As I stayed behind both sides of the Wall that separates the state of Israel and Palestine...I realized how blind that I've been. I'm ashamed of how ignorant that I've been, how I let my American and even the views of the evangelical church shape my view of the Israeli and Palistinian confict.
I'll explain.
In Jerusalem...I kept having this feeling that as a Christian, I had to choose sides, to stand on the side of the state of Israel as a country. I felt that I "should" side with Israel because God is has always been pro-Israel in the Bible and heck they are the chosen people of God right?....so of course I "should" be pro-Israel.
Then, having the privilege at the other side of the wall...after waiting in line for the border check, showing my passport to the Israeli soldiers, I entered the sleepy Palestinian town of Bethlehem, the town where Jesus was born...
My friends who lives there, have been working with the Palestinian refugee camps for a while now and I had the privilege of going with them into the camps for house visits. Hanging out with the refugees and listening to their stories had really stirred and challenged my stance in this matter. Their pain runs deep in their hearts. If you asked them how many people they knew personally that have died innocently by this conflict...they'll start telling you about the many young boys that have died in their arms when shot by Israeli settlers. These 14-15 years old boys were only throwing stones and they were shot. I've visited families where they have posters of these young boys that died from just throwing stones in protest.
The lives in these refugee camps are truly glim....they're constantly tormented with injustice ....no hope for anything better while their Israeli brothers on the other side of the wall "party and have loud music and live the good life".
I spoke with a young man...entering into adulthood with nothing promising getting intosmoking, doing drugs, and womanizing...
I tried to encourage him....he replied..." yeah, my dream is to study and become a lawyer so that I can bring justice against "those not nice people !@#$%"
I've observed that if you have a person in distress, under pressure, living poor conditions, stripped from any kind of a choice or power over their lives, they will blow up one day...and indeed the radical muslims have been doing that. For some reason, I'm actually understanding a little of their world view. Though I believe that horrible media and propaganda have been a huge contributed to this violence... and I believe that if I had children and if anyone of my children had been shot ruthlessly, the pain would be so incredible that I would consider doing anything to avenge their death, even unto death. Now, I'm not condoning terrorism, but I'm understanding the root of why things are the way they are.
If someone asks me again about my stance of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict...
I would say that I'm Pro-Kingdom. I don't think that God is pro-Israel as a state....I don't think that God is even pro-Palestine. I don't believe that God is political in an earthly sense. He's pro-Kingdom "on earth as it's in heaven" He's pro-Bride of Christ making herself ready for His return. He loves the Palestinians, the Arabs just as much as the Jews and the Christians.
I don't care about what anyone says, but if you're not loving your neighbor, there is some serious problems there. I think that taking sides is a trap. In conflicts like these, I believe my roll as a fellow human being is to be peacemaker. To bring Love to them...what does love look like to the Jews? What does love look like to the Palestinians?
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