Echoes of the military conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East came home recently to Sun Valley under the roof of one church, drawing light on differences of opinion with regard to human rights, terrorist threats and U.S. policy in the region.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Sun Valley is home to both an Episcopal Christian congregation and the Wood River Jewish Community. It took a controversial piece of art to bring out political and philosophical differences between some members of these two religious groups over the future of the state of Israel.
Interfaith clergy members in the Wood River Valley are seeking an opportunity to continue the discussion when tempers have cooled.
"My Name Is Rachel Corrie" is a play inspired by the personal journals and e-mails of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old, from Olympia, Wash., killed by a bulldozer in Palestinian Gaza in March 2003. When a reading of the play was put on last month by Jonathan Kane at the nexStage Theater in Ketchum, Craig and Cindy Corrie, the parents of Rachel Corrie, were present.
During a question-and-answer session following the play, Bob Goldstein of the Wood River Jewish Community read a prepared question that read in part: "How do you feel about the widely held belief that your daughter has been raised to martyrdom and exploited by the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel propaganda machine financed by Arab money and by fellow travelers here in America?"
Goldstein was told to sit down by some members of the audience. Others shouted in support of him. Goldstein wrote a letter to the Idaho Mountain Express a week later, saying some people, including "a few who live here in our valley," advocate a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he said means demographically "the destruction of the state of Israel."
He went on to cite human rights violations in the Arab world, including the denial of women's rights, freedom of religion, stoning and female mutilation.
"Sometimes good art doesn't do it all, but the play was very true to Rachel Corrie's experience," said The Rev. Ken Brannon, rector of St. Thomas Church. "Some of the comments were jarring and offensive to some people, especially considering that Rachel Corrie's parents were in the room."
Brannon said the St. Thomas congregation and the Wood River Jewish Community are diverse organizations—some members are very pro-Palestinian, while others are very concerned about the survival of the state of Israel.
"When the safety of someone's home (Israel) is threatened, there is a fear that can go beyond the rational level," he said.
Ken Molkner, chairman of the Adult Education Committee for the Wood River Jewish Community, was one of the people shouting in support of Goldstein following the play.
"The play was somewhat unfair because there was no one up there to present the other side of the story," said Molkner.
"One side says Rachel Corrie was an idealistic student who was killed by an Israeli driver of a bulldozer," he said. "The other side says she was an American student used by the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian organization that has supported terrorism."
Molkner played a part in bringing Jean Jacques Surbeck, a former attorney with the International Red Cross, to speak at St. Thomas a week after the play. Surbeck's lecture, "Inconvenient Truths," emphasized the importance of Israel in fighting terrorism in the Middle East.
During the Surbeck lecture, which filled the sanctuary of St. Thomas, emotions ran high when a young man approached the lecturer closely to ask a question.
"Some in the audience took this gesture to be intimidating," said Brannon, who defused the situation by later taking the microphone and establishing himself as a presence nearby.
"It was a touchy situation since it was not my event, but it was held in my church," said Brannon, who recently met with interfaith clergy members from the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood, Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church and the Light on the Mountains Center for Spiritual Living over the volatile issues that have erupted at St. Thomas.
The clergy members agreed to look for an opportunity to participate in a "constructive dialogue" on these issues, but the ecumenical tradition that has been celebrated for years at St. Thomas may continue to be challenged by a conflict halfway around the world. That conflict is political and cultural, as well as religious.
"This is about the elimination of the state of Israel. Muslims want to rule the world in a combined religious and political agenda. We have grown out of that in the West," said Molkner.
"We see the attack on Israel as an attack on the West, which is an attack on America," he added. "I think there is an international effort to de-legitimize Israel, but I don't know if this plays a role in what has been occurring in our local community."
Diane Peavey, a rancher, radio broadcaster and wife of former Idaho Sen. John Peavey, invited Rachel Corrie's parents to attend the play reading in Ketchum. Her friend Don Leibich, a former business executive, underwrote the play reading and the Corries' travel expenses.
Peavey and Leibich have traveled together in the Middle East and are critical of the Israeli presence in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Peavey and Leibich have tried to visit the Gaza Strip, where Rachel Corrie was killed, but said they were denied access.
The Gaza Strip, home to 1.4 million Palestinians, has been controlled at various times by Israel and by Palestinians since Israel was established in 1949. Beginning in 2000, a Palestinian uprising known as the Second Intifada was born in Gaza, leading to the deaths of an estimated 5,500 Palestinians, more than 1,100 Israelis and 64 foreign citizens.
"Rachel Corrie is considered a heroine by Palestinians," said Leibich. "Gaza is the setting for the play, but it is really about what some middle-class American people will do when they see poverty, hunger or violence anywhere in the world. It could have taken place in the Sudan."
Leibich said he knew the play created controversy wherever it went, but thought it was important to show the story of an "idealistic" young woman.
He said the play takes place in 2003 when there were Israeli soldiers and 8,000 Israeli settlers on the ground in Gaza.
"They were bulldozing Palestinian homes to create a clear, militarily defendable space. Hamas wasn't even there," he said.
Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2007, but has retained control of the borders and of trade, leading in 2010 to an international flotilla of aid to the impoverished area. An Israeli raid on the flotilla led to the deaths of several civilian peace activists.
"What is at stake is not the democratic state of Israel, but a democratic Jewish state of Israel," said Leibich. "The Palestinian population is, or soon will be, the majority. I am still in favor of a two-state solution in which Palestinians have their own state, but I no longer think it is possible. You cannot partition those two populations anymore because they are too intermingled."
Peavey, who lives in Ketchum and at the Flat Top Sheep Ranch near Carey, said she sees similarities between the way Native Americans were treated by the U.S. and how Palestinians are faring under Israeli control.
"(Some) 700,000 Palestinians were displaced in 1949. Israel has the third or fourth largest military in the world because the U.S. sends $3 billion a year to them, the largest amount we give to a single country. Israel is in a very strong position and should not be so frightened.
"When Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2007, they enclosed the Palestinians. They are in a prison. That is what is left out of the discussion. Industries there have died as a result."
Peavey said she has spoken with Palestinians and Jews in the Middle East who are also critical of current Israeli policy.
"They believe that Israel will never be safe as long as it is occupying a country and oppressing people right across the border," she said. "Palestinians are the farthest thing from terrorists as anyone I have ever met. They have tried violence, but are non-violent now. They simply want to live in peace."
"Nobody went to the Rachel Corrie play representing the Wood River Jewish Community," said Wood River Jewish Community President Susan Green. "We are diverse in our opinions and ideas. But there is a bottom line for most Jewish people with regard to Israel: While we are critical of its policies at times, we agree in its legitimate existence. This is always threatened because Israel is a tiny country surrounded by larger countries that have not been able to make peace."
Green said the play had an underlying question about Israel's legitimacy.
"The play questioned many things that went on at the time, but the Intifada was quite active and suicide bombers were entering Israel and blowing people up at random. What about all the other Rachels that were killed?"
Molkner, a retired psychiatrist, said he looks forward to an opportunity for the community to speak on both sides of the issue.
"Ideally, I think there should be some structure where both sides can be presented. I think we have an exceptionally competent and knowledgeable clergy here."
"This issue is ancient and deeply felt. It will not resolve itself easily," said Brannon.
"The question now is how can we engage with the 'other' in a way that opens us up and does not shut us down?" he said. "We are richer as a community when we recognize nuance, when one group is not all good and another is considered all bad. This kind of thinking has provided the seeds of de-humanization in the past."
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com
Indian Creek Resident Don Leibich covered the expenses for Rachel Corrie’s parents to visit the valley during a play reading based on their daughter’s diaries. “Rachel Corrie is considered a heroine by Palestinians,” he said. Courtesy photo.
