Reader Writes February 2024

In the Hell of Gaza I haven’t heard much mention of Palestinian churches, but Christians form

some 2% of the Palestinian population. There are prominent churches in Bethlehem, in the

occupied West Bank, and in Gaza where there are about 1000 Christians. They need our prayers

both for them and for the inevitable work they will be doing to relieve the overwhelming suffering.

Palestinian Christians are sometimes called the ‘living stones’ of Christianity, since their churches

trace their history right back to the beginning. Their leaders are pleading to the world for support

and to help bring this cruelty to an end.

At the time of writing in mid January, there were still believed to be 140 hostages held by Hamas;

and the Israeli nation remains traumatized by the 1200 people killed in the October terror attack.

Meanwhile the Israeli Defence Force has killed, so far, more than 23,000 Palestinians in their Gaza

campaign, of which 40% were children, with thousands more missing under the rubble. This is

considered to be collateral damage by the Israeli cabinet in the military destruction of Hamas.

Meanwhile, almost universally, nations of the world, UN agencies and NGOs condemn the

savagery and cruelty to civilians. Charges of genocide have been brought against Israel in The

Hague.

Where should Christians stand in this moral quagmire? Most of us have a strong conviction that

what is being done to Palestinians in the Gaza strip is indefensible. The House of Bishops in

December judged that Israel’s campaign could not be morally justified; the loss of civilian life was

unacceptable. Many commentators see the war as one of collective punishment; even Netanyahu

and his right wing allies have not explained how the civil population in Gaza could have restrained

Hamas.

A tragic and baffling factor in the war is the absence of a rational strategy. The declared military

objective is to destroy Hamas, uprooting it from its tunnels, no matter how many tens of

thousands of civilians die in this absolutist aim. Yet the price of this is the condemnation of the

world, and at home, the sowing of the seeds of violence and revenge in the next several

generations of Palestinians. Netanyahu is not popular in Israel, and opposition to this dangerous

ideological course may bring the house down on their collective (our collective?) heads. Clearly

there has to be a strategy that both protects the state of Israel and provides Palestinians with

rights and freedoms in their own state.

How on earth is that to be achieved, especially considering the damage, loss on both sides, and

the understandable hatred created by the present tragic war? Here, those who believe in the

power of prayer and dare to keep hope alive, must pray for peace with justice. We pray for

Christian leaders to speak out consistently for justice. We pray for the church in the Holy Land, for

wisdom and courage. We pray for world leaders and for the many international bodies working to

bring relief to Palestinians in Gaza. And we pray for journalists, many of them apparently victims of

targeted attacks. Lord God, forgive us for our complicity; help us to follow your words spoken

through the prophet Micah: “What does God require of you but to do justice, and to love

kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Robert MacCurrach