MATHEW: Palestine – Israel: a Christian Response August 19, 2009

Presentation by Heather Mathew at a church gathering – Melbourne, 16 August 2009

In offering a Christian response, I would like to tell you how I came to be interested in the Israel/ Palestine conflict.

Forty-seven years ago, in my final year at MacRobertson Girls’ High School, I learned from Jewish classmates about the young state of Israel.  My classmates spoke with such fervour, such idealism.  The kibbutz movement was in full swing.  Some spoke of going to Israel when they finished their studies.  Of course I read Leon Uris’ book Exodus. And along with so many, I thought what a wonderful thing it was that the victims of persecutions and the horrors of Nazism now had a refuge. I was very much pro-Israel.

Then when I went on to Melbourne University, I took a major over four years on Middle Eastern studies for my Arts degree.  I learned about Islam, the culture, philosophy, history and politics of the Middle East.

The politics of the modern Middle East came in my final year of study.  What I learned shocked me to the core.  With the historical facts before me, the injustice inflicted upon the indigenous Palestinian population became blindingly obvious.  My studies turned me around 180 degrees.  From being an enthusiastic supporter of Israel, I became a supporter of Palestinian human rights.

As the years went by, I shared my knowledge wherever I could.  I continued to read and follow the conflict, although Australian media coverage was, and still is, shockingly limited and biased against the Palestinians.  My husband Bill writes letters to the newspapers regularly – sometimes these are published; but the balance is heavily tilted towards the pro-Israeli, Zionist voice.  Occasionally we will get a letter into Crosslight. But to my shame, this was the limit of my effort to help overturn the massive injustice to the Palestinian people.  An injustice that has persisted for more than sixty years.

As my Christian faith deepened, I found myself moving from humanitarian concern, to a more active concern as a Christian.  I felt a need to try to do something more towards justice and peace for Palestinians.

Turning points came for me in 2006.  I chanced to meet Lorraine and Murray Sinderberry at an Israeli peace activist’s film – Eric Scott’s The Other Zionists (Machsom Watch).  I was delighted to find another fellow-Christian with a commitment to working for peace and justice in Palestine!  Lorraine told me of her friend, the late Rev Helen Cox, an amazing, wonderful human being, known I am sure to at least some of you here tonight.  You must meet Helen, Lorraine said.  And when I did, I learned of Helen’s passionate commitment to action. Through the gift of these friendships, I came to feel very strongly called to become more active.  For Helen was – she is – an inspiration to us and to many others, affirming a responsibility for action.  With her and Lorraine, my husband Bill and I became drawn into attending more meetings, vigils, writing more letters, organizing public meetings at our church, endeavoring to raise awareness, to make a difference.  Helen is very much in my thoughts tonight as we gather to reflect on Palestine and Israel.

Why do I as a Christian feel an obligation to act?

Firstly, Christians are called to live out their faith, according to Christ’s example.  Christ defended the powerless and the dispossessed; he did not discriminate on the basis of race.  So for us, I find there is a moral imperative to act to seek justice and peace for all, and this includes the Palestinians.

Defenders of Israel and Zionists including Christian Zionists, point to the Old Testament and God’s gift of the land to Abraham’s line.  But we can be certain that God did not intend that indigenous populations should be robbed of their land and property, or killed, or maimed, or humiliated, or deprived of basic human rights, or driven out to become refugees.

Nor – I am certain – would God sanction the atrocities that have been inflicted by Israel in Gaza earlier this year, in open defiance of the Geneva Convention that forbids targeting of civilians.  Not even United Nations buildings or emergency medical staff were safe from the savage onslaughts of the Israeli army.

Sixty years after the creation of Israel on Palestinian land, the displaced Palestinian refugee population now numbers some 4.5 million people, apart from the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank. They still wait for justice.  And Israel continues to defy United Nations’ resolutions requiring withdrawal from illegal occupation of residual Palestinian lands.  And the United States and Australia continue to support Israel’s contempt for the United Nations, the Geneva Convention and the International Court of Justice.

It troubles me also that the land in dispute is the Holy Land.   Christians are called to be peacemakers, and so it seems to me there is an overriding obligation for Christians to work towards reconciliation in the Holy Land.

As Christians, we are uniquely placed as a numerically significant body of people within Australia, well able to exert influence on government.  What a huge difference we could make to encourage a just and peaceful settlement to this conflict, remembering also that it is a major driver of regional and world terrorism and instability.

It is my conviction that the Christian church is the only body that can be that influential voice.  After all, our sole interest is in reconciliation and peace – not power or profit.  So what stops us?  We are so timid.  I was outraged when the church leaders visited the Holy Land in December 2007 – the public statement that they released on their return was so weak.  Yet Christians are supposed to be the salt of the earth!

Our church leaders enjoy positions of prominence and generally high reputation.   They can wield significant influence.  If Christians could unite on this issue of justice and peace, the Australian Government would surely listen, set aside its pro-Israeli bias and work actively for a just peace.

Helen Cox summed up what is needed in the Christian context superbly well.  I quote from her presentation at Nunawading Uniting Church last year:

“We need a voice calling for the unqualified admission of terrible wrongs inflicted on an innocent people and the will to put them right in a spirit of humility and reconciliation, together with a complimentary act of genuine forgiveness and compassion, with an undertaking to refrain from violent acts of retaliation and retribution while acknowledging all who have suffered on both sides during these past 60 years”.

Sadly, I think we Christians have a generally poor record for forceful public witness on this conflict.  We are timid, and I do admit it is a challenge, for accusations of anti-Semitism are rife.  This charge is a ploy that is used to shame and bully into silence those who offer criticism of Israel’s actions.  The charge is both mischievous and illogical.  If as an Australian, I criticize for example elements of treatment of our indigenous people, this criticism does not make me un-Australian. And how, in any case, can it be anti-Semitic to uphold the rights of Palestinians? Palestinians are also a Semitic people – indeed, blood-brothers to those of Jewish origin!

The bullying is to be resisted!   Harsh truths must be told and faced.  And in this responsibility to create awareness, we can also support Jewish people in Australia and elsewhere around the world and, indeed, those Israelis who protest vigorously against the injustice to Palestinians and the actions of successive Israeli governments. In Australia, little is heard of their activities in the media.  It is true also that when Jewish people here speak out against Israel’s actions, it is even harder for them than it is for Christians, for they are then hounded within their own community.

Relationships between Christians and Jews have been difficult and often delicate.  Indeed, it is to Christianity’s shame that we were largely silent during the horrors of the 1930s and the 1940s.  We can understand that survivors and their descendants continue to live in fear and say, “Never Again”. God help us all to ensure that Never Again should any people be the victims of genocide – and this includes the Palestinians.  What a tragedy that the Jews who suffered so much are now engaged in ethnic cleansing – genocide – in Palestine.

If we are to be the peacemakers we are called to be, we must be able to speak with honesty – and with respect.  We must be able to engage in dialogue with Israeli and Jew to bring about an understanding, a reconciliation that ensures that Never Again will such suffering be visited on any classes of people.  This could be our gift of Christian peacemaking.

In standing up for peace and justice for the Palestinians, we have hope.  I like to remember Archbishop Tutu’s words, that as Christians we are ‘prisoners of hope’.  We are bound to hope and to offer hope in all things.

I have come to love Melbourne University’s slogan – ‘dream large’.  And my ‘large dream’ – which is also my prayer – is for justice for the Palestinians.  And for one state, where two Semitic peoples – who are blood brothers – will be able to live in peace as they did for so many centuries.

Heather Mathew is a devout member of the Uniting Church in Australia.