Robert Leikind’s op-ed “Kairos Palestine and the unholy crusade against Israel” (BostonGlobe.com, Sept. 20) criticized the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for our support of the Kairos Palestine document. We fully agree with his conclusion — that any resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will require a readiness on all sides to listen and understand the views of multiple voices. That’s why the UCC and Disciples have policies that support the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians; seek a just and peaceful resolution to the conflict; affirm Israel’s right to exist within secure and internationally recognized boundaries; assert the right of Palestinians to enjoy sovereignty in an independent, contiguous, and viable state of their own, within secure and recognized boundaries; denounce anti-Semitism (and anti-Islamic rhetoric and actions); and encourage interreligious dialogue on this and other issues.
Because the voices of Palestinian Christians are among the voices that need to be heard, our churches commended Kairos Palestine for study, reflection, and response in April 2010, five months after it was issued. The document is written by Palestinian Christians who have lived under Israeli occupation for half a century — a people whose rights are denied every day. Kairos Palestine is an authentic and legitimate voice of a community with which we have close relations, a document that advocates peace with justice, rejects and condemns violence and extremism, and seeks better relationships among all the people of Israel and Palestine. It offers a word of hope and of love, while naming the injustice of the occupation.
We are eager to engage with the multiple perspectives of our sisters and brothers in the Jewish community on Israel and Palestine, and hope that Leikind and the American Jewish Committee would be willing to speak more publicly and critically of the settlements and of occupation, which cannot go on indefinitely, but which must be addressed more urgently.