PIN’s Mission and Guiding Principles
Our mission is dedicated to a more robust Episcopal Church witness for justice and peace in Palestine and Israel and is a response to:
the promise made in our baptismal covenant to “ … strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being”; the call in 2005 by Palestinian Civil Society for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions until Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights, a call supported by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship; and the prayerful call of Palestinian Christians expressed in the 2020 Kairos Palestine Cry for Hope.
These truths inform our work:
- Political solutions, such as one-state or two-state, are the sole prerogative of Israelis and Palestinians and the leadership structures or individuals whom they choose.
- At the same time, the role of the United States government in the histories of Palestine and Israel, its financial and arms support and diplomatic protection, confers a right and responsibility on American citizens to respond to events taking place there.
- We reject the assertion that responsibility for violence and injustice is shared equally by the government of Israel and the Palestinian people. The gross power differential, the unequal international standing and support including the international bias in favor of Israel, and the histories of colonization and occupation place both the blame and primary responsibility for resolution on the government of Israel.
- We further reject the premise that making peace with justice in Palestine and Israel requires no more than bridge-building and interfaith dialogue. The mounting violence and inequities demand bolder action including those laid out by the global BDS movement.
- In its laws, policies, and daily practices to date, the government of Israel has imposed a system of oppression and domination intended to prevent Palestinians from claiming and enjoying equal rights to Jewish Israelis, and in doing so is committing the international wrong of apartheid. Though different in manifestation from apartheid imposed in South Africa, Israeli apartheid nevertheless meets international legal criteria.
- Apartheid is but one manifestation of a broader program of ethnic cleansing carried out against Palestinian people in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
News from General Convention 2022 may be found here.