R E P O R T

on Michael Shaik’s paper delivered in
Session B - 1 July 2008 at 2.00pm
at the Seventh Annual Conference
Globalisation for the Common Good: An Interfaith Perspective

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On Tuesday 1 July, there was an interesting development of ideas at The University of Melbourne’s Trinity College in just one of the many sessions that comprise the seventh annual conference of Globalisation for the Common Good: an Interfaith Perspective  under the umbrella theme “From the Middle East to Asia Pacific: Arc of Conflict or Dialogue of Cultures and Religions?”

Moderated by La Trobe University’s Dr Luca Anceschi, three scholars from different persuasions presented compelling viewpoints on how the adherents of three Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – could bring changes to the Israel-Palestine divide. 

Dr Dvir Abrahamovich (University of Melbourne) gave a measured account of Israeli efforts to bring the history of Jewish suffering to Palestinians.  The need to understand each other as human beings underpinned his stories of interfaith healing, and were it not for the fact that Israel is intensifying its occupation of Palestinian land and killing the Palestinians in ever greater numbers, his presentation would have really been a message of hope and reconciliation.

No doubt the intention was there, but challenged on the status quo, Dr Abrahamovich was at a loss for words.  Missing from his presentation were accounts of Israeli Jews seeing and hearing of painful Palestinian memories and experiences that would help Israelis better understand the suffering being felt today by Palestinians living the horrors of Israel’s oppression and occupation.  And notably, he made no mention of the reaching out to Palestinians by Jewish groups such as Gush Shalom, Breaking the Silence, Anarchists Against the Wall,  Rabbis for Human Rights and B’Tselem who are genuinely working for peace by dealing with  the source of the conflict – the ongoing colonisation of Palestinian land.  His examples of interfaith cooperation, like climbing mountains together in Antarctica, ignored the real issues and only served to normalise the violence of the Occupation.

In contrast, Australians for Palestine public advocate Michael Shaik’s presentation focused on the day-to-day acts of colonisation that are driving the Israel-Palestine conflict and the role that religion plays within it. By any measure, Michael showed how it is impossible to ignore the extent of Israeli illegal settlement building and its clearly-intended use as a weapon of ethnic cleansing.  And, by exposing the Messianic zeal of Jewish settlers who believe unequivocally that they have divine mandate to kill the Palestinians on what the settlers believe to be their God-given land, Michael Shaik questioned the real benefits of interfaith dialogue in such circumstances, particularly since these settlers are not on the fringes of Israeli politics.  Likewise, the Christian Zionists in the US are aggressively lobbying the American administration to pursue a Jewish state in all of Palestine to fulfil what they believe is necessary for the second coming of Christ and the last Judgement.

While Dr Abrahamovich was at pains to show that intercultural engagement between Israelis and Palestinians is the key to changing the dynamics of their fraught relationship, Michael Shaik explained that there has to be more than understanding and a desire for reconciliation: there first has to be an end to the occupation and a genuine willingness to see justice done to a people who had no hand in the Holocaust. 

As for Dr Abrahamovich’s belief that two separate states was the only solution for peace, Michael Shaik showed clearly that this model no longer has validity unless Israel is prepared to remove 450,000 Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank.  More than that, it needs to dismantle its matrix of control – some 500 checkpoints impeding movement, do something about the Israeli-only roads that criss-cross Palestinian land and stop its push to extend its borders into the Occupied Palestinian Territories which comprise only 22% of the Palestinians’ historic homeland of which barely 7% is now left to them. 

A comparison of maps - the West Bank and Apartheid South Africa – showed the audiences the patchwork of bantustans that would make any notion of an independent, viable state today, impossible.  “That,” said Michael Shaik, “leaves only a one state solution – truly democratic and secular - servicing both peoples, unless Israel is prepared to withdraw its settlements from the Occupied Territories.” In concluding, Michael Shaik emphasised that reconciliation and interfaith projects would only work after a just solution much like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that Nelson Mandela established once Apartheid ended.

Perhaps overcome by the incontrovertible facts of Israel’s occupation, Dr Abrahamovich inexplicably left in the middle of Michal Shaik’s talk and never returned. Regrettably, he was not there to answer the many questions from members of the audience who flocked to Michael at the end of the seminar.  Nor was he there for the scholarly presentation by Ian Fry from the Melbourne School of Divinity on Christianity’s own legacy in repudiating the Old Covenant of the Jewish community and its claim that there is no salvation outside the church, effectively dismissing the ministry of the Prophet Muhammad and setting in motion a system of imperial power that continues to fracture the Middle East and does nothing to end Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

This was an opportunity to face the real facts rather than as so often happens a “feel good” event amongst people wanting to talk about change, but who are not prepared to delve into the issues that have hindered religious harmony and understanding and have kept peace between adherents of all three faiths as elusive as ever.  In an ever-widening unequal world that seethes with unrest and discontent, it is within the power of each of the faiths to forge a path together for the common good. Michael’s talk reminded us that the Palestinians are still waiting to see that happen.

Sonja Karkar
Women for Palestine
Australians for Palestine
Melbourne - Australia