Israel 2022 - Reflection #24 - Bethlehem Bible College

 

This is a picture of the wall in the middle of Bethlehem. There are 441 miles of walls in Israel. Most were built on the Palestinian side of the border, which is against international law. I wonder what Mexico would do if we decided to build our border walls on their side of the border?

I spent most of this morning listening to the lengthy presentation of Yousef (Joseph the Priest) ALKhouri

a faculty member and a Palestinian Christian. Out of any moment on the trip, this presentation, this story affected me the most. Even going back and hearing his story is just as troubling the second time around. 

The Palestinian people are under great oppression and our Christian brothers and sisters are being persecuted heavily in this country. The amazing thing is we WESTERN CHRISTIANS blindly support Israel as the CHOSEN NATION of God. I have to be honest. I really struggle with whether this is God's will. Israel has chosen to reject Jesus. Yes, we know that at least a remnant of the nation of Israel will come to Jesus. But, until that time are we to support this complete oppression of a people that includes our own Christian brothers and sisters. 

Every aspect of the life of the Palestinian people is controlled by the Israelis - resources, water, and where they live. It took Yousef over 5 years just to get permission to change his address. His 84-year-old grandmother is a refugee and is not allowed to return to Palestine. She lives in Los Angelas. Palestinian Christians feel betrayed by the Christians of the west. 

A couple of months ago, an old Palestinian woman, half deaf and blind crossed the road toward three Israeli military personnel. She stumbled, they thought she was going to attack these heavily armed Israeli soldiers. They shot her, leaving her to bleed to death in the middle of the road. They were afraid of her as a terrorist, violent, and typical of a blood-thirsty nation. Even though this area was known for great coexistence and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians, that made no difference. The policy is shoot first, ask questions later. 

The living conditions of the Palestinians is deplorable with no water, expensive cost of living, and virtually no health care. A pregnant woman was ready to deliver her baby and had to go through a checkpoint to get to the hospital, and she was detained. She died and the baby died. Yousef's cousins were playing football on a beach in the Gaza strip. The Israeli military attacked this beach and all of them were killed. This is what they live with every day of their lives. 

At the end of the presentation, Yousef was asked, does he see any hope? He asked us which answer we wanted to hear. We said we want the truth. He simply said, NO, he sees no hope. He is completely hopeless and sees no hope for peace in this area. 

I have not done a lot of study on the theology behind this Zionist view. I know the thoughts of support for Israel center around God choosing the nation of Israel and the second coming of Christ. But, in all honesty, I cannot believe the God I serve has a desire that any people be treated the way the Palestinians are treated today and to make matters worse, many of those Palestinians are Christian brothers and sisters. 

I pray the Lord helps us all realize, blind faith in a nation that oppresses people is not of God. 

If you look closely at the apartments, you can see some with Water tanks on the roof of the apartments. These are Palestinian Apartments. The others without water tanks are from Israeli settlements in Bethlehem. Israel controls all the water supply. 70% of the Palestinian portion of the water they get will be cut throughout this summer. The Palestinians already receive less than what WHO recommends, 90 liters per person per day. Palestinians get 79 liters per person per day, and Israelis get 320 liters. The Palestinians get running water once every three weeks. That will be increased six or seven weeks to get water. Water is sold by Israelis at a 500% markup and the Palestinians spend 20% of their income on water. Israelis spend less than  2%. 

Yousef told a story from March 2019  when he was giving a lecture and got news his sister's house was bombarded. His sister is a Sunday School teacher who serves at baptist missionary school and her husband works with her. They were told they would have 20 minutes to evacuate, they got 10 minutes. The house was destroyed. The bible is the only thing that survived. cut in half, open to Psalms. After the traumatic incident, she said God is great and the book was open to psalms which was a comfort. Below are pictures of the remains.