“There are perhaps many causes worth dying for, but to me, certainly, there are none worth killing for.”
Albert Dietrich
One of the main questions I get asked at the moment is “how are you doing?” and it’s an almost impossible question to answer in a way that most people would understand. My go to answer has gone from “I’m fine” to “I’m safe and getting along like everyone else.” Neither are entirely accurate. Yes I’m safe, yes I’m physically well, but I’m also somewhat lost, in pain, and struggling to know where to turn. My work provides me with a distraction as I discern the best course for those I work with, but there are still the constant messages from friends in the Palestine and Israel, the cries from the Palestinian Christians who feel, rightly in most cases, that the international church has deserted them in a time of critical need, and the images from Gaza and the West Bank are in stark contrast to life in Jordan.
As someone ordained in the church in the Holy Land and working within the Palestinian community, the cries of that church and the people of this land sit most profoundly on my shoulders. I cannot, and would not speak for them, their voices are loud and clear, but they desperately need the West to listen and, more importantly, to ACT. My friend and colleague Rev. Imad Haddad of the Lutheran Church in Amman summed this up in a recent statement when he wrote:
Our land and our people do not need your words of sympathy but your creative action against our annihilation.
Our land and our people do not need your so-called politically balanced, theologically-sound statements, but your unwavering firm stand against violence, injustice, occupation, and apartheid.
….
Remember: What you discuss in your statements, and what you theologise in your libraries affects our daily life. Be mindful of what you say and write, do not be part of the injustice done to us.
Rev. Imad Haddad
These are words that are ringing with me as I edit this blog post that I wrote some days ago. I can no longer remain silent or simply write words, I too am called to stand firm.
“The Bible says that there is a time for peace and a time for war … this is a time for war,” “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible,” These are two quotes from Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in recent days, regarding Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. Weaponising Bible passages from Ecclesiastes (3:8), Deuteronomy (25:17), and 1 Samuel (15:3) to justify the flattening of whole neighbourhoods, the killing of thousands, and injuring of thousands more. Just imagine if the leaders of Muslim countries were to weaponise the Qur’ån in the same way – how different would the response from the West be? Would the USA still be strongly backing their “right to defend themselves”? Would there have been formal moves towards a ceasefire or truce? Netanyahu’s statement was not directed at Israelis or even his fellow Jews in the diaspora, it was directed towards Christians, those in the West who hold Christian Zionist beliefs, who hold fast to the principles that drive them to support the actions of the Israeli government regardless of what those actions are, those who give millions, if not billions, of dollars towards Israel’s weapons arsenal. He hopes that their response to this call is to call on their governments to ignore the injustices, the occupation, the destruction, and the death that is being dealt to the Palestinian people and to reaffirm their “unquestioning support for Israel and it’s right to defend itself.” If you believe this, then tell me, and more importantly tell my Palestinian friends where defence comes into the killing of thousands of civilians including many, many children.
One of the things which has been particularly hard for the local church has been the dearth of real and meaningful support from international church leaders, some churches removed their clergy from the land at the very start of the conflict and have gone on to say almost nothing, some have gone completely silent, and some have visited, met with the local Christian community and then gone home to make statements which ignore what they saw and heard. I cannot begin to understand how those churches who removed their clergy at the slightest sign of conflict will be able to look their congregations in the eyes when they return.
Just take a moment to consider the following two responses from international church leadership. Firstly from the newly created Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzabella, Latin (Roman Catholic) Patriarch of Jerusalem, in his letter to his congregations in Palestine and Israel dated 24th October wrote:
My conscience and moral duty require me to state clearly that what happened on October 7th in southern Israel is in no way permissible and we cannot but condemn it. There is no reason for such an atrocity. Yes, we have a duty to state this and to denounce it. The use of violence is not compatible with the Gospel, and it does not lead to peace. The life of every human person has equal dignity before God, who created us all in His image.
The same conscience, however, with a great burden on my heart, leads me to state with equal clarity today that this new cycle of violence has brought to Gaza over five thousand deaths, including many women and children, tens of thousands of wounded, neighborhoods razed to the ground, lack of medicine, lack of water and of basic necessities for over two million people. These are tragedies that cannot be understood and which we have a duty to denounce and condemn unreservedly. The continuous heavy bombardment that has been pounding Gaza for days will only cause more death and destruction and will only increase hatred and resentment. It will not solve any problem, but rather create new ones. It is time to stop this war, this senseless violence.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzabella
Compare this to the circumstance of Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby who, having visited Jerusalem just days before and held meetings with Palestinian church leaders, on his return to London appeared to completely dismiss everything he had heard and tow the UK government line stating that
“The evil and heinous terror attacks by Hamas on people in Israel were crimes against God and humanity. Israel has a legitimate right and duty to defend itself, and to pursue a proportionate and discriminate response to establish its security,”
Archbishop Justin Welby
Whilst we cannot disagree with calling out the horrors that were perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th, for ++Welby to dismiss the plight of Palestinians and the suffering of Christians in particular was a huge blow to the Palestinian Christian community, and in particular the Anglican communion. Congregations in Birzeit and Ramallah (in the West Bank) wrote to Lambeth Palace to show their frustration and others I have spoken to in the church now will refuse to meet with ++Welby if he visits in the future.
Conflict is never without its victims, and when that conflict is one-sided even more so. Yes, what Hamas did on 7th October was terrible, the deaths of innocent people, horrifying, and the taking of hostages was wrong and Hamas should be condemned for their actions. But nothing can justify the scenes of total destruction and prima facie genocide coming out of Gaza. Whole neighbourhoods completely gone, generations of some families completely wiped out, hospitals unable to treat patients but yet more keep coming, and no sign of end.
Gaza to me isn’t simply a tiny place on a map. It’s a place that I have visited on a few occasions, and a place where I have spent time with the people. Since the 7th October I’ve seen places I visited reduced to rubble, I hear from friends who are moving from place to place to try and avoid the bombs, and I’ve spent time in the churches and with the clergy there.
I still remember my last time in Gaza in early 2020, meeting the Orthodox and Latin priests, visiting various projects, and spending time at a centre for psycho-social support for children where we had great fun playing a ‘parachute’ game.
I can imagine that if I had visited the areas in the Gaza envelope (the area around and abutting the Gaza Strip which is home to a number of Israeli communities) which came under attack from Hamas on 7th October I might have seen something similar, and those stories are also heartbreaking, but the true scale of destruction in Gaza and the rising death toll (despite that is coming from the Israeli government, the numbers from the Palestinian Health Ministry have historically been accurate in Gaza, in fact, in recent days there have been indications from the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) what these may actually be underestimates), takes what is going on there to another level. People have no food, no water, no electricity, and no way out, despite claims that a lot of humanitarian aid is entering the strip, the actual amount is tiny compared to the need and still no fuel is allowed to enter.
We must also not forget about those in the West Bank, under the cover of the atrocities in Gaza the displacement of Palestinians by Israeli settlers and the abuse of power towards Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank has greatly increased. Extremist Israeli groups are operating with seemingly no boundaries, often protected by Israeli police or army personnel, and are now being armed with thousands of automatic weapons delivered from the USA which the current Israeli ‘National Security’ Minister, has decided to use to form his own personal militia among his fellow settlers.
I feel this post has become a bit of a ramble, part catharsis, part release of anger, and part memorialisation, however, I do think there is a point. At this time when all seems hopeless, when images of death and destruction grow hourly, and when no end seems in sight, it is ok to be somewhat lost. It is ok to call out like the Psalmist when they write:
145With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord.
Psalm 119:145-147
I will keep your statutes.
146 I cry to you; save me,
that I may observe your decrees.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I put my hope in your words.
But we should also remember the words of Isaiah:
He shall judge between the nations,
Isaiah 2:4
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
We all must work harder to bring this about, to bring down the walls which separate people, to see that a just peace can be achieved (maybe not in our lifetime, but we can be part of those working toward that goal), we must support those who work for peace and justice, and we must always be willing to speak up, but much more importantly to ACT. Although we may be somewhat lost we are in a better place than those who have lost everything and for whom the future is a place of darkness and uncertainty.
ThinkingAllowed 
Amen 🙏🏼