It is difficult to comprehend how oppressed these Palestinians feel by the Israeli government. They long for peace and freedom. Their crime, they are Palestinians who no longer have the right to live where they do. From their perspective the Palestinians have a clear reason to feel they are treated unjustly.
We were picked up on the other side of the checkpoint and driven by bus to the Holocaust museum. Two hours of pictures, films and articles about the oppression on the Jews by the Nazis. It was overwhelming to see the atrocities and injustice dealt the Jews. Millions killed in horrible ways. 20% were children. Their crime, they were Jews who no longer had a right to live where they do.
Today, we went to the West Wall of the Temple grounds in Old Jerusalem. It was a vibrant place with visitors coming from all over the world to pay respects. A bar-mitzvah was being celebrated with all of the traditional pomp and pageantry.
An interesting note our guide shared about the wall. Until 1967 it was called "the wailing wall." Israel was steep in lamenting loss of its land. It had lived in various forms of oppression for centuries. In 1967 the name was changed to "the West Wall." No longer must the Israeli Jews "wail." They had been given back control of Jerusalem.
Israeli Jews are no longer oppressed, but in the eyes of the Palestinians in the West Bank, they are the oppressors. How is it that a people so oppressed for such a long time can act as oppressors? What is it about the human condition that accommodates inflicting injustice on another person? What can break the cycles of people justifying oppressing others? It can't be that the oppressor was once oppressed.
This blog is not about the political conflict and complexity in Israel. Nor is it judgmental of the Jews. However, seeing this first hand raised profound questions about the psychological state of perpetrators and victims of oppression and injustice. One member of our travel group provided a keen insight. To what degree does an oppressor experience destructive influences on their soul? We easily understand the negative feelings of the oppressed, but maybe not as much when it comes to the oppressor.
Here are my thoughts. People can be oppressed and experience injustice in collective ways, such as nation state conflicts, and in a personal way, such losing a job because the boss doesn't like them. A sense of injustice can create a sense of victimization. This brings feelings of frustration, despair, and hate, among others. On the other hand, those who oppress and treat others unjustly are subject to an arrogance of superiority, some kind of sense they are right to do what they do. They generally operate in fear and anger as motives to justify their actions.
In either case the soul is in bondage to destructive forces. Nobody wins. Often the people feel this and wish to resolve the situation in a way that both can live in peace. However, it is in the political leaders interest to help perpetuate the victimization of the oppressed and the pride of the oppressor. There is lack of political will to solve the problems separating the two sides.
It is the Christians in Israel and Palestine who seek relationships across differences to build a collaborative framework for both to live together in harmony.
A question I am left with as I look specifically at Israel and Palestine and more broadly across history and into the future, is there a futility in thinking humans can break cycles of injustice and oppression without Christ dominating the souls of the leaders of both the oppressed and the oppressor? Can grace and forgiveness, which is necessary to bring peace out of injustice, flow from a fallen human nature?
The implications to this question are pervasive, and each of us can only answer it in our own soul.
Israeli Jews are no longer oppressed, but in the eyes of the Palestinians in the West Bank, they are the oppressors. How is it that a people so oppressed for such a long time can act as oppressors? What is it about the human condition that accommodates inflicting injustice on another person? What can break the cycles of people justifying oppressing others? It can't be that the oppressor was once oppressed.
This blog is not about the political conflict and complexity in Israel. Nor is it judgmental of the Jews. However, seeing this first hand raised profound questions about the psychological state of perpetrators and victims of oppression and injustice. One member of our travel group provided a keen insight. To what degree does an oppressor experience destructive influences on their soul? We easily understand the negative feelings of the oppressed, but maybe not as much when it comes to the oppressor.
Here are my thoughts. People can be oppressed and experience injustice in collective ways, such as nation state conflicts, and in a personal way, such losing a job because the boss doesn't like them. A sense of injustice can create a sense of victimization. This brings feelings of frustration, despair, and hate, among others. On the other hand, those who oppress and treat others unjustly are subject to an arrogance of superiority, some kind of sense they are right to do what they do. They generally operate in fear and anger as motives to justify their actions.
In either case the soul is in bondage to destructive forces. Nobody wins. Often the people feel this and wish to resolve the situation in a way that both can live in peace. However, it is in the political leaders interest to help perpetuate the victimization of the oppressed and the pride of the oppressor. There is lack of political will to solve the problems separating the two sides.
It is the Christians in Israel and Palestine who seek relationships across differences to build a collaborative framework for both to live together in harmony.
A question I am left with as I look specifically at Israel and Palestine and more broadly across history and into the future, is there a futility in thinking humans can break cycles of injustice and oppression without Christ dominating the souls of the leaders of both the oppressed and the oppressor? Can grace and forgiveness, which is necessary to bring peace out of injustice, flow from a fallen human nature?
The implications to this question are pervasive, and each of us can only answer it in our own soul.
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