Episcopal Peace Fellowship Sayre Award
to Naim Ateek
Trinity Episcopal Church, Columbus, Ohio
June 17, 2006
I greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace.
I also greet you in the name of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, and in the name of your sisters and brothers who live in Jerusalem and throughout Israel and Palestine.
I would like to thank you all for being here. I would like to thank you for your commitment to justice and peace in Palestine and Israel. I would like to thank you for your courage to take a stand – a stand for what is right and the courage to speak the truth.
I would especially like to express my gratitude to the Episcopal Peace Fellowship for conferring on me this great honor. When I reflected on the meaning of this award, several thoughts crossed my mind.
Obviously, first of all, I feel grateful for the honor I am receiving. I appreciate this recognition. I believe that awards are given not for people to enjoy and brag about. An award is a wonderful gift, yet it is a burden which is added on one’s back. It is a great responsibility. It is an encouragement to keep going, to keep marching on. Peace has not arrived to Palestine and Israel. It is important to continue the struggle. We cannot rest. We must multiply our efforts for achieving peace. By receiving this award, I become more accountable not only to God but to all of you as well.
This award renders recognition and credibility. At a time when we are being smeared, when vicious attacks are relentlessly directed against us to discredit our ministry, to stigmatize us as evil doers, when all kinds of slander are aimed at us, the award given by EPF with its long record of working for peace and justice sends a clear message to those who are demonizing us. It calls into question the credibility of their attacks. It is a testimony that affirms our ministry of peace and reconciliation for all the people of Palestine and Israel.
There has been pressure put on some of our bishops in the States by Jewish Zionist Organizations in the States in order for the EPF to retract this award. Thank you for your courage to withstand. Those who demonize us think they are serving the security of Israel when they protect the unjust policies and actions of the government of Israel towards the Palestinians. They cannot serve Israel’s security when they protect lies and hide the truth. In the words of Christ, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account..”(Matt. 5:11). “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of the truth ”(Matt. 5:10). So long as we are blessed by Christ, we fear nothing.
Another thought that crossed my mind has to do with the ministry of justice and peace itself. As Christians, it is an essential part of our faith to champion justice and work for peace. In fact, I often quote our baptismal vows “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” The answer is, “I will with God’s help.” It is therefore mandatory for us to be engaged in this ministry. It is our duty and we can do it only through Christ. With St. Paul we say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
The words of Christ come to mind, “The servant does not deserve thanks for obeying orders, does he? It is the same with you; when you have done all you have been told to do, say, ‘We are ordinary servants; we have only done our duty’”(Luke 17:9-10). In Arabic there is a saying, la shukr ala wajeb – No thanks are necessary for doing one’s duty. When God calls to service we have to serve. This is like the experience of Amos in the Old Testament. He wrote, “The Lord has spoken, who can but prophesy?” (3:8). God has placed us in our own setting and we see the injustice, how can we keep quiet? We must work for the sake of all of our peoples – Israelis and Palestinians.
The receiving of this award is a humbling experience. I would never have arrived to where I am today without the grace of God first and foremost, and the support of many friends. I am not capable at all to mention them all. But I am forever grateful to Bishop Ed and Patti Browning who saw the injustice of the occupation and steered the Episcopal Church towards this ministry. They have been close friends and supporters to me. How can I forget the Friends of Sabeel in this country and other countries of the world. I am thankful for the leadership of the Rev. Dick Toll, the coordinator of Friends of Sabeel North America. I am grateful to the Rev. Brian Grieves and the Anglican Peace and Justice Network, my brother Saleem Ateek, my wife Maha and my children, and the Sabeel Board and staff in Jerusalem and Nazareth. These and many others from various countries have courageously stood and continue to stand for justice and support our ministry.
The struggle for peace must, therefore, continue. But we must be aware of those essential elements that must characterize our manner of struggling. There are four essential commitments we must adhere to:
The commitment to nonviolence: Nonviolence is not one option out of many. It is not one strategy out of many. For us, Palestinian Christians, it is the only option, and the only strategy. We cannot call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ and believe or condone the use of violence and terrorism. This is our understanding of the Gospel of Christ. Nonviolence is the key to resisting evil without using evil methods. Nonviolence is the means for achieving justice and liberation.
Commitment to truth. Speaking the truth in love is a great gift that many of us lack, but it is important to commit ourselves to the truth as Christ did. Gandhi taught that the greatest power in the world is the power of truth found in every human being no matter how poor or oppressed.
As Christians, we believe that the power of truth, love, justice and mercy are greater than the destructive forces of this world. On one level, the conflict in Palestine and Israel is a struggle between truth and falsehood, between the realities on the ground and the myths of the powers that be who are capable of twisting and manipulating the facts. Anything that is established on lies will crumble by its own inner corruption. Truth has the inner power to ultimately hold and triumph. I hope and pray that we will never resort to lies to strengthen our case. We must always witness to the truth.
Commitment to International Law and UN resolutions: The UN gave Israel its legal birth. Now Israel stands in contempt of International Law and UN resolutions. National states are capable of legislating laws for their own national interest. But they have to comply with international law. For example, Israel created laws to annex East Jerusalem. International law, however, says that such laws are null and void. Israel is building a separation wall through which it is stealing Palestinian land. The International Court of Justice says that that is illegal and the wall must be torn down. Justice can be done through the enforcement of international law. We must distinguish between just and unjust laws. An unjust law is no law said St. Augustine. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking to a group of clergy reminded them that Hitler acted legally in his evil deeds while Hungarian freedom fighters acted illegally in defying their Communist tyrants. We need to uphold International Law because it is for the good of all. We must not allow states to violate them. At the same time, we believe in justice that is tempered with mercy. We want Israel to live and be secure but it must do justice to the Palestinians.
Commitment to an inclusive theology of peace and reconciliation: I believe that Jewish and Christian Zionists have desecrated the Bible by using it to support injustice. We need to lift up an inclusive theology that embraces all, including our enemies. We want our enemies to become our neighbors and to learn to love them as we love ourselves.
These four commitments are essential to peacemaking in our struggle in Israel and Palestine. Finally, please remember that even peace is not the ultimate goal. We must go beyond the establishment of justice and peace. We must go beyond the establishment of the two states of Israel and Palestine that live side by side. We must go on to work for healing and for reconciliation between our two peoples.
I believe that many Palestinians, though experiencing the oppressive measures of Israeli occupation, want to live in peace and to be reconciled and even offer forgiveness. Obviously, so long as the injustice persists the door to reconciliation and forgiveness is slammed shut Justice is the key that opens the door.
When the door is opened, we might be surprised to find that people who have suffered torture, humiliation, oppression, and the loss of loved ones on both sides are open to reconciliation. Indeed, many times it is those who have suffered the most who are the first to forgive. They are willing to give and receive forgiveness. It is wonderful when the process begins with justice and ends in forgiveness. Forgiveness is a grace. Those who achieve forgiveness live in a state of grace.
I would like to end by reading you a short poem written by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Darwish is widely considered the Palestinian national poet. Darwish is a Muslim Palestinian. This poem is entitled, “He embraces his murderer”
“He embraces his murderer. May he win his heart: Do you feel angrier if I survive?
Brother, my brother! What did I do to make you destroy me?
Two birds fly overhead. Why don’t you shoot upward? What do you say?
You grew tired of my embrace and my smell. Aren’t you just as tired of the fear within me?
Then throw your gun in the river! What do you say?
What did you do with my mother’s coffee, with your mother’s coffee? What crime did I commit to make you destroy me? I will never cease embracing you.
And I will never release you.
(Unfortunately, It Was Paradise, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2003)
Friends, please continue to pray for us as we continue to be faithful to God through the work of justice, peace, and reconciliation.
Naim Ateek
www.sabeel.org
