September 23, 2011
(link to text of the speech)
SABEEL Statement: Dilemmas and Opportunities Facing the Palestinian People
- Issued on September 5, 2011, this statement elaborates on some details and background information on the possible implications of a UN passed resolution of the Palestinian bid for statehood.
SABEEL Statement: The UN: Problem or Solution
- Issued on August 24, 2011, this Sabeel statement outlined the pros and cons of going to the UN in September.
Canon Naim Ateek: On the UN Recognition for Palestine (video)
- A personal reflection from the director of Sabeel Jerusalem.
Jerusalem Christian Churches Issue Communiqué
- "The Heads of Christian Churches in Jerusalem feel the need to intensify our prayers and diplomatic efforts for peace between Palestinians and Israelis, to consider this as the most appropriate time for such an opportunity."
WCC Sees Opportunity for Peace in Palestine's UN Application
- "In the people’s movements across the Arab world peoples are standing up for their freedom and dignity in order to establish democratic states with the rule of law. Now it is appropriate that the United Nations actively supports the establishment of a democratic Palestinian State."
Christian Leaders Say Yes to Palestine UN Membership
- Leaders of four denominations, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, have issued a statement backing the Palestinian Authority’s bid for membership in the United Nations. U.N. membership for the Palestinians is deserved, the four leaders say, “not only on the basis of international law and basic fairness … but to preserve a multi-religious holy land that includes Christian Palestinians.
Independent Jewish Voices: Statement on the Palestinian Initiative at the United Nations
- "In keeping with our support for a fair and just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Independent Jewish Voices welcomes the Palestinian initiative at the United Nations. We see it as a legitimate demand for fuller recognition on the world stage and as an affirmation of Palestinian nationhood."
The Elders support Palestinian appeal to the United Nations
- The Elders announce their support for a UN resolution endorsing Palestinian statehood. The group has written to EU Foreign Ministers urging them to support the Palestinian appeal.
Avraham Burg: Palestinians should vote in Jerusalem elections - We are the only democracy in the Middle East, but for Jews alone.
- "If the current Palestinian move in the UN is successful, it will be wonderful. There will be two states between whom negotiations will be conducted - on an equal footing, and not as an occupying force and the vanquished - about their future and the relations between them. But if the move fails, because Obama has become a hostage in the hands of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who himself is a hostage in the hands of the settlers and other Israeli extremists, we will be left merely to wonder what the next step will be."
Ranjan Solomon: Editorial (Palestine-Israel Ecumenical Forum)
- "For ultimately, the core query is how the decision, whichever way it goes, will impact the everyday life of the Palestinians in East Jerusalem, West Bank, the Gaza Strip, within Israel, or, for that matter, in the Diaspora."
Samia Khoury: The UN Bid - To go or not to go that is the question...
- " What is really puzzling and disappointing is the reaction of the USA administration. Should it be genuinely interested in peace and stability in the region as well as in the security of Israel which president Obama, like previous presidents, continues to emphasize as a priority in US policy, it should be the first to approve the principle of a Palestine State."
Zoughbi Zoughbi: Fresh Looks at the Palestinian Statehood Bid
- "It is a symbolic victory on the General Assembly level but it will lead the Palestinians to think of different strategies for continuing their nonviolent struggles on the ground and to continue negotiations on equal footing."
Samah Sabawi: September and beyond: who speaks in my name?
- "We must address the following urgent questions: What legitimacy do the PA and the PLO have? Where did they derive this legitimacy from? How and with whom do we advance our collective political aspirations?"
Sameeha Elwan: The PA doesn’t represent me; why should I trust its statehood bid?
- "If the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of Palestinians both in historic Palestine and in the diaspora, would be replaced with the Palestinian state contained within the borders of 1967, then what is the destiny of millions of Palestinian refugees living outside those borders? Would they be also part of the State of Palestine? Would this declaration affect their inalienable right of return?"
Raji Sourani (Palestinian Human Rights Lawyer): On the U.N. Statehood Bid, Peace Process, Gaza Siege (video)
- Sourani says even if the bid does not pass, it will show the world that the United States and Europe failed to support Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a man dedicated to peace.
Ali Abunimah: A Formal Funeral for the Two-State Solution - How the PA's Statehood Bid Sidelines Palestinians
- "The Palestinian Authority's bid to the United Nations for Palestinian statehood is, at least in theory, supposed to circumvent the failed peace process. But in two crucial respects, the ill-conceived gambit actually makes things worse, amplifying the flaws of the process it seeks to replace."
Larry Derfner: Last Week at the UN, Israel Lost America
- "With Obama’s America now having zero credibility in the Middle East, where does this leave Israel?"
Mazin Qumsiyeh: Kudos Mr. Abbas
- "The Palestinian people are waiting to see clear evidence of change; a new Palestinian Spring as Mr. Abbas called it. This requires seeing visibly what Mr. Abbas talked about: transparency, accountability, democracy, and freedom."
Phyllis Bennis: Analysis of the Palestinian Bid (video)
- A fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Bennis discusses the push by Palestine to reach statehood.
Mouin Rabbani: Abbas’ Next Move
- " The Palestinians have taken the essential first step towards internationalising their struggle and reviving the rights codified in UN resolutions and international law as the framework for resolving the conflict. With Washington so out of step with the rest of the world, it is imperative for the Palestinians to break free of the American orbit."
Omar Barghouti: Virtual statehood or the Right of Return
- "Some Israeli officials support the UN bid because the PA would replace the PLO for negotiations with Israel - the PLO represents all Palestinians regardless of location while the PA represents just the West Bank and Gaza Strip."
Robert Fisk: Why the Middle East Will Never Be the Same Again
- " The US has lost its purchase on the Middle East."
Zbigniew Brzezinski: The Last American Cowboy “Spills the Beans” (video)
- "This is the only statement of its kind that lays out issues of American and EU security, that speaks honestly about Israel and Palestine and addresses the Pakistani situation." - Gordon Duff
Canadian Friends of Sabeel
7565 Newman Blvd.
P.O. Box 3067
Station LaPierre
Lasalle (Montreal), QC H8N 3H2
sabeelcanada@gmail.com
Canadian Friends of Sabeel (CFOS) is a national support network for Sabeel, Ecumenical Center for Liberation Theology in Jerusalem. Sabeel strives to promote a more accurate international awareness regarding the identity, presence, and witness of Palestinian Christians and the wider Palestinian community, as well as their contemporary concerns. It encourages individuals and groups from around the world to work for a just, comprehensive, and enduring peace informed by truth and empowered by prayer and action.