2008 General Assembly of the
Unitarian Universalist AssociationCall to Conscience on the Sixtieth Anniversary of al-Nakba

Because we affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person, justice and equity in human relations, and the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all; and

Whereas the 2007 General Assembly adopted a Responsive Resolution which urged the UUA and its member congregations to work against 'all types of racial, ethnic, and cultural oppression past and present toward the goal of accountability thorugh acknowledgment, apology, repair, and reconciliation;'

Whereas in 1948, as part of the efforts to establish the state of Israel, the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine became victims of ethnic cleansing when 531 Palestinian villages were destroyed, eleven urban Palestinian neighborhoods were evacuated, and nearly 800,000 Palestinians were forcibly driven from their homes, farms, and businesses and were forcibly prevented from returning, in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ('Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country') and UN General Assembly Resolution 194 ('the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest possible date');

Whereas since 1967 all Israeli governments have encouraged and supported exclusively Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, confiscating Palestinian land and demolishing Palestinian homes, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention ('the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies') and UN Security Council Resolution 242 (which emphasizes 'the inadmissibiity of the acquisition of territory by war');

Whereas the military occupation of the Palestinian Territories is an asymmetric structure of power and violence directed against the Palestinian people;

Whereas Archbishop Desmond Tutu has compared the military occupation of the Palestinian Territories with the imposition of apartheit in South Africa;

Whereas the principles of liberation theology call for special concern for victims of oppression, injustice, and dispossession, which, in this particular context, are the Palestinian people;

Whereas the principles of restorative justice call for injustice to be set right through conscientious efforts to make up for the actions which originally caused the injustice;

Therefore, be it resolved that the 2008 General Assembly:

Acknowledges that a deep, enduring injustice was done to the Palestinian people in 1948 during the ethnic cleansing of Palestine;

Affirms that a process of restorative justice is a necessary foundation for any realistice peace process between Israelis and Palestinians;

Affirms that an honest call for the cessation of violence between Israelis and Palestinians includes ending the structural violence of the military occupation of the Palestinian Territories;

Affirms the primacy of justice and human rights with regard to assessing the adequacy of any proposed settlemetn of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;

Urges the UUA and its member congregations to work toward a just resolution of this conflict.