Alan K. Henderson's Weblog

Emperor Misha fisks a resolution issued by the United Methodist Church issued in May 2004 at the General Conference meeting in Pittsburgh. In short, it calls for the typical leftist-inspired Middle East "peace plan" that has as among its provisions a) Israel's withdrawal to 1948 borders and b) the creation of a Palestinian state.

The resolution is consistent with the goals of the World Council of Church's Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. The overview states:

The EAPPI is an initiative of the World Council of Churches under the Ecumenical Campaign to End the Illegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East. Its mission is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their non-violent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the occupation. Participants of the programme are monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, supporting acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offering protection through non-violent presence, engaging in public policy advocacy and, in general, standing in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the [Israeli] occupation [of Gaza and the West Bank].

Time for a history lesson. The "occupation" is the legacy of the 1967 Six-Day War. The immediate casus belli was the massing of Egyptian troops on Israel's border in the Sinai. Some consider Israel's preemptive strike against Egypt unwarranted. But was it?

In addition to sponsoring attacks against Israel (often through Jordanian territory, much to King Hussein's chagrin), Syria also began shelling Israeli civilian communities in north-eastern Galilee, from positions on the Golan Heights, as part of the dispute over control of the Demilitarized Zones (DZs), small parcels of land claimed by both Israel and Syria.

In 1966, Egypt and Syria signed a military alliance, initiated for both sides if either were to go to war. According to Egyptian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Riad, Egypt had been persuaded to enter into the mutual defence pact by the Soviet Union. From the Soviet perspective the pact had two objectives: (1) to reduce the chances of a punitive attack on Syria by Israel and (2) to bring the Syrians under what they considered to be Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s moderate influence.

Syria was already at war with Israel prior to the Six-Day War - it just wasn't officially declaring so. Egypt committed an act of war by maintaining that mutual aggression pact while Syria was warring against Israel - Israel could have legitimately attacked Egypt prior to its Sinai troop deployments. Jordan has no excuse whatsoever; the first Israeli/Jordanian battles were started by the latter.

The solution is not warm and fuzzy. Israel is at war with several terrorist organizations and whatever nations supply them. The first ingredient to peace is Israel's victory over these aggressors. The Palestinians would demonstrate their ability to coexist with civilization by joining Israel's side against Hamas, Hezbollah, et. al. I'm sure there are some legitimate civil liberties concerning Israel. (I've got a few.) But the terror war against Israel is unjust, in the same way that lynching IRS agents as a means for tax protest is unjust; in both cases the attacker places himself/herself above the law, and targets those uninvolved in setting the disputed policy in question.

I have two questions for the WCC: why didn't Israel have peace when it did stay within the 1948 borders? And why did the violence escalate when it started giving away land?

This page lists all worldwide member churches of the WCC. If you object to your denomination's support for appeasement of terror, do something. Speak up. Hold a protest. Join a new denomination (as Misha intends). Secede. Just keep it peaceful.