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Signs of the Times

Description: The Christian Perspective to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
By Edmund Ng

THE tiny nation of Israel in the heartland of the Arabs is once again the recent focus of world attention. Not that the hostilities between the Israelis and the Palestinians are anything new, but the stone-throwing has erupted into ferocious gun battles which saw more than a hundred dead. In retaliation, the Israeli army clamped a closure order on the occupied territories of Gaza and West Bank while their helicopters bombarded Palestinian targets. This tension panicked Wall Street to fall 379 points in one day on Oct 10, 2000. Meanwhile, an American warship and the British Embassy in Yemen have been bombed, Israeli soldiers are kidnapped in Lebanon, oil prices are escalating and Saddam Hussein is threatening war again. An emergency Peace Summit was hurriedly arranged in Egypt and the usual rhetoric followed.

 

The tense situation in Israel also brings into focus the question: How do we Christians view the Middle East Conflict? Our perspective will undoubtedly depend on our theological mindset. However, let us first understand the historical background that gave rise to this seemingly irresolvable situation.

 

Why so much conflict?

Canaan is one of the old names for Palestine. According to the Bible, the Israelis led by Joshua conquered Canaan around 1500 BC. According to God’s instructions, they exterminated most of the Canaanites living there then. Israel flourished as a nation but subsequently, Palestine came under the rule of the Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Greeks and then the Romans. The Roman troops under Titus levelled Jerusalem to the ground in AD 70 as prophesied by Jesus (Matt 24:1,2). Many Jews were killed while others fled from Palestine. In fact, during the Byzantine Period (325 – 614) when Constantine the Great converted to Christianity and Byzantium made the capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire, the Jews were allowed back to Jerusalem only one day a year on September 8, the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple.

 

In AD 637, the Muslim Arabs overran Jerusalem and ruled Palestine for five centuries. The local populace living there, which came from diverse ethic origins, adopted Islam and came to be known as the Palestinian Arabs. Then Christian Europe rose to fight against the Arabs in the crusades. There were eight main crusades lasting two centuries. The crusaders were eventually routed by the Mamelukes in AD 1291. The Muslim masters treated harshly the small number of Jews remaining in the land. Soon, the Ottoman Turks overran Palestine and ruled the land until the beginning of the 20th century. The majority Palestinians and the minority Jews both suffered much under the ‘abominable Turks’.

 

In 1916, the Palestinians revolted against the Turks. They were aided by a former British archaeologist later known as Lawrence of Arabia. The Turks fled when the British arrived in Palestine at the start of World War 1. Both the Palestinians and the Jews welcomed the British colonialists. In the meantime, more Jews started to arrive in Palestine as a result of persecution especially prevalent in Europe. They were further motivated by two factors. Firstly, a Jew in Paris by the name of Eliezer Ben Yehouda believed that he received a vision from God to re-introduce the Hebrew language in Palestine. Secondly, another Jew by the name of Theodor Herzl launched a political movement known as Zionism for the rebirth of the nation of Israel.

 

Soon, the aliyah or returning Jews became a social, economic and political threat to the Palestinians. The British issued the Belfour Declaration in favour of establishing a national home for the Jews in Palestine without prejudice to the rights of the Palestinians. Sadly, they were not able to keep their promises. The subsequent Peel Commission recommended the partition of Palestine between the Jews and the Arabs. This was rejected by the Palestinians. When the potato got too hot, the problem was relinquished to the United Nations. The UN Special Committee also advocated the partition of Palestine. In 1948, the British withdrew from Palestine and Israel declared her independence. Immediately, Arab hostilities broke out against the Jews. Since then, four major wars have been fought between the Arabs and the Jews.

 

Who is right?

The conflict involves two groups of people of two races laying claim to the same territory for reasons closely tied to their religion. One people, through their steady immigration, wealth and persuasion of the super-powers, have doggedly established her own state in order to affirm their own sense of identity as a race and a nation. Another people, who were already living in the land and accommodated the immigrants when they came, have to contend to be treated as a minority with second-class citizenship.

 

The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) has, as its Manifesto, the total annihilation of the Jewish state by force. Palestinians were trained as terrorists to carry out acts of violence that included the murder of civilians, airplane hijacking and the disruption of the Olympic games. Many Palestinians still harbour an ‘all-or-nothing’ attitude and the PLO has often threatened to declare themselves an independent Palestinian state.

 

On the other hand, the Israeli Government has razed hundreds of Palestinian villages to the ground, treated them with hostility and cruelty, and economically discriminated against them. The Jews are equally guilty of their acts of terrorism. The former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir went to the extent of saying that, “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people”. The tragedy is that the Jews, in affirming their own aspirations to be a people and a nation, have denied the same rights to the Palestinians.

 

Some Christians tend to see the Palestinians as God’s enemies to be routed from Israel in the same way God commanded the Israelis to slay the Canaanites in the Old Testament times. They think that after all, the Arabs have formed an ungodly alliance with communist Russia to exterminate God’s chosen people. They believe that if God is redeeming the land for the Jews in fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies, Israel must defend its land at whatever cost to human justice. Therefore, they are against any peace effort that involves the partition of land for the Palestinians.

 

The problem with such a view is that these Christians have decided what should happen according to their interpretation of God’s plans. They are indeed twisting the arm of God to act in certain ways to fulfil His plans. They will not see the problem in terms other than their own theological mindset. This in turn is a major stumbling block in presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jews, the Muslims and the unbelievers of the world at large. This is because we will not be able to reconcile a righteous God of love as one who is ruthless and careless of human justice so long as His plans are fulfilled!

 

Our Witness for Christ

As the Jews and Palestinians are not Christians, we can only point them to Christian principles that are acceptable to them in their own religion. In particular, they must first stop their violence and hostilities as Jesus exhorted us to love our enemies. We must voice our rejection of anti-Semitism, Arab-bashing and all forms of racial discrimination as Jesus commanded us not to judge others. We must insist on social and individual justice and respect for both parties as all are made in the image of God and all are to be brought into the saving knowledge of Christ. There must be care and concern for the underprivileged, suffering and needy, whether Palestinian or Jew, as Jesus came to bring the Good News to the poor.

 

Some Christians also harbour a fatalistic view that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will never be resolved until Jesus returns. While this is essentially true for everlasting peace, Ezekiel 38 and 39 speak of a people living in peace before being attacked from the north. On the other hand, the conflict can well escalate into World War 3 prior to the signing of the seven-year treaty with the antichrist. Whatever is our eschatological perspective, let us remember that Bible prophecies of the end-times are not given to satisfy our curiosity of the future but to tell us how we should live our present Christian lives as we see events happening in line with the prophecies.

 

Jesus is coming back soon but for the over-comers only. The important issue is whether we are ready for the return of Christ. Are we living our lives right with God? Are we putting God first and pursuing His purposes or are we still pursuing the things of the world and building our own kingdoms on earth? While there is still time, have we been faithful in reaching out to our loved ones, neighbours and the unreached peoples “from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth”?

 

Whatever the case, there is something we can do that is more important than what President Clinton and the other world leaders are capable of. God has one clear instruction for us in this matter: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps. 122:6). Perhaps there is no moment in our lifetime more critical than now to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for an end to the violence and hostilities in Jerusalem and Israel as a whole. Pray for God’s supernatural intervention for peace, so that the Israelis and the Palestinians will take into account each other’s hope and needs, showing love and mercy to one another. Pray that they will repent of their sins and live with the fear of God through Jesus Christ. As we do this, God promised that He will bless us in return (Gen. 12:2,3).

 

In God’s divine plan, Jerusalem is His appointed centre from which peace and truth will go forth to all the earth and to which worship and offerings from all nations will return. As such, Jerusalem is the focus of the spiritual forces of darkness. Hence, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will defy all attempts to find a solution by political means. Only the power of prayer can accomplish this. The hope of the world lies in the ultimate fulfilment of peace in Jerusalem. Therefore, to pray for the peace of Jerusalem is to pray that the Prince of Peace will soon establish His kingdom upon this earth with Jerusalem as His capital city (Isa. 62 and Zech. 2). Pray that we ourselves are ready when Jesus returns (1 John 3:2,3).   

 

(This article is a contribution of the NECF Malaysia Research Commission.)



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