It’s Messy

Our first month here has been incredibly eye opening.  What I knew of this place from the news in America and what life is actually life are two radically different things.  And the more I get to know the people here, and learn of the nature of the conflict, the more it becomes apparent that the story being told is very one sided. 

Before we came, we heard from a lot of Americans, christian and not, how Israel is being threatened and how it’s appalling that some countries are pulling out their support for Israel.  Some more outspoken people would elaborate: “There’s no such thing as Palestine,” or “They don’t deserve any of it, Israel should get rid of them all.”  We’ve heard talk from a more “christian” point of view, pulling scripture about blessing Abraham’s seed and such, “Isreal is God’s chosen people, and it’s our Christain Duty to support them.”  

On the news, we saw Hamas, the radical militant Palestinian political party attacking nearby Israeli towns with missiles and bombs.  Then we hear about the Israeli  military response.  To be sure, there is error on both sides, but it’s becoming pretty clear that Palestinians don’t have much of a right to… anything, let alone getting their story out.

We’ve been living in Palestine for the last month, and since we’ve been here, we haven’t really had the chance to do any of the touristy things.  Our situation gives us a unique opportunity to experience Palestine and its people in way that most of the people who come to this country don’t.  It’s getting to the point where, locally, we are known.  We are the foreigners, the Americans.  And it’s great.  They are soooooo happy to have us.  They greet us anytime they see us.  They always want to know about how we like it here, how we are adjusting, how our relationship is, how our family is, what our names are, how our programs are doing, etc, etc.  We get invited to people’s houses for dinner.  We are forced to take cookies.  We hear about their hardships in their living situation.  Their economy is nearly sabotaged by Israel, their land is taken, they have no rights… it’s very reminiscent of segregation in the south back the 50’s. 

But wait, I thought all muslims and arabs wanted to kill me.  They are emotionless killing machines…  Well, if that’s the case, then they’re failing miserably with us.  Not only are we still alive, but we find we enjoy their company! 

Even if you believe that it is our Christian duty to support Israel, the chosen people, does that mean you support them to do whatever they want?  If it leads to oppression, do you still support them?  If it comes to imprisonment, do you still support them?  If it eventually turns to genocide and ethnic cleansing what then?  Does God still maintain that you are only blessed if you bless the chosen.   When I read the scriptures I see God who is much more concerned with our compassion for the broken than with who owns what land.

It’s messy, there’s no doubt about that.  Israel has taken to building settlements in the West Bank, which basically means the military moves into town with a few trailers full of civilians and kicks out whichever unlucky Palestinian happens to own it at the time.  Then they slowly start building and expanding, eating up more land, displacing more families, and all of the sudden we have Palestinian Territory dotted thoroughly with Israeli settlements, making the definition of boundaries nearly impossible.  Very messy.

But there is hope here.  For every news story reporting the violence of militant radicals (from both sides), what you don’t hear are the stories of Palestinian leaders and citizens (young ones at that) gathering in peace and insisting on and participating in non-violent responses.  To say that arabs are murderous suicide bombers or that Israelis are land hungry mercenaries is like calling all americans KKK members, or worse, NASCAR fans.  And lets be honest, in our country, we definitely have our nuts that we wish wouldn’t gain attention and we wish that the rest of the world wouldn’t associate them with our country.  It happens in America, it happens everywhere else too.

Really what we’re seeing is that most people here, on both sides, are sick of it.  They don’t want to fight, they don’t want to live under occupation, they’re done fighting about land.  And interestingly enough, the people that feel this way are the average ones who are directly affected by it.  Meanwhile, the folks who make the calls (as well as the big bucks) go back to their big comfy homes at night, unaffected by it all.  How convenient.

It’s sad too.  We hear stories of how it used to be.  When there was no wall.  When people could come and go as they pleased.  When Israelis and Palestinians lived and worked together.  And Bethlehem and Jerusalem were both glorious, bustling cities, rich in history and culture and enjoyed by all.  Unfortunately so much has changed.

One of the most intriguing conversations we’ve entered into here is the life of a Palestinian Christian.  If you’re into prayer, pray for these people.  They are in a very unstable, but at the same time potentially powerful situation.  They live in constant tension.  In Palestine, the division is largely Christian or Muslim and while there is no real outward fighting between the two, there definitely is no willingness to interact much.  Then there is the tension they face in living under military occupation, one that greatly oppresses them.  How do you live in a godly manner under such circumstances?  Answers are easy in theory, but walking the walk in the face imprisonment is not easy.  Even more is their tension with Jewish culture.  Much in the way that America is taught to believe stereotypes about Arabs, so many jews are taught to believe about Palestinians.  Being in a place of disdain and unwant, how do you really love your neighbor.  Yet, these people are seeking to treat their oppressors (who, by the way, are all teenagers with guns) the way Jesus would.  It’s tough, and fascinating.

Please, please don’t write these people off.  It is unfortunate they have to share a country with some people who are nut jobs and can find no other solution than violence, but we’ve been there too.