Christian leaders visit Israel to gain insight into Israeli-Palestinian conflict

CB Condez Sunday, May 29, 2016

Delegates from the National Baptist Convention of America are visiting Israel in order to gain insight into the conflict between Jews and Palestinians.

People hold up a giant Israel flag during a pro-Israeli demonstration supporting Israel's military action in the Gaza strip, in Guatemala City August 3, 2014. | REUTERS/JORGE DAN LOPEZ/FILES

"How do we hear what the Palestinians say, how do we hear what the Jews say, how can we partner with them both and help find the common ground to help them live in more peaceable society?" Rev. Samuel C. Tolbert Jr., president of the NBCA, told The Jerusalem Post.

The delegation is composed of 26 leaders from the NBCA, and the educational trip is in partnership with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. IFCJ senior vice president Yael Eckstein said that a greater connection with Israel can be built by seeing the country and experiencing it. It is the third such trip in the past 12 months that the organization had organized.

She said that the trip is part of IFCJ's effort to "build strategic friends and allies for the Jewish people both financially and politically," especially in light of the current global campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement. The BDS Movement is meant to pressure Israel into complying with the campaign's goals, including ending its occupation of Palestinian land.

"We are honored and humbled to host the NBCA in Israel," IFCJ founder and President Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein said. "This important educational mission will not only deepen the powerful connection between Christians and Jews and strengthen the African-American leadership's bonds with Israel, but will remind all of Israel, and the Jewish people, that we do not stand alone."

Tolbert said that achieving more peace between Israelis and Palestinians would depend highly on the parties involved but, for his part, he found that the visit let him have a more positive view on what is happening in Israel.

According to the report, the National Baptist Convention of America is the third largest African-American Christian denomination with 4,600 churches in the United States composed of roughly 3.5 million members, while the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is a philanthropic organization that aims to promote understanding between Christians and Jews.