Bret Kincaid (ESA) Overview

Trail of Tears (part 3 of a 4-part series on Israel-Palestine)

by Bret Kincaid (http://www.esa-online.org/Article.asp?RecordKey=B4788181-8867-4FB1-B3BF-6537F9F958BB) [ESA = Evangelicals for Social Action, the Ron Sider group]

As we anticipate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel—what Palestinians commonly call “The Catastrophe”—it is important to take stock of the hardships for Israeli Jews and Arab Palestinians, not to mention those in other countries who paid with their lives during the five wars since 1947.

We’ve recounted the challenge of security for Israelis as they live in the midst of Arab neighbors harboring varying levels of hostility toward them, despite the fact that the Egyptian and Jordanian governments have peace treaties with Israel.

Last week we also mentioned the millions of Palestinian refugees—many of whom now live in camps—who were either forced to leave their homes or left their homes rather than stay put as Israelis first established their state in 1948 and then victoriously occupied Judea and Samaria (or the West Bank), the Golan Heights, and Gaza beginning in 1967.

But there are other painful challenges for Palestinians.

First, there is the daily difficulty trying to navigate the hundreds of checkpoints, roadblocks, and other obstacles placed in the way of Palestinians by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the West Bank, ostensibly for security purposes. As the IDF attempts to stop West Bank Palestinians from terrorizing Israelis in Israel proper and attacking Israeli settlers in the West Bank, it has made life very difficult and humiliating for Palestinians, not to mention the pain it causes the young IDF soldiers who have to stand watch at checkpoints. This infrastructure of control has led to diminished livelihoods as it prevents free movement of goods, services, and people to and from family, jobs, shopping, and medical care. Many believe this is collective punishment for the terrorist acts of a small Arab minority. Many Israelis believe this is necessary until the Palestinian Authority—the ruling authority over parts of the West Bank—ensures security for Israelis against attacks.

Second, the Israeli Separation Barrier (or what many Palestinians call “the Apartheid Wall”) has compounded this problem as well. Begun in 2002, it was designed to stop would-be Palestinian terrorists from getting into Israel to bomb buses or otherwise attack Israelis. Though it is only about two-thirds complete, it has likely been the primary factor behind the severe reduction in terrorist incidents.

But it also has had the deleterious effect of gobbling up Palestinian land, separating Palestinian families and neighbors, and preventing Palestinian workers from providing labor for Israeli Jews and Arabs in Israel proper, which has kept the Palestinian economy depressed. Many believe that the wall—the trail of which may leave Palestinians with as much as 10% less land than the 1949 Green Line would have—will undercut final-status peace negotiations because Palestinian negotiators won’t accept even less land. The land within the Green Line and Gaza, where non-Israeli Arabs live, amounts to 22% of the total land of Israel-Palestine.

Third, life in East Jerusalem has been severely challenging for many Palestinians since the conclusion of the 1967 war. Not only are families separated and movement restricted by the Separation Barrier, but, for instance, Palestinians are permitted to build on only 7% of the land. The Israeli government has bulldozed thousands of existing Palestinian houses and refused thousands of permits to build, which has led to homelessness and substantial overcrowding.

And the list goes on. And it goes on largely because of a dynamic spiral of insecurity and oppression. People on both sides blame the other for initiating the spiral and both sides claim they are the real victims, which has kept at bay any sustained popular impetus for successful peace negotiations. The question for followers of Christ is “What does God want for Israelis and Palestinians suffering in the Holy Land?” Next week we will explore this question in the last of our series.

View this article online: http://www.esa-online.org/Article.asp?RecordKey=B4788181-8867-4FB1-B3BF-6537F9F958BB
Copyright ©2007 Evangelicals for Social Action, a ministry of The Sider Center on Ministry & Public Policy