A couple weeks ago I was blessed to spend a week, to use our guide’s term, in the Heartland. The Heartland refers to the geographical area surrounding the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and Sea of Galilee. It includes present day Israel and Palestine. It is where Jesus was born, lived, and did ministry while on Earth. It was amazing!! I know, you want to hear more, right? Well, even if you don’t, keep reading. Over the next few months, I’m going to be posting about what I learned on the trip.
To begin, I want to start with the present day and share what I learned about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Several have asked, are you pro-Israel or pro-Palestine? Wrong question. This question assumes if you are pro- one, you are anti- the other. It is easy to form opinions without knowing the full picture. Our media is wonderful at giving such a small slice of the huge picture. Regardless, I hope you do your own research because like every story, there’s more than one side.
Palestine is simply a geographical area. Palestinian is a term used to describe one who lives in Palestine. It is not a state or government. It is not a religion. It is a region where people live. Following World War II, and the mass genocide of Jews, the UN gave part of the Palestinian area to the Jews for resettlement. This is what we now call Israel. In the years following, Israel did the same thing we did to the Indians years ago, they took more land.
There is an argument to be made that Palestinians are the largest refugee group to ever exist. In some cities, Israel literally came through and gave Palestinians a very short amount of time, less than an hour, to gather what they wanted and leave their homes. Many Palestinians today still have the key to the homes they were forced to leave as a sign of hope. That was fifty years ago. Now, Palestine consist of about a dozen small bits of land spread out here and there with no connecting roads.
Since then, Palestinians have been a bit restless. You may recall a string of bombings in Israel in the early 2000’s. Israel was afraid and demanding something be done by their government. The Israeli government built walls around the dozen or so Palestinian areas and greatly restricted their ability to leave. Palestinians are no longer able to freely move about the country. They are able to apply for work, family, or other kinds of passes to leave, but nothing is guaranteed. If they are given permission, every time they leave they must go through security checkpoints. Even Palestinian cars have a different license plate and are not able to leave the Palestinian area to which they belong.
Yes, the bombings stopped. But at what cost?
Imagine the government built a wall around your city. You are no longer allowed to freely leave. You need to find new work, your kids must go to new schools, and the only places you can go are inside your wall. Any sliver of hope you may have had is now gone.
It’s not as easy as being pro- one or anti- the other. There is far more to the story than what I have shared here. Regardless of where you find yourself, I hope you do your homework and realize it’s not an easy cut and dry situation. Pray God brings peace to the Heartland. It has become so complicated, He is the only one who can bring hope and stability to this glorious land.