Middle East Study Committee FAQ: With whom did the committee speak?

Originally published on the PC(USA) webpage. The Middle East Study Committee (MESC) listened to a wide variety of voices on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on the broader Middle East: first in meetings in Washington, D.C.; then through travels throughout the region and finally, with both Israeli and Palestinian representatives to the United Nations in New York City. In addition to all of these, each member of the committee brought their own experiences into the conversations. These represented a vast array of interfaith relationships, theological and historical study of the region, and personal experience of the situation firsthand.

Why didn’t the committee speak with more representatives of the American interfaith community?

The MESC worked diligently to get as wide a variety of conversations stateside as possible in a limited amount of time. These included Christian voices, church partnership organizations and political analysts (including the U.S. State Department) as well as Jewish and Muslim interfaith voices. There is, of course, no single voice that can speak for the breadth of opinion within a particular community. The focus, ultimately, was on unmediated firsthand voices from the region, which the MESC engaged during its two weeks in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories. These included church partners and heads of communions, governmental representatives and humanitarian organizations and those of other religious traditions.

What about conversation partners in Israel and the Palestinian Territories?

The MESC met with a spectrum of Israelis: peace advocates, rabbis, human rights workers, settlers and advocacy organizations, including former Speaker of the Knesset and Cabinet Member Avraham Burg. The Palestinians were primarily from the Christian community and church-related NGOs (nongovernmental organizations), including many of our official partners. Upon return to the United States, the MESC also met with an Israeli ambassador and a Palestinian observer to the United Nations.

A full list of conversation partners can be found in Appendix 1 of the report.