One of the most basic beliefs and practices of United Methodists is a commitment to social holiness. This commitment is based on biblical mandate, an enduring Wesleyan tradition and a desire to act as disciples. Recently Bishop Hee-Soo Jung has called on us in the Northern Illinois Conference to recommit to this principle.

A commitment to social holiness means that as faithful followers of Christ, we will develop caring compassion for peoples and situations in our world where there is injustice in the form of racism, political oppression, hunger, poverty, genocide, repressive political and economic practices, and exploitation of any class or group of people.

Caring compassion means not only that we seek a greater understanding of injustices through study and discussion, but that we also seek to right wrongs through our actions. While we have this vision in our minds and our hearts, many of us walk through the demands and responsibilities of our everyday lives without focusing on situations near or far in the world where people are in peril.

At this season when our hearts have turned toward Easter, and we have thought of life-changing events that took place long ago, we cannot help but remember the location and setting for Christ’s death and resurrection. Fast forward 2000 years to the same location and we are called to be witnesses to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where there continues to be widespread bloodshed, violations of basic human rights and deep injustices. This is an invitation to take time to look deeper and study one of the crisis points in our world.

The causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are complex. And as Americans, our understanding of the issues in this conflict have been clouded by the relationship of our national government to the state of Israel and the way American media reports this.

Consider these facts:

The United States, while continuing to mention United Nation’s resolutions, has kept Israel-Palestine diplomacy under its own control for most of the period since 1967. Washington, Israel’s major financial, diplomatic and military backer, claimed the role of the “honest broker.” The actual requirements of international law and existing UN resolutions were sidelined in favor of U.S.-brokered talks between Israel, the strongest military power in the Middle East and the 17th wealthiest country in the world, and the stateless Palestinians living under occupation or in exile. (Source: “Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” Web site: www.is-pal.net)

Peace in the Holy Land was addressed at the United Methodist 2004 General Conference through a resolution on the Middle East that passed by a vote of 877-19. This resolution gives an excellent summary of issues and a call to action regarding conflict. (For a complete copy of this resolution, contact the End the Occupation Task Force, [847] 931-0710, ext. 15.)