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STEADFAST HOPE

STEADFAST HOPE: THE PALESTINIAN QUEST FOR JUST PEACE

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Steadfast Hope: The Palestinian Quest for Just Peaceis a 48-page perfect-bound booklet with a free companion DVD. Steadfast Hope challenges common myths and misperceptions about the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, presents a compelling snapshot of the present situation on the ground, and offers a guide to the challenges that lie ahead in the quest for peace.

Steadfast Hope offers an inspiring view of the activities currently being undertaken by Muslim, Jewish, and Christian peacemakers working for justice and reconciliation. It also gives helpful guidance on how your congregation can contribute to the cause of just peace for the people who share the Holy Land.

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Sermons

The 2013 Hosanna Preaching Prize

The Israel Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) [IPMN] is pleased to announce the 2013 Annual Hosanna Prize*. The award recognizes preachers who challenge and inspire believers to heed God’s urgent call to justice and reconciliation in Palestine and Israel. Two $1,000 prizes—one on an Old Testament text and the other on a New Testament text—are awarded annually.

The prize-winning sermons will raise a vision of God’s love that embraces all people, especially those who are oppressed and persecuted, exposing the theological error of using biblical passages to rationalize injustice to or by Jews or Palestinians.1 The sermons will demonstrate a deep understanding of the theological concerns voiced directly by Palestinians and Jews: 

  • Palestinians have called upon the churches of the world to “preserve the word of God as good news for all rather than to turn it into a weapon with which to slay the oppressed,” and to… More

Bible, Land, and our Theological Challenge: A Presbyterian Conversation


Presbyterian Center, Louisville, KY
Sponsored by the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the PC(USA)
Press Coverage: 
The Earth is the Lord's, by Jerry Van Marter, PNS

Background

The 219th (2010) General Assembly voted to “refer the report from the Offices of Interfaith Relations and Theology and Worship entitled: ‘Christians and Jews: People of God’ back to the Office of Interfaith Relations and Theology and Worship to rewrite the report after broader consultation to include the National Middle East Presbyterian Caucus, PC(USA) partner churches and agencies in the Middle East, relevant mission networks of the PC(USA), the Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns, and the Advisory Committee for Social Witness Policy.”

The goal of this symposium is to help Presbyterians formulate our position on the knotty issues of… More

Important - Do Not Miss!

Statements & Press Releases

Wishful Thinking as Propaganda

April 11, 2013

They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.   ~ Jeremiah 6:14

Jeremiah was right.  The greatest lie of all is when the oppressed are told that the matrix of oppression is the path to peace.  

For decades we have been told by Israel and all U.S. Administrations, including the current one, that the “two-state solution” is the way of peace. Many faith-based organizations, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), have adopted statements supporting that path. But Palestine has been chopped up into tiny unsustainable fragments by Israeli occupation, ethnic cleansing and expansionism.  Given this reality, how can the “two-state solution” be considered anything other than a cruel joke? Enter the… More

IPMN, Presbyterian Mission Network, Joins the
Interfaith Coalition Boycott of Sodastream

January 29, 2013

The Israel Palestine Mission Network of PC(USA), as a member of the Interfaith Boycott Coalition, joins the Coalition in announcing its boycott of all Sodastream products.  The Interfaith Coalition is an organization under the umbrella of the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation. Sodastream's main production site is in Mishor Edomim, an Israeli settlement industrial park near the Ma'ale Adummim settlement in the West Bank.  The land was illegally confiscated by Israeli military occupation authorities from Palestinian owners.  

The announcement of the Coalition's boycott campaign comes just a few days before the… More

IPMN supports upgrading Palestine status at United Nations

November 28, 2012 - The Israel/Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) strongly supports the position of the denomination concerning the impending vote at the United Nations to upgrade the status of Palestine to an Observer State. The PC (USA) has encouraged world governments to stand with Palestine and recognize their right to self-determination. The IPMN believes that this recognition of Palestine is a vital step towards peace in the Holy Land.

In the past, both the United States and Israel have strongly opposed the move on recognition of Palestine as a state through the General Assembly of the United Nations.  They have argued that the status of Palestine can only be determined by direct negotiation between Israel and… More

Final GA 220 Report

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Final IPMN Report from the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

July 9, 2012


At the close of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the church’s Israel/Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) wishes to reflect on the results of the GA and to thank all of our friends, supporters, and the hundreds of church commissioners who took a stand for human rights and justice in the Holy Land last week by voting according to their consciences, and not according to their fears.


While the resolution calling for targeted divestment from three companies that profit from Israeli violations of international law and abuses of Palestinian human rights was not adopted by the plenary, it was approved overwhelmingly by the church’s Committee on Middle East Peacemaking Issues (Committee 15), and the minority report that replaced it won by a mere two out of 666 votes, with two commissioners abstaining. In truth, a full plenary discussion on divestment never took place, pre-empted by the minority report’s adoption.


On the other hand, the resolution calling for a boycott of just two products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories was expanded and strengthened by Committee 15 to cover all Israeli products made in the occupied territories, before being approved by an overwhelming majority (457-180, or 71%) of the plenary in what was a very divided Assembly. The boycott vote puts the Presbyterian Church (USA) squarely into the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement launched by Palestinian civil society in 2005 and officially endorsed by the Palestinian Christian community in 2009 with the Kairos Palestine document. "Presbyterians have heard the call for economic solidarity from Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians,” said Rev. Jeff DeYoe, IPMN Advocacy Chair. “The IPMN looks forward to assisting the church in determining which products will be included in the boycott.”


Despite the fact that they failed to pass divestment, afterwards 57% of church commissioners voted in favor of a resolution directing the church’s Board of Pensions "to create a program for relief of conscience for plan members who are troubled by the choice to continue holding Board of Pensions assets in Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and Hewlett-Packard.” Although this motion was later overturned on a procedural technicality by the GA’s Stated Clerk, it clearly reflected a desire on the part of a majority of commissioners to provide an option for individual Presbyterians who have moral qualms about profiting from these three companies, whose products are used to inflict so much hardship and suffering on Palestinians.


“A few short years ago, any one of these things would have been considered a significant victory for divestment and boycott supporters,” said Rev. Katherine Cunningham, IPMN Vice-Moderator. “At every General Assembly since these issues were first introduced in 2004, the church has moved slowly but steadily towards the positions advocated by the IPMN. In 2010, following our official endorsement of a boycott of Ahava Dead Sea beauty products and dates from the Hadiklaim Co-op, we were attacked by critics for being ‘ahead of the church.’ Last week, the rest of the church caught up with the IPMN on boycotting settlement products, and moved much further in the direction of divestment than anybody could have expected just a few years ago. We believe it’s only a matter of time before the church catches up on divestment too, and we look forward to the next GA in Detroit in 2014, and to the day when both Israelis and Palestinians are able to live in peace and freedom.”

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