The news is both sad and bad. I received an emergency email from a Palestinian Christian shop owner last month after the fight between Israel and Hamas had begun. All tourism had dried up suddenly, and his shop needed funds to stay in business. His is an olive wood carving business. I take tour groups to his shop when I am there, and the last time I was there, he gave me this—–
Last year we went to the event about Bethlehem’s bells which had been restored and placed on exhibit at the Museum of the Bible where I help out from time to time. But despite the celebration, there was an atmosphere of tension and sadness. The concrete wall around Bethlehem built by the Israelis was a constant reminder that things were not well in the Holy Land, and the most recent report that 19 of the remaining 1,000 Palestinian Christians in Gaza have been killed in thebombing and fighting, just makes things worse. Palestinian Christians are caught between a rock and a hard place. They are not Muslims, but they also are not Israelis either. If you want to read a fair assessment of the complicated story of Palestinians and Israelis in the land since before 1948, I encourage you to read the book I have recommended— The Lemon Tree. It makes quite clear why Christians outside the Holy Land should not be one-sided in their support for either Palestinians or Israelis, because God loves all of them and wants them all saved. Not only so, but Jesus called Christians to the way of non-violence in the Sermon on the Mount, the way of turning the other cheek, forgiveness, and remember the words of Jesus to his disciples— those who live by the sword die by the sword. Violence only begets more violence.
Think on these things.
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