One Hundred Eyes for One Eye

by Alex Awad 01-06-2009

One hundred tons of bombs are Israel’s way of saying to the captive citizens of Gaza, Merry Christmas, Happy Eid (feast), and Happy New Year. These “gifts” that were showered from U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets demolished government buildings, mosques, a university, hundreds of homes, and snuffed out many lives — among them scores of children.

Like many in this part of the world and around the globe, my heart aches when I read and see pictures of the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and likewise when I see Israelis killed or injured by Qassam rockets. However, I have a special love for Gaza and its people. Before the strict closure of Gaza , Bethlehem Bible College used to have an extension there. I went to Gaza once every Thursday to teach our students, and often I stayed the night there. Interacting with Gazans in class, in church, and in the community, I learned much about the kindness and the hospitality of the people of Gaza, both Muslims and Christians.

The majority of the people of Gaza are not Hamas militants. They are people like you and I who long to live in peace day in and day out. Regretfully, everyone in the Gaza Strip — men, women, children, civilians, and fighters alike — are now feeling the horrible impact and devastation caused by the newest and deadliest Israeli incursion over the Strip in many years.

There is no doubt that the Qassam rockets launched against the western Negev and Ashkelon by Islamic militants linked to Hamas cause great pain and anxiety for many Israelis. Most people agree that Israel, like any other country, has the right to defend itself from outside attacks. However, in this unequal conflict between Israel and Hamas, Israel, as usual, has overdone it. When it comes to dealing with its enemies, Israel has a pattern of being extreme. “An eye for an eye” does not satisfy. It has to be more like one hundred eyes for one eye and one hundred teeth for one tooth.

When the Israelis attacked Lebanon in June 2006, they sprayed the country with millions of cluster bombs (which are now internationally banned), and these bombs continue to kill innocent people even today. What troubles me most in this current war is that many of the victims of this Israeli incursion on Gaza are average people — men, women and children — who are struggling just to survive under the extreme and harsh conditions that the Israeli siege has created. For 40 years the Gaza Strip has been under Israeli occupation, and during the last few years, although the Israelis redeployed their troops from Gaza, they never withdrew the symbols of their dominance and occupation. They continue to control the borders, which means controlling food, medicine, fuel, and goods going in and out of the Strip. In essence, they have turned Gaza into the largest open-air prison in the world.

If the Israeli leaders assume that they can assure the security of their citizens by the might and the power of their superior army and air force, they are mistaken. The outrage caused among the peoples in the Arab and Islamic world by these horrible attacks will most likely blow dark clouds over the skies of Israel or elsewhere in the world.

Israel should implement U.N. resolutions, end the occupation of the West Bank, open the borders of the Gaza Strip to the rest of the world, and stop military incursions into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The rise of Hamas and militancy in Gaza is directly related to a vacuum that Israel and the United States have created by dragging their feet in never-ending and fruitless peace negotiations with moderate Palestinians. As long as Israel continues to place obstacles on the path of the peace process, and as long as the U.S. continues to allow it to do so, we can expect new outbursts of violence in the Middle East that will cause more horrors and waste more lives on both sides of the political divide.

The Israelis have the right to live in peace and security and so do the people of Gaza. I call on you, friends, to pray for the civilians on both sides who are caught in this nightmare. In addition to praying, let us protest these lethal bombs with a barrage of our own letters to our elected leaders calling for an end to this human tragedy.

Alex Awad is dean of students at Bethlehem Bible College.

Categories: Global Issues, Human Rights, Violence and Nonviolence, War & Peace

Tags: Arab, Children, Christ, Christmas, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Islam, Israel, Israeli, Middle East, Military, Muslim, occupation, Palestinians, Qassam, security, United States, Violence, War, West Bank

WWJD

I should have known that my comment would not be posted because you are the same as shkhinah... one sided and binded by the Israeli propaganda. May the Lord forgive you and show you the way. Think!!! WWJD?

WWJD

Shekhina.. I am shocked at how much you are barinwashed by the zionist propaganda. You are like most American Christians only listen to one side of the news and never bother to even ask about how or what the other side think. You choose to formulate your perceptions out of the comfort of your secure home in the US and can never dare to put yourself in the shoes of those who suffer. I challenge you to think WWJD when He sees Israel doing what it is doing to the children and helpless of Gaza. People like yourself like to always find justifications for what Israel does rather than tell Israel about its responsibility towarsd the people of the land it occupies. You are scared of criticising Israel least you will be cursed as the Old Testament says. Yet you forget that the Bible teaches us to scold and descipline even church members or our own children.

Please take a moment and think and take an accurate account of what happenned in Gaza. When Israel withdrew from Gaza, Palestinians had in place an exmplary government that was 100% pr-peace. Members of the Palestinian government spoke fluent Hebrew and were fully in agreement with the Oslo process. Yet, Sharon chose not to deal with them (this was after arafat had died) and instead chose to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza rather than coordinate with the Paletsinian Authority which would have made a totally different set up in Gaza. Many years of futile negotiations with the moderate Palestinians who recongise Israel's right to exists..etc produced only more settlements, more incursions and more extra-judicial assassinations. This is the main reason why Palestinians elected Hamas. The corruption of Fatah was just an additional encouragement but never it was the main reason.

When Hamas took over Gaza the first thing they did was to halt any atrocities against Israel. For several months not one shot or terror act against Israelis came from Gaza. Instead, Israel started assassinating Hamas's leadership and announced Gaza as a hostile territory cutting it from the outside world entirely. At best times, parts of Gaza got few hours of fuel... fishermen were not allowed to fish in the sea, even sewage treatment plans were not allowed to be repaired and raw sewage was being pumped into the Mediteranean. It was only recently and after Tony Blair's interevntion that Israel allowed some cement to enter gaza to allow for the partial reparation of the sewage plant.

If you remember nothing from what I wrote above, please remember one thing: Israel had the chance over the past two years to prove to the Palestinians that it meant well by giving freedom to the West Bank and allow the moderate Palestinian leadership there to establish an independent entity as a first step. This would have shown Hamas supporter - especially in Gaza - how wrongly they were in electing a Hamas government. But instead, Israel gave nothing to Abbas in teh West Bank... on the contrary, more land was confiscated to build illegal settlements, more incursinos took place into the hearts of Paletsinians cities than ever and peace talks were stuck more than they had ever been.

We, as Christians, should be more concerned about people rather than about land. This is what Jesus would be concerned about. I cannot believe ever that jesus would approve that Israel would kill the hundreds of children and women in Gaza and would tell Palestinians "you deserve it because you elected the wrong leadership". Bush has done more eveil than any other US president and yet Americans elected him twice!!!

4 Christians have died in Gaza becasue of the Israeli shelling. Yes... did you know that there are Gazans who are Christians. Those Christians, and with them the thousands of Chritians in the West Bank, feel betrayed by Christians like yourself. You undermine our Christian witness to the Moslems and you make us ashamed.

May God open your eyes to see His justice and recognise His ways.
WWJD

Shekhinah

This is a very one-sided picture, with - it seems to me - a great deal of bitterness and?anger affecting your view of Zionists.? Are you aware that Western powers gave?the vast majority of the land in the Middle East to Arab groups - that they created Jordan out of the British Mandate?- that they gave a much smaller portion of the land to the Jews???Are?you aware of how many?countries in the U.N. voted for there to be a state for the?Arab Palestinians and a state for the Jewish Palestinians? ?I do not think "terror and deceit" truly characterize the idealism and loving-kindness of the Zionists, or their desire to be ethical and to see both sides of a conflict.? I think as Christians it behooves us to at least try to see both sides of a conflict.?

erbe

This concept of homeland did exclude the Palestinians. No matter what some Zionists said about letting the indigenous people live amongst them, the driving force of the Zionist leadership was to create a state for Jews immigrating from Europe and Russia. And in order to do so they had to buy up the land and control the government which was not what the Palestinians wanted to happen. Guess who prevailed...the illegal immigrants from Europe and Russia..the Zionists.

The Zionist managed to assassinate the United Nations envoy in the Saint George Hotel bombing and they were constantly smuggling in weapons for the Haganah, the Irgun and the Stern gang. Israel was founded on terror and deceit and it has infected their relationships ever since.

Shekhinah

Hi - I respectfully submit that - no, I think the Zionists intended for there to be a democracy inside Israel, which included and still includes Arab members of the Knesset and Arabs' attending universities if they wanted to, and working, AND the other option from the U.N., which was that the Palestinians would have their own state alongside of Israel.? So while it is true that the Zionists did want a Jewish state, this homeland did not exclude Arabs.?

I know that it wasn't perfect - not everybody was all warm and fuzzy all the time but I also know that David Ben-Gurion, the leader of the Haganah and first prime minister of Israel, went to great lengths to rein in other Jews and other Jewish militias - like the Stern "Gang" - which is what Israel needs the Palestinians to do, if they really are sincere about living in peace - rein in their militant, more violent members - and give more power to people who can talk to Jews/Israelis rather than just wanting to destroy Israel.?

So yes, they wanted a homeland for the Jews, but I think it is really true and ought to be acknowledged that the Zionists weren't only for themselves, and against the Arabs.? The early Zionists were capable of caring about themselves and others, and they were willing to operate according to the United Nations' mandate for a two-state solution.? If the Palestinians and the Muslim states had only gone with that, Palestinians would be in good shape now, and would have been thriving since 1947!

And the sad thing is that with Hamas we have a continuation of the attitudes and behaviors that have not served the Palestinians well, and which (in my opinion) don't serve "the Muslim world" well - violence, and making members of other religions - Christians, Jews, Hindus - second-class citizens to be subjugated to Muslims.

erbe

Not if you read about what the Zionist intended. They never intended to live amongst the Palestinians. What they wanted was a homeland for the Jews...that excluded the indigenous Palestinians.

Palosaari

Actually, as Christians, we are called to usher in the Kingdom of God.

And on the internet, the word "post" refers to a short piece of writing, such as on a blog, or in comments.

RightDialogue

Justice? Justice will be their eternal sentence if they do not convert. We should be less worried about politics than their eternal salvation.

Your 'post' or what traditionally might be referred to as a vocation, is to share the Gospel. Christ did not call the Roman soldiers to abandon their post, but to embrace His Truth.

Shekhinah

Yes, I do agree with you there.? I have come to treasure the way people get along here, who back in "the old country" wherever that may be, might have not gotten along together, at all.? I love our diversity - the way we get people from all over the world here...? I wish we could export to the Palestinians Muslim clerics who interpret Islam in more peaceable, loving ways and teachers of statecraft who would help them create a country for themselves, however small it might be, to begin with...

Feels good to be in contact w/others like yourself - thank you for sending a response -
Shekhinah

Guest

"doesn't it seem true that if the Palestinians would elect better leadership
than Hamas, and if they would give up on trying to destroy Israel"

Yes that is a good point . To blame Israel for Hamas firing untargeted
missiles into Israel without bringing up who voted them into power is valid
. The choice the people had was corruption or Hamas , in fact from what I
have read Palestinians living within Israel actually have Better Human
Rights and Democratic representation then most Middle East Countries offer .
But my point was when we make bad voting decisions it does not result in
bombs exploding in our day care clinics . America for all its warts offers
such a better way of life .

Shekhinah

Yes - I think something we can do is to encourage our elected officials to help provide opportunities for dialogue between the players in the Middle East - or, to express frustration, disappointment, grief and anger and get help and encouragement, rather than using violence. It's too bad the U.N. has demonized Israel and can't be depended upon to be even-handed or trustworthy when it comes to problems in the Middle East...

Shekhinah

I think merely siding with victims is insufficient. I think there are times when victims need to take at least partial responsibility for what happens to them - not to take away Israel's responsibility, but - doesn't it seem true that if the Palestinians would elect better leadership than Hamas, and if they would give up on trying to destroy Israel, that Israel would leave them alone to create a viable state for themselves? I think Israel would - I think they really do want to live in peace with their neighbors and simply do not know what to do with the constant hatred and violence coming at them from Muslim groups and states. And I think our awareness of that is important - not to drive Israel crazy by giving them too much responsibility when they really don't have power over the thoughts and behaviors of Muslims who have been making war on them since the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

Shekhinah

But in the beginning the Israelis truly wanted Israel to be beneficial for both Jews and Arabs - they really hoped for that, and made it so that Arabs could either be citizens of Israel or could form their own state. It was some of the Muslims who wanted it to be all or nothing, either-or.

And I think the Israelis still want Palestinians to live long and prosper, it's just that when they withdraw from territory like Gaza, the disappointment is great when the Palestinians elect groups like Hamas, who have in their charter the same-old, same-old goal of destroying Israel, rather than building something good for the Palestinians.

Shekhinah

I wish the Muslims who demonize Jews, saying they are offspring of pigs and monkeys, who believe in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, who blame Israel for just about everything, would be held responsible for their part in the violence in the Middle East. I think it must be very difficult to be an Israeli - to have one's government force settlers to leave Gaza but have Gazans elect Hamas and continue to try to destroy Israel instead of building themselves a state. It must be so frustrating and disappointing. I wish the Israelis would talk about that - ask the world for help when they are under rocket fire for months and years - rather than waiting and waiting, and then becoming very aggressive in their efforts to deal with it all, themselves. I think Christians, Jews and Muslims ought to be willing to listen carefully to Israel so that they really believe that there is a viable alternative to using violence.

meurig

I find myself wondering how an observant Jew who supports the assault on Gaza would justify it theologically. Presumably the "eye for an eye" rule would apply only to ones fellow Jews? (or have some branches of Judaism taken on board the just war principle of proportionality?) If this is "pre-emptive self-defence", as the Israeli spin doctors are telling us, then it is (a) far more than is needed, and (b) liable to be counterproductive because it will result in largescale revenge attacks further down the line. Are there perhaps Jewish fundamentalists out there who view this in the same light as the divinely-commaned ethnic cleansing in Joshua and Judges?

I'm asking because I don't know.

meurig

Whatever warnings may or may not have been given, and however irresponsible Hamas may have been (though I'd like to know the ultimate source of your claims here, EJ), it still doesn't absolve the Israeli government of responsibility for taking innocent lives.
Fwiw, having heard Alex Awad in person, I know he is no apologist for Hamas.

jstam

Thank you, and of course you're right. I have made the mistake of generalizing too broadly. Thanks for reining me in.

Palosaari

I completely grant you that they were terrorist at one point, just as was the PLO, and may be again in the future. But in the now, we aren't seeing bombings; we're seeing rockets. And while I abhor the use of violence, this seems to be more in lines of conventional guerilla warfare. They may go back to terrorism in the future, but I wouldn't label their current actions as terrorist.

SkipinPT

Excellent comments from Jstam- couldn't agree more!!

Kudos from Port Townsend also to my Friend Palosaari! Excellent words.

As this conflict has gone on my wife and I have, like Dean Awad, noticed that Israel's military response
to a military attack is gigantic in comparison. It is true that the OT saying "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"
were given to put a stop to all sorts of violent escalation.

This flows from the idea that one's life is in the hand of God and "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord." This is impossible for a lot of humans to grasp- Jew or Gentile.

Of course the real crazy thing is that Jesus takes it even farther in the Sermon on the Mount.
The God of the universe does not allow for escalation or revenge.
And on top of that he expects us to pray for our persecutors.
Crazy but true and right.

meurig

Just wanted to note that not all evangelicals hold to dispensationalist theology (a nineteenth century innovation that has little to do with the way the early church understood scripture) nor to the unthinkingly zionist politics which is has spawned. US rightwing evangelicals are not typical of evangelicals worldwide.