Tuesday, 11 March 2008 00:00
"As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes."
— Jesus (Luke 19:41-42)
I have just returned from my first trip to the Holy Land, and for the first time, I am beginning to understand this verse. I believe, more passionately than ever, that followers of Christ are called to love our neighbor — Jewish and Muslim — and help create a space for reconciliation in which peace and justice embrace. Put differently, if the Gospel is not relevant to its birthplace, why should it be relevant anywhere else?
During our time in the Holy Land, we met with as many people as possible — Jew, Muslim, and Christian. We met with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Palestinian counterpart, including a meeting with President Abbas. We met with religious and political leaders at the local level. And we had conversations with ordinary folks on the street and in the coffee shops.
The greatest insight I gleaned came from an older Jew in Jerusalem who had migrated from Poland, a place familiar with suffering. He and his family fled just before the "lata okupacji," the years of Nazi occupation. As I had lived in Poland on two different occasions — and had visited the death camps at Majdanek and Auschwitz, and had been powerfully moved by the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising — we connected instantly as I spoke in broken Polish with him.
He told me this: "The problem is this: both sides are right." The silent majority — Jew and Muslim — wants peace but doesn't think it possible because both sides are held hostage by the "extremists" in their own camps. The settlers in the West Bank will never withdraw from holy land and Hamas will never allow for Israel's existence. The assessment seemed as good as any that I heard.
The situation is beyond complicated. No sovereign country would tolerate the constant rocket attacks and terrorist bombings that emanate from the culture of martyrdom that dominates parts of the Palestinian people. Security is tight and overboard. For example, I was detained for 45 minutes when I arrived in Tel Aviv, and I was detained again for 45 minutes when leaving (with security personnel taking my blackberry for ten minutes after insisting that I take the password protection off). In all my world travels, I have never been detained for any reason.
And while terrorism has been reduced significantly since the construction of checkpoints and the dividing wall that separates Palestine from Israel — and Palestine from itself — these divisions are a recipe for disaster. The time at checkpoints alone is enough to strangle the last hopes for an economy that produces jobs and dignity. A proud and prosperous people have been reduced to accepting charity, ghetto-ized into an experience that echoes that of Poland. The result is more terrorists in faster fashion.
President Abbas, as someone told me, is one of the few Palestinian leaders who says the same thing in Arabic as he does in English. Seemingly, he is a worthy peacemaker. The problem, however, is if Israel withdrew from the West Bank today, according to many, Abbas would fall from power as Hamas took over. (It took less than a week for Hamas to militarily defeat Abbas' political party after Israel withdrew from Gaza.) Meanwhile, in the absence of a Palestinian negotiating partner who speaks, and can deliver, for all Palestinians, Israel is unilaterally building a system of walls and roads that de facto relegates Palestine to a totally disconnected and unsustainable existence that no sovereign state would tolerate.
Wherever I traveled in Israel and Palestine I had one thought: I am surrounded by victims — Jewish and Muslim, present and future generations.
In the middle of all this is the Palestinian-Christian community. Their ranks have been reduced significantly these past few years as many depart to places where there is opportunity to work and contribute to society. If this trend continues, places like Bethlehem will soon have no Christian presence. Think of that: the place where the Word became flesh (John 1) will no longer serve as home to His discipled descendants.
Among this community is a group of about 10,000 evangelical Palestinians. They proudly claim the name "evangelical" despite its tremendous baggage in Palestine. Unfortunately, too many American evangelical groups come to the Holy Land and never meet with their brothers and sisters in Christ — because they are Palestinian. As a result, the term "evangelical" has a negative connotation among the Palestinian population; they often associate the term with an American religious faction that they believe is biased toward Israel.
Yet there they are, this forgotten Palestinian fellowship of unabashed evangelical believers who take their faith so seriously that they are finding ways to educate their flock to engage society in a manner that honors their Creator. For example, they have created and sustained the Bethlehem Bible College, and the Shepherd's Society through which they serve their Muslim and Christian neighbor by providing food coupons and medical aid to struggling families, creating jobs, and paying for utilities. They have also created the Holy Land Trust through which Muslims and Christians are trained in non-violence to work for peace (among several initiatives).
So what can you do? If there is one place in the world where the pessimist has all the facts, it is Israel-Palestine. It is all too easy to be overwhelmed and to think you cannot make a difference amidst such a seemingly intractable situation.
But if you yield to defeatism, realize that you have just insulted a sovereign God. "Is anything to hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14). As I traveled in the Holy Land, I kept thinking of Jesus' visit to Nazareth. "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith" (Mark 6:5-6). We Christians, evangelical or otherwise, are called to be one body in Christ. We are called to be faithful. We are called to pray. We are called to expect the miraculous.
So pray for peace. Pray for an honest discussion among evangelicals in America about what it means to love our neighbor amidst deep differences about biblical prophecy and modern Israel. Pray for the Annapolis peace process that seeks to bring both sides to some kind of solution by year's end. Pray for Secretary of State Condi Rice, who is the linchpin of this effort. Pray for President Abbas. Pray for Prime Minister Olmert. Pray for Hamas. Pray for the Jewish settlers.
Second, support the grassroots efforts of organizations like the Holy Land Trust and the Shepherd's Society. They are living out the very best of their faith in the most difficult of situations. We Christians in America have so much to learn from this forgotten but faithful fellowship of the Great Commandment.
Third, write your elected officials in Washington, D.C., in support of the Annapolis peace process. If you do, you will support the official position of the Israeli, Palestinian, and American governments. (Please see similar letters that IGE has helped to organize/write). As President Abbas' chief of staff told us, real progress toward a two-state agreement is the only form of the peace process that will defeat extremism over the long term.
Weep with Jesus over the Holy Land, but claim the peacemaking power of His sermon on the Mount. And always remember that the things that make for peace begin and end with prayer.
