Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Between Restoration and Liberation: Theopolitical Contributions and ... Smith, Robert O Journal of Church and State; Autumn 2004; 46, 4; ProQuest pg. 833 Between Restoration and Liberation: Theopolitical Contributions and Responses to U.S. Foreign Policy in Israel/Palestine ROBERT 0. SMITH Throughout the Cold War era and into the present time, U.S. censure of Israeli policies has been rare. 1 When expressed, official criticisms are sparing and muted, the most recent exarnl_)lesof this phenom~non being the U.S. resl_)onses to Israel's targeted assassina- tions of HAMAS leaders Sheikh Ahmad Yasin and 'Abel al-'Aziz Rantisi. 2 These targeted killings were the latest twist in the lJ.S. effort to establish peace in Israel/Palestine, the "roadmap" for peace introduced by the Bush administration in April 2003. 1 From its genesis, the roadmap was threatened by Palestinian and Israeli violence, the lat~~r undergirded by institutional noncompliance. Palestinian difficulties i_n ii~plementing the roadmap were epitomized by Abu Mazen's fitful efforts to negotiate a ceasefire with the three major organizations of Palestinian militants; Israel's difficulties centered around its unwillingness to remove several settler outposts in the •HOBERT 0. SMITH (B.A., Oklahoma State University; M.A., M.Div., Lntlu,r Semimuy) is pastor, St. John Lutheran Church, Cmyell City, Texas and Ph.D. candidate, Church-State Studies, Baylor University. He is co-author of Christians and the Land Caller! Iloly: Special Space, Special Call (fmihcoming). His articles have appeared in Dialog and Word & World. Special interests incl11dc Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I ,ntheran social ethics, liberation theology, and post-Holocaust Jewish thought and Jewish-Christian relations. 1. A condensed version of this essay was delivered at the Biannual Symposium on Heligion awl Politics, The Ilcmy Institute, Calvin College (2004). 2. Both assassinations resulted from missile strikes launched by Israeli Ddrmse Force (lDF) helicopter gunships. Yassin, a quadriplegic, was in his wheelchair being esc0ti('{l out of a neighborhood mosque following his routine morning prayers; a few weeks latc)r, Hantisi was killed while riding in a car with bodyguards. For the U.S. responses to the first assassination, see Steven R. Weisman, "A Day When the ,~ 1 hite Honse Hevcrsed Stand 011 the Killing," New York Times, 23 March 2004, and Warren Hoge, "U.S. Vetoes U.N. Resolution Condemning Israel for llamas Killing," New York Times, 26 March 2004. 3. The full name of the peace plan was "A Performance-Based H.oadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict."