A Unitarian Universalist Looks at the Mideast Crisis 

Rev. Ron Sala

Unitarian Universalist Society in Stamford

May 19, 2002 

When I was a kid, I dreamed about being an Israeli soldier. I know that seems like a strange fantasy for a Mennonite kid from Pennsylvania. After all, it was drilled into us that we were pacifists, and Christians. But if one were not so righteous as to do the truly correct thing and be Mennonite, you could do worse than being an Israeli soldier.

After all, God was on their side, perhaps even cutting them some slack in his everyone-but-Bible-believing-Christians-go-to-hell rule—for old times sake. After all, God had called Abraham to be his faithful servant and had made quite a few extravagant promises to bless his descendants. God had gotten the children of Israel through a lot of tough scrapes—Egyptian slavery, battles with races of giants, exile. The reemergence of the state of Israel in the 20^th century, the fundamentalist radio preachers assured us, was God’s continued support for Abraham’s descendants and a necessary preparation for the end of the world. That the children of Israel emerged from the Holocaust and won wars in 1949 and 1967 against overwhelming odds was surely extra proof of divine intervention in history on the side of right we thought.

But, in college, shortly before I became UU, I began to appreciate that the Arab-Israeli conflict was not so clear. I began to hear the stories of actual Palestinians and their struggles for existence in conditions of poverty and displacement. They were precious people, too. God loved them just as much as the Israelis.

I think there are many people in our society, including many in government, that carry around with them some of the same unquestioned prejudices I grew up with, looking at Israel through Rose of Sharon colored glasses, as a country with divine favor. I still believe that Israel should continue to exist as a place for the Jewish people to have a home. I still believe that Israel has much to offer the world in terms of religious tradition and contemporary culture. But even positive stereotypes can have disastrous consequences, as they’re usually linked with equally negative stereotypes of others—even dehumanization.

What else could explain the remarks of House Majority leader Dick Armey who said earlier this month, ''I'm content to have Israel grab the entire West Bank.”

He added under questioning, ''I happen to believe that the Palestinians should leave.'' Hours later he tried to soften his remarks, saying he simply meant that Palestinians who supported terrorism should be exiled.¹

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee was quick to point out that what Representative Armey had advocated was nothing short of the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population and called on its members to demand an apology from him.

What besides a religiously sanctioned dehumanization of human beings on both sides of the conflict could explain a situation, where, in the word of Amnesty International,

[Quote] Violence has become a part of daily life …since the latest intifada began …. More than 570 Palestinians, including 150 children, have been killed by Israeli security forces. More than 150 Israelis, including 30 children, have been killed by Palestinian armed groups and individuals.  

Israeli forces have killed Palestinians unlawfully by shooting them during demonstrations and at checkpoints although lives were not in danger. They have shelled residential areas and committed extrajudicial executions. Palestinian armed groups and individuals have deliberately killed Israeli civilians by placing bombs in crowded places and in drive-by shootings. 

All Palestinians in the Occupied Territories — more than three million people — have been collectively punished. Almost every Palestinian town and village has been cut off by Israeli army checkpoints or physical barriers. Curfews on Palestinian areas have trapped residents in their homes for days, weeks or even months. In the name of security, hundreds of Palestinian homes have been demolished. 

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Israeli authorities to abide by international human rights standards and urged the Palestinian Authority and armed groups to act in accordance with humanitarian law. It has also called for the international community to take the action necessary to ensure respect for human rights in the region. 

… The past year has shown more clearly than ever that if human rights are sacrificed in the search for peace and security, there will be no peace and no security. [unquote]

Contrary to those fundamentalist-inspired fantasies of my boyhood, the Arab-Israeli conflict had never been a straightforward fight between good guys and bad guys. During the period of British occupation, terrorism was used as a tool by both Palestinians and Zionists. In one instance, Jewish terrorists killed 91 in a bomb blast at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946.²

Two years later, Jewish forces slaughtered up to 250 Palestinians in the village of Deir Yassin, just one of perhaps 20 major massacres committed by Israelis, which was a major spur to Palestinian flight. At the same time, Palestinian fighters were killing plenty of Israeli civilians as well, as both sides negated the humanity of the other.³

The Six Day War of 1967 also showed the Israelis to be less than the pure, heroic stereotypes I’d been led to believe in. For instance, James Bamford, in his recent book, Body of Secrets, relates how

[quote] A convoy of Indian peacekeeper soldiers, flying the blue United Nations flag from their jeeps and trucks, were on their way to Gaza when they met an Israeli tank column on the road. As the Israelis approached, the UN observers pulled aside and stopped to get out of the way. One of the tanks rotated its turret and opened fire from a few feet away. The Israeli tank ten rammed its gun through the windshield of an Indian jeep and decapitated the two men inside. Then other Indians went to aid their comrades, they were mowed down by machine-gun fire. Another Israeli tank thrust its gun into a into a UN truck, lifted it, and smashed it to the ground, killing or wounding all the occupants. In Gaza, Israeli tanks blasted six rounds into UN headquarters, which was flying the UN flag. Fourteen UN members were killed in these incidents. One Indian officer called it deliberate, cold-blooded killing of unarmed UN soldiers. [unquote]

Bamford goes on to describe the widespread killing on the part of the Israeli Defense Force of its prisoners and even the deliberate attack by Israel on the American ship the USS Liberty in an attempt hide the way it was conducting the war. Bamford also cites Israeli war crimes in the wars in Sinai in 1956 and in Lebanon in 1982, some of which current Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is at least indirectly responsible for.⁴

And Human Rights Watch has charged the Israeli government with human rights violations in the current crisis. No, there are no clear-cut good guys or bad guys here. There are too many people on both sides with too much blood on their hands. There is too much terror, with Israelis afraid to leave their homes for fear of suicide bombings. There is too much injustice, with many Palestinians crowded like factory farmed animals in refugee camps their entire lives. There is too little sharing of land and water. There is too much repression.

If this is what a holy land looks like, I’d hate to see an unholy one!

Religion has certainly played its part in all this. It’s comforting to believe in a God that takes one’s own side, that assures us of our group’s righteousness and the other group’s depravity, that sets before us a plan for our own aggrandizement and our adversary’s humiliation.

Comforting, yes, but also terribly sad.

As a Unitarian Universalist, I say that no God is worthy of worship that does not love every people equally. No God is worthy of worship that inspires to hatred and senseless violence. The time for tribal and national deities is over. There are broad-minded, compassionate streams in both the Bible and the Koran, as well as in the many other traditions that are woven into the tapestry of our own Unitarian Universalist faith. We must never cease raising our voices for love and reason in religion in the place of hatred and violence. It may seem our contribution is small but I believe being a constant witness to peace and justice is price of preserving one’s soul. The well-known phrase “Silence=Death” is very applicable here.

The Mideast Crisis is no longer just something on the other side of the world. In a post September 11^th world, we are all middle easterners. As citizens of the United States, we must not allow our government to further stand in the way of a peaceful and just resolution of the crisis by pretending that one side is in the right when both have gone terribly wrong. As Unitarian Universalists, we must not allow fundamentalists of whatever stripe to betray the faiths we cherish as foundations for our own.

In the words of the Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, senior minister at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma,

May the descendants of Ishmael and the descendents of Isaac one day realize true kinship. May the land of Israel come to know peace. And may all people heed these words from the Quran:

You Humankind:

We have created you as a single family,

And made you into nations and tribes

That you might come to know and cherish one another.⁵

Shalom, Salaam, Peace.

Sources: 

Bamford, James. Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency from the Cold War Through the Dawn of a New Century (New York: Doubleday, 2001). 

Chomsky, Noam. The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel & the Palestinians (Boston: South End Press, 1983. 

Elon, Amos, A Blood-Dimmed Tide: Dispatches from the Middle East (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997). 

Erlich, Guy. “NOT ONLY DEIR YASSIN,” Ha'ir, 6 May 1992. 

Hayes, Charles. “Is Taking a Psychedelic an Act of Sedition?” Tikkun Magazine Mar/Apr 2002. 

Halliday, Fred. Two Hours the Shook the World: September 11, 2001: Causes & Consequences. (London: Saqi Books, 2002). 

Idinopulos, Thomas A., Jerusalem Blessed, Jerusalem Cursed: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Holy City from David’s Time To Our Own (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1991). 

Johnson, Paul. A History of the Jews (New York: Harper and Row, 1987). 

Lavanhar, Marlin. “We Have to Go Back to Abraham,” Quest, Vol. LVIII, No. 5, May 2002. 

Lewis, Bernard. The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years (Prince Frederick, Maryland: Recorded Books, 2001). 

Marty, Martin. “Is Religion the Problem?” Tikkun Magazine Mar/Apr 2002. 

MITCHELL, ALISON, “MIDEAST TURMOIL: CONGRESS; House And Senate Support Israel In Strong Resolutions.” New York Times, May 3, 2002, Friday Http://Premium.News.Yahoo.Com/News?Tmpl=Story&U=/Nytp/20020503/863971&.Bail=Http%3a%2f%2fpremium.News.Yahoo.Com%2frd%3fr%3ddick+Armey 

Segev, Tom, One Palestine, Complete, trans. Haim Watzman (New York: Henry Holt, 1999). 

Surratt, Robin, ed., The Middle East, 9^th ed. (Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 2000). 

Wieseltier, Leon. "Hitler Is Dead: Against Ethnic Panic," _The New Republic_ 5/27/02, pp. 19-22.

¹ MIDEAST TURMOIL: CONGRESS; House And Senate Support Israel In Strong Resolutions New York Times, May 3, 2002, Friday By ALISON MITCHELL Http://Premium.News.Yahoo.Com/News?Tmpl=Story&U=/Nytp/20020503/863971&.Bail=Http%3a%2f%2fpremium.News.Yahoo.Com%2frd%3fr%3ddick+Armey

² Segev, Tom, One Palestine, Complete, Trans. Haim Watzman (New York: Henry Holt, 1999), 6-7.

³ Erlich, Guy. “NOT ONLY DEIR YASSIN,” Ha'ir, 6 May 1992

⁴ Bamford, James. Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency from the Cold War Through the Dawn of a New Century (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 201-03.

⁵ Lavanhar, Marlin. “We Have to Go Back to Abraham,” Quest, Vol. LVIII, No. 5, May 2002, 3.