The Rev. Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel with this less than enthusiastic notice:

Just as 2008 marks 60 years of aspirations dedicated to securing a homeland for Israelis, 2008 also marks 60 years of the disintegration of Palestinian society and dispersal of some 750,000 Palestinians as refugees. To date, the situation in the Palestinian Territories reflects the absence of peace and a continuation of occupation and conflict. While Israelis celebrate the 60th anniversary of their state, Palestinians are marking six decades of displacement and dispossession.

May this anniversary year cause us all to recommit to the goal both Israelis and Palestinians share that neither can attain without the other, namely, a just peace.

To that end, from 4 to 10 June 2008, WCC member churches and related organizations on five continents are organizing a collective public witness for peace. From Australia to Canada, Norway to Sri Lanka to South Africa, churches will observe this anniversary year with a week of awareness-raising and advocacy called International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel. It is time, we believe, for both nations to share a just peace.

That’s it. No word of congratulation to Israel for surviving multiple attempts by its Arab neighbors to extinguish it, for providing a safe haven for Jews from around the world, for having the only democracy in the Middle East, or for being the only country in the region that provides anything close to equal rights for minorities. No word of sympathy for its daily suffering from terrorist attack. No recognition that the Palestinians could have had their own state 60 years ago, but instead chose to join with their Arab brethren in an effort to capture the whole enchilada and eliminate the Jews from their ancestral home once and for all. Not even a hint that the Palestinians could already be governing their own state if they’d taken Ehud Barak’s offer eight years ago.

No, for Kobia and the WCC, the only thing notable about the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel is that the Palestinians still haven’t been given everything they want, and are suffering for their lack of ability to compromise. Pathetic.

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