For those of you who did not know, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Egypt, Jordan, and Israel/Palestine for a 3-week maymester with my seminary, Union-PSCE. The journey was one I will never forget. I learned a great deal about the ancient Biblical world through archeology and a great deal about modern day conflicts in all 3 countries. The latter is what I will write about in this post.
We have been dealing with news of struggles in the middle east for close to 60 years now. Over this time period, we have almost become numb to news from Israel/Palestine, just thinking its the "same old stuff." Unfortunately, it is basically the same pattern of cyclical violence. However, we have become numb to the cumulative effect of violence and war on the cultures over there.
Several things stood out to me about the culture of Israel/Palestine during my visit:
1. The wall, or Israeli West Bank barrier: Under construction since the 90's, this wall separates Palestinian territories from Israeli territories. The wall is often 50 meters in length, consisting of barbed wire, trenches, and huge concrete barrier walls with electronic surveillance. We learned of how detrimental this project has been to Palestinian farmers who have had their lands cut off from them. Also, the bitter racism leads to brutal border guards who regularly harass Palestinians entering and leaving these borders. Beyond this, Palestinians are often blocked off from essential resources on the other side of the wall. For example, out of the 6 major water wells in the area, only ONE is located within Palestinian territory.
2. Guns in public. One of the more shocking things to see was the off-duty army kids carrying rifles on their backs wherever they went. They are expected to have guns on them at all times in case violence breaks out. It's not uncommon to see young guys and girls out at bars and other scenes with these guns on their backs. This is what younger kids look up to - being able to tote guns around in public.
3. The war-marketing. T-shirt stands are very popular in the touristy areas of Jerusalem. Often times these shirts have traditional designs and pictures of Jerusalem. However, there are also many shirts that brag on the military might of Israel. Many other shirts also brag on the relations with the United states, with slogans such as "jerUSAlem" and "don't worry America, Israel's got your back!" The shirt I bought was VERY rare. It says PEACE in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. Beyond t-shirts, the general advertising environment did not shy away from showing off guns and masculine, militaristic, lifestyles.
4. The only English speaking news on TV over there? coughfoxnewscough.... I mean you're not THAT surprised are you?
What am I getting at here? We are failing to see what Israel has become behind the scenes. The culture of war and brutal superiority over Palestinians, who are forced to live behind physical and metaphorical walls, has built a sense of arrogance and racism among many Israelis. They fail to see the many humanitarian issues facing Palestinians. Issues that drive many to terrorism, as it is the only way they see a path to freedom! I am not justifying their acts of violence in any way. Rather, I am trying to express the importance of understanding their situation, as this is something we hardly ever receive from our news sources.
The escalated war in Gaza is only proof of this. The rocket attacks from Gaza, horrible and wrong as they may be, did not deserve the extent of war brought on by Israel. With 800 deaths and counting, many being civilians, I hope the plight of the Palestinians may be realized.
From what I witnessed and heard, the patience of the Palestinians is incredible. For what many face, the reality of violent resistance is relatively small. However, this is no excuse for not making a push to deal with things more humanely.
As Christians, I hope and pray we can learn to look at this situation objectively. There is pain and death on both sides. There are fellow Christians on both sides. Both sides are populated with children of God who deserve equal treatment and love. Both sides contain children who are growing up learning to hate the Arab/Jew instead of learning to coexist. As Christians, I also hope we can pray for peace and justice more often. Yes, there are many many many issues in this world, but let us not forget one just because it has been around longer.
I know this situation is much more complex than any of us can understand, and a resolution is probably not anywhere in the near future, unfortunately. However, it is my hope that the world can view Palestinians as people, children of God, who are struggling to get by, not as a haven of terrorists.
Peace, Shalom, and Shalaam,
Mike
p.s. I've attached some pictures of graffiti on the wall, check 'em out!
p.p.s. TIME recently put out a GREAT article about the conflict and recent escalation
p.p.p.s. There's
a documentary out there about the wall...slightly boring but highly insightful. It's called "the wall."
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