Can these stones live?
Photograph by Nour Tayeh via Unsplash
Rev. Dr. Robert Wallace
Recently, I traveled to the West Bank as part of a peacemaking delegation, which was sponsored by Sabeel, an international peace movement initiated by Palestinian Christians. While I have been to the region many times, participating in excavations or leading study trips for students, those trips focused on what Sabeel called “the dead stones.” This trip was an opportunity to meet and learn from the “living stones” (1 Peter 2:4) in the land.
Christians have had a presence in Palestine for 2000 years, though their numbers have dwindled in the last century. At the beginning of the 20th century, Christians made up anywhere from 9-13% of the total population of Palestine.[i] Today that number is 1% of the population of the Palestinian Territories and 2% of Israel. Christians who remain in the land view themselves as keepers of a sacred tradition, representing our Savior in the face of unthinkable challenges.
Unfortunately, these faithful Christians too often feel abandoned, or worse, betrayed by Western Christians. They want to be seen by their Christian family, but they feel forgotten. They are even called “terrorists” by people who claim to worship the same God. This trip was a time for us to push against that narrative, be present with these members of our family in faith, and learn what they might teach us. The Bible was written by and for those on the margins, so I was certain I had a lot to learn.
Some of our work was at the 30,000-foot level, familiarizing us with the issues. We saw the ruins of Lifta, which is an abandoned Palestinian village in the suburbs of Jerusalem — empty since 1948. We toured the Shuafat refugee camp which has existed within the Jerusalem city limits for over 60 years. We spoke about the general injustices faced by Palestinians like restrictions on freedom of movement, water, even telecommunications equipment. We heard how Palestinian Christian prisoners under military administrative detention are denied Bibles (even though Muslim prisoners are allowed a Quran).
Some of our work moved much closer and gave faces and names to these issues. We met with Layan Nasir, a Palestinian Christian girl who was to begin her prison sentence a few days later, on October 9, for the terrible crimes of “organizing a hike” and “making sandwiches for fellow students” (these are literally the crimes listed in her indictment). All collegiate student organizations are forbidden by the Israeli military occupying the West Bank, and Layan and her friends were simply working together for recreation and to help her fellow students. She’s already served a total of 10 months for these crimes and now she is in prison again (where she will, again, be denied a Bible).
Palestinian Christians live peacefully alongside their Muslim neighbors. We sat with one of them, Fahkri Abu Diab, a Muslim community leader opposing the housing demolitions in the Silwan where Palestinian homes are being demolished to make way for the “Gardens of David” theme park. Fahkri was featured in the Oscar-winning movie “No Other Land” that still has not found a distributor in the United States. Though he was promised by the US government that his house would not be harmed, early in the morning February 14, 2024, his house was demolished. The soldiers even uprooted the trees in his courtyard. The US condemned the action, but that is all that was done.
Faithful Palestinian Christians too often feel abandoned, or worse, betrayed by Western Christians. They want to be seen by their Christian family, but they feel forgotten.
We met with a representative of Amnesty International, Budour Hassan, who is recording the stories of families in Gaza so they are not forgotten, and she is offering what support she can. Of course, it is easy to be overwhelmed with the enormity of the grief of the situation, but Budour said that she continues to be inspired by the Gazans’ “extraordinary willingness to live their ordinary lives.”
These are simply a sample of the stories we heard while we were there. I worried I might run out of tears from the stories of heartbreak and inspiration — often in the same narrative.
Because of poor readings of Scripture (specifically, but not limited to, Genesis 12, Romans 11, and Revelation) some Western Christians bristle at the language used to talk about the Israeli/Palestinian situation. However, the facts are the facts, and none of the following facts are disputed by numerous sources including United Nations resolutions, international law, Amnesty International, and B’Tselem (an Israeli human rights organization):
Israel has created an apartheid state, where there is favored status to one group over another. Individual movement is controlled, as is the flow of goods, water, and other services.
Palestinians live under occupation. Israeli military law is in effect in the Palestinian territories, which limits due process and legal rights for Palestinians. As one Palestinian businessman said to us, “If it’s not an occupation, please let me know where I can pick up my citizenship card.”
Israel’s policies toward Gaza made tragedy easy to predict. While Israel withdrew the illegal Gazan settlements in 2005 (illegal under international law, United States law, and even Israeli law), it retained control of the borders, water, and the flow of goods. Gaza is one of the most densely occupied pieces of land in the world with many of its inhabitants being refugees from other parts of the land from 1948 and 1967. Israel created an open-air prison in 2005 which had grievous repercussions, culminating tragically as they did on October 7, 2023.
Continued restrictive Israeli military policies in the West Bank are creating what some Palestinians have called a “slow motion Gaza” elsewhere in the country. Munther Isaac, author and pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hope in Ramallah, noted Ramallah has only three roads to enter the city. Every Palestinian town has barriers and gates constructed should Israel want to isolate them. Rev. Dr. Isaac said, “If they do that, Ramallah would be another Gaza.”
And still, I witnessed such beautiful and undefeatable hope. The children in the Palestinian village of Taybeh — the last 100-percent Christian village — were playing, laughing, and teasing one another despite Israeli settler attacks in their area. Budour told us stories of music teachers in Gaza whose homes and schools were destroyed, and yet, who were still teaching music using the pitches the Israeli drones make when they fly overhead. The Dar al-Kalima school provides an opportunity for powerful art and beautiful cultural expression. Fahkri had even replanted 5 saplings in the courtyard of his demolished home to replace the trees that had been uprooted.
When God asked Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” He was asking Ezekiel to believe in a miracle. When I ask the question, “Can these stones live?” I am asking for the same, but not of God — of humanity. The living stones I met were already living beautiful lives. They want to continue to do so. As Indigenous inhabitants of the land, they want their children to grow up in peace on the land of their parents. They want peace and restorative justice for all — Palestinian and Israeli. They want to continue being the living stones, testifying to God’s love and hope for years to come.
Rev. Dr. Robert Wallace is senior pastor, McLean Baptist Church, McLean, Virginia.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
[i] Raheb, Mitri. “Palestinian Christians in Modern History: Between Migration and Displacement.” In Palestinian Christians: Emigration, Displacement and Diaspora, edited by Mitri Raheb. Bethlehem: Diyar, 2017, 9-28.
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