One land and many voices Strands of Christian thought about who lives in the Holy Land Prayer Contents Pray not for Arab or Jew, 1. Preface 1 for Palestinian or Israeli, 2. A brief history 2 but pray rather for ourselves, 3. Introduction 3 that we might not 4. The stories of the land 4 divide them in our prayers A story told 4 but keep them both together A story understood 6 in our hearts. Many interpretations of one story 7 5. Land and the Kingdom of God 8 6. Land, language and theology 9 View one: Replacement theology 10 View two: Christian Zionism 10 View three: Liberation theology 11 7. Justice and peace 12 1/Preface In October 2004, Christian Aid published a report In the paper you will read the story of God’s entitled Facts On The Ground: The End of a dealings with the people who lived in the land east Two–State Solution. It drew attention to injustices of the Mediterranean during the period covered by relating to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, and also Territories. This paper complements it by offering some of the teaching of Jesus about the kingdom theological reflection on some of the issues. of God. Reflections on how this story has been interpreted in recent years follow. And, finally, the It is subtitled Strands of Christian thought about booklet introduces three distinctive (and perhaps who lives in the Holy Land, in recognition of the fact irreconcilable) strands of Christian thought that are that there is no single approach to this issue that each held by large numbers of faithful people unites all Christians. Deeply principled people who today. The author does not direct readers to come have read the Bible with close attention have come to a specific conclusion in matters of biblical to different conclusions about the way passages interpretation. However, for those who read it in concerning the land east of the Mediterranean and conjunction with Facts on the Ground: The End of its inhabitants should be interpreted. The varying a Two–State Solution, it will become clear that conclusions to which they have come have led Christian Aid’s advocacy on behalf of the poorest them to lend support to varying political initiatives people who live in this region has developed that have had a profound impact on the lives of all alongside a thorough theological reflection on the people who live in the region. It is important for issues of poverty, justice, land and power. Christians not only to understand the theology that underpins their political conclusions, but also to try to understand why others who share the same faith This paper was written by journalist and and Scriptures have different views. clergyman Martin Wroe. It was edited by Nigel Of course, it is not only Christians who have a Varndell and Peter Graystone, of Christian Aid’s theology relating to the Holy Land. Jews and Churches team, who are grateful to a large number Muslims also study the issues with equal rigour. of people who have advised on its content. Ramani This booklet, as a piece of work published by Leathard of Christian Aid’s Middle East and Asia Christian Aid, does not presume to speak for Jewish team supplied the historical information. We hope or Muslim theologians. It is restricted to Christian that its accessible style will mean that many people thought. However, Jewish and Muslim academics who are not inclined to read weighty theological read and commented helpfully on early drafts, as books will be better equipped to work and pray for did Christians of different persuasions in the UK, peace and justice in the lands where Jesus lived, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. died and rose again. Quotations from the Bible are taken from the New Revised Standard Version. 1 ‘Love not fear; love not hatred; love not violence.’ Constantine Dabbagh, director of the Middle East Council of Churches, Gaza Strip 2/A brief history Historically, the land known to Christians as the ‘We look for peace, The Oslo peace process began in 1993, with great Holy Land is the area bounded by the but find no good; hopes that there would be peace for both Israelis Mediterranean Sea, the River Jordan, Lebanon and for a time of and Palestinians, an end to Israel’s occupation, and the Sinai desert. The land’s indigenous inhabitants healing, but there the establishment of a Palestinian state. However, for hundreds of years have been those from whom is terror instead.’ by 1999 Israel remained effectively in control of 83 present-day Palestinians are descended. Small Jeremiah 8:15 per cent of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Jewish communities have also had this as their A series of suicide bombings in the late 1990s home throughout all those centuries. As shattered Israeli confidence in the peace process. persecution of Jews in Europe increased in the In 2000, Palestinian frustration at the failure of the 19th century, so the need for a Jewish homeland Oslo peace process to bring an improvement in the grew. Jewish people began to migrate to Palestine circumstances of their lives led to a new uprising. – for many the focus of their aspirations – in Since this second intifada, Israel’s control over the increasing numbers. In 1948, following World War II Occupied Palestinian Territories has contributed to and the Holocaust, and after a vote by the United rising levels of Palestinian poverty. In 2002 Israel Nations, the state of Israel was created. In the war began the building of a separation barrier to cut that followed, three-quarters of the area formerly itself off from the Occupied Palestinian Territories, known as Palestine came under the control of the justifying this as a response to violence. The barrier new Jewish state. During this time, many has not only exacerbated the humanitarian crisis Palestinians fled or were evicted from their homes facing the Palestinian people, but has come to and became refugees in neighbouring Arab symbolise the divide between the two peoples at countries, or in the remaining parts of Palestine, the heart of the Middle East crisis. the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In an advisory opinion in July 2004, the In 1967, after the Six-Day War, Israel occupied the International Court of Justice in The Hague Palestinians’ remaining territories, including East pronounced Israel’s separation barrier in the West Jerusalem, creating more refugees. Seeking to Bank illegal and recommended that it should be defend itself, Israel imposed a harsh military rule removed immediately. Shortly afterwards, the over the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian United Nations General Assembly adopted a opposition to this military occupation, which has resolution by a vote of 150 to six (with ten denied them the most basic human rights, came abstentions) to request Israel’s compliance with the to a head in 1987 with the intifada (‘shaking off’ in court’s opinion. Israel does not accept the ruling of Arabic), a popular uprising which aimed to end the the International Court of Justice. occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state. 2 3/Introduction We take it for granted! It is so intrinsic to our everyday lives that we never Take the case of Daoud, for example. He is a think about it. farmer on the West Bank, supported by a Christian Aid partner, the Young Men’s Christian Association Land. (YMCA). I have no right to build a house on my The earth beneath the concrete beneath our feet. land,’ he explains. ‘I have 42 acres, half of which is The streets we walk down on the way to our work or under threat of confiscation.’ the shops. The carefully measured plots on which our Why does Daoud think the land is his? Because homes are positioned – the value of which is taken into his grandfather bought it in 1924. It has been in account when we pay rent on our flat or buy our house. the family for decades. But during the 1970s and For most of us, the question of who owns the land 1980s his land, like that of many Palestinian people on which we live and move and have our being, in the region, was gradually surrounded by illegal never arises. The issue has been solved a long time Israeli settlements. Soon his right to make plans for ago by people with whom we probably now have the use of his own land was taken away. no connection. Can Daoud call his land his own if he has no control But for some people, the question of who owns the at all over what to do on it? Control over land in land on which they live is critical – even a matter of life many countries has often been established by force, and death. Their ability to live and move freely in the but the effects of this force are long forgotten as place they have always known as home is contested. centuries go by. Not so in the Holy Land. Sometimes the disagreement is so implacable that And because three of the world’s religions claim holy no amount of talking appears to provide resolution. ancestry here, agreeing ownership is not simply about Violence, conflict and war ensue. This is the situation in secular law, but about religious tradition. For people the eastern Mediterranean today – in the region that of faith, religion is at the heart of territorial claims. Christians call the Holy Land. Today, the villages and Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups all believe that towns in which Jesus walked, the hills on which he told part of the answer to the conflict between Palestinian his stories, are the subject of disputes as never before.