Christianity and the Conflict in the Middle East

by Weldon McWilliams IV

Rhetoric Race and Religion Contributor

Upon my return from a conference in Atlanta, I was sitting in the Airport waiting to come back to Philadelphia and I saw a report about Israeli air missile strikes in Gaza. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East has been going on for over 60 years. The “official” American position in this conflict is neutrality, however Israel is the largest recipient of direct economic and military aid from the United States since World War II and that can hardly be seen as “neutral”. This is how a nation only 60+ years old (Israel) could have a military as vast and capable as it does, only through the assistance of the United States. Nonetheless, I firmly believe that those who are striving to follow the example of Yeshua (Jesus) the Christ most fight with, and struggle for, the cause of the Palestinian. I would like to just give a brief history then a few examples as to why I believe this.

European Jews first made a claim for their desire to have a land of their on in the late 19 Century. This desire came as a result of the oppression and persecution suffered by the Jews in central and eastern Europe. The Jewish intelligentsia organized the “Zionist” movement, a movement that aimed to create a nation-state that would not be hampered by anti-Jewish restrictions that they had faced in Europe. They looked to the biblical location of Israel and decided that that should be the place where they should set up this nation-state, after all it was the biblical homeland of the Jews (more on this later). In 1882 you begin to see European settlers migrate to Palestine as a means to escape persecution in Europe, especially Russia. Early on the relations between the early European settlers and Palestinians were friendly, Palestine did not make the assumption that eventually this emigration would turn into an effort to make the land solely a Jewish State, but very quickly the relationship would become strained.

Officially the Zionist movement began in 1897 with the construction of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and Theodor Herzl was president. At this initial meeting, in Switzerland, a resolution was passed that promoted territory in Palestine as the home for Jewish people. This resolution was passed without any consideration or communication with the Palestinian people who had been in and on that land for centuries. Many European nations knew that this would naturally bring conflict between the European and the Arab, and initially Europe did not take a definitive stance in the matter. This all changed in 1917 with the Balfour Declaration. This document expressed Britain’s sympathy with the Jewish Zionist aspirations. At the time of the Balfour Declaration, Palestine was still predominantly populated by Arabs by over 90% and the Arabs controlled over 95% of the land. However in April of 1920 at the Peace Conference in Paris after WWI, (basically a war between European nations for African and Asian territory to colonize) Great Britain basically colonized Palestine and between 1920 and 1948 it constrained Palestine economically, socially and politically to make the establishment of a Jewish State almost a forgone conclusion. Britain was very instrumental in the transferring of Palestinian land to Jewish settlers. The Jewish State was coming into existence primarily with the backing of Great Britain. Then WWII came.

Great Britain wanted to gain Arab support and defend is own empire against the expansion of the Germany. In an effort to gain Arab support, Britain promised to cut back Jewish immigration and land purchases by Jews. Great Britain also agreed to work toward Palestinian independence. This was a dramatic shift in British policies regarding Palestine for the previous 20 years and the Zionists saw this as a betrayal of the Balfour Doctrine. As a result the Zionist had a dual purpose in WWII : 1) to fight the British policy set forth and 2) to rescue the Jews who were being persecuted in Hitler’s Germany. At this point the Zionist movement began to look for support from the United States. In November of 1947 the UN divided Palestine into 2 states, Palestine and Israel. This lead to wars that were between the Zionists and Palestinians, and due to the advance Israeli military (due to US assistance), the Arabs found themselves on the losing end of the battle. Palestinians were driven from their homes, many Palestinian civilians were killed, and others left expecting to return shortly after war was over.

I bring up these historical facts to make the point that it was the Palestinians who were in and on that land before European Jews were. It was because of a will to escape oppression in Europe that many European Jews sought out a Jewish nation-state. I believe that whenever one finds themselves as a victim of oppression, they have a right to combat that oppression and escape that oppression, but what happened within this conflict is that European Jews escaped one oppression in Europe to become an oppressor in Palestine. This is not something that the Christian can condone.

The Zionist movement really didn’t receive universal approval until the atrocities of the Jewish Holocaust became known. The question of how to deal with the Jewish survivors came to the forefront. This is when the “legitimacy” of the Nation-State of Israel began receive really gain traction.

Many Conservative Evangelicals support the Zionist cause to this day. The propaganda that is used is that Jews are God’s Chosen people and their biblical homeland is Israel, and they have a right to be back within their biblical homeland. This is indeed powerful propaganda, especially for the Christian, however for most of the scriptures, the nation of Israel is imperialized, conquered and severed. The united nation of Israel has been divided into two (Israel and Judah) for much of the scriptures. The people of Israel have been in bondage, colonized, and in exile all throughout the biblical text. In Jewish thought, the Messianic Age comes when all of the Jews and their decedents return to their biblical homeland of Israel. Are we in that Age? Would the Messiah allow the continued oppression and exploitation of Palestinians to take place while the nation of Israel is restored?

Many conservative Christians see the restoration of Israel as a fulfillment of prophecy. My faith in Yeshua (Jesus) the Christ, who He was, is and what He stood for, will not allow me to believe that this current state of Israel, inhabited primarily by European Jewish immigrants, must come at the expense of an Arab people who inhabited that land for generations before the Zionist movement. Let’s not forget that the Arabs who inhabited this land before the Zionist movement were Jews, Christians and Muslims in faith.

When I look at the history of the Zionist movement I can’t believe that Zionism is a movement from GOD. The Palestinians have been gentrified from a land that once was theirs and now they are being forced and restricted to the outer banks of that land. For me, an African-American who has a knowledge of the history and legacy of my people, whenever I see a group of people who are oppressed and exploited, I automatically look at the oppressor as suspect, especially when there is a color dynamic involved.

As a man of color, I initially look at the Zionist movement as a continuation of a long history of European Oppression of peopl
e of color. What allowed the Zionist to assume that they could move on another people’s land without even involving them in the discussion? Zionist did not seek relationships with Arabs in their effort to try to establish a nation state there, Zionist sought out relationships with Great Britain and the United States!!! I will go out on a limb and say that I believe a color superiority complex allowed many Zionist to undermine the concerns of the Arabs in Palestine. Also, this would not be the first time that European would attach God to their plans of Expansion. In the 19th Century there was an American belief that the United States (primarily Anglo-Saxons) was divinely destined to expand its territory westward. The belief for Manifest Destiny supporters at that time was that it was God’s will for America to expand regardless of what other people’s land or cultures were destroyed in the process. After looking at the concept from this view point it becomes a little easier to see how other cultures would believe that they serve a different God than those in America.
I look at the Zionist movement and their treatment of the Palestinians, similarly to how I look at America’s treatment of the indigenous people of the America’s (Native Americans). Just like the remaining indigenous survivors are isolated and kept on reservations, Palestinians are kept on the outer banks of land they were once the sole inhabitants of.
My theology is a theology that tells me to fight on behalf of the oppressed, to seek justice (Isaiah 1:17), to remove the heavy yoke of oppression (Isaiah 58:9b). My theology tells me that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). We are all God’s children and because of God’s grace, no one should be able to hold themselves in higher esteem than anyone else. I mentioned earlier in the Blog that the European Jew was indeed exploited and oppressed, but that oppression did not come from the Palestinian people. Palestinians are paying for something that they had nothing to do with. Now when we see the conflict going back and forth between the Israeli and Palestinian, it is because one side (the European Jew) is fighting for its right to expand territory and become a powerful nation-state, and the other side (the Palestinian) is fighting just for its right to survive on this earth period without having their land confiscated on a regular basis. We must be critical thinkers when it comes to the conflict in the Middle East. We cannot just make the assumption that the Israel of 1948 is the Israel of the Bible. We as disciples of Christ must identify who it is that is being exploited, taken advantaged of, abused and oppressed, and then fight on their behalf.

Weldon also blogs at Weldon Works where he first posted this piece