A Letter About Palestine

34 American evangelical leaders have signed a letter to President Bush supporting the creation of a Palestinian state that would include a majority of the West Bank, saying that "being a friend to Jews and to Israel 'does not mean withholding criticism when it is warranted.' The letter adds, 'Both Israelis and Palestinians have committed violence and injustice against each other.'"

This is in opposition to the louder, more organized voices of some in the conservative camp who hold that, as John Hagee says,

"God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob a covenant in the Book of Genesis for the land of Israel that is eternal and unbreakable, and that covenant is still intact," he said. "The Palestinian people have never owned the land of Israel, never existed as an autonomous society. There is no Palestinian language. There is no Palestinian currency. And to say that Palestinians have a right to that land historically is an historical fraud."

Reading something like this gives me such a mixture of hope and dismay. Dismay that justice and compassion seem to get left behind so often in the rhetoric of the religious right who swamp the media with sound bites, making the label of 'Christian' sometimes embarrassing to wear. Hope because I'm starting to see more headlines with evangelicals taking a stand and making moves towards political and social justice in the world. 

With any luck the message of this letter will be heard, as they hope, not just by American politicians and people, but by the Muslim world as it is translated into Arabic and distributed throughout the Middle East and Europe.