 |
Zionist meeting brands 'road map' as
heresy
By Julia Duin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A Washington conference of Christian
and Jewish Zionists yesterday heard attacks on the U.S. "road map"
for peace in the Middle East as a breach of a 4,000-year-old
covenant between God and Israel.
"The
land of Israel was originally owned by God," said Gary Bauer,
president of American Values and a Republican presidential contender
in 2000. "Since He was the owner, only He could give it away. And He
gave it to the Jewish people."
Terrorists, he said, "don't understand
why Israel and the United States are joined at the heart."
Called the "Interfaith Zionist
Leadership Summit," the conference attracted to the Omni Shoreham
Hotel about 1,000 participants, who debated how evangelical
Christians could best unite with Jews to support Israel.
A three-page statement was adopted, to
be delivered to President Bush this week, demanding Palestinian
concessions before Israel is asked to return to its pre-1967
borders, which would turn over the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the
Palestinian Authority.
Calling the peace
proposal "a Satanic road map," Earl Cox, executive producer and host
of Front Page Jerusalem, a radio program, asked, "Do any of you
believe [Palestinian leader] Yasser Arafat will embrace traditional
family values? There will be a mosque on all the holy sites. How can
anyone who's a Jew or a Christian support such a proposal?"
Evangelical Christians, estimated to
number about 45 million in America, are a source of support for
Israel, though to varying degrees.
Evangelical organizations represented at
the conference included the Christian Coalition, the Christian
Broadcasting Network and the Religious Roundtable. One organization
distributed bumper stickers saying: "Pray that President Bush will
honor God's covenant with Israel."
Frank
Gaffney Jr., president of the Center for Security Policy, said the
months before the November 2004 election are ideal for lobbying Mr.
Bush on an issue important to his conservative base.
"This statement will be a shot across
the bow for this president," he said. Although he is subject to
considerable pro-Palestinian pressure, he said, "George W. Bush, I
think, is with us in his heart and in his soul."
The conference, underwritten by a
$100,000 grant from Zionist House, a Boston-based Jewish group,
appeared to be closely balanced between Christians and Jews, with a
slight Jewish majority. Theological differences were put aside by
the speakers, such as Jan Willem van de Hoeven, the Dutch-born
founder of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.
"We may have disagreements about who
[the Messiah] is," Mr. van de Hoeven said, "but He is not coming
back to a mosque but to a third temple."
The remark alluded to prophecies of the
Jews rebuilding their temple on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, replacing
the Muslim Dome of the Rock. His words drew one of several standing
ovations.
Several speakers talked of how
to persuade Mr. Bush to stay firm on his nomination of Daniel Pipes,
a scholar on Islam, as one of 15 directors of the U.S. Institute of
Peace. The nomination, which has drawn ardent opposition from
Islamic groups, must be confirmed by the Senate.
Mr. Pipes, a speaker at the conference,
criticized Americans for political naivete.
"Why do we destroy our enemies and ask
Israel to prop up its enemies?" he asked. "The assumption behind the
road map is the Arabs have accepted Israel."
A "change of heart" is needed among
Palestinians, he said, "which is achieved by an Israeli victory and
a Palestinian defeat."
Moving the U.S.
Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would prompt that process, he
said.
"It's a marker saying Israel won
the war in 1948 and Jerusalem has been its capital for 55 years and
we might as well come to terms with its existence," Mr. Pipes said.
About three dozen people protested
outside the hotel.
"It involves
fundamentalist Christians, who tend to be ethnocentric and racist,
siding with Jews who practice the same policies in Israel," said
David Kirshbaum, representing SUSTAIN (Stop U.S. Tax-funded Aid to
Israel Now). A group of ultra-Orthodox Jews, who oppose Israel's
existence on theological grounds, stood beside him.
|
.gif){kind=spacer}
