Strange History, Stranger Bedfellows

The Middle East in general and Palestine in particular have a strange history. To understand the current political situation requires a general familiarity with the history and the major players.

Before that, however, it is of utmost importance to note that several players in the international community, most notably Russia, are engaging in intentional misinformation and disinformation campaigns. Social Media and less than reputable “news” outlets spread this propaganda for their own purposes and muddy the waters of current understanding.

Historically, Palestine has referred to a geographic region in the Fertile Crescent, a very desirable piece of real estate. This is a most important fact to understand if we are to properly contextualize history. Palestine comes from the Greek word Philistia and dates back to the 12^th century BCE. Calling the region “Palestine” came into common usage after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. It includes Gaza and the West Bank, but there is no international consensus to the boundaries of the region. Much of this land is occupied by Israel.

The people who have ruled this region and inhabited it through the centuries include Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians and Mamelukes. The notion that this is and always has been Israelite land is blatantly false. There were inhabitants when the Israelites arrived and there are still inhabitants today. Israel was but one political entity vying for control of the region. As Israel was conquered by the Babylonians and other political entities, the Gaza strip and the West Bank were included.

At the end of World War 1, the League of Nations issued a British mandate that gave Britain administrative control over Palestine. It included a Jewish homeland in Palestine which was begun in 1923.

In 1947 the United Nations proposed a two state solution including both Jewish and Palestinian states in the Gaza strip and the West Bank.  Surprisingly, Jewish leaders accepted the plan, but Arab Palestinians vehemently opposed it primarily because of boundary disputes with assigned territories. In 1948 Britain withdrew from the partition plan and Israel declared itself an independent state. There was at least an implied consent to a Palestinian state. Within months war erupted and quickly became an Israeli vs. Arab conflict.

At this point the history becomes far more complex with other Middle Eastern countries vying for control of parts of the Fertile Crescent. There have been very few years where violence has not erupted between Israel and Palestine as well as other countries.

The October attack by Hamas on Israel was horrific. The retaliatory violence of Israel is equally horrific. The war being fought in the Middle East violates every rule of war in modern times. The United States has declared its unwavering support for Israel and given minimal lip service to the need for humanitarian aid in Gaza and the West Bank. There is notable bias in American reporting that reflects the US’s unconditional support for Israel. This is troubling given that more than 135 United Nations member countries recognize Palestine as an independent state.

 This geopolitical conflict is as old as history. As long as both sides are hell bent on destruction of one another, there is little hope for a resolution to the conflict. There is, however, an unseen player in this war that further complicates the current conflict. The religious right feeds the unconditional support the US has for Israel. The existence of Israel and its victory in restoring all of the “Promised Land” are pillars of a little known and less understood theological history.  It is known as Christian Zionism (This is different from Christian Nationalism which I will tackle in the near future).

Christian Zionism has a long history of pushing unconditional support for Israel. It is part of their belief that Scripture requires Israel to exist, a holy war to be fought, a new temple be constructed, and either the conversion or destruction of the Jews. Then the rapture will come, Christ the King will return, followed by a thousand year rule, the culmination of human history and the establishment of God’s eternal Kingdom. This perspective has been written about ad nauseum since the establishment of the state of Israel.

It seems to me that the support of the religious right and a relationship with Israel is a little disingenuous. Israel and Christian Zionists are strange bedfellows. After all, if the options are convert or die the agenda of support for Israel is a bit hollow. The Christian Zionists are appropriating this war for their own theological ends and making it the prelude to the rapture. Their voices, however, foment the religious right and their unconditional support of Israel, which translates to legislators who listen to their constituency, which influences American public policy.  

Christian Zionists are making this a Holy War. And there is nothing about this war that is holy. The indiscriminate murder of civilians on both sides, the denial of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians and the very real threat of Palestinian genocide embody the very nature of geopolitical evil.

It’s not just the right wing religious preachers who are spewing this garbage. Last week Lindsay Graham declared, “We’re in a religious war here and I am with Israel. Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. Level the place.” Marco Rubio called the Palestinians “savages” and said “they have to be eradicated.” The Gospel Coalition’s Peter Leithard likens Hamas to the biblical Amalekites and compares the Palestinian people to their hostages. In the end section of his Tweet he writes, “Yahweh vows to fight until the memory of Amalek is blotted out from under heaven.”

This is frightening genocidal, apocalyptic and ridiculous rhetoric. The willingness of the religious right to use this horrific geopolitical war to further their apocalyptic visions of the end of the world is egregious at best. In my view, what is more egregious is the silence of other Christian voices challenging this nonsense and speaking a word of theological reason and faith in the midst of a devastating reality.

_SOURCES

_{www.religiondispatches.org}

_{www.historychannel.org}

_{www.Britannica.com}

_{www.religiousnewsservice.org}