It's time for Christians to see humanity in Palestinians
by Kathryn Shihadah
Christians have come a long way since our days of believing that Blacks, Native Americans, and other groups were inferior races.
Now it’s time to stop treating Palestinians as an inferior race.
Christians, we as a group have been on the wrong side of justice many times, and used our holy book to rationalize our choices.
We were “sure” that slavery was scriptural and lynching was a proper form of after-church entertainment; we felt vindicated in killing of millions of Native Americans, and supported apartheid in South Africa. We consciously chose to turn a blind eye to the Holocaust.
Today, (most) Christians see the folly of those deeds, and are quite sure we wouldn’t again fall for such unholy practices. But we do – many of us – when it comes to Palestinians.
Terror, violence, and antisemitism
Just about the only time we hear the word “Palestinian” is when one has allegedly stabbed an Israeli or launched a rocket. We may recall that sometime in the hazy past, Palestinians used to carry out suicide bombing attacks.
Their victims have always been Jews, and we conclude that Palestinians are violent and antisemitic.
These assumptions are not based on facts, but on myths.
The truth is, Palestinians are neither enemies of Jews nor terrorists. More and more Americans (including a growing number of Jewish Americans) are coming to realize how wrong we have been.
So where did these beliefs originate? Certainly most of us have never spoken to a Palestinian about these things.
Do we have any idea why Palestinians harbor(ed) so much anger?
Our faith compels us – or should compel us – to get to know this people group. Today, we can read authentic Palestinian voices to learn about their situation firsthand.
What is the worst that could happen if we discover we’ve been wrong? We may need to repent. And that’s not really a bad thing, is it?
History that most Christians don’t know
Palestinians are simply the people who have lived for centuries in the land historically called Palestine. The people of this land have traditionally included many religious groups.
No doubt, some Palestinians had Jewish ancestors, whose later generations converted to Christianity and Islam.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Europe’s Jewish population began to experience intense persecution, some of their leaders developed a plan to bring together as many Jews as they could to live safely in the ancient Jewish homeland.
Originally, the Jewish people were Middle Eastern and brown; today most are Western and white with no direct connection to the land except that they identify as spiritual descendants of those brown Arabs.
Nevertheless they claimed the land as theirs – in spite of the fact that other people had lived there for hundreds or thousands of years and had no intention of giving up control or ownership of their land.
In 1948, the Jewish people who had recently arrived in Palestine joined the handful that had always been there and, with support from the United States and Europe, violently expelled about half of the Palestinian population – 750,000 souls.
The Israelis immediately destroyed 400-500 Palestinian villages and refused to let their residents return home.
Today Palestinian refugees number in the millions, and are still waiting for their internationally recognized right of return.
Current events that most Christians don’t know
Generations of Palestinians have now been born and raised in refugee camps, waiting for the world to bring about their return. Many are hopelessly poor, many have no access to shelter, clean water, electricity, or sufficient food.
They also live with Israeli checkpoints, a wall built around much of their land, a fifteen-year siege over most of the rest of their land, midnight raids on their homes by Israeli soldiers, and many more practices (described by major human rights orgs as “apartheid”) designed to humiliate them and drive them to despair.
Israel insists that Palestinians’ anger makes them dangerous, so it has created hundreds of discriminatory laws to block Palestinians’ ability to move freely, talk freely, or organize for their own wellbeing.
In short: Palestinian anger is born of injustice. “No justice, no peace.”
Hate crimes?
At this moment, a tiny number of Palestinians, having lived their entire lives under oppression and occupation, have given up hope of humanity ever making things right. They have taken to randomly attacking Israeli citizens – which almost invariably results in the Palestinians’ own death.
This is a double tragedy. Each time, both Israelis and Palestinians die needlessly.
But what is lost in the telling of this story is the thousands of Palestinian deaths, the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian lives shattered, that paved the way to this moment.
That is, countless unreported injustices and indignities, countless dreams deferred, have driven a few Palestinians to desperation.
If these are crimes of hate, the hate is not toward “Jews” as a group, but toward the system that keeps Palestinians hopeless and helpless. This system happens to be populated entirely by people who are Jewish, but to Palestinians, their Jewishness is irrelevant.
Context is everything
Starting decades before Israel’s birth in 1948 on land confiscated from Palestinians, the two people groups have been adversaries in an asymmetrical, vicious cycle.
The context of this cycle is critical, but often ignored: Israel boasts one of the most powerful, advanced militaries in the world, but has forbidden Palestinians from establishing their own army.
So Palestinians face a multifaceted struggle: resisting Israel’s near total control over their lives using whatever methods they can, and demanding their most basic human rights – freedom of movement, freedom to earn a living and pursue happiness, self-determination, the right to return to their homes.
Israel, unwilling to relinquish control, refuses every demand and calls every form of resistance “terrorism” and “an existential threat.” The Israeli army then clamps down ever harder on the Palestinians – restricting their lives even further and sometimes launching all-out war.
Some (but by no means all) Israeli civilians actively participate in the persecution of Palestinians, harassing, attacking, even killing them – with complicity or even support from the Israeli military.
In addition to Israelis who commit violent acts against Palestinians, over 675,000 Israelis live illegally on Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israeli provocation is constant; inevitably a weary and desparate Palestinian will snap and carry out a rogue attack (many who know the Palestinian narrative only wonder that these attacks are so rare).
Israel uses these “unprovoked” incidents to “prove” Palestinians’ violent and antisemitic nature and the need to subdue the entire population.
War of words
Israel has the upper hand not just militarily, but also in the narrative and geopolitical domains.
Much of mainstream media has for decades muffled the Palestinian account of events and allowed Israel to paint itself as the victim. Israel’s supporters have successfully silenced voices that advocate for Palestinian rights by labeling them “antisemitic.”
Meanwhile, Israel enjoys unfettered financial and ideological backing from the US – in spite of Americans’ declining support.
Rethinking our theology
The discourse above (all irrefutable – follow the links) may come as a shock to many Christians who have stood by Israel because of what they believe to be a biblical imperative.
Like the Christians who tried to support slavery, genocide, and other injustices with Scripture, the effort to vindicate Israel will ultimately fail.
We must square our attitude with Jesus’ examples of restorative justice and holding the powerful accountable.
Scripture is quite clear about God’s priorities:
Micah 6:8 — “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (emphasis added)
In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus teaches that God has prepared a kingdom for those who minister to the hungry, the stranger, and the needy (including those in prison).
In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus declares that the way to inherit eternal life is by loving our neighbor wholeheartedly, even if he/she is from another religion or race. In Matthew 23:23, he condemned religious leaders who neglected “justice and mercy and faithfulness.”
1 John 3:17-18 — “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
For Christians who can not let go of the idea that modern Jews have a right to the land of Palestine, consider God’s clear exhortation to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land:
Deuteronomy 16:20 — “Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
What remains for us as Christians is to take a long, hard, humble look at our hearts. We must come to grips with our own assumptions, get familiar with the narrative of the marginalized, and make the necessary changes in our theology.
Then we must be obedient to Jesus’ command to minister to them. There are many ways to advocate for justice for Palestinians – you will read about them and, no doubt, find stirrings in your heart as well.
Until this moment, dear Christian, you could take refuge in Jesus’ words from the cross:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
But now you know, and it is time to stir some things up.