[size=12pt]The Israeli government has criticised the Church of Scotland :
over a report which questions the divine right of Jews to the land of Israel.[/size]
It stated there has been a widespread assumption by many Christians,
as well as many Jewish people, that the Bible :
" supports an essentially Jewish state of Israel ".
But its authors said an :
"increasing number of difficulties and current Israeli policies regarding the Palestinians"
had led to this viewpoint being questioned.
" Possession of any land is clearly conditional.
The question that arises is this:
Would the Jewish people today have a fairer claim to the land if they dealt justly
with the Palestinians ? "
"They are a way of speaking about how to live under God so that justice and peace reign,
the weak and poor are protected, the stranger is included, and all have a share in the community
and a contribution to make to it." 8)
"The desire of many in the state of Israel to acquire the land of Palestine
is wrong.
The fact that the land is currently being taken by settlement expansion, the separation barrier,
house clearance, theft and force :
makes it doubly wrong
to seek biblical sanction for this."
A spokesman for the Church of Scotland said :
This report is against the injustices levelled against the Palestinian people and how land is shared.
It is also a reflection of the use or misuse of scripture to claim divine right to land by any group.
