Hello Brad, so I went to Israel and Palestine and it was nothing like
I expected. It was amazing, I met lovely people, I got sick of
churches and monuments but not of the land and people, and spent about
10 days after the conference just living at the Bible College in
Bethlehem. I didn't talk to an Orthodox Jew about the temple
rebuilding, though, but I played piano at the Walled-Off Hotel twice.
Their "gallery" is quite disturbing, but realistic.
Our mutual friend Mercy introduced me to a family a couple blocks from
the Bible College, who had invited her for an Iftar meal. How can you
not fall in love with these people? The father of five (or 6?) sells
coffee on the street in order to make ends meet. But what generous
hearts. Their house may not seem like much, but their home is
wonderful, true Middle Eastern hospitality and generosity.
The conference was good too, although the tour I also signed for was
heartbreaking, and I'm talking about seeing and meeting families
affected by the conflict, Palestinians who are denouncing the system
in a non-violent way, some paying with their lives or limbs. We went
to The Tent of Nations, we met with Ahed Tamimi's father and family,
and Rami Elhanan from the Parents Circle. I also went to visit Ali Abu
Awwad (Google him) who is another Palestinian advocating for
non-violence who has opened his home to Orthodox Jews, Israeli
settlers living just beside him, and anyone who wants to join, in
order to dialogue and experiment community together as neighbors
rather than enemies. It was an amazing encounter and I'm glad that I
recorded our short conversation.
I also sat down with Salim Munayer, BBC, to ask a few questions, and
spoke briefly with Dr Michael Brown whom I also challenged with a
question during the public debate with Munther Isaac. I'm not sure my
question came out right because his first answer was basically
concluding that I was suggesting or supporting the eradication of the
state of Israel. I was actually shocked by what he wrote after the
conference and how obtuse, blind, and uninformed he still was. But I
have hope that through his continuing relationship, and hopefully
friendship, with the Bethlehem Bible College teachers and Christian
Palestinians, he will start seeing more clearly a worldview that will
expand his understanding of the Gospel and the destiny of Israel. Not
that I know much more than him but I think I'm starting to see a few
things.
So I've been back for about 3 weeks and I am still not completely
back, if you know my meaning. I feel emotionally overwhelmed, the mere
thought of Gaza sometimes makes me cry, I experience both anger and
despair at the powerlessness, words about or to earthly powers are not
enough, and I don't know if prayers really work in this case, but I
started praying to the God of Israel to gather together the Jewish
people closer to Him so they can hear His voice, His heart. And for
Israel's government to repent, to be brought to their knees and
humbled, for them to turn to the Palestinians and recognize that what
they are doing is wrong and misrepresenting God's heart and will for
them, that it is not a way to preserve a culture, namely their own
race as Jews.
My problem now - I wish I was not that angry. I've been posting on
Facebook more and more about Palestine and what I have experienced
over there and of course now I have a new circle of friends who have
been there as well, and who in their own spheres of influence are
peace activists, public speakers, authorities in the church they
belong to in terms of Human Rights and injustice, etc. So a lot more
material crosses my path, including from new friends I made in Gaza
via Facebook, in the West Bank as well, Palestinians and Christian
Palestinians. And I feel the tyranny of speaking out, but sometimes I
fear it is without wisdom.
I have already been called anti-Semitic by an old friend, which used
this as a sledgehammer way of unfriending me. I don't know of another
thing someone could say that defiles the soul more. Other believers
have called Palestinians "animals" on my wall and other such lovely
terms, betraying a devotion to Israel that borders on idolatry,
coupled with tunnel vision and fed by propaganda. Which I also found
in the other camp, but what can you expect from people living in the
Gaza hell but to tell Israel to f@#$-off? Seeing images of children
with their brains blown off was traumatic to say the least... They see
this regularly.
One afternoon I was having lunch at the Bethlehem Bible College and
sitting at the table was one of the ladies working there, and she
replied to my question about her transition from anger and hatred to
love of enemies. I was shocked and moved to tears at her reply that
there was never really a transition; basically she grew up being
taught to love her enemies, both at home and in church. Now I was
humbled. I don't have a grid for that in practice, and that’s shocking
to me too.
I wish there was a prayer that I could make that would place in my
heart a prism through which I could look at the world now. I think
more than the horrors I'm discovering about Israel's behavior over the
past decades, is my inability to have a transformed heart. Because I'm
not called to hatred but to love, and if I am to represent my
Christian Palestinian brothers and sisters when I speak, I need to
refrain from coloring my words with my own carnality. They have much
to teach me.
So I guess that is a good path to be on, but it's hard to look at what
is happening in my heart spontaneously when I read about the deaths in
Gaza, and I remember the sights and sounds and stories of Palestine
and how locked they are in a very narrow destiny imposed by Israel's
methods to deal with their own fears. Much of the present government
is acting out in ways that suggest it is stuck with a project
(Zionism) born out of or carried out in rebellion.
Of course to a Canadian mind like mine, the solution seems pretty
straightforward: just end the occupation. But I'm aware that it's much
more complicated than that and that it would take years to release the
hold that Israel has given itself over the lives of millions. But
there needs to be a first step. This also connects me with all the
prophets of the Old Testament, as well as Jesus and the apostles, and
how they address Israel and portray Israel as a stiff-necked
hard-hearted people that is rebellious.
For a so-called advanced culture, as they pride themselves to be, I do
find their form of government to be very backward. We're talking about
a colonial power in a 21st century that is postcolonialist.
So I ponder and wonder, and I try to refrain myself from posting too
much too quickly, as my friends are 98% believers and this is coming
against the usual culture of understanding of a “Christian
perspective” on Israel. But I can't stop trying to "make them see." So
it will continue to test me, I presume.
I need to find that sweet spot of "love of neighbor" in a practical
way. I marvel at those who seem to know how to always land on their
feet in that regard, like a cat which, no matter how he falls, will
always land on his feet. Where is that found?
What is salvation for, if not for this kind of transformation?
Thanks again for your encouraging words, and continued walk in the
light, despite the hardships you also encounter like a proper human
being... ;)
Happy Canada Day, despite not really being a true reading for
rejoicing (O Canada, Their home and native land...), we have our own
colonial past to be purged from, eh...
Peace,
André
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