An open Letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

July 9, 2007

An open Letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

By Joe Parko

An Open Letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Assembled in Retreat in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe

8 July 2007


I am deeply disturbed by the recent decision of the president of DePaul
University not to grant tenure to Dr. Norman Finkelstein. Dr.
Finkelstein is a noted Middle East scholar who has the support of his
colleagues. Both the members of his department and his college voted to
approve his tenure but the president of DePaul University refused to
honor their decision as required by university regulations. Not gaining
tenure effectively means being fired in the academic world and it is
supremely ironic that a Jewish professor should be fired for writing
articles that critically examine Israeli government policies in the
occupied Palestinian territories. Does the principle of academic
freedom mean nothing at DePaul University? Does the intellectual
freedom to explore complex issues mean nothing to the Catholic Church?
The fact that some of his writings have caused members of the Zionist
community to attack Dr. Finkelstein should have no bearing on his
gaining tenure.

This unilateral denial of tenure by the
president of America’s largest Catholic University is a direct attack
on the right of individuals to criticize Israeli government policies
and to question the political ideology of Zionism. The campaign against
Dr. Finkelstein is a calculated attack on academic freedom and is part
of an on going campaign against academics and politicians in the United
States and elsewhere in Western society who dare to criticize Israeli
policies in the occupied Palestinian territories. The planned
destruction of a Palestinian state and the creation of an exclusionary
and racist Jewish state will be seen by future historians as a form of
collective insanity that clearly shows a failure in moral and political
leadership by the world community.

Dr. Finkelstein is well
known and highly respected for his principled criticisms of Israel’s
policies toward the Palestinians. More than 160 other prominent Jewish
critics of Zionism largely share Dr. Finkelstein’s views on Zionism and
the ethnic cleansing of Arabs in Palestine by political Zionists. Many
Jews were concerned about the impact of a political ideology based on
an exclusionary nationalist movement which called for the creation of a
Jewish state in Palestine and a political movement named Zionism.
Zionism was opposed by many Jews in the past, (in fact historically the
majority of Jews) and is opposed by many Jews today.

Professor
Finkelstein is another Jewish critic in a long line of Jewish critics
of Zionism. This list includes Albert Einstein, I.F. Stone, Rabbi Elmer
Berger, Rabbi Reuben Slonim, Isaac Asimov, Noam Chomsky, Hans Kohen,
Eric Fromm, Bruno Kreisky, Israel Shahak, Hannah Arendt and many other
leading Jewish intellectuals and religious figures.

Adam
Shatz, the Literary editor of The Nation Magazine, has recently
published a book titled Prophet’s Outcast which contains essays written
by 24 prominent Jewish scholars and intellectuals which are very
critical of Zionism and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.


If you want to look for Israeli voices who are speaking out against the
policies of Israel’s government towards the Palestinians you should
look at the book, The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent,
Forward by Tom Segev and Anthony Lewis (the former New York Times
columnist) which was published in 2002. This book lists 28 prominent
Israeli critics of Zionism.

Not to tell the truth about what
is going on in Palestine is fundamentally racist and a crime against
the Palestinian people and a crime not unlike the one committed against
Jews in the Second World War. Denying a respected scholar like Dr.
Norman Finkelstein tenure casts a blight on DePaul University and the
Church itself. It is most certainly an attack on academic freedom and
an attack on the Palestinians and those who dare speak up on their
behalf. Sadly, the action of the president of DePaul University reminds
one of the Church’s persecution of Galileo for challenging conventional
thinking. Surely the Catholic Church of the 21st century can do better
than this! I urge the leaders of the Church assembled in Santa Fe this
week to take a stand for academic freedom and to provide justice for
Dr. Finkelstein and the people of Palestine.

Authors Website: www.mytown.ca/parko


Authors Bio: Joe Parko is a retired college professor who taught in the
School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. He is a founding
member of the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition.