A great “Other Voices” piece in Sunday’s Ann Arbor News praises ICPJ for it’s work to bring people from different faiths and backgrounds together for peace in Israel/Palestine.

Local groups working for peace between Palestinians, Israelis

Sunday, December 16, 2007 BY ANNE REMLEY

The situation in Palestine-Israel has been a key focus of my life for the last several years. As a retiree, I have time and caring to give to this cause that has deeply touched the very fabric of American foreign policy and society.

l feel a profound concern for the suffering of the Palestinian people, who are virtually imprisoned in their own land behind walls and roadblocks, and I am concerned, as well, for those Israeli citizens who may fear these neighbors, while failing to initiate positive changes that could greatly enhance their own security. The U.S. is a key player in perpetuating this untenable situation that greatly troubles and angers peoples throughout the Middle East, who see on their TV screens far more than we do about the human suffering in Palestine-Israel.

Given these concerns, I found it a relief recently to join with other Ann Arborites who belong to some of the numerous local groups that are addressing the issue. The occasion, dubbed “Annapolis in Ann Arbor,” united members of several local religious congregations, interfaith and peace groups who gathered to share hopes for success in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks launched by the U.S. in Annapolis, Md., in late November.

Participants met in the historic little 2nd Ward building on Ashley Street to exchange messages for Secretary of State Rice and President Bush backing the negotiations, and they announced their groups’ plans on behalf of peace. I found the occasion moving and hopeful. We so often hear angry voices in Ann Arbor criticizing one side or another. The people who met to share Annapolis in Ann Arbor were clearly committed to work cooperatively on behalf of a just and lasting peace.

Tamar Weaver of Beth Israel Synagogue said there is support throughout her congregation for the “two-state solution” and an end to the Israeli occupation, with the synagogue’s social action committee providing informational events. Weaver described, as well, a new working group in Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (ICPJ) called Common Ground: Israel/Palestine that links members of the local religious community in working for a viable peace.

Ron Gregg, a member of First Baptist Church, announced his church’s sponsorship of an upcoming year-long series of educational events linking Christians, Muslims and Jews. The series will be held throughout 2008 in town and at the University of Michigan. Gregg says the events will illustrate how the connection between the three Abrahamic faiths can help transform the troubled Israeli-Palestinian relationship.

Jon Swanson, who chairs the local chapter of Friends of Sabeel (representing Palestinian Christians), announced a southeast Michigan conference, also in 2008, that will spotlight the long-standing support of U.S. foreign policy for Israel’s military occupation of Palestine, a policy that he said has in fact impeded the search for peace.

I spoke, in turn, for Ann Arbor’s Interdenominational Advocates for Peace (IDAP). As a Quaker, I was happy to say that IDAP and some other local Quakers are joining in a campaign to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza via letters to the president and Congress from area religious leaders. Our work dovetails with a Gaza postcard campaign, described by Odile Hugonot-Haber of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Hugonot-Haber announced, too, that another national organization, Brit Tzedek, with an active branch in Ann Arbor, has obtained signatures of over 500 U.S. rabbis urging American Jews to “stand behind the [Annapolis] conference” and to support “the goal of a viable Palestinian state, living side-by-side and in peace with a secure Israel.” Signers on the group’s national Web site – www.btvshalom.org/ – include the rabbis of two of Ann Arbor’s major Jewish congregations.

David Church, a retired Methodist minister, said he is urging the United Methodist national pension board to invest its funds solely with corporations that are not contributing to violence by Israelis or Palestinians. Susan Chandler spoke for First Presbyterian’s Pilgrims of Ibillin, who support the work of Fr. Elias Chacour in northern Israel. Sonja Page represented the Evangelical Lutheran SE Michigan Middle East Taskforce, and Barbara Stahler-Sholk spoke for the newly formed Jewish Voice for Peace chapter that she said represents the views of many Jewish Americans who are working for full Palestinian human rights along with peace for Israel.

Alan Haber of the Megiddo Peace Project concluded the event by reading a detailed statement sent by members of ICPJ’s Common Ground to the principal parties at Annapolis. Haber noted the presence in Ann Arbor of diverse organizations that are addressing the Israel-Palestine issue in varying ways, but that recognize each other’s work with increasing communication and cooperation.

Haber listed these 24 groups:

1. American Friends of Peace Now: www.peacenow.org/

2. Beth Emeth Social Action Committee

3. Beth Israel Social Action Committee

4. Brit T’zedek v Shalom: www.btvshalom.org/

5. Common Ground: Israel/Palestine – Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice

6. Evangelical Lutheran SE Michigan Middle East Taskforce

7. First Baptist Morikawa Conference Committee

8. First United Methodist Global Issues and Methodist Women United

9. Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salaam: www.oasisofpeace.org/

10. Friends of Rabbis for Human Rights: www.rhr-na.org/

11. Friends of Sabeel/Ann Arbor (The Voice of the Palestinian Christians): www.fosna.org

12. Gate to Humanity: adam-insan.org.il/eng_index .htm

13. InterDenominational Advocates for Peace (IDAP)

14. Jewish Voice for Peace Detroit Area Chapter: www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

15. Megiddo Peace Project: www.umich.edu/~megiddo/

16. Michigan Peaceworks: www.justpeaceinfo.org/

17. Middle East Film Society

18. Palestine Aid Society: www.palestineaidsociety.org/

19. Palestine-Israel Action Group: www.piag.quaker.org/

20. Pilgrims of Ibillin (Fr. Elias Chacour), First Presbyterian: www.pilgrimsofibillin.org/

21. Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE): www.umsafe.blogspot.com

22. Unitarian-Universalists for Justice in the Middle East: www.uujme.org

23. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom-Middle East Committee: www.wilpf.org

24. Zeitouna: www.zeitounamovie.org/

For more information about Ann Arbor in Annapolis, contact Alan Haber at megiddo@umich.edu.

About the writer: Anne Remley is a resident of Ann Arbor. To contribute essays to Other Voices, contact Mary Morgan, opinion editor, at 734-994-6605 or mmorgan@annarbornews.com.

©2007 Ann Arbor News

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