The woman on the left is an Israeli Jew and little boy is a Palestinian. I took their pictures in 2006 when I was in Israel and Palestine. I think of them when I read about the carnage in Gaza. Like you, I was greatly troubled by the events last weekend and the official response to them.What happened? In the ongoing struggle for control between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Israel cut Gaza off from the world's trade. They refused to allow none but the slimmest of food supplies into Gaza. After months of fruitless talks, Hamas began last week to fire Qassam rockets into Israel to force them to allow countries to recontinue trade with the 2 million poeple living in Gaza.
These rockets are nothing like Israeli or US rockets. The Israeli Ministry of Defense views these as "more a psychological than physical threat." Called a Qassam, they are 5 to 90 lb handmade affairs powered by sugar and fertilizer with TNT in the top and no guidance system. But of course they can be lethal. 15 people have been killed by the 5000+ that have been fired since 2001.
Last week Hamas resumed firing these rockets. Before there were any injuries of Israelis, Israel began a devastating attack on the Palestinians. They bombed Gaza City from highly precise fighter jets. After two days one Israeli was killed by the Palestinian rockets and 300 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Air Force. Those included men, women, children, and infants. Also another 600 Palestinians were burned and injured .
The disproportionate response of the Israelis outrages me. The Israelis say they are killing Palestinians to protect Israelis from the rockets. Yet in one weekend the Israelis killed 20 times more Palestinians than the Palestinians did Israelis in seven years of rocket attacks! Whatever happened to the command for retributive restraint? "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," says the Lord in Exodus. What we see in Gaza is unrestrained revenge.
But the official new agencies and the US government are not outraged. They do not see anything wrong with this type of action. Our government stated on Monday that whatever Israel does to protect itself from the rocket attacks is justified. 300 lives for one. I cannot understand that.
One thing I have learned in my travels around the world is that people are people. Each counts to God as a precious creation that is to be cherished and nurtured. Wandering around Israel and Palestine a year and a half ago, I spent time with random Jews, Muslims, and Christians whom I met. Each surprised me by how much they cared for me - a traveler lost in their land. When they experienced my love for them, they felt safe to share their stories.
A common thread in all their accounts was loss and fear and pain. Whether Palestinian or Israeli, whether Christian, Muslim, or Jew each felt deeply that they were wronged by the other. Each felt the shame of being weak and forced to bear humiliations. Each fears the other and each carries lots of valid reasons to hate the other.
But I also met people from the three groups who pushed past their self-centered histories and chose to love. Jews and Arabs who are today choosing to understand each other and be kind to each other. They want to create a real peace that is not based upon the rants of the extremists (whether they wear a Western suit or an Arabic headdress.) They want to make a peace that involves compromises from all groups and which carries a good measure of justice for all. It is good to remember that when the extremist have their moments of mayhem.
The motto of our congregation is "Becoming like Jesus, Serving in love". How do we fulfill that in this situation? When we study his life, we see that Jesus always comforted those who suffered. He spoke against evil whenever he saw it. He worked to get people to love each other instead of hate. To become like him, we imitate him in those ways.
Let us comfort the afflicted
We cry for and with the Jew and the Arab when their loved ones are torn by bombs or guns. We love them each and seek to support both in their desire for peace. But we support neither in the desire for retaliation and revenge.
Let us speak against evil.
We speak plainly against evil when we see it. It is important in our private conversations as well as public to lift up the truth that the humiliation and dehumanizing treatment of the Palestinians is a kind of evil that goes against the Biblical command to "do justice and love kindness" Micah 6:8. And at the same time we speak the truth that any violence inflicted upon Israelis is evil and goes against that same biblical command. And today we speak against the disproportionate bombing of the people in Gaza.
Let us work for peace.
It is too easy to "throw up our hands" and say "Peace is hopeless, so let the guns roar!" But Christ does not give us that option. We must support the Israelis and Palestinians who reject violence as the solution to injustice. And the good news is that there exist many, many people over there who choose reconciliation over violence --Jews and Muslims and Christians. This is something the news agencies do not tell us.
These homegrown organizations know that the root of all their violence is injustice. They bravely seek to heal the injustice so that peace will spring up and bloom. This is the kind of work that we can enthusiastically support. It is the kind that our government appears to ignore.
Check out the websites of the following peace groups. They are endoursed by our denomination. B’Tselem (www.btselem.org) is an Israeli peace group whose ability to empathize and work for justice with "the other" is remarkable. Sabeel (www.sabeel.org) is a Christian Palestinian group whose work is legendary. Peace Now (www.peacenow.org) is the largest extra-parliamentary movement in Israel and the country’s oldest peace movement. Find out how you can support them in their work to sidestep hatred and sow love.
We need to let our legislators know that we want them to fight for a just peace. We need to let our president know the same. Too often the the primary agenda of our government peacemakers is to protect US interests and the president's next election. That has lead us to acknowledge the pain and claims of the Israelis, but only half-hear the Palestinian's. It is no wonder that our country's attempts to forge peace have failed.
We must not let ourselves be convinced that one man's life is more important than another's because of his race. We cannot believe the logic that says it is o.k. take 300 lives for one. Protection with restraint is needed. But not the disproportionate slaying of innocents in the name of "protection".
Let us believe that Christ will bring peace to this trouble world. And as we await it, let us work and pray for it to occur.
