A Small Step Towards Peace from Red Letter Christians

First of all the Israeli government would be free from the accusation that it is inhumane in keeping essen­tial food and medicine out of the hands of needy Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. The blockade of Gaza has earned the Israelis a very negative image among the rest of the peoples of the world most of whom view the blockade as an instrument of the Israeli government that makes the Palestinians suffer. This bad image would be somewhat overcome if Israel cooperated in the implementa­tion of this proposal.

 Secondly Christians Jews and Muslims working together in such a humanitarian cause would do much to improve the image that many secularists have of religion. With all the evil that has been done in the name of God a joint effort by the three major world religions could do the reputation of religion in general a lot of good.

Recently hostility has been grow­ing between Jewish and Christian Zionists and certain Protestant denominations that have condemned the blockade and have called for an embargo on any goods produced by Israeli companies based in Jewish settlements in the West Bank. There even has been a call for divestiture of investments in all Israeli companies as long as the blockade continues.

The Pope speaking for the Roman Catholic Church has made pro­nouncements condemning both the blockade and the illegal settlements in the West Bank. Too often such condemnation ends up being defined as being anti-Semitic. This has harmed interfaith relations. Christian critics of Israel working along with other Christians and joined by Jews and Muslims working to alleviate the sufferings of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would send a strong message about the altruism inherent in each of these groups. Working together they would actualize the spirit of reconciliation. Zionist groups both Jewish and Christian that have been unfairly vilified as being opposed to humanitar­ian efforts that would benefit the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would with these efforts do much to over­come the negative image they have in some quarters.

Muslims here in the United States would have an opportunity to reach out to their Islamic brothers and sis­ters who are suffering because of the

 blockade. Such an effort might even be joined by Muslims of good will in the Arab countries that surround Israel and contribute to the wellbe­ing of those presently being victim­ized by the blockade.

Finally the people in the Gaza Strip would be blessed by this effort which might have a very positive effect on the ways in which they relate to all the groups cited above. The most important thing is that these desperately needy people would

 experience some deliverance from their present suffering.

We all know that the privation suf­fered by the Palestinians as a result of the Israeli blockade has encour­aged terrorists to respond with vio­lence and made it easy for them to recruit young people for their radical organizations. This proposal might help counteract all of that. Here’s a chance in the words of Jesus “To overcome evil with good!”

For those of us who want peace  I suggest that this is one way to put our money where our mouths are.  

Tony Campolo is professor emeritus at Eastern University in Philadelphia and is a member of the Board of Christian Ethics Today. He is founder of the website Red Letter Christians which is a forum for persons who take the words of Jesus seriously and try to relate them to contemporary personal and social problems.