More Than Anecdotal Knowledge: An Interview with Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East
By Susan Fawcett

As a follow-up to our interviews of the Rt. Rev. Riah Abu Al-Essal and the Rev. Naim Ateek,, Center Aisle asked the same questions of three members of the ecumenical Christian organization, Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East -- the Rev. Dr. Peter Pettit, an ordained Lutheran minister; Dr. Dennis Hale, an Episcopalian and professor of political science at Boston College; and Sr. Ruth Lautt, a practicing lawyer and professed member of the Sisters of St. Dominic.

CA: How do we as Christians respond to our fellow Christians in the Holy Land—as well as to our Muslim and Jewish friends?

Pettit: We should support the ministries of Palestinian Christians and provide a critique of their worldview. That's mutual—they critique our worldview as North Americans and we critique theirs. We engage in mutual critique to understand the church better. In response to Jews in the Holy Land, we should acknowledge that Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish people and that, given Christian anti-Jewish heritage, we of all people in this world need to be supportive of Israel's sovereignty as a Jewish state.

CA: What thoughts do you have on Resolutions A011 and A012?

Lautt: They are unbalanced and reflect an unwholesome obsession with the alleged misdeeds of Israel, while they ignore Palestinian terrorism and refusal to accept the existence of the Jewish state. A012 calls for the removal of the security barrier and human rights for Palestinians—without any passing reference to Palestinian terrorism.

Pettit: Biblically, a prophetic voice is addressed to one's own community: As in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, Israelite prophets address Israelite power. From a Palestinian perspective, these resolutions fail to critique the Palestinian use of power. From an American perspective, these resolutions don't address American power but point the finger at somebody else.

CA: Does it seem ironic to you that, amidst the Convention's calls for continued participation in and awareness of our Anglican brothers and sisters, we have trouble identifying our response to Anglicans in Palestine?

Hale: The church needs to think about our Anglican brothers and sisters abroad and how they respond to the things we do. Are we interested in helping the situation, or just issuing resolutions? Our first responsibility to Anglicans in the Middle East is to have more than an anecdotal knowledge of this conflict.

Pettit: In addressing the church, we need to consistently remember our historical denigration of Judaism. The church has renounced that habit in the past 50 years. We now become the voice within society that must call for an end to that habit. And we should ask ourselves, "Is what we're doing keeping the church faithful to God's promises to the Jewish people?"