middle East: “First, we continue our work in our communities. Second, we continue our work to end occupation, which is a major human rights violation.”
Speaking to the issue of continuing work in our communities, Harrison encouraged his audience to “challenge the Christian Zionist narrative, because they are huge,” and “engage more Americans on the side of justice and peace.”
On his second point, Harrison encouraged support of a resolution coming before the United Methodist Church’s General Conference next year, which would divest the church’s pensions fund from companies profiting from the occupation. He noted that the church cannot directly invest in Palestinian companies or ventures because they are not traded on the NYSE, the region is somewhat chaotic and so difficult to invest in, and “Israel would likely interfere.” In addition, the church does not have the same level of resources to give to non-profits that it has in its pension funds.
Birkhahn-Rommelfanger spoke in support of the divestment resolution as well: “It can have an effect; as the largest denomination in the U.S., it will have an effect.” The resolution would instruct the Board of Pensions to remove invested monies from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and HP.
Rev. Warrell joined in voicing support for divestment and summarized the tone of the discussion: “The status quo is not acceptable. It hurts the Palestinians from a personal, cultural, and economic perspective. The wall defines them. But this is not a one-sided affair. Israeli soldiers are dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the citizens with increased violence.”
Warrell added: “As Jesus said, ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.’[8] I don’t hear profit from your financial investments as a weightier matter.”
And Warrell concluded: “Justice and peace and faithfulness isn’t something you check off. It’s something you come back to with tenacity….With prayers, tenacity, and persistence—and with God’s blessing because this is a large issue—we’ll make progress.”
Related articles:
- Presbyterians Attacking Israel Again
- Presbyterians Set to Tangle Again over Israel Divestment
- The Church of Israel Divestment
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