Palestinian Christians demand justice
Uncovering life in the West Bank
WEST BANK, ISRAEL—Christians in the West need to recognize that there is a parallel narrative to the creation of the State of Israel. The parallel narrative is one that involves occupation and the suffering of the Palestinian people.
I recently spent three months in the West Bank as an Ecumenical Accompanier with the World Council of Churches. My task was to witness life under occupation, record human rights abuses and provide a protective presence in vulnerable communities.
Sixty-two per cent of the West Bank is located in an area that falls under Israeli administrative and military control. Palestinians living here are prevented from construction and development and are refused connections to water and electricity. Denied the permits to build any structure, even animal shelters or toilets, Palestinians build anyway, and then face demolition orders.
Israeli settlements and forced land transfers force Palestinians from their homes, despite the fact that these tactics have been deemed illegal under international law. Israel takes land by either annexing it or by declaring it a military zone, archaeological site or a nature preserve.
Sosanna Nawaja has family who live in Susiya, a small village in the South Hebron Hills under Israeli occupation. “People feel afraid. They can’t do anything. It’s hard for people to lose their land, home and way of life.”
Susiya was founded in the 1830’s. In 1983, the Israeli settlement of Suysa was established nearby, taking over 300 hectares of land owned by the village but declared state land by Israel. In 1986, more land was taken when the Israeli Civil Administration (DCO) declared the village’s land an archeological site.
The Israeli military forced people from their homes, causing them to flee to caves, flimsy wood-frame shelters and tents hastily erected on their agricultural land a few hundred meters from the original village.
“The children only see [Israelis] who come and destroy or beat their parents when they are out shepherding or ploughing,” says Sosanna. “The people are insecure. They would like to build nice houses and be able to care for their animals and tend olive trees and fields without constant threat.”
It may be difficult for some to believe this goes on. But it does, and this is only one part of the reality that many Palestinians face every day.
The leaders of churches in the occupied Palestinian territories produced a document called A Moment of Truth: Kairos Palestine. It is a “word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.”
It calls Christians and Israelis to “revisit fundamentalist theological positions that support certain unjust political options with regard to the Palestinian people.”
It adds, “The Word of God is a word of love for all His creation. God is not the ally of one against the other, nor the opponent of one in the face of the other. God is the Lord of all and loves all, demanding justice from all and issuing to all of us the same commandments.”
I think we can all agree, the Palestinian Christians and Muslims deserve the same rights and freedoms as their Israeli neighbours.
A longer version of this article appeared in the August 10 edition of Christian Courier.
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