Today in Biblical Interpretations, we had an in class writing assignment. We needed to write our reaction to the book, Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour. If you have never read it, I would highly reccomend it! It's an easy read intellectually but mentally and emotionally it could put you throgh the wringer.
The prof wanted our responses straight from the heart and honest as we could be.
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The response I had to Elias Chacour’s story was tremendous. My gut reaction was that of anger, anger at my disillusionment in my country’s portrayal of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. My more secondary response to the story was my deep connection with Elias and his struggle regarding his identity in God and God’s plan for his life. Lastly I spent a significant amount of time wrestling with my own sorrow and ache for peace in the Middle East. Blood Brothers helped me realize there are ALWAYS two sides to every coin, regardless of what I had been told my whole life.
Like a radio turned on while working, the conflict in the Middle East had become background noise in my life. I have grown up with this war. Ever since I was little girl, every night on the six o’clock news, there has been some tidbit of information regarding something in the Middle East. I was quickly taught the key players in the drama and believed wholeheartedly what I was told. The Israelis were the underdog and the good guys. They were being ruthlessly slaughtered for a reason that was so miniscule there was really no reason to ever mention it. The Palestinians are the bullies, killing innocent Israelis and refusing to agree to peace. And lastly, our brave American heroes were sent in to fix all of their problems. This cast list was simple enough for even the youngest of minds to follow.
My biggest struggle with Chacour’s story began in the first few pages. My image of the ‘typical’ Palestinian had been produced for me my whole life. When he began his story with a glimpse into his family life, I recoiled in horror.
“A family?! Surely Palestinians have no family, there is nothing human about these cold-blooded, rebel terrorists!” I suppose somewhere in the back of my mind I realized Palestinian people do not grow out of the ground and have parents, grandparents, and siblings like myself. After the first chapter I set the book down refusing to believe Chacour’s lies. Not only was he a Palestinian, but he was a Christian! He believed in the same Savior and God I did. This new truth stood in stark contrast to my former image and had no place in my reality. I began the hard lesson that truth and reality don’t often line up.
By the end of the story I was disappointed in my country, a feeling that does not sit well with a Conservative Republican Farmer’s Daughter. I wrestled with the truth that my government, MY true blue American heroes were in the wrong. Not only were they wrong in their approach to the problem, they were in fact PART of the problem! I began to realize that much of the conflict was surrounded in smoke and mirrors and that more disturbing was the fact that I clung to those illusionary tricks like my own life depended on it.
The first of the mirrors came down when I began to find myself relating to Elias in a very real way. I pushed against this idea and wouldn’t accept it until the last few pages of the story remained. I began to see a man relating candidly his struggles with where God was taking him and what his role was in God’s plan for his country. I have often found myself feeling as if my identity in Christ is on a continuum, it’s never set in one place and it continually grows and changes with me. I began to realize everyone experiences growing pains as they grow in their Christian identity. Certain truths are adopted easily and with very little distress to the believer. There are others that force the believer to face things in his life that are shadowy and contain many gray areas. Often times, I found that in each instance in which I related to Chacour on a personal level I was sent on a personal journey through doubt, conflict and resolution. Reading his struggles in black and white helped me realize that I do not have all the answers, nor am I ever going to have all the answers.
When it comes to answers I wish I had at least one that would sound reasonable in resolving the conflict in the Middle East. For so long I have been hearing about war and terrorism. So many lives have been lost over the years it makes my heart twist with sorrow. Israeli, Palestinian and American blood has been shed in what seems a hopeless cause. I was encouraged to see that people like Elias were fighting for peace, without picking up a gun. It is difficult to justify killing people in the name of peace. My heart hurts for the turmoil my brothers and sisters are enduring. All three militaries are war weary and ready to be done. The call for peace has been unanswered for too long and yet I see the harsh reality of the fact that there might never be peace.
Peace is a strange creature. When seeking peace, conflict always arises. As new information is entered into a person’s sphere of reality, that which aligns with a person’s personal truth is adopted. Information which contradicts or condemns, is railed against and wholeheartedly denied access to our cocoon of comfort. As truth keeps presenting itself, a person begins the long, sometimes arduous, battle for inner peace. As the battle rages on in the Middle East, peace remains a distant dream. There is hope one day the dream will be realized, but for now battle must continue.
