Report Middle Ease trip htm
The ECAPC Middle East Trip, 2004
The ECAPC sponsored trip to Israel/Palestine April 12-24, 2005 focused on the problem of Christian Zionism and the possibility of Christian nonviolence. Calling the church to live and teach and Jesus lived and taught, ECAPC is deeply disturbed by the ideology of militaristic Zionism which trusts in weapons to establish the reign of God rather than in the power of love and nonviolence which Jesus lived and taught.
This summary of the trip introduces the people and organizations which shared this experience together. Nine individuals participated full time, one part-time, and two Christian peace workers in the Occupied West Bank hosted the delegation. The names follow: [picture of the group, Mt. of Olives in the background: http://daga.dhs.org/max/Photopage/Palestine/slides/The%20Gang.html
Chaim Ben-Eliezer, the Bruderhof community, Chester, NY, participated with his wife Anna.
Anna Ben-Eliezer, the Bruderhof community.
Bruce E. Butler, Easton Church of the Brethren, Trappe, MD, business consultant, a peace activist and organizer in his community and supporter of ECAPC.
Max Ediger, Hong Cong, China, Mennonite, who works with the Christian Conference of Asia.
Donna Lee Meyers, Church of the Brethren, Stowe, PA, a teacher, grandmother and peace activist with CPT experience in Colombia.
Harold A. Penner, Akron, PA, Akron Mennonite Church, ECAPC board treasurer and accountant, peace activist with experience in the Middle East, Central America and Vieques, PR. H.A. was the stateside coordinator of the trip.
Steven Petrou, Houston, TX, Greek Orthodox Church, lawyer and videographer. Steve filmed the trip and is working on a video on Middle East Peacemakers.
John K. Stoner, Akron Mennonite Church, Akron, PA, coordinator of ECAPC.
Kermit Yoder, Akron Mennonite Church, president of Akron MTS travel agency, a believer who is not satisfied with uses of tradition and the Bible which contradict the plain evidence and spirit of the life and teachings of Jesus.
Mary J. Wade, Episcopal Church, Birmingham, AL, scientist, mystic and mother who uses her scant spare time to be executive director of Sis Levin’s Children of Abraham project in Bethlehem.
. Sis Levin, Episcopal Church, Bethlehem, Occupied West Bank, and Birmingham, AL, author of BEIRUT DIARY, parent and grandmother, peace educator, director of the Children of Abraham project which is facilitated by the Holy Land Trust and ECAPC.
Jerry Levin, Episcopal Church, Hebron, Occupied West Bank, and Birmingham, AL, full time CPT corps in Hebron, journalist and tour guide for our ECAPC trip.
We supported Arab/Muslim/Christian business by flying Turkish Airlines from JFK, NY to Tel Aviv through Istanbul on Monday June 12, and using The Holy Land Trust as our travel agent. http://www.holylandtrust.org/ Through Jerry we had lodging at the Golden Gate Inn/Hostel in the Palestinian section of Jerusalem’s Old City, a ten minute walk from Notre Dame Conference Center where the Sabeel Conference met. The Golden Gate Hostel is an inn built in 1140 AD with low arched masonry ceilings, hot and cold running water, as well as coffee and juice in the morning.
Christian Zionism is not a minor phenomenon or concern; we were not chasing phantoms. Rev. Rich Lang, United Methodist, Seattle Washington wrote a description in spring, 2004, which puts the challenge of Christian Zionism in contemporary political perspective:
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