Pastor's Letter for January

As we begin the new year, I encourage you to consider reading upon an issue that affects us all.
Six new Books centering on the struggles in Israel and Palestine for peace have been added to our
Library and are available to be checked out. The titles of these books are:

• Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict by Phyllis Bennis
• Witnessing for Peace by Munib Younan
• Occupied with Nonviolence by Jean Zaru
• And Christians and a Land Called Holy by Charles Lutz and Robert Smith

In 1996 I had the privilege of traveling through areas of Palestine and Israel. In this trip my eyes
were opened to the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. I firsthand saw dangers of extremism, but also
better understood there causes. Much is often made of Palestinian groups such as Hamas, and
rightfully so, but what I became aware of on my trip there was the complexity of the relationships
that create extremist groups.
I also became aware of the Palestinian-Christian Population that has existed in the Palestinian lands
since the first century. It is my personal belief that this Christian population has an important
voice in helping us find peace for this highly conflicted area. Unfortunately fear and extremism
from the Israeli population seeks to marginalize the Palestinian voices, no matter their content or
method. My college group “smuggled” in 100 copies of Mitri Raheb’s I am a Palestinian Christian to
it’s author (the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem) because the Israeli government
had confiscated earlier shipments as contraband. This book offers insights on the lives of
a Palestinian, but also on there interpretation of scripture. As Christians one of the most exciting
parts of scripture is to hear different perspectives, and Pastor Raheb certainly offers a lens that
is far different from our own.
At this point the only other book I read was Bethlehem Besieged also by Raheb. This book is a
firsthand account of one of the recent escalations of violence between the Palestinians and the Israeli
military. It details the violence that destroyed church property and cost some Christian Palestinians
their lives. Besides exposing the injustice involved for some Palestinians it also reminds
all of us of the cost of war, and the huge collateral damage that inevitably occurs.
The other four books I have not yet read, but expose issues related to this topic. None of these
books are difficult reads and all are less than 200 pages. There is certainly controversy.