MOMENT OF TRUTH

As mentioned in our earlier newsletters, in the middle of June the symposium entitled

“Moment of Truth” took place. On Wednesday, June 12 from 2PM the symposium

was held in the Zoe-Hall of the Christian Building attracting about 70 participants,

from international students to respected elders of the Korean church.

Main speakers at this special event were Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, Palestinian pastor and

president of the Diyar Consortium, Dr. Mark Braverman, Jewish-American theologian

and Founder of Kairos USA, Prof. Bae Hyun-Ju, professor of systematic theology at

the Presbyterian University Busan, and Dr. Kim Yong-Bock, Chancellor of the Asia

Pacific Center for Integral Study of Life.

The reason the symposium was entitled “Moment of Truth” was not only to reveal the

deplorable state in today’s Palestine, but also to direct our gaze toward a statement

that was signed by several Arab Christian churches/organizations located in Palestine

calling for justice and peace: The Kairos Document. It is an ecumenical document, “a

compromise” as Dr. Raheb calls it, “of people from six different Christian

denominations, all the way from Greek Orthodox to Baptists including Roman

Catholics and Lutherans and everything in between.” Being one of the main writers

Dr. Raheb stressed that in the first instance this document wants to trigger a

movement in Palestine. And through creating a movement by and among Palestinian

Christians eventually hopes to reach beyond them. He is not a friend of politics, he

said, because for over six decades politics has led them nowhere; on the contrary

the situation in Palestine today is worse than ever. Still, he emphasizes that it is not

the solution for the Palestinians go on reacting, being sucked into the vicious circle

of violence and retaliation, but to act by first and foremost not seeing themselves as

victims. Having said this, putting the Kairos Document in the international context

revealed what actually has kept this conflict alive for so long, namely the

international aid, the several countries that support Israel military every year

providing the “hardware” worth billions of dollars. It was the opinion of the second

main speaker, Dr. Braverman, what is taking place in Palestine cannot be spoken of

a conflict, since a conflict usually needs two parties that can actually compete with

each other, which is not the case with Palestine. Moreover, according to Braverman,

it is not just “hardware” the Western countries provide for Israel, but theologians and

churches provide the “software” by justifying the Israel foreign policy and therefore

leading to the “most sophisticated apartheid system in modern history”.

So for Raheb, this moment is clearly no time for optimism, since there is no real

visible improvement. However, there is hope, not the hope which waits for the

Messiah to come and turn everything right, but a hope which is grounded in the

belief that the Messiah already came 2000 years ago, who “came to this town, said

what needed to be said and did what needed to be done, and the ball is in our court,

either we pick it up or we leave it! Hope is to pick up that ball and say, yes, we will

do it. In that sense, dear sisters and brothers, it is indeed a moment of truth; it is the

time for action.”

Despite the impressive performance of our two guests from overseas, the symposium

actually marked the conclusion of their sojourn in Korea. Besides getting an

impression earlier that week of Korean efforts towards reconciliation and reunification

with North Korea by visiting the Border Peace School in Cheorwon and meeting its

director Rev. Peter Jeong, they also held lectures about the Palestine/Israel issue at

the Sungkonghoe University addressing the international class of MAINS-students

(Master of Arts in Inter-Asis NGO Studies) and Sungkonghoe University staff.

It has been an exciting week, especially for the Korean Christian Palestine Peace

Network, but also for anybody else who is interested in this issue, which is now

getting more and more attention. Rather than a single event this encounter hopefully

is going to be a kick off for a continuous cooperation expressing solidarity with the

Palestinian people towards peace in the Middle East.