Citizens of the world take action
It’s not only politicians. More and more ordinary people are beginning to understand what the boycott of Israel is about ,writes Edwin Arrison
IT IS often said that the relationship between Christians and Muslims in South Africa is the best in the world. And in many ways, this is true. But for years, Christians and Muslims have been living side by side, say, on the Cape Flats, with a “Free Palestine” sticker on cars belonging to Muslim people while the Christians were praying for “Israel” believing that the Israel in the Bible is the same as the apartheid state called “Israel” today.
To a large extent, these approaches and attitudes are still true, but are beginning to change.
Fast-forward to December 2009, when a small group of us went to Bethlehem in Occupied Palestine to be part of the launch of a Christian document called Kairos Palestine. Something new was born in the city known to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
This Kairos document did not only condemn the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands; it made a more profound statement: it called the occupation a “sin”.
When Christians use theological words to describe a situation, those who are observing this from the outside can be sure that something serious is happening.
But Kairos is essentially about expressing hope, and this is expressed mainly through action. Even Christians in small towns in the United States are today discussing the Kairos Palestine document, and the pressure for things to change in the Holy Land is beginning to come from below, from the ordinary people of the world, and nothing will be able to stop that.
Because Kairos is a spiritual process, unexpected things begin to happen.
Who could have predicted that Palestine would join the International Criminal Court? The Palestinians are expected to lodge their first complaint against Israel for alleged war crimes on April 1, having moved to formally join the court in the Hague at the beginning of the year.
Who could have predicted that Israel’s President Benjamin Netanyahu would be prepared to speak to the US Congress this week without the blessing of President Barack Obama, thereby causing even some who are pro-Israel to choose whether they would attend the speech or not?
Who would have thought that Israel would one day prevent a soft-spoken Afrikaner woman from Stellenbosch, Marthie Momberg, who is also a member of Kairos Southern Africa, from entering Israel because she is seen as a threat?
A Methodist minister recently told me how he showed a slide-show about Palestine to his congregation before they prayed, and how this caused some of his congregants to say: “Previously, we only prayed for Israel, but now we will begin to pray for Palestine.”
Ordinary people are beginning to draw parallels between what happened in South Africa during apartheid and what is hap- pening in Palestine and Israel today. More vigorous action has to be taken against apartheid Israel in order to help it to join the human family.
Even if governments do not take action, ordinary citizens across the world are beginning to do so.
Last week, hundreds of British artists took a stand against the occupation, taking an Artists’ Pledge for Palestine to boycott Israel culturally or professionally until “it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights”. The pledge, organised by Artists for Palestine UK, was announced on the Letters page of The Guardian newspaper in a statement.
We expect more and more ordinary people across the world will begin to do the same thing over the next few years.
Consumer boycotts, such as the one organised by Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) South Africa against Woolworths, will soon become more widespread until companies stop trading with Israel, which continues to occupy Palestinian land. For those of us who support Kairos Palestine, therefore, these are times of great hope.
We know that evil and injustice and deception do not have the last word, and for that reason, we know that more and more people will soon make decisions to isolate Israel for the sake of our humanity, the humanity of the Palestinians as well as the humanity of the Israeli people.
Nothing less will do. Reverend Edwin Arrison, an Anglican priest, is chairman of the National Coalition for Palestine and general secretary of Kairos Southern Africa