Site
Contents
 |
Imagine Indiana Transition Team Information
General Information about the Area Office
North Indiana Conference Office
South Indiana Conference Office
Area United Methodist
Foundation
Prayer Guides
(Courtesy of the NIC Prayer Team)
For resources to assist your congregation in welcoming guests,
click here
Seashore District Volunteer Center VIM project -- Completed
Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
May 2002 |
Letter spotlight:
Israel - Palestine - Conflict
By Milt Gould
On March 16, my wife and I returned from a 10-day study trip with the Society for Biblical Studies to Jordan, the Palestinian territory and Israel. We met with community service groups, peace activists, community leaders and politicians who shared with us their views on the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The most disturbing views came from the extremist militant positions on both sides. While the vast majority of people remain caught in the middle of an untold tale of terror. What disturbed us the most was the plight of the people in what one Jordanian paper called "The Killing Fields".
The Land of Israel/Palestine is filled with fear, suspicion and rage. It is a land where the innocence and childhood of Palestinian and Jewish youth is being systematically destroyed and buried in mountains of fear, prejudice, pain and anger.
The Palestinian people are basically powerless; most want peace and do not believe in violence. They said they felt like a cat backed into a de-humanizing corner by Israel and the PLO. So, they choose the only paths of self-esteem open to them - most choose passive endurance, a few choose violence, all refuse to surrender. "Better to die as human beings," they said, " than to surrender to de-humanizing oppression."
We met Jews who live in fear knowing in the depths of their being that war and violence will never stop the cycle of hate. Jews, who like their Palestinian neighbors, abhor violence and desire to live in peace. They want to raise their families, live and work in peaceful security.
We saw two peoples caught in the cycle of violence reaping a whirl wind of hate and destruction. Where is the one who will stand in the gap? Who really could make a difference? Who is not blinded and bound by their competing self-interests? The Muslim nations, the U.S.A., Israel and the PLO are enmeshed in a web of economic and political intrigue and destruction. They are increasingly blind to the cries of the Jewish and Palestinian peoples, while not so far behind the scene the special interest groups of oil, arms and international economics work to increase their profit margins while walking blindly through the "killing fields" of their own creation.
Who dies in the killing fields? Who pays the price for international greed? The children, the innocent and the helpless. The blind, greedy and powerful fight their wars, build their empires on the graves of millions who simply want to enjoy the everyday gifts of life God has given them.
Violence is not the solution. Continual de-humanizing of the Palestinian people by the Israel and the Western powers on one side and their Arab neighbors on the other will not work. The heart breaking tragedy is that Israeli and the Palestinian people are pawns in the continuing battle between the West and the Middle East, with the result that the slaughter of the innocents continues. Is it any wonder that they lose their perspective, their humanity and self-respect and resort to extremes? There are options, but extremists on both sides seem bent on satisfying their thirst for vengeance, while their allies fan flames of hate and cling to their power, oil and profits.
The Rev. Milton (Moshe) Gould is pastor of Atwood Aldersgate and Clunette UMCs in the Warsaw District, North Indiana Conference
Last updated on 01/14/2004