Hello Rev. Bergquist,
Yesterday as I often do I enjoyed a wonderful mountain bike ride at Annadel State Park. As I was riding home toward my new residence not far from your church I decided to stop in. A kind man was doing some maintenance work there but happily took a minute to chat. He informed me that you were attending the UMC conference in Tampa where a vote will be cast by church delegates to divest from companies profiting from the military occupation of Palestine by Israel.
Of course there are many Palestinians in the Bay Area, and they all have stories of how they and their families have been and continue to be effected by the occupation of their native lands. As I write you I think of my good friend Therese, now a Sonoma County resident. Born a Christian in Jerusalem 1948, her family was driven to Jordan by force – their only crime was not being Jewish. Therese now owns a printing business with her husband in Sebastopol and has a beautiful family.
We cannot change what happened in 1948 to non-Jews in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine. But we can work to change the ethnic cleansing and military occupation. When I talk about the ongoing abuses by Israel I often tell the story of the al-Kurd family in Jerusalem who was evicted from half of their home by settlers and now are left to live beside the very men who stole their home.
You can see one of many videos documenting this horrific crime above.
Just five days ago members of the Israeli Knesset were photographed sitting on a couch that had just been removed from a Palestinian home.
Stories like these happen every day in the small land of Palestine. Here you can see a video and report of house demolitions late last year. I took this video myself and I can assure you that there are few sadder moments known to man then to stand with a family while they watch military vehicles and soldiers tear down their home.
But what can we do to help?
The governments of the world have done little to take any steps toward real change. Meanwhile the suffering continues. One way to create change is to join the call from Palestinian civil society to divest from companies that profit from the occupation.
The United Methodist Church certainly has many options where to invest its resources. The occupation of Palestine should not be one of them.
Please help to support this call for justice. There is no better choice.
Thank you for listening,
Deppen Webber
Such positivity. Such hope. I long for the day Palestinians can return home.
Article at VT on the Methodist Church BDS:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/
The reason why the “occupation” is not appauling to everyperson is the FACT, that it is called an occupation when it is an “aparthied concentration camp” . call it what it is and stop making excuses for the imoral whom support it simply by not saying the truth about what it is.