Bill Moyers on Mideast Violence

Bill Moyers reflects on the recent violence in the Middle East. PLEASE NOTE: This essay containins video and images of the Israeli and Palestinian casualties including children - in Gaza as well as the Pulitzer prize-winning photo of the nude Vietnamese girl running from napalm bombing. Some viewers may find the images disturbing, but they are in context and germane to the subject matter. Bill Moyers Journal airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). For more: http://www.pbs.org/billmoyers

On War

Former marine Josh Rushing travels the globe to explore the causes and consequences of the cycle of war in these videos.

[Saint-george-taybeh] Ecumenical Letter

Dear Friends of Saint George Taybeh,

I pray and I hope all of you will have a most blessed, healthy and happy New Year.  Yesterday was Orthodox Christmas in the Holy Land and I am very sad to say that the Holy Land did bury another child named Christina who never made it for this holy Christmas celebration reaching the death toll of 710 killed and over 3000 injured. (Those who follow Holy Land news might remember the ten-year-old Christina that was also killed on March 28, 2003 as a victim to Israel’s cruel and unlawful assassination policies. I have a special connection to the name “Christina” because she is my ideal Orthodox character)

This is one child. One story.  There are hundreds more and yet hundreds more about to happen tonight, and tomorrow ... until this madness ends.  Please help by contacting your local senators and representative.

The US Senate is preparing to vote on a extremely unbalanced resolution on the War in Gaza. The resolution can be seen here:http://aipac.org/Publications/SourceMaterialsCongressionalAction/SenateRes.pdf <http://aipac.org/Publications/SourceMaterialsCongressionalAction/SenateRes.pdf>

CALL YOUR SENATORS NOW and let them know you oppose any legislation which places blame on only one side, fails to recognize the plight of the Palestinian civilians suffering under Israel siege for years before the war, and does not hold Israel accountable for any violations of International and American Law and the Laws of War.

With sincere appreciation for your support and solidarity, maria

I have also just added my name to the ecumenical Christian letter to President-elect Obama and I thank you if you have done the same but I am writing to encourage others to do so.  American Christian leaders and congregants of the Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Protestant traditions have joined together to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and urge President-elect Obama to make Israeli-Palestinian peace an immediate priority of his Administration.

You can support this Christian Call for Holy Land Peace by adding your name to the ecumenical letter that has been signed by Christian leaders and congregants from across the nation.  Visit http://www.cmep.org/letter <http://www.cmep.org/letter> to sign the letter and join your fellow American Christians in supporting vigorous U.S. diplomatic efforts to secure a just and lasting two-state solution.

To view the letter and a list of the national Christian leaders signatories, and to add you name, go to http://www.cmep.org/letter <http://www.cmep.org/letter> .  

The last day to add your name is January 16, 2009.  The letter signed by national Christian leaders was sent to the Obama transition team on December 1, 2008.  The final letter signed by leaders and congregants will be delivered to President Obama during the time of inauguration.  Please stand with those calling for peace in Holy Land by adding your name today at http://www.cmep.org/letter.

Contact the White House

Dear Friends of Saint George Taybeh,

Many of you know that I am still in Boston but as you have heard the news from Palestine is tragically bad.  As of this writing, Israeli Air Force attacks on the occupied Gaza Strip have killed an estimated 640 Palestinians and injured 2850. These Israeli attacks come on top of a brutal siege of the Gaza Strip, which has created a humanitarian catastrophe of dire proportions for Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinian residents by restricting the provision of food, fuel, medicine, electricity, and other necessities of life.  Although all of the Israeli leaders falsely claim on international media that they have left Gaza since 2005, you must understand that Gaza has been a complete prison and under the total control of Israel since 1967.

I am sure you know that Israel carried out these attacks with F16 fighter jets and missiles provided by the United States taxpayers. From 2001-2006, the United States transferred to Israel more than $200 million worth of spare parts to fly its fleet of F16's. In July 2008, the United States gave Israel 186 million gallons of JP-8 aviation jet fuel. Last year, the United States signed a $1.3 billion contract with Raytheon to transfer to Israel thousands of TOW, Hellfire, and "bunker buster" missiles. (source:  AAI)

Israel’s lethal attack on Gaza could not have happened without the active military and political support of the United States. Therefore, I urge you to take action to protest this brutal attack and demand an immediate cease-fire to help save innocent lives.  I am not a Hamas supporter and I do not condone the rockets that fall upon Israel but in 1987 when my son Canaan was born, Israel was supporting Hamas to organize so they could break the unity of Palestinians supporting the late Yasser Arafat.  

While firing rockets at civilians is a crime so, too, is the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which is a grave violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions. Israel is trying to have a military solution to a problem that needs negotiation and a political solution.

Contact the White House to protest the attack and demand an immediate cease-fire. Call 202-456-1111 or send an email to comments@whitehouse.gov <mailto:comments@whitehouse.gov>

Please contact your Representative and Senators in Congress at 202-224-3121.

On this holy day of Epiphany and the holy Christmas Eve on Julian calendar, I ask you to please pray for peace in the Holy Land and thank you for your personal prayers to keep our undying hope for a better future,

In helping keep our Christian presence in the sacred Holy Land we try to reinforce that God is Light and has appeared to illumine "those who sat in darkness," and "in the region of the shadow of death" (Mt 4:16), and to save the fallen race of mankind by grace.


More than ever, may the Light of Christ shine within our soul since we appear, year after year, to becoming more and more barbaric as Floyd Frantz wrote me from Romania.

in Christ, maria

Gaza: Just Such A Time As This

Today I am in sorrow over what is happening in the region of Gaza. Is there anything I can do? Am I limited to government statements, last minute diplomacy, or immobilizing personal outrage? How do I respond from this place of despair? What do I tell the children? Is this the time when the posture of prayer may provide the spirit of openness for a solution waiting to be recognized from the treasures of mystery?

What is at issue in this crisis? Israel is outraged due to persistent rocket attacks from Gaza. Hamas is outraged by the Israeli authorities’ ongoing harassment at border checkpoints where supplies and people must travel from Gaza’s confined space to the rest of the world.

There is also an elephant in the room that most governments across the world are ignoring; the attack and destabilisation of a duly elected government. In the most recent elections in the Palestinian territories including Gaza, Hamas won with wide popular support. There were good reasons for this, relating to governance by the Palestinian Authority over the past decade. But when democracy is promoted across the world and the people elect a government that other nations do not like, by what guide of democracy can the outside world unilaterally decide that this is not acceptable and deliberately undermine that election? Grumbling about an elected government is part of democracy everywhere, but destabilizing an elected government is not a part of the democratic way of life.

There is also a stark military economic inequality between the two sides in this violent conflict. Isn’t it suicidal for Gaza residents through their defence institutions, to attack Israel? Why would anyone make a fight that will surely bring harm to one’s family and neighbors? One answer may be that when people are pressed to the limit of their flesh, they find a way to struggle. The people of Gaza are not the first peoples to do so. Suicidal mission is inherent in any war. Soldiers in service of a cause - freedom, empire, democracy or religion - know that they may die for that cause . They believe, sometimes with positive outcomes, that their sacrifice might reach beyond the limits of today’s reason into tomorrow’s solutions. In this case self sacrifice in their mind is honourable.

Where do we turn for a resolution? Thousands of board rooms, staff meetings, and grand peace councils set up to deal with crises like this have not produced solutions. When diplomats desperately grope for chimerical cease fires, the time is ripe to feel and acknowledge despair and guilt over lost opportunities. Will solutions ever come from diplomacy or councils of peacemaking? Will the 60 year stalemate continue for another 40 years, a full century to explain to the children of Christians, Jews and Muslims?

Alternatively, can the fruits of our imaginations be ignited through the Gaza crisis of 2008? Can we believe that our collective imaginations of this day might help? Have we been given one more opportunity to sharpen our seeing and listening for what wants to be revealed from divine mystery?

People who are deeply committed to social justice and peacemaking, religious and secular, are suspicious that meditation belongs only to the pious and spiritual ones who hide behind their exercises to avoid engagement. The split between people of action and people of prayer is a false dichotomy that appears in every tradition. If political analysis, dissecting the holy, the manipulation of shame and guilt, or raw activism could have provided the basis for peace in this region of God’s earth, it would have happened long ago. What has been lacking is the acknowledgement of the mystery of unknown forces at work among and through patterns of violent conflict so heavily focussed on Israel and Palestine.

The war in Gaza today invites me to prayer. I don’t promise that prayer will enlighten my imagination in a fresh way. I will try because I know that liberation from false myths of security is born in moments of irrational violence. I share our common desperation for a break through. When a sign or nudge to action comes I hope I have the courage to acknowledge it. And if it comes to me or you, we can share it with the people on the peace councils, in diplomatic corps, or organizations, share it with all the people on this journey with us. We may be here for just such a time as this.

source: http://peaceprobe.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/gaza-just-such-a-time-as-this/

Some think we held a prayer service and no one came. Wrong!

For those  who are not Orthodox, they think we held a prayer service and no one came.  They are wrong!  We know that Jesus Christ and all the saints were there.  It was standing room only. This Saturday (yesterday), we held a prayer service at St. Mary’s for peace and healing in Gaza and all of the Holy Land.  Father Theodosius was there, as were a reporter for the South Bend Tribune and a newspaper photographer.  We guess that Jesus taped the reporter on the shoulder and whispered in his ear because he wrote a great story. It takes up most of the front page of Sunday’s South Bend Tribune.

Thank you to all who while unable to join us, did joined your prayers with ours. There is great power in prayer.  And because of that, there will continue to be prayers for peace and healing every day in our the parish church.  The prayer service for peace and healing will continue this next week, Monday through Friday, at 12 noon.  St. Mary’s is located at 1000 South Michigan Street, Plymouth, Indiana.  If you need directions to the church, please call the church at 574-952-4671.

We also want to thank Tom Moor the South Bend Tribune reporter and his photographer, and Tom’s editor for writing and running the story.  You can read Tom’s story online at:  http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090104/News01/901040301/1129/News  Tom’s email is at the end of the article.  Why don’t you write Tom and telling what you think.

Also here is the story as it appears:


Muslim, Orthodox Jew inspire Plymouth pastor's prayers for peace
By TOM MOOR
Tribune Staff Writer

PLYMOUTH — Father Theodosius Walker was praying at St. Mary's Orthodox Community Church New Year's Eve when two men walked inside, looking for a place to pray.

One was an Orthodox Jew; the other a Muslim.

Walker said the men, whom he had never seen before in his life, came within a couple minutes of each other.

"All three had very different viewpoints on what was going on," Walker said. "But the fact all three could pray and not say it's your fault and point fingers, said something.

"My perception is that it was two older men who knew their faith, whether it was Jewish or Muslim, and knew that God called on us to pray. They stayed awhile and had a coffee without any political discussion. Both made comments about praying for peace and an end to the conflict.

"That was providence."

It was the kind of coming together of three very different viewpoints that led someone like Walker to believe there is still hope in this world, despite a conflict thousands of miles away in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Israel.

The conflict has killed more than 460 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, and four Israelis, the Associated Press reported Saturday.

Walker held a prayer service Saturday morning "for peace and justice in Gaza and rest of the Holy Land," which the pastor said was recently suggested last week by the heads of the Christian churches in Jerusalem.

Nobody showed up at St. Mary's on Saturday, but Walker prayed anyway.

"There has to be another way, another choice," Walker said.

Because the service was advertised in the newspaper, Walker said, he received 15 or 20 e-mails and about seven or eight phone calls from people around the world — all positive toward what he was doing.

"People saying, 'We can't be there but will be praying with you,'" Walker said.

But two people, he said, including a Christian pastor, called him anti-Semitic for holding such a service, and another called him un-patriotic. Walker said he does not believe in war, but supports this country's armed forces, of which his son-in-law and daughter are members.

"It bothered me," Walker said. "This is not a protest. This is not to make a statement, but to do what God has called on us to do. I received a proclamation."

Walker says both sides should take blame for what is going on and called the battle in Gaza "downright wrong."

"They have to find a better way," he said. "There's definitely another choice. We need to spend time to fix both sides of it."

Walker, meanwhile, will continue to pray. And like on New Year's Eve, everyone is welcome.

Staff writer Tom Moor:
tmoor@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6555

The Community

A community is a self-sustaining entity
A community is a collection of different ideals that coalesce into a whole
A community is an “us” that lives together
A community doesn’t always live in harmony, but issues are resolved for the sustaining of the whole
A community is usually recognized by other communities as being a unit—but even if it is not, it does not negate its viability.

The homeless are not a “problem”. The homeless are a community.

I’m not talking about the homeless who are out on the street for a month, desperately seeking a way out and then getting a home to their great relief. I’m talking about the chronic homeless, who seek to sustain in a population that denies their right to survive. They are denied who they are because of the prejudices that are forced on them. The labels “addict”, “lazy”, “violent”, “irrational” that are less likely accurate to an individual person, but is applied to the group as a whole without remorse end up causing the homeless to hate himself for being a part of what he is not.

The chronic homeless are not just outcast, they are an outcast community. The homeless have gate-keepers, who take the newbies under their wing, guiding them to the methods of survival on the street. They have leaders that keep the peace and determine the limits and allowances of their community. They have loves and hates, dramas and conflicts, resolutions and truces, hopes and goals just like all other communities.

Although the homeless are at the center of their community, they are not the only members. At the outskirts of this community, one foot in, one foot out, are the middle class servers of the community. They offer food, clothes, showers, AA meetings, sermons, temporary housing and many other services. These charity givers have different purposes, and have different impacts on the community. Most of them do their service, but don’t really want to connect to the community out of personal preference or even fear. Many of them have relationships with some of the community, but only out of professional goals, due to their job. A very few actually make the full step into the community and have personal relationships with the homeless. These are the bridges, the ones who see the community for what it is and who try to communicate this vibrancy to those who live in fear of the community.

The community also has its enemies. The city leaders who deny the existence of the community, and only see the homeless as non-citizens, roadblocks to the way of life they are trying to achieve. The police who move camps on, telling the homeless to leave their city. The young people who attack the helpless, beating up and even burning the homeless who aren’t on their guard. Those who take it upon themselves to throw away the camps of the homeless, including their tents, sleeping bags and personal items that cannot be replaced. The mutual anger at these enemies can also sustain unity, just as every other community.

I deeply regret what the community is not allowed. They are religious but not allowed a church, for they do not have the land in which to have one. They are hard workers but not allowed to be self-sustaining, because no one sees them as working unless they become a part of the community of employed. They are proud but not allowed to be respected because they are outcast. They are moral but not allowed to be legal because they are by definition criminals.

The worst of all, is that, for the most part, the homeless receive their community definition defined by the stereotypes of the threatened community—the middle class. They see themselves as a community of addicts, of the lazy, of the worthless. Not because the community fits the definition—almost everyone they know are exceptions to the rule of the stereotype. But because everyone believes of themselves what they hear. No matter how untrue it is.

source: http://jointheclasswar.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-is-community.html