Palestine in Pieces - Book Review

Recently I have been reading a series of books about Israel and Palestine trying to gain an understanding of the history of the situation there, and also what the actual facts are on the ground today.  Neither of those (the history or the present situation) are pretty.  In fact a lot of what has happened, and is continually taking place in Palestine, is horrifying to the extreme. 

I have always been someone who has listened to the news, read newspapers and occasionally seen the news on the television.  I have always known who the Prime Minister of Israel was, and been up to date with facts about the Palestinian Authority and other key pieces of information – but none of the things I have been reading about lately have ever been in the news – not as far as I have seen anyway. 

The truth is often stranger than fiction, and in this case it is the sad truth.  Palestine in Pieces is a book which highlights the plight of the Palestinian people – a stateless people living in their own country.  The book has a number of photographs to illustrate the current (as of 2009) situation on the ground there today.  Having read the book, I can safely say that you would not wish to be in the position of the Palestinian people. 

The distress of the Palestinian people is large – I don’t know how to adequately explain it here in a way that will be understood.  Most of the people I write to on this blog have some kind of Church background, and as such, their normal position is to favour Israel.  All of us who live in Western countries come from this place. 

If Jesus was physically present today – what would He say about all of this?  Jesus would love everyone with no differential treatment between Arabs or Jews. 

However the Western Media seem to often portray events in Jerusalem etc from a very Israel point of view, and this is why I had never realised until recently that things were so serious in Israel.  God calls us however to “not show favouratism.”  (James 2:1b) The Bible also says in a number of places that there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles – equally loved and treasured in God’s sight.  As Christians we are called to love both Jews and Arabs, both Christians and non-Christians, and to pray for both sides here. 

Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers” (Matt 5:9) and what better way to make peace than to show genuine love and compassion for everyone involved, especially the broken hearted people of Palestine.  Genuine peace will come when people accept Christ, the Prince of Peace, and only then can restoration be made.  If we hold a bias in our hearts towards Jews preferring them over Arabs we are saying to the Creator of all these people that we are better than Him who loved them all.  Jesus died for them all – why should we put ourselves above Him. 

So finally – I have not said much about this book because it is a sad book and I cannot do it justice.  It’s pictures and stories of people are incredibly sad.  Stories about Palestinian houses that have been demolished, or Pregnant women who died in birth because they were not permitted to go through an Israeli checkpoint to a hospital, or of tonnes of raw Israeli sewerage being dumped into Palestinian villages, or the denial of reliable drinking water.  You need to read this book for yourself. 

You will pray a different way afterwards.