As soon as I arrived in the “Holy Land” I was struck by a strange thing: it is one of the least holy places imaginable. Parts of the West Bank are little more than an open-air prison, a sea of barbed wire, military checkpoints, and needless suffering. Visitors to the occupied Palestinian territories are treated to an obscene picture of futility, apathy, and despair.
The Israeli government has been gradually demolishing and erasing Palestine for decades, hoping to one day claim all the land between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea on behalf of the descendants of Isaac, son of Abraham.
In a way, Israel itself is even more unnerving. The all-too-perfect facade of Israeli settlements, built illegally on Palestinian land, presents an eeriness that unmistakably betrays the prickings of an uneasy collective conscience. The Israeli government has been gradually demolishing and erasing Palestine for decades, hoping to one day claim all the land between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea on behalf of the descendants of Isaac, son of Abraham.
Across Palestine, Islamist groups abound, bent on removing the Jews from the territory in order that it be claimed by its true Muslim inheritors, who form the lineage of Abraham’s other favorite son, Ishmael.
In the city of Hebron, in the south of the West Bank, pursuit of these noble aims has kicked ethnic cleansing into full swing. The city is awash with Israeli settlements, one of which, Avraham Avinu, looks directly down upon a thoroughfare in the Medina.
Palestinians working and living below have had to construct nets to catch the trash and waste thrown down upon them by settlers, many of whom are presumably grown men and women. It is hard to know what adjective to use to describe people who act like that, but, from a glance at the way religion is usually covered in the media, I take it the term is “conservative.”
Meanwhile, all over Hebron, bulldozers are at work erasing the native culture, levelling Palestinian homes to make way for new settlements. As a newcomer, I was curious as to how and why this once bustling regional trading center became such a grotesque monument to human stupidity.
Evangelical Christian pilgrims marching in the annual Jerusalem Parade in October 2016
The answer is that Hebron is very important: As the supposed resting place of Abraham, Sara, Jacob, and Adam, the city boasts a reputation as the fourth holiest site for Muslims. As the capital of Israel in the Old Testament, Hebron ranks second among Jewish holy sites and is, by extension, a key target for Israeli colonization. The city is even home to the hill where, according to the Bible, Abraham offered to sacrifice his son Isaac to show his love of God.
Such a prestigious history is too much to ignore for Israeli settlers, many of whom give up backgrounds of promise and opportunity to come and live behind barbed-wire in the desert. Given the chance to reside near sites where people who probably never existed were involved in events that probably never happened, living in a hellish prison-camp is a small price to pay.
The absurdity of this situation is only compounded by the fact that, while settlers can travel from all over the world to make Palestine their home, many Palestinians born in Palestine are denied that right.
The absurdity of this situation is only compounded by the fact that, while settlers can travel from all over the world to make Palestine their home, many Palestinians born in Palestine are denied that right.
To any observer of this unnecessary and agonizing standoff between Zionists and Islamists, it is obvious what is needed to inject some logic into the situation and finally break the deadlock: more Christian fundamentalists.
And in they flock from all over the world. Many evangelicals come simply in order to see their favorite sites with their own eyes. After all, that’s why I was there. Others come because it is foretold that they would. Yet the one thing they seemed to have in common was a willingness to overlook the injustice of the occupation, not doubt in service of the higher good for which their pilgrimage was made.
When I arrived at The Shelter hostel, in the Israeli city of Eilat, I was greeted with broad smiles, wide eyes, and an all-round warm welcome. It was my last night in the Holy Land and after I had taken my complementary bible and made a mental note of the prayer times for the following day, the manager, Gabriel, got me up to speed on old-testament prophecy.
“If we are serious about bringing about the end of the world, we have to spread God’s message where it matters most – the Holy Land,” he said, explaining that only when all the Jews live inside Israel and all non-Jews are expelled, can the Prince of Peace return and bring about the End of Days.
Only when all the Jews live inside Israel and all non-Jews are expelled, can the Prince of Peace return and bring about the End of Days.
“And what happens to the Jews on that day?” I asked, tentatively. “Don’t they all, you know…die?” Gabriel then corrected me in a friendly, yet mildly condescending tone that I probably deserved.
He explained to me that not all the Jews will die – several hundred thousand will be given the chance to repent and convert, after which gentle Jesus, meek and mild, will cast the remaining doubters into everlasting fire.
A bit harsh for my liking, I thought, but perhaps it’s a case of being firm but fair. I wondered what he would do on the off-chance that his prediction doesn’t come true.
Not all the residents of The Shelter are as outward looking as Gabriel. Many, like Jacob from Oklahoma, USA, have come to the land of milk and honey with the mildly presumptuous intention of cleansing their personal sins.
Jacob is the breath of fresh air the Holy Land really needs. It is refreshing to be reminded that, even in a land where unrestrained Zionist extremism gives rise to Islamist fundamentalism, when it comes to straight-forward fanaticism, no one holds a candelabra to the Christians.
When it comes to straight-forward fanaticism, no one holds a candelabra to the Christians.
“I am here because I have sinned,” Jacob admitted with his thousand-yard stare piercing deep into where my soul would be.
“That’s okay,” I replied. (It seemed like the right thing to say, although I accept that I lack the authority to make this call). “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked. Let’s just say he did.
Jacob was on a quest to make peace with Jesus. “I violated the trust of our lord,” he told a small group of us. “I made a promise in good faith, and I know he understands this, but in the end, I let him down and let myself down too.”
“What did you do?” asked a Swiss man named Thomas. Jacob explained that, while he fought as much as he could, in early 2019 he succumbed to the forces of evil and committed the sin of divorce.
We all hastened to reassure him. “It’s okay Jacob,” offered a softly spoken Canadian woman. “Even the best among us can…”
“I know it’s okay,” Jacob interjected. “I spoke with Jesus and he told me that she [his ex-wife] has not been in control of herself for a while now.”
“What do you mean by that?” I couldn’t resist asking him.
“Well,” he chuckled, “It was so obvious once I gained the strength to see it. I felt that we were both broken, that maybe it would go back to how it was. But, when I asked Jesus for guidance, I realized that, for a year my wife…well, my ex-wife…had been under the control of the father of lies.”
“The father of…”
“Satan.”
“You mean…sort of…figuratively?” I asked, more out of hope than expectation.
“I thought so at first,” Jacob confided somberly. “But, when I had the courage to look into my heart, I realized it was really him.”
“So, your ex was possessed by the devil?”
“Yes.”
“We’ve all been there,” I reassured him.
“Agnostics are motivated by cowardice and narcissism. They will not escape judgement!”
Jacob’s ex-wife had apparently given herself away by voicing doubts about her faith. “The first sign was when she started talking about being an agnostic,” Jacob told the group. “Agnostics are motivated by cowardice and narcissism. They will not escape judgement!”
“He’s got a point there, too,” I thought to myself, as I slunk off to bed. After two weeks of bearing witness to pointless and miserable conflict, it was good to leave the Holy Land on a point of agreement.
- The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Inside Arabia.
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