took and mixed in with three measures of flour until
all of it was leavened." Matthew 13:33
Iran and Israel/Palestine – A Call for Response
Originally published in E-Leaven, June 20, 2009, Issue 11
by John F. Kane
While I am no foreign policy expert, I nonetheless try to follow world events, especially the realities of war and efforts for peace. Thus I admit that I am writing because I am caught up by events in Iran and in Israel/Palestine. Perhaps I should be more cynical or “realistic.” Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. Yet I write to reject such attitudes and to ask you to become active (or more active) for peace in these regions. Sure, naïveté springs eternal, but so does real hope. And it seems clear that the Middle East remains the region which most affects the possibilities of peace in our world.
Yes, there is actual war in many regions – still in Iraq, for a long time in the Congo and in other parts of Africa. And there is the very violent, still growing, and most dangerous war in Afghanistan and the neighboring regions of Pakistan – warfare that could easily spill over into neighboring states, inflame passions around the globe, and involve nuclear weapons actually being used or, what is almost as bad, falling into the hands of fanatics and terrorists.
Yet even for Afghanistan/Pakistan, what happens in Iran and in Israel/Palestine may have the greatest impact for spreading the war or creating the conditions for eventual peace. It was, after all, the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran that really set in motion the still growing wave of Islamist activism and violence across the globe. And it has been the continuing tragedy of Israel/Palestine that has long fed the flames of such Islamist violence.
Thus what is now happening in Iran and in Israel/Palestine is of immense importance for the possibility of peace. And what we do in this country, especially by way of encouraging Obama and our other representatives to resist the calls in this country for “tough minded” and violent responses, might make a contribution to that possibility.
As I write (at least as far as I can tell from various reports), there seems to be the outside chance of a real non-violent revolution in Iran, something that would send shock waves around the globe. Yet even if, as sadly seems more likely, by the time you read this the present protests are shut down by violent repression, or, as also seems possible, they are slowly being “bargained to death” by the conservative forces in power – even if, in other words, what we are now seeing is closed down, it will not be forgotten. Not in Iran, not throughout the Muslim world, not in Israel nor the US. It will provide a continuing witness to the courageous will of so many Muslims worldwide for peace and for a cooperative future – for so many of the things that Obama envisioned in his Cairo address. (A former student of mine, a young Muslim woman living in Kuwait, proclaimed Obama “the president of the world” when I asked for her reaction, and that of her friends, to his address. Obviously an expression of youthful exaggeration, it nonetheless testifies to the same stereotype-busting and polarization-rejecting spirit.)
Meanwhile it is also possible that we are witnessing, for the first time in many years, the actual possibility of significant change in Israel/Palestine. Israeli militarists and settlers will not change easily or quickly. Nor will the violent responders in Hamas and Hezbollah. Nor will the self-named defenders of Israel (especially the vaunted Israel lobby) in this country. Yet it must be said that a new moment for peace in Israel/Palestine is possible – though few would have thought it as the bombs fell on Gaza only a few months ago. I believe this too is clear to anyone following the news. Again, Obama and the US could play a significant role in that possibility.
So I urge you to get involved or increase your involvement in pushing this country to deepen the kinds of initiatives which Obama seems to be making.
No, I am not “Obama nuts” like my former student. I wish he were far more radical, far more willing to take risks. Yet I have to admit that his cautious style, his wariness of extremes may be just what is needed at this time. It certainly seems the best policy for the moment vis-à-vis Iran. And it probably is the best way to deal with the tinderbox of Israel/Palestine.
Yet there are powerful forces in this country pushing for blood – calling Obama a coward, or no friend of Israel, or foolish to think that diplomacy can yield any good in these regions. And not just Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. The foreign policy elites in Washington and New York – in the Pentagon, the CIA, the NSA, at State, in the very real “military-industrial complex,” in AIPAC, in the universities and think tanks – didn’t just go away because Obama got himself elected. They are the ones who, long before George Bush, shaped a deeply militarized vision of America’s role in the world. A vision they will continue to push as if their jobs depended on it, since they in fact do.
What can you do if you oppose that vision? Same old, same old: write letters, make phone calls, get your friends to write and phone. Maybe (?) if it comes to that, join the protests (as very few Christians did when Israel was bombing Gaza).
My best sources for information, other than major news sources, are groups like Jewish Voice for Peace, Jewish Peace News, Churches for Middle East Peace, Sabeel. Just Google them and follow the links. Information and suggestions for action aplenty.
Again, even if by the time you get this, the situation in Iran or in
Israel/Palestine has taken a major turn for the worse, I believe that
this is a new moment. Yet we have to push Obama, our representatives,
and perhaps our bishops (?) to seize this moment and work seriously and
doggedly for peace. Amen.