Friday, February 17, 2006

Here's a refreshingly clear-eyed review of a presentation by Palestinian Reverend Naim Ateek of the Sabeel Center at a World Council Churches event in Brazil. Actually rather cleverly done as a way to expose Ateek's...many failings.

The Institute on Religion and Democracy: Palestinian Anglican Calls for Divestment from Israel

...Ateek mentioned only one corporation: the U.S.-based Caterpillar, which sells construction equipment to Israel (as it does to almost every other nation on earth). Israel uses some of that equipment to demolish Palestinian homes in building its separation barrier between Jewish and Arab populations - and in other actions that Israel believes are necessary to prevent terrorist attacks...

...Ateek also indicated that he was not disagreeing with others who advocated sterner economic measures against Israel. "I think we need to encourage everything that is non-violent," he said, including "a boycott [of Israeli goods], which would be wonderful."...

..."I believe Jewish-Christian dialogue groups have been a problem," Ateek commented. In many cases, he said, Christians have been persuaded to oppose divestment "because they're so close to their [Jewish] friends." He did not acknowledge that Christians might have good reasons of their own to disagree with divestment - apart from any supposed deference to their Jewish friends...

...Ateek expressed his hope that "Hamas, which has been extremist in opposition, will have to be responsible in the government." He predicted that the group would be under domestic and international pressure to moderate its stands. "Hopefully, the pressure will change Hamas," Ateek said.

Then Ateek assumed the fulfillment of his wish: "Once Hamas changes, we will have a stronger non-violent movement." He remarked, "We're hoping that we can move Hamas and the Palestinian people" toward non-violence. The Palestinian Anglican did not address the possibility that Hamas might not be willing to change its longstanding and deeply held convictions, enshrined in its charter...

...The Anglican canon did not suggest any other means of exerting pressure on Hamas. Indeed, it appeared that Israel was the only actor that he wished to target for economic pressure. Ateek did not discuss human rights abuses committed by other governments in the region: the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, among others. Christians are suffering under those regimes, too. But Ateek did not call for any actions in solidarity with all those other oppressed Christians in the Middle East.

In his workshop presentation, Ateek did not attempt to rebut the main arguments that have been made against his divestment movement. In fact, he did not even mention those arguments: that there is no legitimate reason to single out Israel as a pariah state, that Israel has a right to defend its people from terrorism, that Israel has made and offered more substantive concessions for peace than any of its Arab neighbors, that corporations selling non-military goods (such as bulldozers) to Israel (among many other nations) are not responsible for how the Israeli government chooses to use those multi-purpose items, that divesting from such corporations would have little or no effect or their behavior or Israel's, and that isolating Israel economically would not advance the prospects for a Middle East peace agreement.

There was no demand from Ateek's audience for him to answer these arguments. That audience of 30 to 40 - mostly North American and Western European activists - already seemed persuaded of the case for divestment...


Posted by Solomon at | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Click to share this post

Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Exposing Ateek.

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/5707



Leave a comment to: Exposing Ateek





(Requires you leave a comment.)


Subscribe to This Thread Without Leaving a Comment


Comment Info and Policy:

1) You must have Javascript enabled in your browser in order to comment (blame the spammers). If you don't know what that is, you're probably fine.

2) HTML is on, so basic html should work. Raw links will be made auto-clickable, too, so even if you don't know html you can just paste in the link and it should work fine. Keep the "http://" in it.

3) Comments are generally unmoderated, which means I don't necessarily agree with the tone and tenor of everything posted. In fact, sometimes people post things they don't really mean just to make other people look bad. The internet is an anonymous place for the most part. That said...

4) I welcome you to post here. I'd love to have your input, agree, disagree or just offer a different data point, really. If I didn't want any participation, I'd turn off comments. Be aware, however, that this blog and the comments section exist for my entertainment. Therefore, I reserve ALL RIGHTS here, including the right to remove any or all comments on nothing more than a whim. Please don't even bother complaining. I'm the one providing the space and the free news and thought buffet. I don't owe anyone anything.

Anyone who posts here will be treated as my guest. That means I'm happy to be polite as a default, but if anyone is rude to the host they'll be unceremoniously shown the door.

It may pay to recall a famous line from the Tom Selleck magnum opus, Mr. Baseball: "Jack-san, you want Yoji's advice about the babes, you come to Yoji with respect."

5) Enjoy your stay!

"Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now."

-Thomas Jefferson


Links



Blogroll Me!

:Blogs:
Adam Holland
Adloyada
Agam's Gecko
Amy Ridenour
Armies of Liberation
Astute Blogger
Atlas Shrugs
Asymmetric
Backseat Blogger
Backspin
Bagel Blogger
Bald-Headed Geek
Banagor
Blazing Cat Fur
BlueTruth
Boker tov, Boulder
Bosch Fawstin
Breath of the Beast
Celestial Blue
Classical Values
Combs Spouts Off
Coming Anarchy
Common Sense & Wonder
Conservative Grapevine
Conservative Oasis Contentions
Contentious Centrist
Cox & Forkum
DANEgerus
Dave Bender
Davids Medienkritik
Dean Esmay
Defending Crusader
Democracy Project
Dodgeblogium
Done With Mirrors
Dreams Into Lightning
Dutchblog Israel
Exit Zero
Fightin' w/Grabes
Free Thoughts
FresnoZionism
The Ghost of a Flea
GM's Corner
The God Blog
Hog On Ice
Hyscience
In Context
Iraq the Model
Israpundit
Israellycool
Israel Matzav
Jerusalem Diaries
Jerusalem Posts
Jihad/Dhimmi Watch
JPundit
Kesher Talk
Little Green Footballs
Marathon Pundit
The Marmot's Hole
Martin Kramer
Matthew K. Tabor
Mere Rhetoric
Michelle Malkin
Mick Hartley
My Wide Blue Seas
Mythusmage Opines
Normblog
One Jerusalem
Paula Says
Philosemitism
Pillage Idiot
Point of no Return
PoliGazette
Political inSecurity
Random Thoughts
Ranting Sandmonkey
Recovering Presbyterian
Red Planet Cartoons
Right Wing News
Rishon Rishon
Roger L. Simon
Sense of Events
Seraphic Secret
Shekel
Shining City
Shira bat Sarah
ShrinkWrapped
Simply Jews
Smooth Stone
Snapshots
Soccer Dad
A Soldier's Mother
Solomon's House
Something Something
Somewhere on A1A
Stand for Israel
Tel Chai Nation
Texican Tattler
This Ain't Hell
TigerHawk
Tom Glennon
Tundra Tabloids
UCC Truths
The View From Here
View From Iran
The Wandering Jew
White Pebble
The World
Yid With Lid
Yourish
Z-Word

:New England Blogs:
Alphecca
And Rightly So
Augean Stables
Bloodthirsty Liberal
Boston Maggie
Boston's Patriots
Business of Life
Cambridge Patriots
Daniel in Brookline
Hub Blog
Hub Politics
Internet128
JRTelegraph
Jules Crittenden
Kavanna
Libertarian Leanings
Lords of Kobol
Maggie's Farm
Miss Kelly
N.E. Conservative
N.E. Republican
Neo-Neocon
New Wineskins
Petitedov
Pundit Review
Red Mass Group
sisu
Squaring the Globe
Technicalities
Universal Hub
Weekend Pundit
Who Knew?




Blogroll Policy



If You Enjoy This Site


Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More
Paypal Donate
Amazon Donate
Amazon Purchase
(Buy yourself something with this link and I will get a percentage.)

My Amazon Wish List

Worth a Click

CJUI

Graphics

Remember

Solomonia Button

Smaller Button

Smallest Button

Note on Permissions:
You may feel free to use anything you find on this site as long as you're not selling it. Just give credit where credit is due is all. Thanks for stopping by!

Site (C)2003-2008 Solomonia.com

Syndication




Search

Banner

Banner

Banner

Authors

Solomon
Martin Solomon

MaryM
Mary Madigan

HillelS
Hillel Stavis

Binah
Binah

Archives
1/28/03-2/4/03
Subscribe
Enter your Email for a Daily Digest of New Posts


Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz
(Be sure to whitelist feedblitz@mail.feedblitz.com if you aren't receiving updates.)
Now Reading

Library Thing

Random Books from My Library

Banner
News