Persevere Proactively for Peace in the Holy Land
by Jim Morley
Friends for Peace:
I traveled to the Holy Land in 2010. What I saw moved me to get on board the peace train through CMEP and its wonderful support from so many Christian denominations. One of the first people I met was then Executive Director and former ambassador, Warren Clark, a very fine man indeed. I was on the volunteer team for a number of years mainly in Florida and Wisconsin with occasional trips to DC extending into Reverend Dr. Mae Elise Cannon’s vital role at the CMEP helm.
In late February I published a book for peace and, in it, shared my experiences in the Holy Land and how I reacted to what I saw firsthand.
The title is: “Neighbor Imperative, essays along a hope-filled journey.”
The following are a few short excerpts from the book:
From 2010: “For me, a lover of peace, a person who wrote President George W. Bush to not hastily invade Iraq particularly without the full agreement of the broad international community, who was a member of the Peace Corps, who is currently involved with Churches for Middle East Peace, who has included a call for peace in each prayer at dinner time since September 11, 2001; I feel that even allowing myself to write these words questioning what our country is doing overseas is almost blasphemous.”
“In the summer of 2010 I was amazed to hear the words of an Israeli member of the Knesset who had served there for twenty-five years. The scene was in Minneapolis where the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church was about to get started. There were two days to talk about the search for peace in Israel and Palestine. He was one of three people from the Middle East invited to talk. Another speaker was a noted Palestinian Christian pastor from Bethlehem. The third speaker, a Palestinian Muslim doctor, was denied to attend by Israeli authorities.
The Israeli politician, Avraham Burg, made a shocking pronouncement: “Some people say that George W. Bush was the best friend Israel ever had. I say that he was the worst.” Mr. Burg, a passionate Israeli who loves his homeland, went on to compare then President Bush with the parent of a totally spoiled child. He said that is the worst kind of parent, one who lets the child do anything. The child doesn’t learn anything about responsibility; it just does as it pleases with no fear for whatever actions it takes.
Israel has had carte blanche for way too long. The kind of relationship that Mr. Burg describes is not good for Israel and it is not good for the United States and it is not good for tensions in our world.
We believe in religious freedom; yet the only ones truly free in Israel are Jewish people. Actually if you are Palestinian, Muslim or Christian, it doesn’t matter, you are the oppressed.”
From 2024: “International calls for a two-state solution continue. Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank live under the military control of Israel. This occupation in various forms has continued for 75 years since the founding of the Jewish state. For the sake of both peoples, this must end. Otherwise, situations like October 7 will invariably resurface. The quest for freedom never dies.
Atrocities have been perpetrated by both sides. It is clear that an iron fist occupation is not the answer. Hope for creating a two-state solution with security measures benefitting both peoples continues. Achieving real peace here would mark one crucial step forward globally.”
For more information, please visit:
https://neighborimperative.com
Dear Lord of us all:
May peace some day reign supreme on our common earthly home. May we as members of our one human family come to learn that peace and love are the answer. We’ll know we are advancing forward when Israelis and Palestinians find a way to live in peace as neighbors. In this quest, may Churches for Middle East Peace never falter, in spite of relentless adversity, to play a helpful, compassionate and unifying role for peace.
In Your name we pray,
Amen
Jim Morley
Former: Peace Corps volunteer, official of the Organization of American States (OAS), Board Chair of World Neighbors, president of an employee benefits firm in Chicago and currently, Coordinator of the Chapel in the Pines, Three Lakes, WI and author!