The Role of Faith in the Struggle for Justice and Human Rights in Palestine

The Role of Faith in the Struggle for Justice and Human Rights in Palestine

Communities of faith have a responsibility to respond to injustice when they encounter it, but some injustices should hold a special place in conversations of faith.  The occupation of Palestine should be one such issue.  The Israeli/Palestinian conflict has touched international politics in a unique way that creates systems of resistance and complicity between many national bodies, not least of which is the United States of America.  As an American Christian, I must be aware of how the politicians who represent me engage in this conflict and whose governments they support.  Furthermore, the conflict is frequently framed within religious terms as a conflict between people of faith in the region of Israel/Palestine, in particular the Abrahamic faiths, which all hold scriptural and traditional relationships with the land.  I must also seek to provide a faithful voice of resistance against the injustices committed in the region against the people and tenets of my faith.  A faithful Christian response must resist violence and oppression in the name of our Abrahamic god by engaging in: biblical hermeneutics which resist oppression and violence, contextual political and economic advocacy, resistance to use of religion and scripture for violence, and solidarity with Christian and non-Christian voices in Palestine.

While there are too many injustices in the world for any single person to actively resist, by virtue of the religious framing of arguments and news reporting regarding Palestine and Israel, the conflict should merit our attention as Christians.  Biblically-justified historical narratives provide the reasoning behind much of Zionist rhetoric surrounding Jewish “return” to Israel.  As fellow “people of the book,” Christians should engage this use of our shared sacred scripture and resist lenses which justify displacement of people and politically-motivated violence.  The stories of Exodus and “promised land” can be read as liberation from an oppressive, violent government upon the people of its land, much like Israeli treatment of Palestinians today.  My readings before our class and experience in Palestine served to prove to me how real that oppression is.  Palestinians lack basic freedoms and rights to basic necessities like employment, land, water, uncensored education, speech, peaceful assembly, mobility, security, and shelter that many of us in the world take for granted.  These inhumane conditions are imposed upon the people by a government that prioritizes Israelis, most of whom are first or second generation immigrants into a land of the people their government oppresses.  

Any discussion of the holy land would be incomplete without mention of the anti-Semitism and genocide of Jewish people throughout the world that resulted in mass migrations to the land.  While we must be sympathetic to the experiences of Jewish people throughout the world and the weight of historical anti-Semitism, we must not understand Israel, as it exists today, as a nation of religious refugees.  Unlike many migrations, in which a people come to a land to share in its securities and resources in cooperation with its inhabitants and respect for their ways of life, the Israeli government does not share the resources or respect the ways of life of the Palestinian people, nor minorities of Reform and Reconstructionist Jews (although their rights and privileges far exceed those of Palestinians).  As people of faith, we must be concerned with “the least of these” (Matt. 25:40); in the case of modern Israel/Palestine, to mix a metaphor, Israel is clearly Goliath.  Freedom for some cannot be at the expense of others.

Christians today are also citizens of a modern world, and as such, we must engage the political realities of which we find ourselves a part.  As a Christian situated in America, I must be aware of and vocal about the kinds of support my political representatives give to Israel and Palestine, as should citizens of other countries of the world.  Since the U.S. supports Israel in both words and deeds, I must give Christian voice to the violence committed against Palestinians with this support by writing my representatives and speaking out against it.  I can try to offset this kind of political spending by being aware of how my personal spending has an impact on the ground.  By avoiding purchasing from Israeli companies and from companies that support Israel, Christians can help offset the massive resources of the Israeli government in its occupation of Palestine.  In encountering Christian voices who encourage national support of Israel, I must also raise up a Christian message against oppression and empire, which can be found in Exodus and on the cross.  

Since my scriptures and the stories they tell originate from this region of the world, I have a responsibility to engage how the scriptures are used to provide justification for violence and occupation.  As Israeli colonists continue to carve more land away from Palestinians and foment further hostilities, they justify such actions by claiming all the land of “Israel” as theirs.  Just as Christians should resist supercessionism, Christians must also resist forms of religious superiority in which scripture or other religious views are used to control populations, most especially when such populations do not hold in common a religious tradition or interpretation of scripture.  Our faith must be a reflection of God’s love for all people, no matter from which tradition or area of the world they come.  If, as Paul says, our faith dissolves boundaries (Gal. 3:28), we are called to recognize both the divinity and humanity in all people of earth, which mandates that we resist the abuses of the Israeli government, including home demolitions, collective punishment, unlawful imprisonment, land confiscation, apartheid walls, discriminatory allocation of resources and services, etc.

 These frequent actions of an occupying government upon a group of people which suffer from categorical oppression cannot be considered actions defending faith nor actions of faith.  Christians should provide a voice of witness against these kinds of human rights abuses and the notion that any biblical claim to land can justify such abuse of God’s creation.  Just as Christ was crucified for resisting an oppressive Roman empire, so today many Palestinians face similarly terrorist tactics in the face of their resistance.  We cannot let God’s children suffer so, especially not in God’s name nor on land we call holy.

While religion should never stand in the way of solidarity with a people who suffer from injustice, in light of how the conflict is often presented as one between Jews and Muslims, and also in light of rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the world, it can be useful to raise up the Christian Palestinian presence and voice in the region.  Through venues like the Kairos Document, Palestinian Christians have asked for Christians throughout the world to hear their cries for justice and witness.  None should equate Israel with Judaism nor Palestinianism with Islam, nor any religion with its most extremist factions.  However, Christians should believe in the spiritual power of Christianity as a force in our lives and protect its people and its presence as a source of hope and liberation in the world.  In so doing, Christians must stand with our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters who cry out into a seeming wilderness for support in standing against the injustices of the Israeli occupiers and the continuing oppression and dislocation of Palestinians.  As they hang onto God’s hope while enduring hardship that most of us can only imagine, we must be God’s hands and feet in the world, responding to their need and giving voice to their laments. Standing in solidarity with Palestinians asks us to be their voice in circles of faith, in our political systems, and in the media; part of engaging their hope is to continue in that faith and hope that people will hear their cries and their situation will change, despite the reality which suggests such change is in the distant future if it exists at all.

In pursuing solidarity with Palestinian Christians, we must also make sure to engage with Palestinian voices themselves.  Many Palestinians live in diaspora around the world.  In seeking understanding, we should find organizations or individuals who can help us better understand these issues from firsthand perspectives.  It is important to acknowledge that Western voices have been given priority for too long within our tradition; listening to Palestinians themselves is an important part of understanding Western complicity in this region and violence against people of color throughout the world.  Part of breaking down systems of empire and colonialism is to resist systems which prioritize voices of privilege, especially when such voices are tangential to or uninvolved in the realities being discussed.  In addition to our commitment to include Palestinian voices in our learning and conversations around the state of affairs in Palestine, those of us who have the financial, national, and ability privileges that enable us to see these realities firsthand should consider finding ways to arrange encounter with not only people from the land, but also the land itself and its physical realities today.  Many Palestinians encourage folks from outside the region to “see for yourself,” knowing that even the videos, pictures, and testimonies cannot convey first hand experience in the land, both as an experience of the preciousness of the area and its people, and as one of the oppressive nature of life as a Palestinian under occupation.

As people of faith, Christians have a responsibility to respond to injustice, most especially when such injustices are committed in the name of our God.  We must engage our involvement in Israel/Palestine both via the actions of our government representatives and how our personal spending does or can have an effect on the ground; practically, we can do this by writing our local and national politicians and by considering how we might participate in the BDS movement.  As a members of Abrahamic traditions, Christians must also speak out against uses of scripture which support political violence like that of Israel as well as promote biblical interpretations that resist empire and oppressive governments.  Lastly, we must stand in solidarity with Christians who are suffering in the region by lifting up their voices in worship and discussion in an effort to resist violence against Christians and provide a non-violent Christian voice.  The realities on the ground in Palestine speak for themselves.  The people are suffering categorically.  As followers of a man who was crucified for resisting an oppressive government, Christians must speak out against oppression in our world today, especially when it is defended in the name of our God and our scripture.