On my last
day in Jordan and first in Israel, I spent a little time with two people I
found myself liking immensely and with whom I felt, given time and opportunity,
I could become firm friends. But two men with profoundly differing world views
shaped by their circumstances; circumstances that mean there is little chance
they will ever meet even though they live just a short distance from each
other,
Muhammad is
a taxi driver in Amman. He picked us up after we had dropped off our hire car
and took us to our accommodation. We
liked him immediately; he had a warm and funny sense of humour, and like most Jordanians
we met had a wonderful dignity, welcoming warmth and sense of treating others
with dignity. So we offered him the
opportunity to drive us to the border the following morning. After some friendly haggling we agreed on a
very fair price (half of what we hear some Americans had paid the day before)
and we ended up adding 5 dinar in the end as a thank you for his promptness and
efficiency in getting us to our destination (I wish I could say the same about the
Jordanian immigration officials, who were [it seemed deliberately] tardy and
inefficient.
Mohammed,
it turned out, is a Palestinian. A large
percentage of the Jordanian population identify as Palestinian, the rest are
mostly from Arabic tribal groups such as Bedouin. But Mohammed’s family are
from Gaza, a place he can never hope to travel to. Jerusalem, a holy city for him, is also
barred to him. He can see Jerusalem in
the distance as he drives to the border, but under current circumstances, he
will never travel there.
He was not
angry, just wistful and sad. So I was
sad for him. His family had lived for
generations in Palestine, but Palestine, was a different place, more of an idea
really, until history, war and politics created a new state of Israel and
changed the very structure of the Middle East.
The country
of Jordan, created as much by history and circumstance as Israel, is a tolerant
country. Christians are a minority, but
are welcome and form a vibrant part of the community.
But make no
mistake there is anger, particularly at a certain President with a comb
over. We saw and heard a major
demonstration in the centre of Amman. We
were in the safety of the Citadel high above the city streets. Even if we had wanted to get closer we
couldn’t as the streets were blocked by police and they would not have let us
through.
Having
arrived in Israel we took ourselves to the Israel museum, saw the Dead Sea
scrolls and the amazing model of Jerusalem at the time of Herod’s temple.
On the bus
back to our B&B, I found myself sitting next to a man named David. A polite, sophisticated Jewish man who was
born in London and lived most of his life in the US. His children and
grandchildren are still there. We had plenty of time to talk because we were
stuck in a traffic jam.
He
reflected a very different view of the way things were. “Why shouldn’t the embassies be in
Jerusalem,” he said, “in every other country embassies are in the same place as
the seat of Government, why not here?’ He said this as we passed the Knesset,
Israel’s seat of Government.
He made a
reasonable point, but in Israel and Palestine’s case it is simply not that
simple. The Palestinians also claim
Jerusalem as their capital. He was
convinced most of the world is anti-Semitic, and saw most of the world’s issues
in these terms. I did not argue I just
listened.
The
following day we spent the day wandering around the old city of Jerusalem. We saw all the usual things, the various tomb
sites, the “Via Delarosa,” the Golden dome, etc. But unquestionably the most moving thing, was
praying at the Western Wall, also known as the ‘wailing wall.”
As I prayed I was surrounded by Orthodox Jews,
dressed in traditional garb, prayer shawl and Yarmulke. Some even wore a Phylactery or prayer box on
their foreheads. The passion was obvious; being able to pray at all that is
left of the wailing wall is so important.
I felt overcome that here I was praying at (or near) a place where
people had prayed to the Sovereign Lord for over 4,000 years.
The Israeli
passion is understandable (at least for religious Jews). They see the state of Israel as Inherent in
who they are, their very identity.
The following
day we travelled to Bethlehem. It took
about 20 minutes in a bus from the Damascus gate. But it may as well have been 100 miles. The streets were in a sad state, the
amenities unreliable. We were in
Palestine, under the control of Israel, but out of sight.
Down the
road from our accomodation at the Bethlehem Bible College, there were tear gas
canisters everywhere from when there are riots and the soldiers come. A little further down the street there is a
giant wall cutting Bethlehem and the West Bank off from Israel. Put there (so
it is said) to protect Israelis from suicide bombers, not sure it achieves that
goal, it simply alienates and makes worse a difficult situation.
Every day
thousands of Palestinians have to go through a difficult checkpoint to go to
their jobs in Jerusalem. We went through
that check point, I would not like to do it every day!
Bethlehem
is the town of David, a large percentage of its residents are Christian, my
brothers and sisters. Hebrews 13: 3
tells us “to remember those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were
suffering.” I could also paraphrase Paul and say “In Christ there is no Jew, no
Palestinian.
I will
leave for others to speak of the theological implications of all this. I do know that the problem is far more
complex than some of the simplistic pro-Israel stuff I see on Facebook.
Whether or
not Israel (most of which is secular) has a place in the eschatological story
is not at issue. I personally think it should exist and be protected. However, evangelical Christians should ask
themselves, given Scripture’s call on us to care for one another, is it right
to have an agenda of establishing Israel while at the same time ignoring our
mistreated Palestinian brothers and sisters?
This is not a question of Israel’s right to exist. It is a question of caring for all people and
ensuring they all have a hope and a future.
I do not
know the answer to this conundrum, I simply think we should not see the
Israel-Palestinian question as black and white, but complex and requiring the
needs of all parties to be given the respect they deserve.
