more July 11 - Christians in Palestine

The morning of July 11 was a time to think about Christians living in Palestine and where they fit into what we were seeing. The Christian population in the region has shrunk considerably in the past few years - it is now down to less than 2%. Many Christians have been able to immigrate because they have a strong educational background; this is because churches often have schools attached.

Photo: J. Yanishewski

We started the day at Sabeel's office in Jerusalem. We heard the story of Rev. Sari Ateek, the son of Rev. Naim Ateek, Sabeel's founder. Sari now serves a congregation near Washington, DC, but he shared with us that day what it was like growing up in Haifa and Jerusalem, and experiencing the occupation. He remembers the intifada when he was in school, and told us about the beginnings of suicide bombings, a few years before he graduated from high school. With the conflict at this whole new level, he went to the United States for college.

We talked about the fact that this conflict is made even more complicated and difficult by the fact that it isn't just politics - there is a strong religious element. Sari talked about the difficulties with the education system in the region - the different sides of the conflict have their versions of history, and that is the information that is provided to school children. He mentioned the situation of Israelis in particular, and how they often don't hear any of the other versions of history until they enter college - after they have completed high school and their mandatory military service.

Sari expressed his hope to us that there would be a strong Palestinian leader in the near future - someone who could get all Palestinians to renounce violence so that Israel would no longer be able to use security as the rationale behind their actions in the West Bank. While I'm not sure that that would solve everything, it would certainly help.

"One night, we went to sleep in Palestine and woke up in Israel."

We also heard from Cedar Duaibis, an amazing woman who helped to found Sabeel. She lived through the Nakba in 1948, so told us her family's story. Her family was living in Haifa, but they fled to Nazareth in 1948. She described Haifa as being, "on fire." She described how people fleeing left their keys with neighbours so that plants could be watered while they were gone - everyone thought that they would return. Those coming into Haifa found tables set for dinner, hot food, bath tubs running - people fled with just the clothes on their backs. Eventually Nazareth was taken over as well. Cedar said, "One night, we went to sleep in Palestine and woke up in Israel."

Cedar described for us then the advent of Palestinian Liberation Theology. During the Nakba, the Bible was being used as a source of oppression - it was described as the deed of the Jewish people to the land. So Palestinian Christians started questioning - they were trying to live by the Bible, to live faithful lives... and yet it was being used to oppress them. How could this be God's plan? People stopped coming to church - they were not able to listen to the readings that were being used against them. For Cedar and many other Palestinian Christians, this internal conflict with her faith was more difficult than the one surrounding her.

"There is good news in the Bible for everyone - even Palestinians."

Photo: J. Yanishewski

Rev. Naim Ateek, the founder of Sabeel, found that churches were providing social services to those in need, but were not discussing theology. He said, "There is good news in the Bible for everyone - even Palestinians." While the basis of liberation theology in Latin America focused more on poverty, Rev. Ateek focused on injustice. He set out to answer these questions of Palestinians by reading the Bible through Palestinian eyes. This work was published in Rev. Ateek's book, Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation. Sabeel was founded to put Palestinian Liberation Theology into practice. The Center runs programs to help Christians draw on their faith when working for justice and reconciliation.