Palestinian Christians want BDS

An important statement on behalf of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel:

Senior Palestinian Christians from all the denominations in the Holy Land will call this week for economic sanctions and boycott of Israel to end its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, echoing a call by black South African theologians at a crucial stage in the campaign against Apartheid.

In a historic moment of unity among Palestinian Christians, signatories to a document by the Palestine Kairos Initiative will call for “a response to what the civil and religious institutions have proposed”¦ the beginning of a system of economic sanctions and boycott” on Israel. “This is not revenge but rather a serious action in order to reach a just and definitive peace,” they will say.

In a document entitled “A moment of truth: A word of faith and hope from the heart of Palestinian suffering,” senior theologians and church leaders will emphasize co-existence among Christians, Muslims and Jews and urges Christians worldwide to revisit interpretations of the bible that attach “a biblical and theological legitimacy to the infringement of our rights.”

The document’s authors call on individuals, churches, governments and the international community to implement a system of economic sanctions and boycott of Israel, adding that these are not acts of revenge but are intended “to reach a just and definitive peace that will put an end to Israeli occupation”¦ and guarantee security and peace for us and for Israel itself.”

The document resembles the Kairos Document of 1985, in which a group of black South African liberation theologians called for reconciliation, justice and an end to the atrocities of the Apartheid regime.

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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